A few months back when learned the Xiaomi, Meizu and other Chinese smartphone makers will come in with curved screen phones, we didn’t think it concerns four-sided curved displays. We know double curved displays make the phones cost more than devices with regular flat displays. So many manufacturers try to avoid such solutions for their products. But customers want to get more from their handsets, and as curved screens are capable of bringing such an experience to the market, they become more and more popular. You can ascertain in my words looking at the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, Xiaomi Mi Note 2, ZTE Nubia Z11 and many more. But manufacturers decided to make this word crazier. A few days ago we heard about a new smartphone from Huawei sporting a four-sided curved display. But it’ll be naïve to think it will be the only handset with such a feature. Today we will talk about the Vivo Xplay6 – one of the first four-sided curved screen smartphones.
Almost all Vivo flagships belong to the Xplay series. So it’s quite reasonable the manufacturer pays more attention to these line handsets and is very serious when it comes Xplay handsets. If you remember, it took three years from the company to launch the Xplay 5 after the Xplay 3 was launched. But the newer model comes after 9 months once the previous version was out. The Vivo Xplay6 will be available for purchase on December 12. So let’s take a peek at the key features of the Vivo Xplay6 in order to understand what changes have been made in such a short period of time.
In comparison to the Vivo Xplay5 this version comes with a ton of changes, therefore it looks completely different. The first thing – it’s not a dual-curved screen phone, but a four-sided curved display handset, which means the lower part of the screen as well as the upper side of it use the 3D curved surface design (4.17mm bending radius). Therefore the whole front panel is more rounded and is more comfortable when holding in hand. Moreover, now mobile phones are getting larger displays, but the width of screens are reduced (for example, the Vivo Xplay6’s screen is at 73.55mm, while the previous model, the Xplay 5 is at 76.2mm). The screen is at 5.46 inches, and the resolution is at 1440 x 2560 pixels (538ppi pixel density).
The rear part of the Vivo Xplay6 is made of metal like many other high-end smartphones. And though many users think top-notch phones should come with ceramic or glass housing, we know they are not as resistant as metal. However, the back side is not anything new, as it continues the old good traditions of X9 series brining a U-shaped antenna design. So those who have experienced with other handsets sporting such a U-shaped antenna design, know it looks amazing as well as useful. Plus, the company has added a sandblasting process to the producing this back covers, therefore, we are dealing with a high-class build quality.
The right side of the Vivo Xplay6 carries a volume rocker among with the unlock button, while the left side only has a SIM card slot. As for the bottom side, it carries a 3.5mm audio jack, a microphone hole, a micro USB port, and a speaker.
The hyperbolic shape design becomes a standard for high-end smartphones, undoubtedly. But such screens are very vulnerable in terms of protection and usage. But this statement doesn’t refer to the Vivo Xplay6, as it comes with an optimized UI as well as a steel proof membrane to protect the screen. Plus, there is a special protective cover in the box, so you can use it if you think your phone should be more protected.
At last, the Vivo Xplay6 comes at dimensions of 153.8 x 73.6 x 8.4 mm, weighs 178 grams, and there are two color options to choose from – Gold and Rose Gold. Hope this range will be expanded in the future.
In terms of performance and hardware the Vivo Xplay6 has got a list of enhancements. First, the Xplay6 sports a Snapdragon 820 processor that should be familiar to our readers, as it exists in many high-end smartphones like the LeeCo Le Max 2. This CPU comes with a 14nm process technology, built-in four cores 2 × Kyro 2.15GHz + 2 × Kyro 1.59GHz, and Adreno 530 graphics accelerator. It is also packed with a 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory, but what’s disappointing there is no SD card slot.
The phone got 147.373 points in Antutu benchmark, therefore it yields only a few handsets from top brands. As for GeekBench, it scored 1761 in single-core, and 3980 in multi-core tests. The Vivo Xplay6 was put in a few other tests to explore the temperature control, boot speed, 4K read and write speed and many more. All those tests showed acceptable results. And though the Snapdragon 820 can’t be compared to the Snapdragon 821, it still provides applause-worthy performance.
Like the Vivo X9 the Xplay6 runs on Funtouch OS 3.0 based on Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. This means it continues to provide smooth performance with power optimization as well as some new features added to make the usage of its display more practical.
It continues displaying different pictures for every boot, and there is a drop-down notification bar with frosted glass effect.
The Funtouch OS 3.0 main interface comes with simpler app cloning – long press the icon + tap, and the second app icon will appear.
Long press on the home screen and you will get access to some required features like sliding effects, hidden icons and so on.
Though Funtouch OS 3.0 is made especially for Vivo handsets, many users think this version is very close to iOS.
If you want to find something quickly, this UI will provide the best experience for this purpose.
One of the main differences of the Vivo Xplay6 from many other smartphones is the curved screen. But it would be just an expensive and well-looking handset if there is no additional benefit. Fortunately, we are not dealing with such a handset, as Funtouch OS 3.0 is optimized for it, and we can use both sides of this screen more effectively adding favorite apps, Contacts and other objects to those areas.
Everything in the Vivo Xplay6 can be customized easily and according to users’ preferences.
Finally, the Vivo Xplay6 comes with a Child mode, SMS intelligent identification, Global Eye, dual app function, and new multi-screen function.
When Vivo held a conference on November 16 we were informed the company is going to strengthen two important features of its X and Xplay series handsets – Camera and Music. This simply means all the forthcoming models from these two lines will provide high quality camera and music experience. Agree these can take the Vivo X and Vivo Xplay flagships a step further.
The enhancements made in the Vivo Xplay6 camera are unbelievable, especially this refers to the night shooting. The Vivo Xplay6 sports a dual camera at 12MP + 5MP. The 5MP lens is responsible only for DOF (depth of field), while the rest of a photo is captured via the 12MP lens. This camera is packed with a Sony IMX362 sensor with the unit pixel size up to 1.4?m making it great when taking night photos. It also comes with an f/1.7 large aperture, which greatly increases the amount of light.
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HDR is turned off.
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HDR is turned on.
The Sony IMX362 sensor supports 2PD all-pixel dual-core focus advanced technology used in the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV. It has at least two advantages – it focuses faster and it increases the amount of light. The sensors are divided into two and each of them works independently. Once they capture a photo, the camera app calculates the distance between the shooter and the object comparing differences between those two independent images. Obviously, this is one of the fastest cameras in the globe at 0.03s focusing speed.
The Vivo Xplay6 camera also supports multi-axis OIS (Optical Image Stabilization). I guess you understand we are dealing with a cameraphone, therefore it’s normal to see a dual-led (dual-tone) on the rear panel next to the camera. At last, the Vivo Xplay6 is capable of recording 4K video at 30fps.
Enjoy other samples of the Vivo Xplay6 camera:
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Even when taking into account the front camera the Vivo Xplay6 is capable of fighting against the best selfie-centric smartphones like the Oppo R9s and iNew Pandora R9. It comes with a 16MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture. There are also a self-timer and low-light self-timer options.
Here are Vivo Xplay6 camera app interface photos:
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The next enhancement refers to the HiFi. The Vivo Xplay6 comes with an ES9038Q2M independent DAC (digital to analogue converter) also equipped with a dual-time clock oscillator.
It’s worthy to mention QQMusic is the main partner of Xplay6 in terms of audio experience. So you can create your own QQ library to listen to better quality music such as FLAC. This feature is more than necessary, because this phone has no memory expansion capability, and it’s not recommended to use the 128GB memory for storing music.
Such a beast requires the way larger battery than the one at 3600mAh capacity found on the previous version. Fortunately, the Vivo Xplay6 sports a 4080mAh li-on battery powered with dual-engine quick charging technology aka PumpExpress+.
It takes up to 128 minutes to charge the phone fully, while it takes only 17 minutes to charge from 0$ to 20%. 45% is charged in only 40 minutes. So agree this is one of the most attractive quick charging technologies available in the market – it’s even faster than Quick Charge 3.0.
On the opposite, the Vivo Xplay6 will discharge completely in a day and half.
This handset is also great in terms of connectivity, as it comes with dual SIM card slots and both of them support 4G LTE network. Plus, the micro USB port supports OTG.
Obviously, the Vivo Xplay6 is the best phone have ever seen. It’s difficult not to agree with this statement, and though there are the iPhone 7, Samsung Galaxy7 Edge, Xiaomi Mi Note 2 or the Xiaomi Mi MIX, none of them has gathered all the…
