Vivo showed off the Apex 2019 concept phone which has no ports or buttons. Instead, it uses capacitive buttons and pressure sensors for volume and power functions as well as a magnetic connector for charging and data transfer.
Highlights:
- Vivo's Apex 2019 is a concept phone with no buttons or ports.
- It uses the display to produce sound.
- It replaces the power and volume buttons with capacitive buttons and pressure sensors.
We first heard about a port-less smartphone when Meizu announced the Meizu Zero. Turns out, that one was just a publicity stunt by the company and no such device is being made by Meizu. However, Vivo did what Meizu was just joking about. In January, Vivo first revealed the Apex 2019 Concept smartphone which was due to show up at MWC 2019. However, it did not make it to the event. The company has now taken the covers off of the port-less smartphone with no buttons at an event in Hong Kong and the first reactions from those who got to see it are pretty positive.
The Vivo Apex 2019 Concept has a unibody design. It is made of single piece of glass. Since there are no ports, the phone uses a magnetic connector for charging and transferring data. They could have done with fast wireless charging, but that’s not a route Vivo took for this device.
The OLED display of the Vivo Apex 2019 Concept features a full-screen in-display fingerprint sensor, which means one can unlock the phone by pressing their fingers practically anywhere on the display. Current smartphones with in-display fingerprint sensors are restricted to small areas at the bottom of the screen, where the in-display sensor is usually placed. Multiple reports from tech media that saw the device suggest that the fingerprint unlocking tech on the Apex 2019 Concept worked well and without any hitches.
There are no volume buttons or power button on the Vivo Apex 2019 Concept, so instead, it uses a combination of pressure sensors, capacitive buttons and a linear motor. Vivo calls this technology Touch Sense. Vivo has indicated the power button on the phone with a dotted area on the right side. Virtual buttons on the screen also indicate the location of the embedded volume controls on the device.
Another cool feature of the Vivo Apex 2019 Concept is its Screen SoundCasting technology which vibrates the display to produce sound. Reports note that the front-firing sound is loud and clear and the implementation is pretty good.
Other specs of the smartphone include – a Snapdragon 855 SoC, 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The Vivo Apex 2019 Concept is also a 5G-ready device. It will never be launched commercially, but is proof that Vivo can innovate on all these technologies for its upcoming smartphones.
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Adamya Sharma
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