Oppo has launched two devices in November last year, one was their new flagship handset, the N3, and the other one was the thinnest smartphone in the world at the time, the R5. The Oppo R5 is 4.85mm thick and it was hard to believe someone can beat that anytime soon, well, for better or for worse, Vivo did. The company has launched their X5 Max handset in December which is 0.10mm thinner than the Oppo R5, which makes it 4.75mm thin. I’d argue that there are no benefits to devices that thin, mainly because of their battery life and the fact that they’re awkward to hold, but I guess there are those of you who appreciate sub-5mm devices. Well, Vivo has just released yet another handset in the “X5” series, though this one is somewhat thicker than the X5 Max.
This Chinese smartphone manufacturer has just released the Vivo X5S, a rather solid mid-ranger. This smartphone features a 5-inch 720p (1280 x 720) display along with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable internal storage. The phone is powered by MediaTek’s MT6592 SoC, a 64-bit octa-core chip and it ships with a 2,250mAh battery on the inside. This is a dual-SIM device (dual standby or SIM card + TF card) and it comes with the usual array of sensors. 13-megapixel camera is located on the back of this device, and a 5-megapixel snapper is available on its front side. This device is still very thin, it’s only 6.3mm thick and it will be available in two color options, gold and white. This phone features an alloy shell design and the back still looks pretty much the same as on the X5 Max, really nice overall. This phone also features a CS4398 DAC and Yamaha YSS205, which are here to enhance the sound quality.
This handset will cost 2,998 Yuan ($483) in China and it’s available for purchase starting today. I’d argue there are more affordable devices in China for this amount of money, just look at Xiaomi and Meizu for example. This is a solid device, but I do believe Vivo went a bit too far with its pricing. What are your thoughts here, do you like this handset?