The Vivo NEX S features one of the most exciting designs of any smartphone in 2018, with a cutting-edge in-glass fingerprint scanner, a “screen soundcasting” earpiece, and of course, that hallmark pop-up front-facing camera since there’s no bezel to place such a thing into. While the front-facing camera’s 8-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 lens sound pretty commonplace, the mechanism that powers it is anything but common, and Vivo hopes you’ll think the results fit that unique bill as well. This larger dedicated space means Vivo has placed a higher quality sensor in here than many other smartphones, with front-facing pictures that feature some incredible dynamic range and good overall detail.
The camera situation on the back is also a bit unique, as the dual-camera setup isn’t using your typical layout either. While it’s aligned vertically and visually looks similar to the iPhone X and many other phones with this type of configuration, that secondary camera is actually just a depth sensor, with 5-megapixel resolution, instead of a full-fledged secondary camera. As such, there is no optical zoom on the Vivo NEX S, but the portrait mode on this camera works far quicker than most others and even works while the subject is in motion, or even in poorly lit conditions. Many other phones won’t allow portrait shots on moving subjects or in darker conditions, which gives Vivo the advantage in pure ability. It’s also able to adjust the f-stop on the fly via a virtual algorithm, from f/16 all the way down to f/0.95 for extra crisp foreground elements.
Then there’s the camera quality for that main 12-megapixel rear camera itself. Featuring 1.4-micron sized pixels and an f/1.8 lens, the Vivo NEX S is ready to take some stunning photos, no matter the lighting conditions. Vivo even has an interesting 24-megapixel mode where the camera interpolates extra data from that 12-megapixel sensor and transforms it into a 24-megapixel image, similar to the 50-megapixel modes we used to see on a number of different smartphones in the past, and a clear way to compete with the likes of Huawei with the 40-megapixel sensor on the P20 Pro.. Check out our video review below and don’t forget to subscribe to us on YouTube!