Vivo's V9 is a notched Android with AI smarts
China's Vivo has launched a new flagship phone, and of course it has the iPhone X-style notch. But beneath the inspired-by-Apple design (even the phone's rear side looks a lot like the iPhone X) there's some interesting tech.
First, the phone's front camera, hidden in the notch, is a 24-megapixel shooter, which is still uncommon for selfie cameras (although Vivo has put a selfie camera that powerful into its phones before). Furthermore, the cameras on both sides are assisted with Vivo's AI tech, which recognizes certain scenes and objects and adjusts the settings accordingly.
Let's face it, even the AI tech isn't exactly new -- we've seen it on Huawei and LG's phones before -- but combined with a selfie camera that powerful, it should at least result in some awesome selfie shots. The rear camera is a 16/5-megapixel combo that can take bokeh-style photos.
The company says the phone's AI heart also makes it smarter, with apps launching 20% faster as the phone learns your habits and preferences.
Vivo V9 has a 6.3-inch, 1,080x2,280 pixel LCD display with a very slim lower bezel (though not as slim as on the iPhone X), resulting in a 90% screen-to-body ratio.
The rest of the spec sheet shows where Vivo's been saving on production costs: A Qualcomm Snapdragon 626 octa-core processor, 3,260mAh battery, 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. Oh, and it has a headphone jack.
The phone comes in black and gold; pricing and availability will be announced separately for each market.
Topics Android
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
