vivo v11 review: the notch evolution gets the china speed treatment

About a year ago, Apple introduced the iPhone X, followed by notch, which led to a huge shift in smartphone design throughout 2018.
With the exception of Samsung devices, almost all major smartphones follow Apple\'s tips and use the notch design to achieve as many borders as possible
Reduce the appearance as much as possible without sacrificing the position of the selfie camera.
Although the gap is a very practical design --
Especially for Android, it always has spaces in the middle at the top of the status bar
In the end, this is still the design compromise that mobile phone designers want to eliminate.
Apple is certainly exploring alternatives, but it will not implement them until the underlying technology is practical and easy to use.
So we have at least a few years left. less iPhone.
Chinese mobile phone manufacturers? They are —
Good or bad.
More willing to try radical ideas.
They iterate at lightning speed.
Take a look at Vivo in 2018: The company launched v9 and X21, both of which have iPhone X-
Like notch, though a little small.
A few months later, the company tried to remove the gap completely instead of using pop-
The mechanism for installing a selfie camera in Nex.
Now, in less than three months after the release, Vivo released V11 and iterated the notch-again-
A much smaller one.
So if you keep your score at home within a calendar year, Vivointroduced, then eliminated, and then re-
The gap was introduced in a new shape.
I and many others have written about \"China speed\", describing the crazy and prolific speed at which Chinese manufacturers produce products, which is almost a good example.
Apple\'s grade will not be updated, scaled down or removed for at least a year or two.
The level of the Vivo changes every three months on average.
Vivo is able to narrow the v11 notch cut area by moving the headphones previously located within the V9/x21 notch to the top of the phone without creating an obvious baffle.
Now, the gap in the v11 only needs to hold a selfie camera, though up to 25-
There\'s a million pixels in that place.
Except for smaller cuts and slightly larger displays (6. 4 inches now)
, Everything else about the phone hardware is very similar to the x1.
This means the same Snapdragon 660 mobile processor with 6 gb RAM configuration, same rear camera settings-
Up, embed the same fingerprint reader under the display, usually in-hand feel.
It\'s not a bad thing because these phones still offer some of the best screensto-
Physical ratio in the market.
Consider this:
The much-loved Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has the same screen size as the Vivo V11, but it\'s significantly larger and harder to keep for longer periods of time.
Vivo has not announced the pricing of V11 yet, but in the medium term
Obviously, this is not the flagship product, but the plastic back of the Qualcomm chipset and the phone.
I estimate the price is between $400 and $450.
The quality of the building is not bad, but the plastic back does make it in-
Even middle than the opponent\'s hand.
Layered devices such as Xiaomi Mi 8 or OnePlus 6. A. I.
It is commendable that Smarts for Real launched the x21 clone this time, which can be called a day with only a smaller gap.
V11 brought some software updates, improved performance and new features.
The latter is almost entirely. I.
Help to adjust photography.
Vivo has been playing with its. I.
Camera features since V9, I thought it was a gimmick at the time.
But Vivo improved its. I.
The features of v11 can be very useful in a year.
The most striking improvement is in. I. -
Electric beautification mode, can now make realistic digital beauty changes to the user\'s face.
These beautification modes
It can make the user\'s face thinner or his eyes bigger.
For many years, Vivo has been in smartphones in China and South Korea, but the implementation of Vivo provides more options, for example, the bridge of the nose loses weight, the lips are thickened, or the distance between the eyes is increased/reduced.
Check out the videos and photos below to see how it works, and the landscaping looks very creepy when applied to max, but when used in moderation, the effect looks realistic.
However, I am not the target audience, and andVivo\'s market research clearly shows that these features are desirable for certain users.
There is no doubt that this feature will be welcomed by them. Another A. I.
The feature is scene recognition, and V11 can recognize objects faster and more accurately than Samsung\'s Galaxy Note 9.
It\'s still slower than Huawei\'s flagship phone because it can recognize objects almost instantly, but for mid-range phones
A better device than Samsung is impressive.
Effect After applied to image
Although scene recognition is subtle, it works very well.
The phone can also judge when to shoot in challenging backlight situations and adjust the settings accordingly to find the right balance without prompting the user to manually adjust the exposure.
In the sample below, I took two pictures in the hotel room facing the window, and the Vivo V11 was more balanced than the iPhone X.
In fact, the overall performance of this camera is very strongtier device.
The daytime lens is definitely comparable to the lens of the top Apple/Samsung phone, and the bokeh Portrait lens has excellent edge detection capabilities.
In the evening, the price of v11 was really revealed.
The camera is unable to capture the image in case of insufficient light, nor is it able to capture the Samsung or Huawei flagship.
IOS-old school plug
Inspiration software. . .
One thing to note for potential buyers: Vivo V11 still uses micro
USB charging instead of USB-C.
I understand the decision behind this: the goal of Vivo is this medium term
The first-line mobile phone in the Southeast Asian market, the consumption capacity is lower than the United States and other markets. S.
So people in Southeast Asia may still be on old microcomputers. USB system.
But USB is used for one plus, Xiaomi and honor devices-
They sell well in places like India and Vietnam.
I think it\'s a bit presumptuous to assume that the less developed market still uses the old charging technology. The micro-
It turns out that the USB port is a big hassle for me.
When I was traveling to Berlin recently, I realized that I forgot to bring a micro
Because all my devices and accessories use USB-
C or Apple Lightning (
Technology insiders hope that one day USB-
C is the default cable for each device, but Apple stubbornly refuses to give up lightning to stop this).
So, I can\'t charge the V11 in a few days.
But the good news is that the phone lasted three days with plenty of light.
The battery life of Chinese phones is almost always good, but Vivo seems to be one of Huawei\'s best phones.
Even with heavy use, the 3,400 mAh phone can definitely keep the phone running all day.
Part of the reason why batteries last so long on Chinese phones is that Chinese manufacturers tend to be heavier than the usual battery optimization, because this optimization will quickly turn off background applications.
However, I am pleased to report that, unlike Oppo Find X or Vivo Nex, Vivo V11 did not break my push notification.
Vivo\'s software seems to find the middle ground that limits the background process without killing them completely.
The rest of the software is the standard in-vivo fare.
I have on the record expressed my displeasure with Vivo\'s UI, which is deeply inspired by Apple iOS, including the \"control center\" triggered by sliding up from the bottom of the display \"(
Like an old iphone).
Even worse, there is no search option in the settings.
I can\'t count the number of times I want to change quickly in settings, but can\'t find the correct menu item.
In this case, the user is forced to manually scroll through various different options to find the correct toggle or button.
A process that takes five seconds on another device, and it can take 30 seconds on an in-vivo device.
At least Vivo allows us to use the custom transmitter freely.
After slapping the Nova Launcher at the top, the software experience gets better.
This is not to say that Vivo\'s software is bad.
I like that it allows me to double click on the screen to turn the monitor on or off.
There is a useful
Easy-to-access manual mode (
Notes for OnePlus and Apple: Please give us-
Hand mode, especially when your phone is getting bigger and bigger)
, And always shows that third party notifications are actually displayed now.
A bit expensive, but worth it for the right market. It is difficult to give the final recommendation of V11 without knowing the price.
As I wrote before, I think Vivo will be priced at $400ish range.
Within this price range, a Snapdragon 660-
Power devices are a bit expensive as Xiaomi offers Snapdragon 845 devices for $300, but the V11 also has a built-in device
Showing the fingerprint reader, which is still impressive, Samsung and others will definitely start using the new technology in 2019.
Also, in any case, Vivo never felt the need to sell phones cheaply for it.
After all, vivo and Oppo\'s aggressive \"we will sell mobile phones in stores but lead Xiaomi in market share\" strategy in second and third tier cities in China.
Vivo will launch V11 in Thailand and India this month and will then expand to the usual Southeast Asian market.
It will most likely not be listed in Hong Kong or China as these markets would rather spend more money to get a strong Vivo Nex.
I think those who decide to buy V11 will be happy.
This is a very good one-
But not very good.
With some surprising legal callsI. smarts.