Vivo

For the longest time, Chinese phone makers have been accused of aping Apple's design, forcing Android to look more like iOS in order to appeal to an iPhone-crazed market. Recently, the push for "cleaner" Android experiences have made companies like Xiaomi, OPPO, and Vivo turn around and advertise their own spin on a near-stock experience. Just when you thought things have settled down, Vivo reveals its next custom Android skin, OriginOS, and, if you didn't know any better, you might even think it's a completely different OS entirely.

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Smartphones have come a long way in just the past few years alone, rapidly changing in design as well as introducing new, sometimes outlandish features. Almost every smartphone has a gimmick these days in an attempt to stand out from the crowd and it gets harder to think of novel ways to differentiate one model from the next. That's true even for "mid-range" tier phones like Vivo's latest selfie-centric phone, the Vivo V20. But does it have enough to actually make it worth noticing? We dig in to find out.

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Vivo is not one to shy from taking big risks in introducing never before seen features in phones, from the first deca-core phones to the first popup cameras to an all-glass seamless phone. It is admittedly the first to introduce the world to a motorized pop-up camera and it is now taking that one step further with a popup camera that you can actually remove and use like a remote camera you can control with the phone.

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Chinese company Vivo is showing off a new smartphone prototype that features a unique color-changing glass back, one that dramatically shifts through different hues seemingly by magic. A video of the device in action was shared directly by Vivo on Chinese social media, with the company explaining that while the underlying technology behind the design is complex, the final result is simple and 'gorgeous.'

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Vivo made a big splash when it launched its new Vivo X50 Pro to global markets, giving particular attention to its unique gimbal system, a first in smartphones. That, however, wasn't Vivo's top of the line phone, a distinction that belongs to the Vivo X50 Pro+. It had none of the non-Plus model's compromises but also none of its special tricks. How does that make the Vivo X50 Pro+ fare in the end? We take a deep dive to bring you that answer.

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Vivo has made a number of its smartphones available to markets outside of China but it is making a big splash with the Vivo X50 series. As the first of its camera-centric X family, Vivo wants to put its best foot forward, showcasing technology no one, not even the likes of Samsung or Apple, has seen in a smartphone before. It has indeed done so with the Vivo X50 Pro and its unique Gimbal Camera System. That isn't, however, the full picture, no pun intended, and cameras alone do not a smartphone make. We take a deeper and longer look at the Vivo X50 Pro to see if it has more to say beyond what some may call a gimmick.

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Smartphone camera technology still has some scope for improvements when it comes to achieving DSLR camera-like photography. Lately, we saw the periscope architecture for phones which allows for flat-plane movement of the lens using an L-shaped tunnel design. This brings hyper-zoom levels to the smartphone cameras which have limitations in the zoom lens movement. Huawei brought this innovative camera technology to the P30 Pro last year and then other manufacturers like Samsung followed the footsteps with their flagship Galaxy S20 Ultra.

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Slowly but surely, Vivo has been expanding not just its reputation but also its reach beyond the usual markets it serves. The Vivo NEX and Vivo APEX concept phones have been turning heads with innovative features and daring designs and its Vivo V series has been meeting the needs of selfie lovers everywhere. Now the company is launching the Vivo X50 and Vivo X50 Pro in international markets, the first of its line to have global reach, with an important mandate: deliver industry-leading professional photography to mobile.

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While Samsung and Huawei and soon LG will be fighting over flexible displays, some are going to race for the fastest charging technologies. Xiaomi fired the opening show last year but bowed out for a while, claiming that 100-watt or higher charging is not yet ready from prime time. OPPO, however, seems to beg to differ and now even Vivo, via its iQOO brand, will be tempting fate with a 120W Super FlashCharge that it says will be ready for the public next month.

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Smartphone cameras have become truly amazing and sometimes even excessive in the past few years but there are still a few things they grapple with due to constrained spaces. It's really just a matter of time before those problems are solved, like how periscope-style lenses have addressed zooming in smartphones. With its new X50 series, Vivo is tackling the other side of the mobile photography puzzle, bringing a miniaturized gimbal to make short work of shaky hands and moving vehicles.

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Almost everything is going wireless these days on mobile, from wireless earphones to wireless charging. One thing that has been around for so long but has remained quite inconvenient is wireless file transfer. Especially these days when people need to keep their distance, transferring files to a person standing next to you needs to be fast and reliable. Some Chinese manufacturers have banded together to make that a standard among their phones and now OnePlus has joined that club.

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Smartphone camera technology has come a long way. We now have sensors that reach 108 million pixels and lenses that can be crammed like a periscope inside a thin body. The one thing that these cameras have trouble with, aside from low-light performance, is stabilization. Optical Image Stabilization, which still isn't common on all camera modules, can only go so far but Vivo might have a rather novel if not unorthodox solution that involves putting a gimbal inside its upcoming Vivo X50.

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