Skip to main content

Bezel-less Vivo V9 has seen a million faces to help you take the perfect selfie

We’ve recently come to know Chinese smartphone maker Vivo through its cool technology, including the first working in-display fingerprint sensor on a phone, the stunning Apex concept device with its pop-up selfie cam, and a growing interest in photo-enhancing artificial intelligence. It’s now reminding us it makes phones we can actually buy with the announcement of the Vivo V9, a flagship phone with a quite astonishing 90 percent screen-to-body ratio, and a selfie cam with beauty-enhancing AI trained on a million faces.

Before we go much further, yes, the screen has a notch. The controversial design feature is being adopted by many players in the mobile industry, and is frustrating some due to its limited functionality. On the Vivo V9 it takes a small chunk out of the 6.3-inch screen, which has an unusual 19:9 aspect ratio, and incredibly slim 1.75mm side bezels. This is 19 percent smaller than the bezels seen on the last phone we tried out from Vivo; the Vivo V7 Plus. The phone’s body is curved to fit in your hand and comes in either pearl black or gold colors.

The notch isn’t the only V9 design feature we’re seeing on other phones. On the back is a dual-lens camera that’s vertically stacked, just like the iPhone X and a growing number of other devices. It’s made up of 16 megapixel and 5 megapixel lenses, and exploits an AI-based algorithm for accurate bokeh-style shots, where the subject is precisely targeted to reduce poor edge blur. However, it’s on the 24-megapixel selfie camera that Vivo’s AI works hardest. The algorithm has been trained using a million facial feature images, and will apply the right beauty settings for your age, gender, skin tone, and texture. It goes on to learn from your customizations, getting better the more you use it.

Additionally (and stop us if you’ve heard this before too) the AI assists in creating interesting portrait shots with different lighting effects, including studio lighting, monochrome backgrounds, natural lighting, and stereo lighting. Finally, Vivo has added in some augmented reality stickers for the selfie mode too. Vivo has always embraced the selfie, and is definitely not slowing down on the V9. The AI is also used outside the camera, and in a similar way to Huawei, where it helps speed up frequently used apps and optimizing the operating system.

The V9 has an updated face unlock feature, which can also be used to secure files and photos. We’re waiting for all of the final technical specifications, but do know a Snapdragon 626 processor with 4GB of RAM provides the power, and there is 64GB of storage space inside. Android 8.1 Oreo is installed, which we’d expect to be overlaid with Vivo’s own user interface. The price and availability aren’t known yet either; but we doubt the V9 will be sold officially outside China and Vivo’s other markets. If you’re keen, you’ll be able to pick one up from an importer.

Editors' Recommendations

Andy Boxall
Senior Mobile Writer
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
Everything you need to know about the Huawei Honor V9
It's official: Huawei unveils Honor V9, a phone with flagship specs, midrange price
huawei honor note 9 news v9 7

After multiple leaks, the Huawei Honor V9 is finally official. Huawei unveiled the device on Tuesday, February 21, and also confirmed that it will indeed be headed to China.

The phone is most certainly an exciting release. Sure, it's not the best phone in the world, but it certainly could be close to the best for the price. In fact, the phone offers what are almost flagship specs for the price of a midrange phone. Unfortunately we don't yet know when it will be available in the U.S.

Read more
Vivo V5's dual front-facing cameras hope to make selfie lovers very happy
vivo v5 plus news 2 png

In recent times, smartphone manufacturers have adopted the trend of dual main cameras. Chinese manufacturer Vivo is no different, except it adopts this trend for the front of its V5 Plus selfie-centric phone.

Aesthetically, the V5 Plus' antenna design on the back echoes that of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus, though that is where the similarities end. Whereas the larger iPhone 7 Plus features two main cameras, the V5 Plus includes 20-megapixel and 8MP dual front-facing cameras. This makes Vivo's phone one of only a handful to feature two selfie cameras, which work together to deliver bokeh effects for your self-portraits.

Read more
Of course you can buy a phone with a dual-lens selfie camera now
vivo v5 plus news

The dual-lens camera craze seen on seemingly every new smartphone recently, from the iPhone 7 Plus to the Honor 6X, has shifted from only being present on the back of your phone, to the front. You know what that means? Bokeh-effect selfies, without the need to ask one of your friends to take the picture for you.

We’re being introduced to this feature by Chinese manufacturer Vivo and its new V5 Plus smartphone. Above the display is a 20-megapixel — yes, really — main camera and a secondary 8-megapixel camera, both with f/2.0 apertures. Used together, they will keep the main subject of your photo in focus and blur out the background, just like pictures taken by professional photographers with expensive cameras.

Read more