Vivo X21: First Phone with an In-screen Fingerprint Sensor
Vivo recently launched Vivo X21 and X21 UD smartphones in China in the month of March. There was just one difference between X21 and X21 UD, that is the inclusion of the in-display fingerprint sensor in Vivo X21 UD. Last month, Vivo made X21 UD available in a few Southeast Asian markets. The company is only launching one of the variant in India, which is the one with the in-device fingerprint sensor and it’s going to call it Vivo X21. The fingerprint sensor built on the screen was considered to be the key feature of Vivo X21 UD and gathered a lot of publicity for it.
No bezels, no buttons
The entire screen at the front, that is, no bezel, no buttons and no notch, is considered to be an ideal vision of the perfect smartphone by a lot of developers out there. That’s a lot of developers at companies like LG have been thinking of. It is the goal that brands like Apple and Samsung are certainly aiming for with their new iPhone X and Galaxy S8 respectively.
Tried by both Apple and Samsung
In 2016, both Apple and Samsung tried to place the fingerprint scanner underneath the display for their respective 2017 flagships. But neither of them could deliver that. These were just rumors that made rounds. After that, Apple even claimed that they didn’t even consider the idea of doing this and that they were committed to adding face lock in their new phone from day one. But for Samsung, the tech clearly wasn’t developed in time.
No bezel, no button
Until now, the fingerprint sensor was always housed either on a bottom bezel or the back of the phone. But now it’s going to be placed underneath an OLED display panel, that is the screen of the phone. It only works on the OLED panel and not an LCD panel because it is much thicker and also requires a backlight. Here it will scan your fingerprints using the tiny gaps in between each individual pixel on display.
Same process as any other phone
The process of registering your fingerprint on the X21 and creating a fingerprint lock is the same as on any other phone. After being registered, the X21’s screen shows a circular area that designates where the sensor is placed underneath the screen. The scanning process on the Vivo X21 UD takes about half a second to recognize your fingerprint and unlock your phone.
3D Glass body
The phone has impressive features such as a 6.28-inch Full HD + Super AMOLED display, which has a resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels. The phone is in line with the latest trend of smartphones sporting notches, ever since the iPhone X’s launch, and houses a sensor and front camera in its notch. Vivo has also maximised the display size by maintaining a 90.3% screen to body ratio. The phone also comes with a 3D glass body.
Available in three colors
The device is powered by the Snapdragon 660 SoC. It also comes with a 660 AIE AI chip. The phone will run on the latest version of Android Oreo 8.1. It will also feature the Funtouch OS 4.0. This feature also consists of AI features. The has two variants – 3GB RAM with 64GB of internal storage and 6GB RAM with 128GB of Internal storage. At the time of release in China, the phone had three color variants – Ruby Red, Black and Aurora White. We can expect the same three color variants globally.
Facewake 2.0
Finally, the device will feature dual rear cameras. 12MP and 5MP along with a Samsung 2L9 sensor. The front camera features a 12MP selfie camera. It is fitted with Facewake 2.0 technology. It is also used to unlock the device using face recognition. The 6GB RAM version is currently priced at SGD 598 in Singapore. It has been on sale since the 5th of May. The phone is expected to launch in India in a few months.
Indian variant won’t support Jovi
It is backed by a 3,200mAh non-removable battery. The phone also supports fast charging technology. In China, the company also introduced the in-house AI assistant called Jovi. But this AI assistant will not be included in the Indian variants. Along with the fingerprint sensor, the Vivo X21 will also come with face unlock technology.
Dhruvil is a Writer & Marketeer for Nimblechapps, joined in December 2014, based out of Sydney, Australia. He has worked briefly as a Branding and Digital Marketing Manager before moving to Australia. At Nimblechapps, he worked on Social Media Marketing, Branding, Email Marketing and Blogging. Dhruvil studies Business at University of Western Sydney, and also handles Operations for the company in Australia.