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Almost every other Chinese smartphone maker has jumped onto the “notch” bandwagon, and the latest participant is VIVO. Their next selfie-centric smartphone, the vivo V9, has been revealed ahead of its supposed launch that’s happening at the end of this month. This will succeed the vivo V7/V7+, and it is a major step up in both display and hardware.

Over at the front, the vivo V9 is said to feature a 6″ 18:9 AMOLED display that pushes 2160×1080 pixels resolution. Instead of an entry-level Snapdragon processor, word has it that the V9 will get a more powerful Snapdragon 660 unit that’s mated to 4GB of RAM and has 64GB of expandable storage. It does look like its other cousin, the OPPO R15.

As usual, it will run in Vivo's own custom FunTouch OS 4.0 skin that’s said to be based on Android 8.0 Oreo and it has a modest 3,250mAh battery. The device is expected to be priced at 4,999,999IDR which is about RM1,363 is converted directly. That’s quite cheap considering the current vivo V7+ which had an HD+ 720p display and an entry-level Snapdragon 450 processor was launched locally at RM1,499.

vivo is still positioning this phone as a selfie-centric smartphone and it carries a 24MP front-facing camera. Over at the rear, it has a dual-camera system that’s positioned vertically on the top left corner. It gets a primary 12MP main camera and a secondary 8MP shooter. There’s no in-display fingerprint sensor but you can unlock quickly with its rear-mounted unit.

Unofficial preliminary specifications

NETWORK Technology
GSM / HSPA / LTE
LAUNCH Announced Not announced yet
Status Rumored
BODY Dimensions -
Weight -
Build Front glass, aluminum body
SIM Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by)
DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 5.9 inches, 86.6 cm2
Resolution 720 x 1528 pixels (~286 ppi density)
Multitouch Yes
- Funtouch OS
PLATFORM OS Android 8.0 (Oreo)
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon
CPU Octa-core Cortex-A53
GPU Adreno
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot)
Internal 64 GB, 6 GB RAM or 32 GB, 4 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary Dual: 16 MP, phase detection autofocus, LED flash
Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama
Video 1080p@30fps
Secondary 24 MP
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
Radio FM radio, recording
USB microUSB 2.0, USB On-The-Go
FEATURES Sensors Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, proximity, compass
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email
Browser HTML5
- MP4/H.264 player

• MP3/WAV/eAAC+/FLAC player
• Document viewer
• Photo/video editor
  BATTERY Non-removable Li-Ion 3300 mAh battery
  MISC Colors Gold, Black
  Price About 300 EUR