On April 11, the thousands of calls for vivo X Fold folding screen mobile phone came. Why is it called a thousand calls? In the domestic mainstream mobile phone player Huami OV, the other three, although their respective directions are slightly different, but also early launched their folding screen products, and as one of the most important mobile phone players in China vivo, the market on the market about when it will launch a folding screen voice is endless. According to the time, vivo is the latest one.
There is earlier news about the vivo folding screen can actually be traced back to four years ago, Vivo executive vice president Hu Baishan said in an interview with the media that the company has been working on the research and development of folding screen mobile phones. However, at that time, the application of folding screen technology in the market gave a slightly "negative" view: they believed that 2018 was not the best time for folding screen to be launched.
In the era when everything was catching up, it was not easy to have such a strategic determination, but it did verify vivo's accurate and keen judgment of the market afterwards. Folding screen after a long period of 2019 to 2021 continuous progress, continuous flowering, finally ushered in the market demand, scene application and consumer mind and other aspects of the full outbreak. Stepping on the timing, vivo began to enter the folding screen market.
Technically, the folding screen has indeed undergone some changes: the folding mechanical structure is refined, the more mature OLED screen and the application of technologies such as covering UTT glass have also made the product achieve a more perfect effect, which is conducive to promoting the popularity of consumers.
Blue Factory, which has always won the trust of consumers by accumulating thick and thin hair and steady work, has finally launched a flagship folding screen mobile phone that is "truly designed for consumers" - vivo X Fold.
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In our view, vivo X Fold is actually a product of the folding screen 2.0 era in a broad sense. Most of the previous generation of products carry the labels or responsibilities of "concept", "showmanship", "pathfinder", but the vivo X Fold products under the market timing are really aimed at consumer pain points and popular use - so vivo X Fold is finally no longer a "vase", it has a better performance of the flexible screen, long-term use of the lower crease performance is better; its hinge technology is more sophisticated, and the premise of sturdiness also ensures better performance of the screen; folding screen users are often flagship mobile phone customers, So from hinges to chips to specific functional experiences, and even product design, it is a product that serves "honored vivo customers".
Fold screen 2.0
With the several folding screens we started before, Huawei's honor comes from the customer base covered by the brand, Samsung's honor comes from the stacking of cutting-edge technology, in my understanding, the products of the blue factory have always relied on the duty to serve the quality and demand through technology, so the vivo X Fold does give people a different feeling.
I know that many people buy this kind of product more to see the feeling of the brand, but behind the generation of products, technological progress often improves the performance of the product itself more obviously.
First, let's popularize the technical application of the folding screen 2.0 era.
In the folding screen products of the vivo X Fold era, the progress of technology is highlighted, it has gathered a number of industry-leading technologies, and has fully surpassed the previous folding screen products in terms of screen crease optimization and hinge durability.
The bending screen involves the most core technical component of the folding screen mobile phone, the hinge. To a certain extent, folding screen mobile phones need to meet the functions of durability, dustproof, waterproof and other functions on the basis of realizing deformation. In order to make the screen folded to have a better fit, reduce the gap, the hinge itself should be more light and soft performance characteristics, and considering the folding screen internal related circuits, folding wear and heat dissipation and other requirements, the importance of the hinge is self-evident.
Image source: Image quoted from CINNOResearch
However, this structure is often composed of hundreds of precision parts, and the use and processing of precision parts in various schemes are also various, because mechanical structures such as hinges affect the opening and closing of folding screen mobile phones and crease control, and the current mainstream folding screen hinges are divided into U-shaped hinges and water drop hinges.
In order to achieve lightweighting and ensure high-strength bending, vivo X Fold uses six aviation materials such as liquid metal zirconium alloy, F53 aviation high-strength steel, and hand-torn steel sheet in the 174 parts of the hinge. According to the inspection of the agency Rheinland, the vivo X Fold screen can withstand 300,000 folding tests, far exceeding the industry's existing 200,000 bending limit standards, enough for the general consumer to use worry-free during the replacement cycle.
The hinge service folds the structure, but the final service is the bending performance of the screen.
In terms of structure, Vivo still chooses the water drop hinge design, so that the crease optimization of vivo X Fold has a bottom performance.
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In order to optimize the screen crease to the greatest extent, Vivo also added a zirconium alloy floating plate.
Folding screens often appear for two reasons - on the one hand, due to the long period of closed bending in the center of the screen, there will be inertia of bending and depression when unfolding. And the screen has a certain space below and below the flat and lacks a support structure, so there is a downward depression range. In addition, in the process of opening the folding screen every time, the position of the door panel on both sides of the hinge that meets the screen will also produce an upward force on the screen, so that the corresponding position will produce a slight bulge, showing an "M" form crease.
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The design significance of the zirconium alloy floating plate is highlighted here. In the center of the vivo X Fold hinge, there is a one-piece zirconium alloy keel, and above the keel, there is an integrated zirconium alloy floating plate - when the phone is opened, the floating plate rises, gently "holding up" the central crease of the screen, and the screen is flatter. When the phone is closed, the floating midplane falls, providing sufficient space for the screen to bend, protecting the screen, and making the phone more durable.
Image source: vivo official
In addition, the first generation of folding screens is the most "spit" is the performance of creases, they basically use CPI (colorless polyimide) plastic materials, and follow-up with the upstream manufacturers Samsung in the screen glass cover, UTG (ultra-thin flexible glass) has become the flagship standard, the latter with Samsung's follow-up open UTG related technology, UTG + water drop hinge has become the standard of today's flagship folding screen.
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Vivo X Fold not only uses UTG super tough glass on the inner screen, which can greatly improve the pressure resistance of the screen when folding under the premise of high light transmission performance, but also achieves a smaller bend radius with hinge optimization. The industry's common teardrop hinge bending radius is 3mm, while the vivo X Fold has the industry's smallest bending radius of 2.3mm (left and right folding).
Tasting play these days of use also try to fold many times and test the crease performance, from the front of the phone, if not deliberately to pay attention, it is indeed difficult to notice the crease on the screen, and the phone with the finger on the screen sliding over, or can slightly perceive the screen after the folding of the fine indentation.
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In fact, after a few days of experience, the smaller bending radius means that the screen is bent less, and the whole machine fits more tightly when it is closed, so in the classic paper clamping link, the larger and heavier vivo X Fold can also hold the micron-level A4 paper steadily.
First of all, an excellent mobile phone, and then a noble folding screen
As the saying goes, the sound when folding the screen and closing the lid is like the closing sound of a luxury car, which is a kind of metaphysics. Vivo X Fold also performs well in "closing the lid", full of noble feelings. But to be honest, maybe because of the lighter application of the middle bone material, I don't like the sound of the left and right covers colliding when the phone is opened, and there is less of a sense of heaviness (/dog head).
The first generation of folding screens, as a person without the concept of me, in fact, more energy is focused on this feeling to create, and less scene needs.
Of course, because the users of the folding screen themselves are lovers of flagship mobile phones, vivo's second-generation folding screen naturally aims at business customers, and has expanded in the application, customizing some more user-friendly functions.
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We got two vivo X Folds, one sunny mountain blue and one sycamore gray. It is necessary for us to start with the box of the mobile phone.......
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Open the upper cover to see the fully open vivo X Fold, the sides of the cover and the bottom box handle using a soft flocking design, flannel also used "stitching" treatment, very detailed, to be honest, it reminds me of the company's last Porsche 992 Alcantara material steering wheel and seat, distinguished and extraordinary.
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However, these are careful thoughts, and the main dish is still the mobile phone body.
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Vivo X Fold inner and outer screen using dual screen 120Hz high brush, built-in 8-inch folding screen, external screen for 6.53-inch micro-curved screen, all for Samsung diamond arrangement and E5 luminous material, to ensure a consistent experience of internal and external screens, two screen switching will not have a sense of separation (/ dog head).
The application of the giant screen also made the mobile phone size to 162.01 * 74.47 * 14.57 ~ 14.91mm (folding), 162.01 * 144.87 * 6.28 ~ 7.40mm (unfolded) The weight reached 310.86g, at this point, the "Moutai" Huawei Mate X2 in the mobile phone weighed about 300g, while the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 3 weighed about 270g, and Vivo became a heavyweight player.
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On the back shell, the sycamore gray version adopts a unique double color block process, and also uses embossed "stitching", the double contrast of visual and tactile, which makes me prefer this "premium gray" version, which is far better than the other Qingshan blue.
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At the top of the back shell is a huge matrix photography module, and at first glance, the ZEISS "Little Blue Label" and "Gold Circle" design are eye-catching enough. I often shake this vivo X Fold in the light, and it feels like a visual treat.
It is worth mentioning that the physical mute slider has been added to the middle frame, which is a design that I like very much.
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Vivo said that the camera module actually refers to the saying that China has had a round sky since ancient times, and the square circle is a symbolic element with beautiful intentions and rich philosophical connotations in Chinese cultural elements, and the inspiration for the design of the vivo X Fold square circle is derived from this.
Specific equipment I listed here (from left to right):
Professional portrait camera 12MP IMX663 | f/1.98
60x OIS periscope ultra-telephoto 5x optical zoom | 60x super zoom | OIS
50MP OIS ultra-large base camera 50MP I GN5 | OIS I f/1.75
48MP 114° Ultra Wide Angle Main Camera 48MP IMX598 114 Degree Ultra Low Distortion Design I f/2.2
In fact, starting from the vivo X50 Pro+ generation, vivo has built a very strong reputation in mobile phone photography, and the follow-up image cooperation with ZEISS also allows us to see that domestic mobile phones are no longer just hardware stacking, but also have the technical strength of color tuning.
As a professional folding flagship, the vivo X Fold is also equipped with ZEISS optical lenses. The full range of lenses is equipped with ZEISS T* coating, which has a strong anti-glare ability and enhances the transmittance of visible light. Among them, the ultra-large bottom main camera adopts the newly designed GN5 sensor, and has a 114 ° ultra-wide angle main camera, periscope ultra-telephoto and professional portrait camera, with a powerful image algorithm matrix - ZEISS natural colors, ZEISS super night scene, ZEISS texture portrait, professional video mode, etc., whether it is still life, scenery, distant or portrait, have reached the flagship level.
In terms of strength, there is not much introduction, directly above the figure:
Image source: Pin play Wang Fei photography
Image source: Pin play Wang Fei photography
Image source: Pin play Wang Fei photography
Image source: Pin play Wang Fei photography
Image source: Pin play Wang Fei photography
Vivo always believes that folding screen mobile phones should not compromise on performance because of changes in form. Therefore, the vivo X Fold is first of all an excellent mobile phone, followed by an excellent folding machine.
In mobile phone photography, it has also brought some new shooting methods: for example, the realization of the opening of the outer screen to help shoot, rear selfie, hover shooting and waist flat framing and other ways to play.
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Usually, when shooting many buildings and products, in order to highlight the effect of product height and impact, a low-angle upward shooting wide-angle setting is usually used, and waist-flat framing actually brings a more elegant way and perspective to this kind of shooting.
The time-lapse photography of the upward shooting of the sky can also place the mobile phone on a flat surface and turn on the time-lapse photography function in the camera, while the other part of the mobile phone acts as a tripod.
It is also because of the camera module of the folding screen and the setting of this structure that vivo has added more hover functions, such as video calls: open the vivo X Fold hover mode, which can have more creative performance in multiple scenes such as video calls, movie watching, and fitness.
However, from the perspective of the target customer group, this is ultimately a product for high-end business people over the age of 30. I also observed the needs of some business people around for mobile phones, the most common such as stock trading, some privacy and security protection, and some younger customers, when traveling, they actually need a one-stop office solution between the computer and the computer.
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In general, the large screen has brought a greater field of view, but many folding screen mobile phones have not been optimized for the application alone, such as the stock trading software large screen state and split screen state, sometimes there will be a proportion mismatch, in this regard, vivo X Fold and a number of stock trading software have cooperated to optimize, the development of multi-share applications, multi-window display and other functions.
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One of my favorite features is actually a one-stop office solution. Vivo's quantum suite is the first Android mobile phone suite to realize interconnection with the Mac and cross-device office, through search, scan code, data cable and other ways to achieve mobile phone and Mac interconnection and synchronization.
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Measured use, currently only support Mac drag transfer pictures to the phone, does not support phone drag transfer to Mac, and copy note content the same reason, Mac edit well directly close to the phone atomic notes. However, at present, the Mac-side quantum suite is still testing the version, and the functions of the subsequent official version should be updated.
Image source: Pin play copyright gallery X Fold repositioning vivo
To be honest, from the "duty" feeling that vivo company has presented to people in the past: I did not expect that vivo would also launch cross-screen service software.
In the past X series, as well as the nex series of history, vivo has added many security features for the privacy needs of some business users.
On the vivo X Fold, privacy security has once again been upgraded. Snapdragon 8 Gen1 adopts a new security architecture design on the hardware side, and Vivo has also deeply mined and adapted 8 Gen 1 on the software side. For example, 9 major privacy products such as physical mute keys, atomic privacy systems, and Thousand Mirror Trusted Engines added this time.
With the popularity of large screens, folding screens, 5G network technologies, and the gradual maturity of the mobile office software ecology, smart phones also play a more important role in user business scenarios, and a mobile phone that meets the identity and is conducive to efficient office is a higher standard they pursue. This is a unique positioning of vivo X Fold in the vivo product system.
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From the company's point of view, vivo X Fold plays a role: vivo once mentioned that the original NEX series' exploration and innovation mission of new experiences and new forms will not disappear, and will be carried by the flagship X series. Different from the positioning of the professional image flagship of the vivo X digital flagship, the vivo X Fold positioning professional folding flagship focuses on the political and business customer groups. This is also a redividing of the customer base.
In other words, this is the first time that Vivo has taken out the political and business customer group separately as a market segment.
Adhering to the product culture of "before impressing consumers, we must first impress ourselves". At the software level, vivo X Fold matches the quantum suite, amber scanning, character recording, hover viewing, hover call, hover input, bringing a better and more convenient experience for business people. There are some areas that have not been seen in the vivo system before, and it seems to be the first attempt.
In fact, as early as 2018, vivo began to reserve folding screen-related technologies, tracking various new trends in mobile phones in research and development, including the layout of special teams and patents. Vivo did not rush to launch a folding screen at that time, but chose to compete with itself, increase research and development efforts, and die with product experience.
So in 2022, this distinguished, folding screen designed for consumer demand was finally born.
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Finally, the main configuration and parameters of the vivo X Fold:
Processor: The new generation of Snapdragon 8 Gen1 mobile platform
Screen: (Inner screen) 8.03 inches, 2160 x 1916 resolution, AMOLED, UTG glass cover, E5, Samsung diamond arrangement; (outer screen) 6.53 inches, 2520 × 1080 resolution, AMOLED, new SCHOTT α glass cover plate, E5, Samsung diamond arrangement
(Rear)50MP OIS super-low-bottom camera, S5KGN5, 23mm, f/1.75; 48MP 114° ultra-wide-angle main camera, IMX598, 14mm, f/2.2; 12MP professional portrait camera, IMX663, 47mm, f/1.98; 8MP 60x OIS periscope ultra-telephoto, OV08A10, 5x optical zoom, f/3.4
Battery: 4600mAh (typical), 66W dual battery wired flash charge, 50W wireless flash charge, 10W wireless reverse charge
Others: Support 3D large-area ultrasonic fingerprint; ZEISS natural color; multitasking; split-screen application; one-stop office solution
Price: Vivo X Fold has two colors of Qingshan blue and sycamore gray, the 12+256GB version is priced at 8999 yuan, and the 12+512GB version is priced at 9999 yuan.