The Chinese smartphone brands are churning more smartphones for the mid-range segment. Just take the vivo V3 max for example. It is a compelling premium mid-range smartphone that offers “flagship level” specs for RM1,399. Now vivo is turning things up a notch with its newly announced X7 and X7 Plus.
In terms of design, it resembles closely with its cousin, the OPPO R9 (also known as F1 Plus) and R9 Plus. It gets a premium metal unibody exterior that’s heavily inspired by brand from Cupertino. The X7 is the compact version that offers a 5.2″ Full HD AMOLED display, while the X7 Plus is the phablet equivalent with a larger 5.7″ screen.
Both devices run on a very capable Snapdragon 652 Octa-Core processor mated with 4GB of RAM. Storage should be sufficient as it gets 64GB on-board. Similar to its OPPO equivalent model, both X7 and X7 Plus has a 16MP selfie camera while the back comes with either 13MP (X7) or 16MP (X7 Plus) shooters.
Both models support Cat 7 4G LTE, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1 and dual-SIM. There’s also a fingerprint scanner which we reckon unlocks as quickly as the OPPO F1 Plus and audio is enhanced with an AK4376 32-bit DAC.
The downside is probably its operating system as it still runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop layered with Funtouch OS 2.5.1 skin on top. The upcoming Android 7.0 already has a name and we expected nothing less than Android 6.0 Marshmallow for any new device. The vivo X7 gets a 3,000mAh battery while the X7 Plus has more at 4,000mAh. In China, the vivo X7 is priced at 2,498 CNY (about RM1,499) and it will be available for sale on 7 July. The price for the vivo X7 Plus is not announced yet and it will be available on 15 July.
