vivo X21

Vivo has been making bezel-less phones for quite a while. The brand first adopted the tall 18:9 display ratio with the V7+ (review), a phone that was launched last year in September. Then the brand upped the ante and launched the notch-toting V9 (review). The new Vivo X21 seems to be pushing the boundaries even further. The X21 sports minimal bezels, a cut-out up top and a chin at the bottom. All that, combined with rounded corners and curved edges makes the X21 among the sexiest smartphones in the market.

We've been hearing about under-the-screen / invisible fingerprint scanners for quite a while now. From Apple to Samsung, many brands have been rumoured to incorporate this feature in their offerings in order to offer all-screen fronts. However, it looks like Vivo has beaten much bigger rivals in this area. Not only did the brand showcase this technology first with a prototype back in June 2017 at MWC Shanghai, it also became the world's first manufacturer to launch a commercial smartphone with an under-display fingerprint reader.

The Vivo X21 features a dual-camera setup with a 12-megapixel f/1.8 primary snapper and a 5MP depth sensor. Interestingly enough, that seems to be a downgrade from the V9 (review), which offers 16-meg primary shooter. The camera on the X21 comes with features such as phase detection autofocus and dual-pixel autofocus technology for locking focus quickly and better low-light capabilities. For selfies, Vivo has offered a 12-meg shooter on the front of its latest smartphone. The camera interface is filled to the brim with modes and options. In the portrait orientation, you'll find the shutter button, effects, the ability to switch to the front camera and the option to preview captured images. Above that, you'll find different modes such as photo, video, AR stickers, pro, and panorama, among others. Up top, there are toggles for the flash and the HDR mode, along with options to enable the portrait mode, live photo, as well as access to settings.

The Vivo X21 comes with the heavily-skinned FunTouch OS, which is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. The custom interface comes with a lot of bloatware such as Facebook, WPS Office and Amazon Shopping, though the good thing is that you can uninstall the apps you don't need. The interface is different from Android in more ways than one. For instance, swiping from the top only brings the notification bar, and the control centre (quick toggles) pop up by swiping from the bottom. Similarly, the split-screen option isn't present in the multitasking bar, and you can access it by using a three-finger swipe on the app or going to the control centre and selecting ‘Multiple tasks'.

Powering the show on the Vivo X21 is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 SoC, which comes with a 2.2GHz octa-core processor and Adreno 512 graphics. While the SD660 SoC hasn't been utilised by many phonemakers, it's one of the most powerful chips in the upper mid-range, and that shows in the performance of the smartphone. The phone flies through any task thrown at it, be it navigation or running heavy apps or games. Coupled with 6 gigs of RAM, the hardware can handle multiple tasks with ease. Howver, the phone doesn't seem to keep the last state of apps in its memory for long periods of time, and if you open one from the multitasking menu, the app will restart.