Vivo has made a Mobile World Congress announcement even though the event was cancelled, and unveiled the third generation of its Apex concept smartphone – the Apex 2020. With a sub-brand known for iconic innovation, the Apex 2020 builds on the success of its previous generations to feature more cutting-edge technologies.

The Apex 2020 has a 120° FullView edgeless display that removes side edges and bezels from the front view. With an In-Display Camera and Vivo Wireless Super FlashCharge 60W, the device has a unibody design with no openings. Vivo also successfully embeds a gimbal-like structure into Apex 2020’s main camera, which is equipped with a 5x-7.5x Continuous Optical Zoom. This feature showcases Vivo’s latest achievements and future plans to offer extraordinary visual effects and enhanced photography.

Harry Hong, general manager of product at Vivo says: “Apex is never a mere ‘concept’ or a glimpse of ‘imagination’. It’s a creation that goes beyond any previous experience brought by mobile technology. Through Apex 2020, we are proud to see Vivo’s vision come to life as a technology company that continues to push the boundaries of mobile technology and explore what lies beyond the ordinary. It also showcases our ambition to achieve our aspirations step-by-step. vivo will continue to put Apex’s innovative technologies into practice, allowing more consumers to be empowered by such technology.”

The device is wrapped in a 6.45-inch curved display that bends at an angle of up to 120° on both sides. This helps remove side edges and bezels from the front view and results in an ultra-bezel-less display. For both aesthetic and practical considerations, physical buttons are replaced by a virtual pressure-sensing button. The “invisible”, non-mechanical front camera presents a Super Unibody design with no openings and expands the internal space.

The handset features increased light transmittance of the screen right above the front camera to 6 times of the other part of the screen, and effectively reducing optical interference, diffraction and stray flashes through a series of algorithm optimisations to increase the photography quality. The final image quality is also enhanced through a series of algorithm optimisations. The 16MP front camera features a 4-in-1 super-pixel photosensitive chip, realising the innovation of capturing clear images with the In-Display Camera.

Currently, almost all high magnification zoom solutions in the industry depend on hybrid zoom. As different fixed magnifications need to be integrated with digital algorithms for output, there is a level of compromise in resolution and image quality. The Apex 2020 comes with Continuous Optical Zoom, becoming the world’s first smartphone equipped with high-magnification continuous zoom. It can achieve continuous optical zoom under high magnifications between 5x-7.5x and produce images in high resolution and quality rather than filling focal lengths through digital magnification.

It is equipped with a “4-group lens combination” with two groups fixed and two groups movable, which achieves high-magnification continuous zoom and real-time focus at one time. With the support of a periscope structure, the entire module is only 6.2 mm thick, therefore, making it possible for this professional-grade lens to be incorporated into the Apex’s ultra-thin body. To further enhance the image quality, Vivo has incorporated a leading multi-frame algorithm so that scenery from afar can also be easily captured.

The Apex 2020 features the revolutionary Vivo Wireless Super FlashCharge 60W, which recharges a handset with a 2000mAh battery in only 20 minutes, offering a faster charging experience than conventional wired flash charging.

To read more about the device, please visit: https://www.vivo.com/en/activity/apex2020

At PAX East 2020 last week, Gigabyte’s premium gaming brand, Aorus, showcased a new set of next-generation gaming systems, tactical monitors, and new games to test drive the hardware.

PAX East 2020 welcomed more than 100,000 enthusiasts to the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center for an annual celebration of games. Since PAX’s inception in 2004, millions of attendees have enjoyed the expo floor halls filled with booths from major game publishers and independent developers, panels from video game industry insiders, game culture-inspired concerts, LAN parties, tabletop gaming, and competitions, among other activities.

Aorus products on display at PAX East included a series of tactical gaming monitors that provide twice the detail and display quality of Full HD, and allows players to enjoy games and movies in original size. 
The new Aorus FI27Q-P features a 27” QHD panel (2560×1440 resolution) in a 16:9 aspect ratio with a 165Hz refresh rate. It supports AMD Radeon FreeSync technology, which puts an end to choppy gameplay and broken frames to create a fluid and artefact-free performance at higher frame-rates. 

Aorus also revealed the KD25F tactical monitor, which is specifically-designed for first-person shooter (FPS) gaming, and its curved CV27F and CV27QP monitors with Native 1500R and 165HZ refresh rate.

Mobile gamers also saw the Aorus 17, the world’s first gaming notebook with Omron’s mechanical keyboard switches, which gives gamers a keypress sensation that is preferred for key-intense FPS and online multiplayer games. The Aorus 17 supports 9th Gen Intel Core i9/i7 Processor H-Series and is the first Microsoft Azure AI notebook.

Several modders also displayed their custom-designed water-cooled builds based on the Z390 Aorus Xtreme Waterforce motherboard and Aorus GeForce RTX 2080 Super.

“Some of the hottest Aorus products that will be on display to satiate the appetite of the most ardent gaming enthusiasts and eSports participants,” said Van Luong, Aorus marketing manager. “The world’s first tactical gaming monitors to give gamers a distinct advantage over opponents as well other AORUS peripherals and components for a full-blown Aorus gaming experience.”