Vivo's Nex 2 ignores the notch again...this time for a second screen

Vivo, the company that sneered at the notch trend, has come up with another concept that, yet again, proudly bucks the need for a notch. However, like their last concept, there are legitimate concerns as to the viability of this new idea.

Source: Weibo

With their Nex S, Vivo completely disregarded the notch as necessary to increase screen real estate. Instead, they opted for a motorized pop-up camera that would disappear when it was no longer needed. By moving the camera off of the front of the display, they were able to achieve the goal of an (almost) full screen phone. However, it was not long before folks had concerns about the overall wear and tear that more moving parts would be susceptible to, and thus, no one really opted to mimic Vivo's design.

Now, with the Nex 2, Vivo has eliminated those concerns by abandoning any moving parts and removing a front-facing camera all together. What about your selfies and Duo calls, you ask? You use the rear camera...which can be viewed with an entire second screen on the back of the device. Not an entirely new concept, the second screen on the rear allows you to see what the rear camera is seeing without the need to turn the phone around.

While eliminating the moving selfie camera is a good idea, I am not sure adding a second screen is really any better for multiple reasons. Most obviously, cases are still very much the norm for phone owners so unless you use a clear case (as I do), you will not be able to see the screen, Additionally, while most phones use an expensive-to-fix glass back, they do not also include other components necessary for repair making a fix for this device more costly (other than it being from Vivo of course). Finally, is this really the logical successor to the pop-up camera, or is there a better way? While I applaud Vivo for always thinking outside of the box, this just seems to be a bit more out there than we really need.

Apart from the odd camera/screen set-up, the Nex 2 actually looks pretty neat (as shown in the below video). The device has a beautiful, full screen front with what appears to be an in-display finger print scanner. It also features a multi-rear-camera set-up surrounded by what appears to be an RGB LED ring that is designed to handle notifications among other things; this is something that would not look out of place coming from ASUS or Razer.

As these are based on leaks, there is little known about the Nex 2 other than it is making its way around right now. However, Vivo will likely release more information in the next few weeks that should tell us a little more about the successor to the Nex S. While the phone may end up being a dud as well as likely impractical, it is nice to see some risks being taken from Chinese manufacturers while we wait for Samsung and others to transition to holy screens.