6'

6.55mm BBK Vivo X1 priced at $400 comes with Jelly Bean

AndiNovember 20, 2012

I’m not entirely sure what the guy’s over at BBK had been smoking today, but it must have been some pretty strong stuff for them to launch their latest dual-core Vivo X1 for the astronomical sum of $400!

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While we shouldn’t really be all that surprised by the retail price of the Vivo X1 (it’s been rumoured for almost a month now) I’m still shocked that this dual-core MT6577 phone is priced so high!

In China the Vivo X1, now the world’s thinnest Android phone at just 6.55mm with a 1.2Ghz CPU, 1GB RAM, 8 mega-pixel camera and Jelly Bean OS will go on sale at retail stores for 2498 Yuan ($400) where as the super powerful quad-core Xiaomi M2 is priced at only 1999 Yuan and the quad-core Newman N2 with 13 mega-pixel rear camera is just 1499 Yuan ($240)!

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International customers hoping to get the Vivo X1 will likely be expected to pay nearer $500 which is far too much for a phone with this specification (the Umi X1 were giving away has almost the same spec!).

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About the author
Andi

Calvin
November 20, 2012
That’s insane. IMO thinness is overrated. I would rather have a thick phone with a huge battery than a thin phone with a tiny battery.
- - ThinkOutsideTheBox
    November 20, 2012
- Louis Koo
  November 21, 2012
  Totally agree with you, bigger battery capacity brings better results !!! Xiaomi M2 comes with 3000MHz battery version should be much nicer than this device in both aspects of Price and Performance

njren
November 20, 2012
Did you finish reading the article?
The X1 includes BBE and SRS sound enhancement…gotta pay for those licenses. It also comes with Beyerdynamic IEMs (+ mic). Most interesting is that BBK is using a Cirrus Logic CS4398 DAC, a chip more typically found in home audio DACs or desktop DAC/headphone amp combos. They’re claiming a signal-to-noise ratio of over 100dB, which is pretty amazing if indeed that’s a real-world measurement coming out of the headphone jack.
The X1 is being positioned as a audiophile phone. Of course, up to the buyer if it’s worth the dough.
- Francis.R.
  November 20, 2012
  mmm, it sounds very nice. I imagine to take advantage ot those specifications one has to invest in a memory to have the music in flac format and headphones with balanced armature.
  But the qhd screen seems a bit low to the price, and i can’t see the specifications but seems to have mtk6577, wich is used to have cell phones with lower prices. Perhaps would be enough with buy a cowon in that case.

Hamilton
November 20, 2012
I liked everything except the screen QHD
Jeff
November 20, 2012
Maybe these are the rotten apples that were going to be the 6 until the order was cancelled. I like the Vivo brand when I saw it in Zhenjiang but then as now thought it was too expensive. Pity I think this has been European priced but lacks the pedigree.
Apologies if I misspelt the cities name.

Tony
November 20, 2012
With the same specs is the zopo zp 900,and the price is 239.i have zp 900 and I think is a great phone. Why to spend more for the same thing.

njren
November 21, 2012
I read there’s not just the Beyerdynamics, but customers will actually have a choice of 3 different headphones at the time of purchase. In addition to the Cirrus DAC, they also use a Cirrus 24/192 sample rate converter. No idea if BBK actually engineered the Vivo to play 24/96 files, though.
Whatever…who knows if the circuitry has even been designed to present these “audiophile” bit and pieces at their best. No easy feat in a home or portable DAC, much less the “world’s thinnest” smartphone.

Nam Tu
November 21, 2012
So does it mean that “audiophile” phone is equal or more better than an iPod Touch or iPhone in sound ? And we pay the rest for phone and other features ( 599 – 400 = 199$). IMO, it is the smartphone first, and next is other features such as video, music or something else.
Here is the spec of another famous thin phone, Oppo Finder with the same price:
– 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen
– 6.65mm super slim body, world’s thinnest smartphone
– 1.5GHz dual-core processor ( Qualcomm )
– 8.0MP rear camera + 1.3MP front camera
– 1080P video record
– 1GB RAM, 16GB ROM
– Android 4.0.3 OS + OPPO Unique
Freeje
November 21, 2012
You could buy the S3 now with the same amount albeit the Korean version.

Nam Tu
November 21, 2012
Besides, BBK puts focus to domestic domain. Their customers may accept that price.
Boris
November 21, 2012
One thing you failed to mention is that this “audiophile” phone has only 16GB storage and no SD card slot.
What are they thinking? What good is the DAC chip when you are streaming MP3s?!?

Zeno
November 21, 2012
Really nice phone.
If they would release the battery time and the talk time with 3G would be over 7hrs and it was a faster phone with a slightly lowered price it would be a instant buy!
I wish i had a audiophile phone, and god damn 6.55mm?? My current optimus 2x is on i think 11.6 or something!
Mr.Corner
November 26, 2012
BBK Vivo X1. I want to buy this phone for 400 as the Chinese website says. However, i dont know chinese. Where can i order the vivo x1 at with the $400 pricetag?
THANKS!

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