Vivo Xplay 3S launched with 3GB RAM, 4G LTE; Becomes world’s first 2,560 x 1,440p display phone


Vivo finally took the veils off the uber-hot Xplay 3S. As expected, the device indeed becomes the world’s first to sport a 2K aka QHD (Quad HD) or 2,560 x 1,440 pixel display!

Vivo managed to beat OPPO in rolling out the first 2K phone, after both companies had their share of building hype around their next big thing. The phone was unveiled at an event earlier today in Beijing, China, and with the specs sheet it comes with, more than a few international biggies are bound to feel the heat!

Vivo Xplay 3S specifications

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 is known as the world’s first phablet to feature a wholesome 3GB RAM; Vivo’s Xplay 3S replicates this and comes with exactly same amount; which probably is a need more than luxury on a phone of this kind. The insanely high resolution of 2,560 x 1,440 pixels is almost good enough to make one not speak of the screen size, which on the Xplay 3S measures 6 inches. Under the super-tightly packed display sits a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset in its 8974AB avatar, operating at 2.3GHz throughout the 4 cores. Leaving no stone unturned, Vivo have also thrown in a fingerprint reader, that interestingly sits at the rear of the phone; LG G2-esque ergonomics, which probably make better sense on a device as large as the Xplay 3S.

Vivo traditionally have been shipping phones with above-average audio, and the Xplay 3S is no exception; the large screen phone comes with dual stereo speakers and a DTS Headphone X audio chip which Vivo claim delivers cinema-style surround sound. Other specifications include 32GB of on-board ROM, a large f/1.8 13 mega-pixel main camera, 5 mega-pixel front, and a 3,200mAh battery to draw juice from. Among other features of the phone, it comes with an augmented reality navigation system that aims to make navigation fun and intuitive.

Connectivity wise, the phone is equipped dual 4G support (TDD and FDD standard), giving the phone a lead over its competitors. The Xplay 3S is priced 3,498 in China (~$576) neck and neck with OPPO’s N1!

So, needless to say, who’s drooling over this one already? Personally I’d have preferred a smaller 5.5-inch display, but Vivo probably did the right thing by making it 6″, considering the current market demand for larger screen phones.

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82 Comments

  1. Allanitomwesh
    December 18, 2013

    Not comfortable leaving that kind of resolution to the snapdragon 800’s Adreno 320. Let’s wait to see if OPPO figured that out too.

    • Stef
      December 18, 2013

      Snapdragon is equipped with adreno 330 and it’s more than enough for 2k as evidenced by Note Tablet. Specs are fine, well balanced, just too big to be useful to me…

      • defcomk
        December 18, 2013

        yeah if the g2 can run a game at 4k http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-09/05/4k-lg-g2-phone on the regular s800 the ab version should shred 2k just fine

      • Alex
        December 18, 2013

        That’s like saying you would rather live in a one bedroom apartment then a 5 bedroom two story 4100 square foot house. Well that’s like saying you would rather drive a small 4 door econo death box (or rolling coffin) instead of a nice Electric doors minivan with Flip down dvdscreen for the kids. Unless you’re a midget or you wear skinny jeans, having a larger screen is always a real estate advantage and easier on the eyes. Now if you’re a short order cook or a plumber or maybe a cable installation person then a smaller phone might be better for you and more convenient.

        • Stef
          December 18, 2013

          I have a tablet already, 6 inches is too small for tablet work, too cumbersome to operate one handed. For two handed use 8 inch is my minimum, any less and its too small

          • December 18, 2013

            I hear you on this one Stef. 6 inches is somewhere inbetween a tablet and a phone and I would rather have these as 2 separate devices and not one “PHABLET”. For a tablet, my ideal size is 10 inch or maybe 9.7 inch, but for a phone, ideal size is 5 inch and 5.5 inch, I can manage with that despite the difficulty of one handed use. I am never gonna buy a 6 inch phone no matter the specs and price.

    • December 18, 2013

      The *Snapdragon 800 has Adreno 330.

      • Allanitomwesh
        December 18, 2013

        Ah yeah,you are right,but i still wouldn’t trust it to push more pixels.

        • Stef
          December 18, 2013

          You’re being confused, gut instict doesn’t matter in such matters, numbers do. As I wrote in my other post Note tablet is running the same GPU/resolution combo and it is just fine, just look: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/2 (GPU onscreen tests).

          At 1440p it runs identically as adreno 320 at 1080p (nexus 7, 2013) , which is more than enough for anything currently runing on android. So what’s your iussue really?

          • Allanitomwesh
            December 21, 2013

            My point is,would you rather have “enough” graphics or “plenty” graphics?Personally I want more,not just the same ol’ same ol’.I am upgrading after all. Just cause I can run Battlefield on my PC with a HD7770 doesn’t mean I don’t want a HD7970.

        • Stef
          December 18, 2013

          S800 at 1440p performs identically as s600 at 1080p, which is plenty o’ fine. Take a look at the on screen tests here : http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/2 (note 2014 vs nexus 2013)…

    • Alex
      December 18, 2013

      do you think the processor and graphics combo they chose will bottleneck visual performance?

      • Allanitomwesh
        December 18, 2013

        Not now,no. Later on ,probably.

  2. chinda
    December 18, 2013

    Oppo & vivo are owned by the same chinese company, the vivo xplay 3s is proberly a tester for the oppo find 7 which should have a slightly smaller screen.

    • Allanitomwesh
      December 18, 2013

      OPPO are not owned by BBK anymore.

      • chinda
        December 18, 2013

        When did oppo stop being owned by bbk? There wikipedia page still shows oppo & bbk being part of the same company.

        • Allanitomwesh
          December 21, 2013

          Somewhere between Find 3 and Finder.That wiki hasn’t seen an update in a long time…

  3. batman
    December 18, 2013

    Where can I buy one?

  4. dadhi
    December 18, 2013

    At least 6 inch screen makes more sense for such resolution compared with rumored 5.5/5.7. Seeing such a small bezels, it is interesting to compare 3S size with TCL Hero N3.

    • antidumb
      December 19, 2013

      yeah, tcl hero has less than 2mm side bezel, with 6 inch screen it looks fantastic the only downside is mediatek chipset, if it use at least s4 pro or up like s600 0r s800 it would be awesome

  5. Shyam
    December 18, 2013

    I love it but it is very expensive – i will probably wait until March – when hopefully it is a bit cheaper !!!

    • Alex
      December 18, 2013

      Same here, spec’s are near perfect except for the battery. 1,000 MAh more would have been the sweet spot. Also the price is toooo high, I will probably wait until the price drops as well…

      of course I’m sure somebody down the road is going to jump in and say that the specs are fantastic and warrant the price. I say they should go buy it right now, matter of fact buy 20. I will wait….

      • mo
        November 10, 2014

        Phone prices do not go down significantly now a days. A year later, the price is the same.

  6. Alex
    December 18, 2013

    For me the specs are fantastic! The only drawback I see is the almost $600 price tag! I hope that there are accessories available for this product in the near future. Like different types of cases and extended batteries to prolong running back to a charger twice a day for heavy users. Also, will the 4G work in the US?

    Someone had commented that the graphics processor might not be able to handle the screen size and resolution, does anybody else feel that way about it? Will this combination of processor and graphics be a bottleneck? I hope not.

  7. Alex
    December 18, 2013

    I completely forgot to ask the most important question, does this phone’s 4G capabilities work in the US???

  8. Zeca
    December 18, 2013

    USD580.00 !!!! Not for me.

  9. Simon
    December 18, 2013

    I’m guessing it comes with Jellybean 4.3 ?

  10. ko
    December 18, 2013

    How about rom of this performance mobile? Is there rom developer of his rom like oppo or not.

  11. Rdmkr
    December 18, 2013

    this is like the space balls movie… LUDICROUS SPECS

    I’ll stick to my LG G2. the only spec I’ll really miss is the f/1.8 camera aperture.

  12. zaikatanox
    December 18, 2013

    Yash, any idea when they will make the phone available? Xiaomi Mi3 Snapdragon 800 version was launched back on September, but it is not yet available for sales. I’m guessing maybe February or March 2014, they will make this ready for sales?

    Otherwise, the phone looks really good, and even the price does not seem too crazy for the kind of specs they’re offering (not to mention LTE!), I think you will find brand new Galaxy S4 is still similarly priced. Battery does not seem too bad (I’m currently on Nexus 4, so pretty much everything else would be an improvement), though it could’ve been a bit larger (i.e, the N1 has larger battery).

    • December 18, 2013

      Can’t say at the moment, but availability should be better than Mi3. I’m guessing resellers will be offering the Xplay 3S in about 30-40 days from now (with actual stock not just presell)

    • Thomas
      December 28, 2013

      Just ordered mine yesterday from dealsprime, they claim to have it in stock! 🙂

  13. Juanjo
    December 18, 2013

    Too big screen for me. I hope Oppp did better with Find 7. I’m currently own a Find 5.

  14. Allanitomwesh
    December 18, 2013

    Not comfortable leaving that kind of resolution to the snapdragon 800’s Adreno 320. Let’s wait to see if OPPO figured that out too.

    • Stef
      December 18, 2013

      Snapdragon is equipped with adreno 330 and it’s more than enough for 2k as evidenced by Note Tablet. Specs are fine, well balanced, just too big to be useful to me…

    • Yash Garg
      December 18, 2013

      The *Snapdragon 800 has Adreno 330.

    • Alex
      December 18, 2013

      do you think the processor and graphics combo they chose will bottleneck visual performance?

    • Allanitomwesh
      December 18, 2013

      Ah yeah,you are right,but i still wouldn’t trust it to push more pixels.

    • Allanitomwesh
      December 18, 2013

      Not now,no. Later on ,probably.

    • defcomk
      December 18, 2013

      yeah if the g2 can run a game at 4k http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-09/05/4k-lg-g2-phone on the regular s800 the ab version should shred 2k just fine

    • Alex
      December 18, 2013

      That’s like saying you would rather live in a one bedroom apartment then a 5 bedroom two story 4100 square foot house. Well that’s like saying you would rather drive a small 4 door econo death box (or rolling coffin) instead of a nice Electric doors minivan with Flip down dvdscreen for the kids. Unless you’re a midget or you wear skinny jeans, having a larger screen is always a real estate advantage and easier on the eyes. Now if you’re a short order cook or a plumber or maybe a cable installation person then a smaller phone might be better for you and more convenient.

    • Stef
      December 18, 2013

      You’re being confused, gut instict doesn’t matter in such matters, numbers do. As I wrote in my other post Note tablet is running the same GPU/resolution combo and it is just fine, just look: http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/2 (GPU onscreen tests).

      At 1440p it runs identically as adreno 320 at 1080p (nexus 7, 2013) , which is more than enough for anything currently runing on android. So what’s your iussue really?

    • Stef
      December 18, 2013

      I have a tablet already, 6 inches is too small for tablet work, too cumbersome to operate one handed. For two handed use 8 inch is my minimum, any less and its too small

    • Stef
      December 18, 2013

      S800 at 1440p performs identically as s600 at 1080p, which is plenty o’ fine. Take a look at the on screen tests here : http://www.anandtech.com/show/7378/samsung-galaxy-note-101-2014-edition-review/2 (note 2014 vs nexus 2013)…

    • Michael Ogbonnaya
      December 18, 2013

      I hear you on this one Stef. 6 inches is somewhere inbetween a tablet and a phone and I would rather have these as 2 separate devices and not one “PHABLET”. For a tablet, my ideal size is 10 inch or maybe 9.7 inch, but for a phone, ideal size is 5 inch and 5.5 inch, I can manage with that despite the difficulty of one handed use. I am never gonna buy a 6 inch phone no matter the specs and price.

    • Allanitomwesh
      December 21, 2013

      My point is,would you rather have “enough” graphics or “plenty” graphics?Personally I want more,not just the same ol’ same ol’.I am upgrading after all. Just cause I can run Battlefield on my PC with a HD7770 doesn’t mean I don’t want a HD7970.

  15. Guest
    December 18, 2013

    Oppo & vivo are owned by the same chinese company, the vivo xplay 3s is proberly a tester for the oppo find 7 which should have a slightly smaller screen.

    • Allanitomwesh
      December 18, 2013

      OPPO are not owned by BBK anymore.

    • Guest
      December 19, 2013

      When did oppo stop being owned by bbk? There wikipedia page still shows oppo & bbk being part of the same company.

    • Allanitomwesh
      December 21, 2013

      Somewhere between Find 3 and Finder.That wiki hasn’t seen an update in a long time…

  16. Guest
    December 18, 2013

    Where can I buy one?

  17. dadhi
    December 18, 2013

    At least 6 inch screen makes more sense for such resolution compared with rumored 5.5/5.7. Seeing such a small bezels, it is interesting to compare 3S size with TCL Hero N3.

    • Guest
      December 19, 2013

      yeah, tcl hero has less than 2mm side bezel, with 6 inch screen it looks fantastic the only downside is mediatek chipset, if it use at least s4 pro or up like s600 0r s800 it would be awesome

  18. Shyam
    December 18, 2013

    I love it but it is very expensive – i will probably wait until March – when hopefully it is a bit cheaper !!!

    • Alex
      December 18, 2013

      Same here, spec’s are near perfect except for the battery. 1,000 MAh more would have been the sweet spot. Also the price is toooo high, I will probably wait until the price drops as well…

      of course I’m sure somebody down the road is going to jump in and say that the specs are fantastic and warrant the price. I say they should go buy it right now, matter of fact buy 20. I will wait….

    • mo
      November 10, 2014

      Phone prices do not go down significantly now a days. A year later, the price is the same.

  19. Alex
    December 18, 2013

    For me the specs are fantastic! The only drawback I see is the almost $600 price tag! I hope that there are accessories available for this product in the near future. Like different types of cases and extended batteries to prolong running back to a charger twice a day for heavy users. Also, will the 4G work in the US?

    Someone had commented that the graphics processor might not be able to handle the screen size and resolution, does anybody else feel that way about it? Will this combination of processor and graphics be a bottleneck? I hope not.

  20. Alex
    December 18, 2013

    I completely forgot to ask the most important question, does this phone’s 4G capabilities work in the US???

  21. Guest
    December 18, 2013

    USD580.00 !!!! Not for me.

  22. omgwhyunohavenfc
    December 18, 2013

    http://www.vivo.com.cn/vivo/xplay3s/function.php

    IT DOESN’T HAVE NFC!!!

    OMG! All the functions, except NFC!

    • heh
      December 19, 2013

      can you read chinese
      under the NFC column it says 支持 which means support

  23. Guest
    December 18, 2013

    I’m guessing it comes with Jellybean 4.3 ?

  24. ko
    December 18, 2013

    How about rom of this performance mobile? Is there rom developer of his rom like oppo or not.

  25. Guest
    December 18, 2013

    this is like the space balls movie… LUDICROUS SPECS

    I’ll stick to my LG G2. the only spec I’ll really miss is the f/1.8 camera aperture.

  26. zaikatanox
    December 18, 2013

    Yash, any idea when they will make the phone available? Xiaomi Mi3 Snapdragon 800 version was launched back on September, but it is not yet available for sales. I’m guessing maybe February or March 2014, they will make this ready for sales?

    Otherwise, the phone looks really good, and even the price does not seem too crazy for the kind of specs they’re offering (not to mention LTE!), I think you will find brand new Galaxy S4 is still similarly priced. Battery does not seem too bad (I’m currently on Nexus 4, so pretty much everything else would be an improvement), though it could’ve been a bit larger (i.e, the N1 has larger battery).

    • Yash Garg
      December 18, 2013

      Can’t say at the moment, but availability should be better than Mi3. I’m guessing resellers will be offering the Xplay 3S in about 30-40 days from now (with actual stock not just presell)

    • Guest
      December 28, 2013

      Just ordered mine yesterday from dealsprime, they claim to have it in stock! 🙂

  27. Juanjo
    December 18, 2013

    Too big screen for me. I hope Oppp did better with Find 7. I’m currently own a Find 5.

  28. manohar basavaraju
    December 18, 2013

    Can anyone comment on the Battery life & 3G Band pls
    I am drooling on this phone.
    Also i feel it should have been 5″ screen. Then it would have been perfect for many users like me.
    Anyway, these shortcomings doesn’t deter my lust for this beauty.
    I want to know how & when i can buy this from where also !

    • heh
      December 18, 2013

      dont think 2k 5″ screen is possible, this is more like a media device for movie watching with the stereo speaker and 2k screen, that’s probably why they went with 6″

  29. Guest
    December 18, 2013

    http://www.vivo.com.cn/vivo/xplay3s/function.php

    IT DOESN’T HAVE NFC!!!

    OMG! All the functions, except NFC!

    • heh
      December 19, 2013

      can you read chinese
      under the NFC column it says 支持 which means support

  30. bhendrajana
    December 18, 2013

    Why do people want to buy quad HD screen phone, really? Bragging right? My 27″ Dell monitor for modeling software is quad HD, but personally I prefer my 24″ 1920X1200 res monitor it is easier on the eyes from 30cm. I can’t imagine quad HD in tiny 6″.

  31. manohar basavaraju
    December 18, 2013

    Can anyone comment on the Battery life & 3G Band pls
    I am drooling on this phone.
    Also i feel it should have been 5″ screen. Then it would have been perfect for many users like me.
    Anyway, these shortcomings doesn’t deter my lust for this beauty.
    I want to know how & when i can buy this from where also !

    • heh
      December 18, 2013

      dont think 2k 5″ screen is possible, this is more like a media device for movie watching with the stereo speaker and 2k screen, that’s probably why they went with 6″

  32. Guest
    December 19, 2013

    Why do people want to buy quad HD screen phone, really? Bragging right? My 27″ Dell monitor for modeling software is quad HD, but personally I prefer my 24″ 1920X1200 res monitor it is easier on the eyes from 30cm. I can’t imagine quad HD in tiny 6″.

  33. Rdmkr
    December 19, 2013

    $576 in china means, what, $700 at international resellers..? for a phone without warranty and possibly poor quality control..? an excessively large 6 incher that looks ridiculous in hand and makes it impossible to blend in in a crowd..?

    one word: nope.

  34. Guest
    December 19, 2013

    $576 in china means, what, $700 at international resellers..? for a phone without warranty and possibly poor quality control..? an excessively large 6 incher that looks ridiculous in hand and makes it impossible to blend in in a crowd..?

    one word: nope.

  35. John Gass
    December 19, 2013

    Is it really of any practical benefit to have 3GB of RAM compared to 2GB? I’d be interested to see this compared side-by-side as has been done for current phones which are identical except that they are available in 1GB and 2GB RAM variants. Does the higher resolution display chew up more RAM?

    I would rather get a phone which I knew would be getting a KitKat upgrade than one with extra RAM as Google are, apparently, ensuring that Android 4.4 makes less demands on memory. But maybe I’m wrong?

  36. John Gass
    December 20, 2013

    Is it really of any practical benefit to have 3GB of RAM compared to 2GB? I’d be interested to see this compared side-by-side as has been done for current phones which are identical except that they are available in 1GB and 2GB RAM variants. Does the higher resolution display chew up more RAM?

    I would rather get a phone which I knew would be getting a KitKat upgrade than one with extra RAM as Google are, apparently, ensuring that Android 4.4 makes less demands on memory. But maybe I’m wrong?

  37. Petri Hämäläinen
    January 23, 2014

    When will the phone be released? Here in Xiamen they said 7 February ?

  38. Petri Hämäläinen
    January 23, 2014

    When will the phone be released? Here in Xiamen they said 7 February ?