Man is the smartphone industry competitive! With manufacturers bringing out new phones way too often nowadays, we as a consumer get lots of options to choose from. People are getting great performing phones even on a budget. And that's a good thing. Vivo just launched the all-new Vivo U3 in China at a ridiculously impressive price, which may just make it the new king in the budget smartphone arena.

Vivo U3 Overview

A tall, thin, and heavy phone on a budget.The Vivo U3 is a fine upgrade to last month's Vivo U3x (also known as Vivo U10), with a powerful chipset, more RAM, and more.

Display & Design

"An incremental update" would describe the Vivo U3 the best. Despite a taller 6.53-inch Full-HD+ (1080 x 2340) display and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, it is thinner than its predecessor. While Vivo has managed to minimize the size bezels, there's still a formidable chin on the bottom. Similarly, the 90.3% screen-to-body ratio assures a more pleasant viewing experience.With a 3D curved design, the Vivo U3 has a pleasant grip and hand-feel. The back of the phone is made of polycarbonate material and houses the fingerprint sensor and the Vivo logo on the bottom left corner. The phone comes in 3 colors: Porcelain Black, Blue, & Green.

Camera

There's a triple camera setup on the back next to the fingerprint sensor. Arranged vertically are the 8MP super wide-angle camera, a 16MP primary lens, and a 2MP macro lens for close-up shots of objects as near as 4cm. The Vivo U3 also features Super Night View 2.0 for night-time images and HDR shots with Super Backlighting. Coming to the front of the device, there's a 16MP AI selfie camera that supports "Face Wake", which is Vivo's name for its face-unlock technology. And of course, there are multiple beautifying features as well.

Performance & Memory

While you'll find a MediaTek chipset in most of the budget phones, the Vivo U3 boasts the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset based on the 11nm process, which is about 20% more powerful than the older Snapdragon 665 in the U3x. Similarly, there are two memory variants of the U3 - 4GB and 6GB, both with 64GB of internal storage. You get a dedicated microSD card slot which can be used to expand the storage up to 256GB.Also read: Vivo Y11 2019 debuts in Nepal!

Battery

Vivo has been nailing its starter phones by shipping them with huge batteries. The U3 follows suit with a big 5000 mAh battery which supports 18W dual-engine fast charging out-of-the-box. However, Vivo is still manufacturing its phones with Micro-USB in 2019 which we've complained about a lot! If you're already knee-deep in the Type-C ecosystem, the Vivo U3 will take you back in time to the days of using multiple cords and plugs.

Miscellaneous

You also get a decent gaming experience with the Vivo U3. The company's "Vivo Multi-Turbo" technology accelerates the performance of the device with app response time increased by up to 20%. Background processes are optimized for better resource management while gaming.

Vivo U3 Specifications

• Body: 6.38 x 3.01 x 0.35 inches; 193 gm
• Display: 6.53-inches TFT LCD panel
• Resolution: Full-HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels); 19.5:9 aspect ratio
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 675; 11nm Mobile Platform
• CPU: Octa-core (Up to 2.0 GHz)
• GPU: Adreno 612
• RAM: 4 / 6GB
• Storage: 64GB (expandable up to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card)
• Software & UI: Android 9.0 (Pie) with Vivo’s Funtouch OS 9.1
• Rear Camera: Triple-camera; 16MP f/1.78 primary lens, 8MP f/2.4 super wide-angle lens, 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor
• Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.0 aperture
• Fingerprint sensor: Physical (rear-mounted)
• Audio: 3.5mm audio jack
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), Micro-USB, etc.
• Battery: 5000 mAh battery with 18W Charging
• Colors: Porcelain Black, Blue, Green

Also Read: Vivo Mobiles Price in Nepal

Vivo U3 Price & Availability

Pre-orders for the Vivo U3 is already up in the Chinese e-commerce site JingDong, while it'll be available on Vivo China's official site from October 21.

• Vivo U3 (4/64GB): ¥999 ~ (NRs. 16,065)
• Vivo U3 (6/64GB): ¥1,199 ~ (NRs. 19,280)

As for the phone's official availability in Nepal, we haven't received any words from the company's official distributors in the country. Stay with us for further updates.