Here’s a “funny” fact for you: The best Android smartphones on the planet don’t really get sold in the United States. Effectively, if you’re buying your phones in the USA, you’re getting most tech companies scraps as far as devices go (or at least you’re not getting as a good of a deal as you could elsewhere).
The reason? Simple. The American economy runs almost solely off of “Intellectual Property (IP)”. Patents, copyright, and the rest. IP holds the whole damned thing up. And interestingly, a good chunk of the rest of the world doesn’t have any need for such nonsense ideas as IP, and so they end up with far superior devices in the process.
Take for example the Vivo Xplay 5 Elite, the very first smartphone in the world that has 6GB (!) of RAM. I said 6! My fantastic ASUS Zenfone 2 “only” has 4GB of RAM, and that was the first phone to ever have that much, and it’s still a rarity for any phone to have over 3GB.
Now, we’ve talked about Vivo before, as they are making incredibly well built Android smartphones for $149 that would knock the socks off in style and performance of most phones made even under a year ago. Vivo can do this largely because they exist in a part of the world that doesn’t fall prey to foolish laws (which all are, really) in the US.
To be clear, though, Vivo isn’t going for some budget offering with the Vivo Xplay 5 Elite. This thing is a beast through and through. Let’s cover the specs:
- Snapdragon 820 processor
- 128GB of onboard storage (and a MicroSD card slot)
- 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM
- 5.43 Super AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2,560 by 1,440
- 16MP rear camera (not clear specs for the front camera)
- 3,600mAh battery (very ample)
- Rear fingerprint ready (I hate biometrics as they’re a massive security hole)
- All-metal body
- No NFC or USB Type-C (odd, but NFC doesn’t blow up skirts anywhere other than big cities, anyways)
- Android 5.1 (this is odd, since recent budget Vivo models have Marshmallow upgrade path set, maybe the same will be so for the Xplay5)
- Comes in multiple colors
Like I said, it’s a beast of a phone, and while I wish it didn’t have a fingerprint reader, anything else it may lack doesn’t bother me at all. If you really want this thing, you may be lucky enough to buy it unlocked third-party on eBay or Amazon, but don’t expect this to be available on your “favorite” carrier. As I’ve said many times at the Dark Android Project, you want to get used to using unlocked phones anyway. Granted you’re going to pay full price the Xplay5, and it’s running at $650 USD…which is a new realm for Vivo, but I think the power this phone provides is worth the asking price. It’ll smoke any iPhone that costs double that, and Scamsung (spelled so intentionally) is going to take years with its bullshit incrementalist approach to get to the 6GB of RAM that the Xplay 5 Elite provides.
And you may be asking why you need 6GB of RAM in a phone? It’s a good question. Honestly, 4GB of RAM gets me speedily along without a hiccup right now, but as our mobile devices replace our traditional desktops/laptops more and more (and it is happening, whether I like it or not), and as ideas like Ubuntu Phone’s “Convergence” or Windows Phone’s “Continuum” technology flourish, having 6GB of RAM is going to become a necessity sooner or later. Also, gaming on mobile devices is starting to match PC gaming in many respects, and that RAM could easily get used up with that in the near future. It’s definitely a marketing ploy on Vivo’s part–likely against Scamsung–but it’s a useful one, in my opinion. And Vivo has already stated that they are putting in custom multi-tasking abilities, so 6GB really can go to use on the Xplay 5 Elite.
As far as using it as a Dark Android Project device? Not necessarily, but I wanted to talk about it here because it is a leap-forward in Android device technology, and I hope that it spurs other companies to release 6GB of RAM, or more, devices in the future, allowing for greater multi-tasking and speed.
No set release date has been made, but it will get released. Just not in the United States. Because…you know…laws. Damned things. If you try hard enough, I’m sure you can still get your hands on this powerhouse, though. Nice work, Vivo. 6GB of RAM, here we come!
Carpe lucem!
