LOS ANGELES: Well, the Chinese smartphone makers are always pushing their constraints on this end. Following Gionee’s 5.1mm Elife S5.1 and Oppo’s 4.85mm R5, today Vivo has set an incipient record with its X5Max, a 4.75mm-thick Android phone that still manages to pack a number of eminent features.
It’s worth pointing out that unlike the Oppo R5, the X5Max has managed to keep its 3.5mm headphone jack in lieu of coercing a micro-USB adapter upon us.
Like its sibling contrivances, the X5Max places cumbersomely hefty accentuation on its audio performance, which is why it packs some dedicated audio chips – Yamaha YSS-205X signal processor, Sabre ES9018K2M DAC, exclusive Sabre ES9601 headphone amplifier and OPA1612 amplifier – as a component of its “Hi-Fi 2.0” package.
Alas, the X5Max is only launching in China to commence with: The China Mobile version will be available for CN¥2,998 or about US$490 as of December 12th. As for those outside China who need a phone to quench their karaoke thirst, stay tuned for an FDD-LTE version later.
