The vivo NEX S comes out of a torture test looking pretty good

The futuristic vivo NEX S delivers big-time in both the looks and innovation departments. For most of us, smartphone enthusiasts, its nearly bezel-free 6.59-inch, Super AMOLED display, under-display fingerprint reader and periscope selfie camera are an instant object of desire.

However, lusting after a handset can be dangerous, especially for something, like the vivo APEX concept, gone mainstream. The potential pitfalls of day-to-day ownership are numerous. We, for one, found its Color OS Android ROM quite frustrating and disappointing, which you can read more about in the in-depth review.



Zack, from the popular Jerry Rig Everything YouTube channel finally got his hands on a NEX S unit and unleashed his patented blend of controlled carnage on it, for another perspective of using the device as a daily driver.

While inspecting the hardware durability and longevity aspects of the NEX S, he found little fault with it. Frankly, kind of surprising, seeing how vivo's flagship looks like a fragile piece of glass from afar. Like we pointed out in our review, however, its construction is actually very solid.

To summarize a few of Zack's findings: The sides are metal, including the buttons. The back and front are glass, with the front one coming in just a bit short of sapphire in scratch-resistance. This makes for a surprisingly strong assembly, with a bit more flex in the body than some tougher devices out there, but still great structural integrity. As for other potential points of failure, the protruding selfie camera is also very sturdy on the outside, rocking a metal and glass build. Its internal servo, plus spring mounting and dampening solution holds up surprisingly well under torture, as well.

Check out the video for more insights. Just be warned, there's plenty of smartphone carnage and on a device that is still a very scarce commodity. Remember, it's all for science.