vivo Xplay 5 launched with 6 GB of RAM, Snapdragon 820 and dual-edge display

The vivo Xplay 5 Ultimate Edition has been officially launched in China, becoming the first smartphone in the world to ship with 6 GB of RAM. The vivo Xplay 5 specs also include the Snapdragon 820, 128 GB of internal storage and a 5.43-inch QHD dual-edge Super AMOLED display just like the Galaxy S7.

The vivo Xplay 5 features a metal unibody design, fingerprint scanner, fast-charging 3,600 mAh battery and Hi-Fi 3.0 dual stereo speakers. With a specs sheet like this and a price tag around $650, you have to ask yourself: did vivo just make a cheaper Galaxy S7 Edge?

The answer is likely “no” but you do have to be impressed with the Xplay 5 on paper. Of course, history and experience has shown us time and time again that you can’t trust a trust a specs sheet to predict real-life performance, but at the very least the Xplay 5’s specs and styling are going to turn a few heads that might not have otherwise budged from Planet Samsung. We’ll be very interested to see how this device stacks up against the very best Samsung has to offer, and whether or not the 16 MP/8 MP combo on the Xplay 5 can perform anywhere near as well as a Samsung camera.

Whether the vivo Xplay 5 is likely to make any kind of impact on the Galaxy S7 Edge’s sales in China is hard to say. Chinese phones with high-end specs and competitive pricing are becoming increasingly common and increasingly compelling, putting the “big boys” on high alert long ago.

But the fact that the vivo Xplay 5’s curved screen doesn’t have any edge features like the Galaxy S7 Edge make it pretty clear that this phone is not really in the same class as Samsung’s latest flagship, no matter how similar it looks. Having said that, the Chinese market has typically thrived on surface over substance anyway.

If not making use of the edge doesn’t bother you that much, vivo has two Xplay 5 models up its sleeve: the standard model “Flagship Edition” with 4 GB of RAM and Snapdragon 652 Soc for 3,698 Yuan ($565) and the vivo Xplay 5 “Ultimate Edition” with 6 GB of RAM and Snapdragon 820 for 4,288 Yuan ($655).

The vivo Xplay 5 finger scanner can unlock from sleep in 0.4 seconds and from a screen-on state in 0.2 seconds. It runs Android 6.0 Marshmallow underneath vivo’s FunTouch OS and you’re limited to just two color options: Rose Gold or Champagne Gold. The standard model is available for pre-order right now and the Ultimate Edition will reportedly go on sale on March 8.

What do you think of the Xplay 5? Is 6 GB of RAM overkill or simply the next step?