You know how the Vivo Nex S has that hidden mechanical camera on top?
I think we should un-hide that thing and make it transparent so we can see all the bells
and whistles inside...from the outside.
This is one of the most unique and futuristic smartphones that I've even taken apart, so
it should be a fun one.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
The psychedelic coloring on the back panel is pretty stunning.
All the different colors reflecting at different points on the black back.
I almost feel guilty about my plans to dissect and modify the internals...almost.
Like with most glass backed phones, the glass removal is pretty standard.
Our heat gun warms the little guy up, and a strong suction cup and metal pry tool commence
the initial penetration...while slicing through that still warm adhesive.
The back glass does have curves around the edges, so I use a more flexible piece of card
stock or a business card to do the slicing, since a card can wrap around the curve without
putting too much pressure on the glass.
Glass is glass, and glass does break.
For real though, this coloring is super impressive.
It's like someone dropped a bag of Skittles in a parking lot.
I can almost taste the rainbow just by looking at it.
I'll keep warming up the adhesive before it cools down and gets hard.
Got to keep it right around that perfect temperature where your fingers feel like they're melting
off.
Lucky for us, the adhesive is just around the edge of the phone, so once all the cutting
is done, the whole glass back panel lifts up and away from the phone in one piece with
nothing attached to the underside that we have to worry about.
The trick now through is that the mechanical camera operation that we want to show off
is still hidden under this metal plate.
The phone still turns on and the camera functions, so it's all still good.
Let's work on removing the color first.
We encounter a few different types of materials covering the underside of glass phones.
It could be a thin layer of paint like LG, or goofy laminate that doesn't want to come
off like HTC uses.
Or the third option is a thin layer of laminate that's easily peeled off in one giant piece.
And lucky for us, that's what Vivo is using on this Nex S. A little heat here and there
helps out, and the adhesive comes off, leaving the glass clean and clear with no residue.
The camera lens comes off as its own little metal unit.
I'll install that again later after I get the color out from underneath it.
And it's clear.
Looking closely the Nex logo in the middle and the Vivo logo down at the bottom are still
intact, which is fine with me.
And now our bezel-less smartphone has it's own clear back glass panel to show off all
the high tech goodness inside.
The only thing that would make it better right now is if we could see the mechanical components
of the front-facing camera while they are operating.
I think it's possible.
There are 12 screws holding down the metal plate over the motherboard.
Pulling that off gives us our first look at the camera raising mechanism.
It looks like a lead screw stepper motor is doing all the work.
The motor on the right twists the screw which raises and lowers the camera in and out of
the phone.
The camera, of course, receives its communication from the motherboard like normal with one
of those Lego connectors, but this time has a really long flexible ribbon so it can keep
moving in and out.
The large spring is probably to make sure nothing gets damaged if the camera gets bumped.
It absorbs the bump instead of hurting the lead screw with the motor.
Pretty smart of Vivo to design something like this.
Thumbs up for that.
What's not smart though, is covering up all that beautiful engineering inside the phone.
It deserves to be shown off, and that's where I come in.
I want to keep the back metal mostly intact because it might contain little antennas and
I also like how it's aesthetically silver to match the rest of the phone.
The part over the camera and motor isn't as important as the rest of it though.
A little snippity-snip from my scissors will take care of that.
I'll leave as many screw holes as possible so it's still secure.
And then I'll put all 12 screws back in, including the ones around the motherboard, so it's still
tight and the motor won't flex out of place on accident.
I'll do a full tear down of this phone in another video.
I'll clean up the remaining adhesive residue from inside the phone, and then I'll add my
own strong double-sided tape around the edges.
This helps keep the glass in place, as well as dust out of the phone.
The Vivo Nex S wasn't water-resistant to start with, and is definitely not water-resistant
now after this little operation.
I'll get rid of fingerprints on the underside of that glass since I won't have access to
it when the glass is set in place.
The camera goes back in making sure to keep things fingerprint-free.
And we're ready to drop the back glass in place and secure it all around the edges with
a little bit of pressure.
The phone does turn on, and now everything inside the phone is exposed to the outside
viewers while being fully protected with glass.
Yeah that psychedelic layer was pretty cool, but the pure modern industrial mechanical
look of this phone is pretty awesome.
The bright shiny metallic silver battery is perfect for this build, and we can clearly
see the camera flexing in and out of the phone continuously.
This might be my favorite clear phone yet.
Feel free to share this video with other technology loving individuals.
With enough voices, we just might get manufacturers making clear phones before I get my hands
on them.
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Thanks a ton for watching, and I'll see you around.