New entrant Vivo with its new Vivo X3 is going after Huawei Ascend P6 in the device-thickness game. The 5-inch smartphone is just 5.75 mm thick, and makes a few lofty compromises in getting there, which deprive it of a high-end badge. The specs-sheet isn't all that bad.

　　To begin with, its 5-inch screen isn't full-HD, but isn't a cheap qHD or worse, WVGA tripe like the Galaxy Grand, either. It offers HD (1280 x 720 pixels), which is passable for its size. An 8-megapixel primary camera, with a 5-megapixel front-facing one handle imaging.

　　Under its hood, things get predictable. A MediaTek MT6589 SoC drives the Vivo X3, with a quad-core Cortex-A7 CPU clocked at 1.50 GHz. This chip is wired to 1 GB of RAM, and 16 GB of internal memory that's not expandable. A 2,000 mAh non-removable battery powers the device. The Chinese version is tuned for local TD-SCDMA 3G networks.

　　A noteworthy piece of hardware is Vivo's choice of an audiophile-grade audio DAC made by ESS. Vivo deployed Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" on the device, with a custom user-interface by the company, which supports a few of the newer UX gimmicks we've come to recognize, like air-gestures.

　　Slated for September, Vivo X3 will begin selling in China first, priced at 2,498 RMB (US $408), contract-free.