The first thing that you notice when you first switch on the Vivo V9, or see someone using it, is that lovely display and it’s almost ‘edge-to-edge’ design. Yes, the design — both hardware and software — is a complete and total rip-off of the iPhone and iOS, but once you get past that, you realise that the phone still makes quite an impression in this segment right now. However, once the market is flooded with notches, I really doubt this phone’s ability to stand out.Image: tech2/Rehan Hooda With the exception of the camera design, you’re not going to be able to tell the V9 apart from any other Vivo device. The company has added a dual camera setup in an iPhone X-like vertical setup towards the top left corner of the smartphone, along with an LED flash unit.Image: tech2/Rehan HoodaImage: tech2/Rehan Hooda The front of the device is mostly the display with a small chin at the bottom and the notch on the top. The notch houses the front speaker and 24 MP front camera sensor. There are no hardware navigation buttons to reduce the size of the bottom chin and Vivo has opted for software navigation buttons instead. Vivo has also added an iPhone X-like gesture-based navigation system that reduces the navigation buttons to mere indicators, increasing the effective screen estate for the content.Image: tech2/Rehan Hooda The V9 comes with high-quality plastic on the back that curves on the sides of the smartphone to give the user a comfortable grip. Plastic caps are at the top and bottom. The fingerprint scanner is on the rear.Image: tech2/Rehan Hooda The dual SIM slot tray along with a dedicated microSD card slot is located towards the top on the left side of the device. You will find the power button and the volume rocker on the right side of V9. Moving towards the bottom of the device, you will find the microUSB port in the middle, with a 3.5 mm headphone jack and a speaker grill on either side. Features: 7/10 Vivo V9 packs in a 6.3-inch screen with FHD+ resolution and a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio with an iPhone X-like notch on the top, something I’ll talk more about in the display section. The V9 packs in a Snapdragon 626 SoC with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB internal storage. Vivo will also give users an option to add a microSD card with up to 256 GB capacity for expandable storage with the help of a ‘triple card slot’. It comes with a 16 MP rear camera sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and a 5 MP camera sensor for sensing the depth. A 24 MP camera sensor is on the front of the device.Image: tech2/Rehan Hooda The device also comes with a microUSB port, OTG, GPS, dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.2 and headphone jack. It is disappointing to see a microUSB port in a device launched in 2018, especially with that notch-happy screen, but you will have to deal with it.