vivo has recently launched its Communications Network Laboratory in Dongguan, China, on 5 December 2021. With a sizeable investment by vivo, the first of three construction phases were completed in cooperation with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. With the new state-of-the-art facilities, vivo aims to lead long-term technology innovation for robust development and provide global smartphone users with superior products and services.

Leveraging the 5G infrastructures, including base station and core network technologies deployed by major global operators at scale, the Lab can flexibly adjust and simulate variable frequency ranges of global commercial 5G/4G networks. As a result, a significant number of tests that previously needed to be performed outdoors can be accurately achieved in the Lab. 

Extreme conditions such as weak signals, crowded streets, and high-speed movement can also be examined in the Lab, ensuring the strong performance of vivo smartphones in any scenarios.

Base stations and core networks used by operators are aggregated in the Lab

In addition to testing daily life scenarios at the Lab, vivo engineers can also simulate various commercial environments where a multitude of tasks such as gaming, video calling, and live streaming take place. Based on these contexts, an end-to-end verification method is applied with data intelligence and analysis, gathered for product optimisation to continue to deliver the ultimate user experience. 

Testing in the Lab

The Lab provides multi-dimensional support for engineers worldwide in various fields, from underlying communication protocols to user experience. For example, it establishes testing models to improve power consumption with different networks in multiple scenarios. It is also closely following the evolution in communication technologies, adapting to the development of 5G standards, including the 5G NR Release 16, to ensure vivo users are among the first to enjoy the latest innovations.

Embracing a user-oriented strategy, the Lab strives to ensure vivo smartphones can adapt to real-life complex network conditions. During the R&D cycle of each product, thousands of engineering prototypes are rigorously tested in the new Lab, to make sure that each phone reaches the user with an excellent capability for signal transmission and data transfer, optimal power consumption, and stable performance. 

In terms of system reliability and performance stability, a large-scale network stability test environment has been built in the Lab to conduct a strict testing program of each smartphone, including more than 4,000 hours of uninterrupted power supply stress tests, over 1,000 hours of data transfer tests, as well as more than 10,000 mobile original and terminated calls respectively.