Authentic and aesthetic: ZTE Nubia Z18 mini smartphone – advantages and disadvantages

In April 2018, Nubia technology pleased us with its new ZTE nubia Z18 mini. It is worth making a small note, specifying that the name of the ZTE brand here is more nominal than real, since Nubia technology has been independent of ZTE for 3 years. In Russia, smartphones from nubia are very popular, so the release of the novelty simply could not go unnoticed. Many have already expressed their opinion about this phone, let's consider it and we.

Equipment

The contents of the box are quite typical for smartphones. It contains:

• Actually, the smartphone itself;
• USB Type-c Gen 1 cable;
• Power supply 2A/5V;
• User's manual;
• SIM card slot opener.

Display

It so happened that the word mini in Nubia models means absolutely nothing.This model is no exception, from mini it only has a name, but everything else, from the display to the characteristics, is quite a maxi.

The size of this "Mini" display is 5.7 inches with an aspect ratio of 18:9 and Full HD resolution of 2160x1080 pixels. The screen occupies approximately 80.2% of the entire body and displays 16 million colors in NTSC space, which is 85% of all perceived by the human eye, and thanks to a good oleophobic coating, fingerprints practically do not remain on it.

Nubia also decided to do without the unibrow, which many do not like so much, and earned themselves a few points in karma for this.

The display matrix is ​​based on polysilicon low-temperature technology LTPS - this is the latest technology for the production of thin-film transistors, performed using laser annealing at a temperature of -400 ^aboutFROM.

Such a process technology can reduce not only power consumption, but also the size of the transistors themselves. This makes it possible to greatly increase the density of pixels per inch of the screen. Mobile phones with such displays have an incredibly beautiful and clear picture, since the number of pixels per inch (ppi) they can reach 500 or more. Although our device has a little less of them, only 424, the picture does not lose much from this.

Design

The case itself has dimensions of 148 x 70.6 x 7.6 mm and weighs 153 grams. Its body is made of aluminum, and the front and back are encased in 2.5D tempered Gorilla glass.

The case combines all the advantages and disadvantages of a "glass" smartphone: it does not scratch, fits comfortably in the hand and looks beautiful. However, it quickly collects fingerprints and breaks easily, so you should be careful when handling it, since such models are generally not very reliable.

On the back panel there is a dual camera with 24 and 5 MP sensors in a red border and a fingerprint scanner. On the left side panel there is a Dual sim slot for two SIM cards and a smart assistant call button with the same red stripe around it. At the bottom is a 3.5 mm audio jack and a USB cable connector.

The design of the phone is really pleasing to the eye. The smartphone looks elegant and sophisticated, and the glass adds a special charm to it. The model comes in 5 colors. In addition to the classic black and white, colors such as purple, pink and blue are available. Each of them looks just fine. Especially purple, called provence edition.

Main characteristics

Not at all mini this model also has characteristics. The table will allow you to quickly familiarize yourself with them. Below we will dwell on them in more detail in order to show that it is good not only externally.

CPU

The heart and brain of the smartphone is a powerful 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor. It is made using FinFET technology and its thickness is only 14 nm. It has four Kryo 260 cores clocked at 1.8 GHz, the other four, called Kryo 280, deliver higher performance and run at 2.2 GHz. It also consumes 60% less power than the Snapdragon 653.

According to AnTuTu tests, it gives out about 138,000 units. An excellent result for the middle class. You don't have to worry about speed. This smart processor is suitable for active games and in general for almost anything, even deploy a neural network on it. And yes, it does have a modification to work with neural networks.

At the same time, neither throttling nor overheating was noticed during operation. During the tests, it never hung up, and to heat it up, you really need to try.

Camera and its features

So we come to almost the strongest point of this device. Its rear dual camera is highlighted in red for a reason. The 24 MP camera sensor with a good aperture of f/1.7 and optics with six lenses allows you to take simply excellent pictures. They are in no way inferior in quality, if not superior to the images taken by the cameras of flagship smartphones, for example, such as the Honor 10.

This is facilitated by technological solutions such as phase detection autofocus. Special sensors collect light rays from different points of the frame, using multiple lenses, making up a single light flux from them, which is then divided into 2 halves and enters the photosensitive sensor.When the beams are at a certain distance from the sensor, the system automatically aligns the lenses so as to obtain the best image quality.

Phase detection autofocus allows you to capture the image as quickly and accurately as possible, which is especially important when shooting moving objects.

The same technology is used in SLR cameras.

The second 5-megapixel camera is used to blur the background, allowing you to bring the quality of pictures even closer to professional ones.

Below are examples of how the camera takes pictures:

The front camera is far from being that impressive and rather unpretentious. It has 8 MP resolution and f/2.0 aperture. The phone also uses AI algorithms to process pictures from the front camera.

In 2018, manufacturers set an incredibly high bar for front cameras, and 12 or more MP front cameras on budget models have become the norm and, alas, Nubia Z18 does not meet it. 8MP camera in the middle class looks undignified.

However, she's still pretty good.

In terms of video, the camera can record Full HD and has electronic stabilization, but no optical stabilization, which can cause the video to shake a little, but it's not very noticeable.

Memory

In terms of RAM, the developers have outdone themselves. They stuffed as much as 6 GB of RAM into their new device, apparently guided by the rule: "A lot is not a little." So everything is more than okay with the RAM.

But for the main memory of the additional slot is not provided, which is sad. Since the phone is available in two variations: with built-in memory of 64 and 128 GB, we advise you to take 128, guided by the same rule as the developer when choosing the amount of RAM “More is not less”

Software

Nubia have released their new product based on the new Android 8.1 Oreo operating system. This model also uses the latest NeoVision 7.0 user interface.

The proprietary shell for Nubia can cause inconvenience for two reasons:

• Minor problems when triggering a biometric sensor. It almost always works flawlessly, but with a long check it sometimes starts to freeze or not work.
• The complexity and complexity of the firmware when setting up notifications. Initially, they do not work, and you may need to rummage through the manual to set them up.

Some may be upset by the lack of such a useful feature as NFC. It allows you to pay by phone instead of a card, and many are already accustomed to this method of payment. So you should pay attention to this item when choosing a smartphone, perhaps it will be decisive for you.

Battery

This not mini phone is powered by a 3450 mAh battery. This is enough for more than a day, or even as much as 2 days of battery life. On average, this is about 5-6 hours of active screen use.

The new processor contributes to this long runtime. Thanks to state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, it consumes much less power and also delivers better performance than previous Snapdragon models.

The phone does not have a fast charging function, which does not prevent the phone from being fully charged in about an hour and a half using the charger that comes in the box by default.

Sound and voice communication

The sound of the multimedia speaker is quite loud, but the sound quality is not the same as we are all used to seeing from Nubia.This is a little disappointing, as they have been making good speakers for a long time and so far there have been practically no complaints about them.

Not everything is good with the earpiece speaker either, as it noticeably distorts the sound during a conversation. Although we will not rush to conclusions here, since the problems with the conversational dynamics that the reviewers from Ukraine had, are absent from the reviewers from other countries. So perhaps this is due to the quality of communication of local operators.

But through the headphones, the sound of the phone is quite high-quality, in no way inferior even to One plus 6. Through the integrated sound processor chip, you can quite clearly hear the high quality of music in FLAC format. It is distinguished by a wide stage and well-developed sound at high frequencies.

But there is no need to hope for something supernatural, since there is no digital-to-analog converter here. The sound is just good, and it seems to us that this is quite enough.

A little about LTE

Let's say a few words about LTE support. There were complaints about the inability to use 4G networks in some CIS countries, in particular in Ukraine due to the lack of support for B3 and B7. However, in Russia there was no such problem.

Price

At the moment, the price of the ZTE Nubia Z18 6/64 GB phone is:

• Russia: 20,000 - 22,000 rubles;
• Ukraine: from 9,500 to 10,500 hryvnias;
• Belarus: 700 rubles for 64 and 800 for 128 GB;
• Kazakhstan: 108,987 - 110,000 tenge.

The price is definitely high for a mid-range smartphone. However, looking at its characteristics, everything falls into place.

Phone pros and cons

• A beautiful display in every sense with an incredible color gamut and the already classic system of image quality settings for the screen.And the thin, almost imperceptible edges of the display will allow you to feel the full depth and contrast of the image.
• Excellent processor. Snapdragon 660 is definitely the best solution for mid-range smartphones. He deserved this title due to high performance, allowing you to freely play PUBG, World of tanks and other heavy games for several hours without overheating and its low power consumption. That is what allows the built-in battery to provide you with this watch.
• Long autonomy. The phone can work more than a day without recharging and 5-6 hours with a continuously working screen.
• A very impressive camera that allows you to take high-quality pictures, almost as good as those taken by a professional camera.
• New software.

• Lack of NFC technology. This problem, of course, is not relevant for everyone, but in most countries it has become the norm to pay by phone instead of a card, and almost all modern phones have this function. Even budget models.
• Speaker. While the problems with the speaker are most likely related to call quality in certain regions, there is a possibility that this is not the case, and it would be a good idea to check the speaker at the time of purchase.
• Oddities of the Nubia shell. Perhaps the problem with notifications has already been fixed by the time of our review, but still it is worth keeping this in mind.

Price. Despite all its advantages, the phone is clearly more expensive than a regular model from the middle class. Especially the provence edition, which is $30-40 more expensive than other models.

conclusions

Finally, it should be said that ZTE Nubia Z18, although it is a little expensive, justifies its cost with impressive features and beautiful design.