You know the last time I checked china phones were looked upon like they were meant for cheapos. But times have changed. Its time for the cheapos to rise. Behold ZTE. Nubia 5 being the latest flagship from ZTE, we do a close review of the device and its features. With some serious muscle and looks, who said you can't make heads turn. Read on to know more.
Hardware
With a full glass frontal, the screen stretches upto 5 inches diagonally with Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution giving it a nice and sharp IPS LCD look at 443ppi. The screen has awesome viewing angles and since its oleophobic, finger prints are the cries of the past. With power button on the right and volume adjustment buttons on the left, reaching out to the buttons is fairly easy and provide a good feedback. The internals may not be every geek's dream but will kick some serious butt when benchmarked since its packing a 1.5Ghz Quad Core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB RAM. With 16GB of internal storage but no MicroSD Card slot, it may be a bummer for some. All this rounded off at just 7.6mm, makes the device really thin and definitely gives it a premium feel. Not to mention the 13MP, f/2.2 Sony CMOS sensor on the back and the 2MP for the selfies. With Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, HDMI and Wifi 802.11 b/g/n, the Nubia 5 has you covered.
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Software
What good is hardware when the software is just meh. Well rest assured, this is not the case here. Nubia 5 runs on customized version of Android 4.1.2 jelly bean although we would have hoped to see atleast Android 4.2.2. Keeping our fingers crossed to see an update to Android 4.3. Other than that, the customized UI is fairly beautiful and looks a lot better than other OEMs. ZTE cleverly integrated the neatness of pure jelly bean with its own UI thus presenting a clear, smooth and super consistent interface. Right from the homescreen to themes, the Nubia 5 can be customized to your needs.
Camera
With a 13MP, f/2.2 aperture and Sony's CMOS sensor, the Nubia 5 does take pretty good shots. The flagship's 13MP doesn't grumble under low light thanks to the f/2.2 aperture and CMOS sensor, the daylight shots come out with pleasing and almost true to life colors. There may sometimes be less saturation but the overall color reproduction of the images is pretty life like. Video recording at 1080p with 30fps seems to be just fine as well given the fact that 1080p has become a standard, atleast for midrange smartphones. The 2MP frontie does pretty good job of taking selfies with slight over sharpening but we highly doubt this to be the lens fault in the review product which we recieved rather than a software glitch. Take a look at some of the 13MP shots right below.
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Battery
A 2300 mAH battery may seem like a little under-powered especially with just 13.5 hours of 3G talk-time. Although Nubia 5 should do good for video playback which may last at an average of 10 hours, giving you enough entertainment for one whole day. Gaming experience may seem to take a toll on the battery too with the 5 inch FUll HD display and Quad Core processor. Nonetheless, we feel like it makes for an "okay" statement when it comes to battery life.
Conclusion
The ZTE nubia 5 is engineered for those who want the latest in smartphone technology at a better value than comparable devices. Its sophisticated combination of hardware and software solutions, including an image capture suite that incorporates the fundamentals of a digital SLR, and unique gesture controls offer a range of options for everyone from the photo enthusiast to the road warrior, to the entertainment junkie, all of whom will enjoy the nubia 5’s handsome, industrial profile. With a price tag of $449, we give it a 3.8 out of 5. Buy here right from Amazon.
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| Specifications | ZTE Nubia 5 |
|---|---|
| 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| 3G Network,4G Network | HSDPA, LTE LTE 800 / 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600 |
| SIM | Single SIM(Micro Sim) |
| Display Type | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| Display Size | 1920 x 1080 pixels, 5 inches (~443 ppi pixel density) |
| Features | Quad-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro Processor, Android OS v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), 2 GB RAM |
| Phonebook | Yes, Practically Unlimited |
| Call Records | Yes, Practically Unlimited |
| Internal Memory | 16GB Internal Storage, 2 GB RAM |
| Card Slot Memory | No |
| GPRS | Yes, Class 12 |
| EDGE | Yes, Class 12 |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot |
| USB | Yes, microUSB v2.0 |
| Bluetooth | Yes, v4.0 with A2DP,LE,EDR |
| 3G | HSDPA, 42 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps |
| Camera Primary | 13 MP Pixel Sony CMOS sensor, simultaneous HD video and image recording, autofocus, LED flash |
| Video | Yes, 1080p @ 30fps |
| Secondary | Yes, 2 MP |
| Sound Alert Type | Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | Yes |
| OS, CPU, Chipset, And GPU | Android OS, v4.1.2 (Jelly Bean), Quad-Core 1.5 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon APQ8064 Chipset And Adreno 320 GPU |
| Messaging | SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM |
| Browser | HTML5 And Flash (Download From Outside) |
| Radio | Yes |
| GPS | Yes, with A-GPS support |
| Java | Yes, via Java MIDP emulator |
| Colors | Glossy White, Matte Black |
| Battery | Standard Li-Ion 2300 mAh battery |
| Talktime | 20 hrs(2G), 13.5 hrs(3G) |
| Standby | Not Available |
| Price | $449. Check out the link above for purchase from Amazon. |
Author : Nadeem Ansari
Designation: Senior Editor
Bio: A gadget freak who can't make a day without his tiny little toys and is constantly trying to keep himself up to date with the latest events in tech history. Loves to read and write articles.
Bio: A gadget freak who can't make a day without his tiny little toys and is constantly trying to keep himself up to date with the latest events in tech history. Loves to read and write articles.
