Today, at a launch event in Beijing, China, Nubia took the wraps off its flagship smartphone — Nubia Z18. The phone, which comes with a starting price of 2,799 Yuan (approximately $409), and will be available for purchase in China from 11th September.
The phone features a 6-inch Full HD+ “Infinite Waterdrop” display with a screen resolution of 2180 x 1080 pixels, producing a pixel density of 403ppi and 18:9 aspect ratio. The display covers about 91.8 percent area on the front side and is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass.
Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by Qualcomm‘s flagship Snapdragon 845 AIE octa-core processor clocked at 2.8GHz, coupled with Adreno 630 graphics processor. The processor comes with the third generation of multi-core AIE engine that is claimed to be 3X times faster than the previous generation. The device packs up to 8GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage.
The Nubia Z18 comes with Nubia Evolution Tensor technology, which the company describes as evolutionary machine learning technology. With the technology’s deep learning ability, it combines different algorithms to make up for each other’s strengths. It also supports and is compatible with Caffe, Pytorch, TensorFlow and other such training frameworks. The company further adds that the Nubia ET technology can speed up its own learning ability by nearly 200 percent, thanks to the multi-frame model.
In the camera department, the phone comes with an AI-based dual camera setup on the back, featuring a 16-megapixel and 24-megapixel camera sensors with f/1.6 aperture. It also comes with Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) for smoother video recording. On the front side, there’s an 8-megapixel snapper with Portrait Mode.
The camera setup, which is powered by Spectra 280 ISP, is claimed by the company to provide the industry’s strongest performance. The phone comes with a new NeoVision ET Image Engine, which claims to be bringing evolution in the photography. It supports features like AI Intelligent Scene Recognition and AI-based post image processing as well.
The NeoVision ET Image Engine can accurately identify more than 500 types of scenes and the company claims that it’s recognition accuracy is 40 percent higher than the ordinary technology. It also supports AI Classified Albums for smarter and efficient album management. There’s also AI-based ET Art Filters onboard, including the Van Gogh filter.
The camera, which the company claims is the “king of night photography”, comes with the ability of pixel-level recognition and can distinguish the noise points with the help of artificial intelligence. This enables the phone to take stunning images during night-time.
As for the connectivity options, the device comes with 4×4 MIMO multi-antenna, which increases the data transmission rate by 100 percent and supports the speed of up to 640Mbps. It packs usual connectivity options including 4G LTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and USB Type-C. The device comes with DTS + D-BASS combination, which offers more dynamic bass, stereoscopic sound field, and an immersive gaming experience.
The phone is running the Android Oreo-based Nubia UI 6.0, which comes with Maverick Voice 2.0 — a built-in AI-based smart voice assistant. The Nubia UI 6.0 comes with a lightweight visual aesthetic design. Thanks to the Nubia ET, it intelligently boots and actively learns user behavior, enabling applications to start more quickly. It also comes with powerful improvements in gaming performance.
There’s also a back-mounted fingerprint sensor for added security. The Nubia Z18 is powered by 3,450mAh battery which comes with NeoPower 3.0 Smart Power Saving Technology and supports NeoCharge 2.5 Fast Charging technology.
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The 3D curved glass bodied smartphone comes in two color options — Deep Dark Night and Nebula Red. The company has also introduced Nubia Z18 Van Gogh Starry Night Collector’s Edition. While the standard variant with 6GB RAM + 64GB storage costs 2,799 Yuan ($409), the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model is priced at 3,299 Yuan (approximately $482).
On the other hand, the Nubia Z18 Van Gogh Starry Night Collector’s Edition is priced at 3,599 Yuan, roughly $526. The Nubia 18 will go on sale from September 11 through Nubia’s official website, Jingdong Mall, Suning Easy to buy, and Tianmao Mall.
