Nubia Z40S Pro Full Review: A well-balanced phone with a periscopic telephoto lens

We haven’t reviewed a Nubia phone in a long time. However, today, we’ve got one, the Nubia Z40S Pro. While I said it was the cheapest 8+ Gen1 phone in the GT2 Master explorer edition review, the Z40S Pro came to us at a lower price, and it’s another straight-screen flagship phone too! Let’s cut the crap and start the REVIEW right away.

Nubia Z40S Pro Design & Display

As soon as I got this phone, it felt familiar and strange at the same time. When I held it in my hand, it felt like an iPhone, and when I lit up the screen, it looked like a Reno 8 Pro+. When I turned to the back, it looked like the Mi 11 Ultra without the back screen, and the Sliding switch on the side reminded me of OnePlus, and put it all together, it was the Z40S Pro. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying it’s ugly. I rather admire their designers. After all, the phone looks good after I used it for long time. The metal frame is also chamfered, not as hard on the iPhone or GT2 Master. The main camera has a red circle around it, a bit like the one on Canon lenses. The logo on the right is off center and that’s bringing out my OCD.

NFC, yes. Dual Nano SIM cards, yes. Stereo speakers, yes. Headphone jack, no. But there is a Sliding switch, and the default is to quickly open the camera in Street mode. You can also go to the settings to change the shortcut you want.

I’m sure many of you are wondering which screen is better, the GT2 Master explorer edition or the Z40S Pro. Well, they are very close to each other. Let’s look at the bezel width first, it’s really hard to tell which one is narrower. If there must be a winner, the GT2 Master’s lower bezel will be about 0.1mm narrower. But the Z40S Pro has a 144Hz screen that scrolls very smoothly. As for the viewable angle part, they are both going to be greenish when viewed sideways, as neither feature Samsung’s OLED panel. Both phones have FHD+ resolution and the clarity is the same. So if you’re on the fence about buying the GT2 Master or the Z40S Pro, you’ll have to keep watching to find out which one is right for you.

Nubia Z40S Pro Performance

Usually, all Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 phone’s performances are about the same. But the actual gaming performance is not like that. PUBG performance is very stable, but it is also the normal level for flagship phones. Unfortunately, PUBG does not have a 90fps mode for the Z40S Pro, the maximum frame rate is only 60fps, but Genshin is more impressive, the average frame rate on the Z40S Pro is 59fps.

The small drop in frame rate in the middle was because I was challenging the boss, but it didn’t affect the game play much. Although the temperature came to 49 degrees Celsius, the stable and smooth gaming experience deserves a good rating. Because this result was taken in super performance mode, you can also turn on the game space and select auto mode if you want lower temperatures.
There’s nothing special about the Bench mark section, so if you’re interested, you can pause and watch it yourself.

Nubia Z40S Pro Performance

As the cheapest Snapdragon 8+ phone to date, it has the most powerful camera system in its price range. The main camera is the ZTE family’s iconic 35mm lens, model IMX787. A 50MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a periscopic telephoto lens. That’s right, Nubia has put a periscopic telephoto lens on a 500-dollar phone at a time when telephoto lenses are becoming rarer.

This equivalent 125mm focal length telephoto lens not only allows you to avoid clutter and take better-looking photos, but with the addition of the 35mm main camera, the focal length coverage of the three lenses will be more sensible than many phones. But 8MP does not provide much detail, and if you want to zoom in on a photo, you can still see the noise. This telephoto lens has a small sensor though and can take very good pictures at night. However, the image quality is not as good as flagship phones like the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, and the telephoto lens doesn’t have a night mode. It can’t record video beyond 4k or 60fps, either.

But it only sells for 500 dollars, so I am very satisfied with this telephoto lens.
The 35mm main camera is basically the same as the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra’s main camera. There are several advantages of this lens, one is that the 35mm focal length is easier to compose, especially for food shots. It’s very convenient that you don’t have to get close to the food, you can just get a shot of the food on the table when you lift your hand. The second is that the night scene processing is excellent. You can choose to turn on the night mode or not to get the night effect you want. Three is the powerful video recording capability, this lens supports up to 8k or 4k 120fps video recording. Clarity is certainly not a concern, but the image stabilization may be weaker if the focal length becomes further away. Of course, you can switch to the ultra-wide-angle lens as it will not have these problems, but the image quality will become poorer.

Ultra wide-angle camera’s auto mode photos are also in line with the level of this price point, only this night mode seems to be not tuned properly. I found a lot of strange problems when I was using the ultra wide angle night mode on this phone. Sometimes the play is normal and the dynamic range is hugely improved. But sometimes it appears that night mode has worse dynamic range than auto mode. Sometimes night mode will increase the contrast of the photo, but sometimes it won’t. So which scene will be better with night mode, you have to try it yourself.

For full-sized camera samples, check out this drive link.

Nubia Z40S Pro Battery Life & Performance

This year we have seen a trend wherein brands like to put out two models of the same phone: one with a large battery that charges slightly slower. The other is super fast charging with a slightly smaller battery. The Z40S Pro is no exception, so if you want a big battery or faster charging, you can choose for yourself. We got the 80w 5000mAh version. Let’s look at the charging first, ten minutes to charge 35%, 20 minutes to 58%, and 40 minutes to full. 5000mAh battery also ensures that you won’t lose your connection for a day out because of a dead battery. And with no increase in power consumption with Genshin’s higher frame rate than anyone else, the battery life of this phone can be considered quite excellent.

 

As you can see, the Z40S Pro is a very good phone for the price. For 500 bucks, you get the latest 8+ Gen 1 chip, a periscopic telephoto camera system, a 144Hz straight screen, and a 5000mAh battery. We generally call this kind of phone “Flagship killer”. Although it is currently the cheapest and best value 8+ Gen 1 phone, but maybe by the time you see this video, a cheaper or better value 8+ Gen 1 phone will have been launched.

 

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