After teasing the new gaming brand yesterday, Nubia has officially taken the wraps off the Nubia Z18 Mini smartphone in China. It’s the first of the many models that are set to release sometime later this year in the Z series. Despite the ‘Mini’ branding, the new model is quite a capable smartphone that can take on the new age mid-rangers in the market.

Nubia is always known for its simple yet beautiful design. The same design philosophy is carried forward on the Nubia Z18 Mini. The phone features a 3D Gorilla Glass curved glass body supported by an aluminium alloy frame. The design is elegant and there are five different color options available, include a special edition. There are the standard four colors: Black, White, Pink, Blue. Apart from this, there’s a special Provence Edition coming in a Lavender shade, which will cost you a bit more than the other models. The 148 x 70.6 x 7.6mm body along with its 153 gram weight ensures that the phone is comfortable even for one handed use. Further, there’s a dedicated voice assistant button coming in textured red on the left side of the phone.

Coming to the specs, the Nubia Z18 Mini will feature the Snapdragon 660 AIE processor with 6GB of RAM and 64GB / 128GB ROM options. At the back of the phone, you’ll find a 24MP primary camera with a secondary 5MP shooter. The primary camera boasts of f/1.7 aperture with PDAF + Hybrid Contrast AF, 0.1s focus, and multi-point focus. The large aperture should ensure decent low light pictures from the Z18 Mini’s dual camera setup. Up front, you get an 8MP 80 degree wide-angle shooter to take care of your selfies.

The Nubia Z18 Mini comes with Android 8.1 out of the box with the company’s own Nubia UI. There’s a decent 3450mAh battery that should ensure more than a day’s worth of battery life. Other features include Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 ac, GPS, GLONASS, and 106 point Face Unlock.

The phone starts at 1799 Yuan ($286) for the 6GB +64GB variant and goes up to 2099 Yuan ($334) for the 6GB+128GB variant. The special Lavender Provence Edition will cost you a bit extra at 2199 Yuan ($350). The Nubia Z18 Mini goes on sale on April 19 and reservations start today. Meanwhile, you can check the full Nubia Z18 Mini specs here.

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This year has been quite exciting in terms of smartphone releases, with multiple brands, even the ones that failed in 2016, releasing flagships that are worthy of our attention. The Galaxy S8, Xiaomi Mi 6, Huawei P10 (except for that memory issue) have all been capable smartphones. Last week, we got an addition to that list, thanks to ZTE’s subsidiary, Nubia. The brand announced one of the first 8GB smartphones to be released in the market, the Nubia Z17 and guess what, we have already got our hands on this bezel-less beauty!

The Nubia Z17 continues on the bezel-less design used by its predecessor, the Z11 and comes with the new generation aRC 3.0 (arc refractive conduction) to ensure the minimum thickness of the screen. In fact, the front of the phone looks beautiful with the screen extending to the sides. However, the bezels on the top as well as the bottom are quite significant and if we had to pick out something to complain in the Nubia Z17 Hands on, those bezels would be on top of our list. Still, the overall phone feels good to hold, not too large and in fact, because of its bezel-less sides, the phone is just as wide as the Mi 6 (less than 2mm difference). If you have ever got the Nubia Z11 in your hands, then you know the Z17’s size as well because of its near similar dimensions.

Wait, actually, I have a photo comparing the Z17 vs Mi 6 side by side.

The built quality of the Nubia Z17 is pretty good, which has been one of the company’s highlights. The metal body gives the phone a sturdy built without any issues of getting fingerprint marks at the back. The back texture is simple and the dual cameras are on the top corner of the back along with a dual tone LED flash. The dual camera does protrude a little from the back but we haven’t faced any scratching issues yet. Nubia seems to have taken care of the glass covering the camera setup. There’s a fingerprint sensor at the back as well, which was fast and responsive in our initial hands on.

The display looks vibrant and the touch response is good. The red circular home button is capacitive.

The dual 23MP + 12MP setup at the back is actually pretty impressive. It’s fast and might even be better than Xiaomi Mi 6‘s dual cameras. We will definitely pitch them both together for a dual camera shootout in the next couple of days. The overall Nubia UI is fast and responsive. 

You can check out more pictures of the Nubia Z17 hands on from the gallery down below.

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Recently ZTE released Nubia Z17 Mini and it might be one of the most significant mid-range releases in the year 2017. I have to highlight it has an amazing dual and selfie camera that belong only to the camera champions in the market.

When a middle range phone is released from a Chinese brand, it is wise to be careful before making the buying decision. There are many potential drawbacks, but that’s why we’ll size and measure all the pros and cons before cutting. ZTE has proved in the past that they know to make a sexy phone with some great features and astonishing performance. Considering that Cristiano Ronaldo is posing on the ad of Nubia Z17 Mini, you can bet that ZTE has big expectations from this model. And what should your expectations be? Let’s roll it.

Top-level Nubia Z17 Specification

• Cards Slots: Dual Nano-SIM or SIM + memory card up to 200GB
• Display: LTPS IPS LCD, 5.2 inches, 1080 x 1920 res (424ppi), Gorilla Glass
• Nubia UI v4.0 runs on Android 6 (Marshmallow)
• Standard edition: CPU Octa-core Snapdragon 652 (4 x 1.8GHz plus 4 x 1.4GHz); Memory: 4GB / 64GB; GPU: Adreno 510
• High edition: CPU Octa-core Snapdragon 653 (4 x 1.95GHz plus 4 x 1.4GHz); Memory: 6GB / 64GB; GPU: Adreno 510
• Rear Camera – Dual 13MP
• Selfie Camera – 16MP
• Video: 4k
• Battery: 2950 mAh

Nubia Z17 Mini Review: Design, the feel, and the hardware

I remember back in 2015 when Nubia Z9 got launched. It was a big shift for ZTE and it attracted the attention of many right away. Even some designers were happy to see a ‘fresh face’, and those guys are usually picky. With Z17 Mini, Nubia follows this stylish design. It is very hard to accurately rate design because of personal preferences, but this model deserves high marks for it. The phone feels sturdy and sits well in the hand.

It comes in four colour combinations: 1) Elegant Black (my personal favorite); 2) Gold Black; 3) Champagne Gold; and 4) Red. It has red as a part of their branding and the phones feature great camera features that symbolically means that photography is user’s passion.

Interestingly, 97% of Z17 Mini’s body is made of aluminum, which gives a premium feel. It’s worth mentioning the curves on the edges are not fully rounded. Instead, a part of the curve is cut and that gives the phone a bit different feel in hands and a better grip. Although, it feels a bit slippery in the beginning. Adding to it weight of 155 gr,  the general feel of Z17 Mini is convincing in a way that you are holding a premium handset. With its dimensions (146.7 x 72.5 x 7.5 mm (5.78 x 2.85 x 0.30 in)), the phone feels compact enough.

Many phone makers nowadays put the fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, and to be honest, this place isn’t very useful for me personally, as I prefer the scanner on the side. But if you see what Samsung has done with the position of the fingerprint sensor on the new Galaxy 8, then I can’t complain much about Nubia’s decision.

The home button is a nice stylish red circle below the screen, while Back and Recent buttons are just small dots. In fact, this follows Nubia’s elegant design. On the bottom edge, there are holes for two speakers but when I played some music and covered the right one, the music got muted, which means there is no stereo speakers. The other one is an oversized microphone hole, which is fair enough decision for the pure aesthetics.

Nubia Z17 Mini Review: Display, connectivity, & battery

Z17 Mini is equipped with LTPS IPS LCD display. Speaking with no abbreviations, that’s a standard for mid-range phones. The viewing angle is very wide. The only thing that could behave better on this phone is brightness and contrast on the daylight. But, in this class with such performances that Z17 Mini offers, you can’t expect a much better screen as they are quite expensive. The screen is a higher number of 424 ppi (1080 x 1920 pixels) and the screen size is 5.2 inches – I really don’t know why it’s called “Mini”. The screen is sharp, crisp and has good colour contrasts. It is scratch protected with Gorilla Glass that is curved on the edges (2.5D). However, from the experience, never take it for granted and protect your screen with a foil, tempered glass or a case.

While I was testing Nubia Z17 Mini for this review, WiFi worked well, LTE and 3G network also exchanged data in a nice fashion. If that is particularly important to you, look for a handset that packs Snapdragon 820, 821 or the latest 835. Networking chips are integrated into processor’s module and that’s the most important when it comes to the quality of the network. iPhone also does a great job here, but we all know its price and limitations of iOS. There is one drawback for connectivity for now –Bluetooth has issues. My unit had a hard time making Bluetooth connections, and I hope it’s probably an issue fixable by a ROM upgrade.

Battery lasts for a day without a problem in a heavy usage regime. Of course, there is no a phone out there which you wouldn’t run out of juice if you really wanted so. That also depends on apps you use and how often you manage those working in background. Overall, the battery isn’t a hero, but it’s good enough, so you shouldn’t worry about it.

Nubia Z17 Mini Review: UI, Gestures & Apps

No matter how good specifications are, it is important that the core of UI is also well designed and that offers useful options. In terms of that, Nubia UI does a good job. When it comes to the design of the whole thing and sometimes UX of its apps, there are a few drawbacks. Worth mentioning that the Nubia 4.0 ROM reminds of MIUI a lot. Even some widgets are copied directly from there. For example, one tap to clean up RAM. However, there is also a nice widget “Lock screen” that allows you to lock the screen with just one tap. Usually, you can download it from Google Play, but software is always better to come as a part of the OS.

A very good thing about Nubia is its Theme market where you can find and download tons of free themes, and some of them are very cool. Unfortunately, the themes names and a lot of other text is in Chinese only. It is visual enough and it doesn’t stop you from using the app. But, in general, there are many parts of the system that are not translated in English. And those that are translated, usually are not written in a spirit of English language, so sometimes you need to stop and think what that means. It’s what we expats living in China call – Chinglish – a combo of English and Chinese mixed up. Also, there are some typos. All of these don’t really stop you to use all the features that Nubia offers, but it ruins UX a bit. Or makes you laugh depending on your spirit.

And good news regarding it. It seems that Z17 Mini will go internationally, including India and Europe (source to this leak). I assume it means that translations will be additionally polished and improved. Also, you can bet that the price in Europe and India will be significantly higher than here.

One of the reasons why you should consider getting Nubia Z17 is Edge Gestures. There are plenty of gestures that utilizes the side of the screen. On top of that, there are animations on how exactly to make the move and explanations of what they do.

Also, inside of the phone Settings, there is an Options Menu with various features. You can split-up the screen and easily adjust the size of each split which is sometimes a very useful option. One-handed mode – you can reduce the size of the active screen so that you can reach everything by using one hand. What I liked very much is that you can customize left and right button key. So, based on your habit with a previous phone, you can setup the Back button to be on left or on the right. Remember that buttons are only tiny red dots. Another cool feature is Super Screenshot that allows you to take screen shots of a specific part of the screen, or even to record the screen. Why saving only a copy of your screen at a moment when you make a video of it?

Besides these useful and handy features, you have integrated Security and Resources manager that helps you to manage safety and resources on your phone. And there are some features related to the fingerprint sensor that behaves like an additional physical button in some situations. That’s cool.

With all these features available, Nubia Z17 mini is a phone packed with features and you’ll be happy to have them.

Nubia Z17 Mini Review: Performance

There is a difference in high and standard version of Nubia Z17 Mini. In this review, I use the standard version with 4GB of RAM and Snapdragon 652. Both versions use the same graphic rendering chip (Adreno 510) and have the same amount of storage (64GB). The only two differences are Snapdragon 653 and 6GB of RAM. I haven’t tested the higher version on Antutu, but in terms of processing, the difference is tiny, not worth paying extra money just because of it. However, having additional 2GB of RAM comes handy and for those who can afford it, just go for it.

So, what Antutu says? The standard version scored around 83k which is a good score for a mid-range phone.

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But more than plain Antutu or Geekbench numbers, I prefer testing phones by overloading their memory and opening bunch of apps all at once. Then switching between them, typing, browsing, playing games, etc. If the phone works without lagging, that means that it performs well. And, Z17 mini did! I had opened Asphalt 8, Gmail, Viber, Google Maps, Google Docs, VPN client (this one is heavy), Facebook Messenger, Camera, Chrome, Instagram and a few other less known apps. I was switching between apps and using them without any problems.

Nubia Z17 Mini Review: Call Quality, Multimedia & Audio Quality

The quality of the call is good and no issues with the sound. Chinese phone makers tend to have a metallic echo in the background, but Nubia is doing well and you can’t hear it. The speaker is good, a bit of a shallow sound and lack of bass, what I expect from Chinese phone maker.

Nubia Z17 Mini Review: Camera

Well, I didn’t have a title of this article ‘’Camera champion’’ not to be fascinated by it! The camera is simply amazing – dual back camera of 13 MP as well as a selfie shooter of 16 MP. Oh yes, it’s the good old Sony camera and the model is IMX258. It can be compared to the real pro SLR camera and you can pull of Bokeh effect with a simple click. However, that is not the best thing about it – the very best feature of this phone are all the apps you can use to play around with your fancy phone camera. 3D photo, panorama, Multi-expo, Star trail, Trajectory and much more. Photos in daylight and night have great colours and contrasts. The video is also great, producing some very well lit videos even during night time. It captivates environments better than our own eye in low light.

This brings me to the conclusion that this phone is targeting millennials and all people passionate about their photography. Personally, I don’t use selfie camera that much – except when posing for reviews, but what I do appreciate is having this option. The screen colours are bright, crisp and picture are sharp and clear. Overall, if you don’t mind a bit of Chinese user experience, this phone is amazing for the price tag.

You can check out the full camera samples of the Nubia Z17 Mini from here.

So, what do you think about the Z17 Mini?

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Nubia was present at IFA Berlin this year, which means we got some time to play around with the three new smartphones showcased at the event.

The ZTE Nubia Z11 was the pick of the Nubia devices at the event, coming with top-end hardware including Snapdragon 820 and a beautiful bezel-less display. Our reviewer Linas got some time to play around with the three devices which were shown off at the event, the ZTE Nubia Z11, Z11 Mini and the Z11 Max. You can check out our first hands-on with these three devices from the video down below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKk4aRn6GUQ

The Z11 mini is the most compact and cheapest device of the lot as it retails for around $230. But the international availability is yet to be confirmed.

The phone sports a familiar design we’ve seen on a lot of phones. It uses metal and glass, which is a huge fingerprint magnet.

The phone is compact due to its 5” display and it has almost 70% screen to body ratio.

The main specs include a Snapdragon 617 chip, 64GB of expandable storage and 3GB of RAM. We have a 16MP camera on the back and it is said to be very good but I will tell you what I think in the full review.

Unfortunately, the phone comes with Android 5.1 out of the box the Nubia’s skin on top of it. The update to the Android 6.0 should definitely arrive soon.

The UI runs fast and there are quite a few features and customization options that I will go through in just a bit.

The Nubia Z11 Max is the largest smartphone as it has a 6” 1080p display, which is sharp and vibrant, just like on the Z11 mini.

It has similar specs but it comes with a more powerful Snapdragon 652 chip, 4GB of RAM, larger battery, and fast charge support.

Last but not least, we have the Nubia Z11, which is a true flagship device and it will be officially available for purchase for 499 EUR later this month in some countries in the EU, India, Asia and in north and south America.

The phone sports a 5.5” 1080p true bezel-less display, which looks just gorgeous. In fact, the phone has 81% screen-to-body ratio, which is one of the best in the business.

The build quality is top notch. The phone is made of metal and it feels solid in the hand. We have a 16MP camera on the back and it is said to provide DSLR-level photos and we can’t wait to test it out in our full review.

Other specs include Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. In fact, you can opt it for a gorgeous looking Black Gold Edition model, which will cost more but it has 6GB of RAM.

As for UI, the phone runs on the Android 6.0 with the Nubia’s skin on top of it. There are plenty of features to use that bezel-less display that we haven’t seen on other phones, e.g. you can swipe from one edge to change the desktop. Also, you can swipe down from the edge to switch between recently used apps.

All in all, the Nubia Z11 lineup has some pretty solid phones that we can’t wait to test them out. Our reviews of these devices should be up soon, so stay tuned!

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For the past couple of years, we have been regularly hearing about Nubia smartphones. The company is known for its premium quality built and capable cameras on smartphones, especially its Z series devices. Given that the company was established only back in 2012, it has really done a good job getting the attention of consumers in China and a few other markets. Now, Nubia has just announced that it will be expanding into new markets such as Europe and Latin America soon. So, fans in markets such as Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Spain and Germany will soon be able to purchase Nubia smartphones locally. The company has confirmed that the Nubia Z11 Mini, Z9 Max and the Z9 Mini will be available in these regions soon.

After Suning’s RMB 1.93 billion investment, which comes to $297 million in Nubia back in January 2016, the company is now preparing to expand its reach in new markets. Given that the Chinese market is saturated at the moment and there are lots of other markets where Chinese smartphones are popular, this might actually be a smart move on the part of the company.

Both Argentina and Mexico’s demand for high-end smartphones have been growing recently, thanks to the rapid development of 4G infrastructure as well as the boom in the e-commerce business. The company reveals that in Mexico, there are around 96 million smartphone users, of which, roughly 30 million purchase new phones every year. Further, Argentina is a good market for expansion since 90 percent of the country’s phone market share is represented by international brands. And Nubia aims to be one of these brands real soon.

READ MORE: Nubia’s Z11 Max Has An Amazing Screen To Body Ratio!

As for the more mature markets of Europe, Chinese smartphones are already popular in countries such as Russia. Moreover, both Germany and Spain, with millions of smartphone users turn out to be good markets for expanding Nubia’s reach this year. Apart from the above-mentioned markets, the company also confirms that it has sights on more European markets such as France, Italy, Poland and Turkey. It also mentions some Southeast Asian countries such as India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

With Nubia appointing Cristiano Ronaldo as the brand ambassador, it’s evident that the company is all set to make its presence felt globally. Special C. Ronaldo limited editions of the Nubia Z11 Mini and Z11 Max are also going on sale in China.

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Chinese companies are increasingly getting out of their home market and expanding into newer markets like Europe. To increase their brand awareness, these companies sign up top celebrities in these regions, like how Huawei signed Lionel Messi and Nubia signed Cristiano Ronaldo. And once they sign such huge celebrities, it is not uncommon for these companies to release specialized flagship models. It looks like that’s going to be the case with Nubia as well.

The company confirmed today that they will announce the Nubia Z11 Max phablet on June 7 in Beijing. And it looks like we could see a limited edition Cristiano Ronaldo signed version of the model at the event. That would be a logical move by the company, since he is now the global brand ambassador for Nubia. In case you remember, Huawei also has a specialized limited edition Mate 8 version coming on May 24 reportedly signed by Messi. Another speculation is that Ronaldo will be present at the event. But nothing is confirmed so far.

Nubia’s GM Ni Fei has already confirmed that the Z11 Max will boast of 83.7 percent screen to body ratio, which is amazing. This means that the phone will be nearly bezel-less and the top and the bottom bezels too will have to be trimmed down to reach this level of screen percentage. What is also confirmed is that the phone will fature 2.5D glass up front, a smooth metal frame and speakers at the bottom along with USB Type-C.

As for the specs, the Nubia Z11 Max is said to come with Snapdragon 652 with a 6-inch 1080p display, 16MP rear camera, 8MP front shooter, 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The battery is expected to be of 4000mAh. You can read more details about specs and design from the phone’s TENAA listing.

RELATED:

Bezel-less Nubia Z11 front panel leaks

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Nubia X8 has been making the rumor rounds for the past few months. However, as of now, we haven’t received any official confirmation from the company. Nubia seems to be focused on the Z11 series for now, so X8’s launch should be a while later. However, leaks about the phone continue to come in, and today, we have a lot of new information about this flagship smartphone.

According to the latest rumors, the Nubia X8 flagship will come in four different versions, Nubia X8 lifestyle, X8 standard,  X8 high and X8 PPT. The Lifestyle version will be the less powerful model in the lot, coming with the hexa-core Snapdragon 650 chipset with 3GB RAM and 16GB ROM. There will be a large 6.4-inch 1080p display. The phone will be the cheapest model in the series and will feature excellent battery life.

RELATED: Nubia X8 leaked in Gold Metal Body and Fingerprint Sensor

Next up is the Nubia X8 Standard Edition which will feature Snapdragon 820 chipset with 3GB RAM, 32GB ROM, and a 6.4-inch 1080p display. The high version will upgrade the RAM, ROM, and resolution to 4GB, 64GB and 2K respectively. Finally, there will be a top-end PPT version which will feature the still unannounced Snapdragon 823 chipset with 6GB of RAM. Details about the new Snapdragon 823 and other chips were leaked before, and you can read more about them from the above link.

Till now, we have only seen a single smartphone from Nubia in 2016, namely the Nubia Z11 Mini. Two other models with better specs are expected to be released soon, called as the Z11 and the Z11 Max. And possibly in the second half of the year, we could meet these four rumored Nubia X8 models. Unfortunately, as of now, nothing is official, so remember to take this news with a pinch of salt.

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Nubia has been quiet for the past few months. The latest we heard about the company was via a TENAA listing of a new ZTE Nubia smartphone, which was most likley the Nubia Z11 Mini. However, the company has released a new teaser earlier today confirming some kind of announcement on March 29.

This could most likely be for the new series of Nubia smartphones, namely the Nubia Z11, Z11 Mini and Z11 Max. Apart from the TENAA listing, another reason we beleive this is for the Z11 series phones is because the GM of Nubia, Ni Fei had confirmed the existence of the Nubia Z11 series and said that the phone would launch in the first quarter of 2016.

Considering that the Nubia Z11 Mini already passsed through TENAA, let’s first take a look at its specs. The phone will feature a 1.5GHz / 1.2GHz octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. At the back, there will be a 16MP camera while up front, you will get an 8MP shooter. The phone will run on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop OS. Pricing is expected to be around the 1499 Yuan figure which comes to $230.

Moving on to the next model, namely the Nubia Z11, we only have information via rumors. The phone is said to come with a 5.2-inch 2K display with Snapdragon 820 chipset under the hood and 4GB of RAM. There will be 128GB of storage and a powerful 20.7MP camera at the back. Up front, you can expect a 13MP shooter ideal for selfies. The phone is said to run on Android 6.0 out of the box.

But if the company decides to skip the Z11 series from March 29 announcement, what we can expect to see is the rumored Nubia X8. We had heard a fair share of rumors about this device, but soon, the phone was forgotten among other news. However, if the Nubia X8 is announced next week, it will most likely come with Snapdragon 820 chip with 4GB RAM, 7.9mm body, a 6-inch screen and a large 5120mAh battery. Of course, these specs come via rumors, so better wait till the official announcement before getting too excited.

So, what do you think will we see on March 29?

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