Introduction
Getting a new Nubia device is always a different experience for us. Its never been an overwhelmingly delightful or agonizingly poor first encounter, but always a pretty daunting one to wrap your head around. Bold and distinct design, high-end hardware at a bargain price, original screen gestures - these have always been a prominent part of the package ever since the Nubia Z9.
The new Z17 keeps throwing curve balls, making it even harder to define what this phone is all about, put a finger on a single signature aspect or feature. The latest Nubia flagship comes with a trendy dual-camera setup and the beastly Snapdragon 835 chipset under the hood. The Z17 boasts Qiuck Charge 4+ support before everybody else and ZTE still managed somehow to hang an extremely competitive price tag on it. At about $465, the Nubia Z17 undercuts the OnePlus 5 and the Xiaomi M i 6 by a few dollars, pointing to a less-than-subtle stab at the "cheapest Snapdragon 835 phone" title.
Nubia Z17 key features
- Body: Aluminum chassis, 2.5D Gorilla Glass. Aurora Blue, Black Gold, Obsidian Black, Solar Gold, Flame Red color schemes.
- Display: 5.5" IPS LCD, 1,920x1,080px resolution, 403ppi.
- Rear cameras: Dual 12 MP, f/1.8 + 23 MP, f/2.0, 1/2.55" sensor size, 1.4um pixel size, phase detection autofocus, 2x lossless zoom, dual-LED (dual tone) flash; 2160p@30fps video recording
- Front camera: 16MP Sony IMX371 sensor, 1.0µm pixel size, f/2.0 aperture; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- OS/Software: Android 7.1.1 Nougat; nubia UI 5.0 custom overlay.
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 835: octa-core CPU (Kryo 280, 4x2.35GHz + 4x1.9GHz), Adreno 540 GPU.
- Memory: 6/8GB of LP DDR4X RAM; 64/128GB UFS 2.1 storage.
- Battery: 3,200mAh Li-Po (sealed); Quick Charge 4+ fast charging support.
- Connectivity: Dual SIM; 3-Band carrier aggregation, LTE Cat.9 (450Mbps/50Mbps); USB Type-C (v1.0); Dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS, GLONASS, BDS; NFC; Bluetooth 5.0; Infrared port.
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; single speaker on the bottom.
Main shortcomings
- No ingress protection
- No microSD slot
- No stereo speakers
- No 3.5mm jack
- No OIS or EIS
There is clearly a lot of ground to cover and different aspects of the Nubia Z17 to explore. But before we dive head first into that, there is one point of discussion that always seems to emerge when we review a Nubia handset - the ZTE connection. Nubia started as (and still is) a ZTE subsidiary but its a stand-alo ne brand that has always played by slightly different rules. Not unlike Huawei and their Honor brand. Speaking of, ZTE and Huawei are domestic and global rivals in not only consumer devices but telecom and network equipment.
In a broader sense, Nubia is related to ZTE in much the same way OnePlus is to Oppo. Both offshoots seem to have more freedom to experiment and be different, while still enjoying the strong corporate backing and RnD and manufacturing resources. With ZTE fighting its own battles with the likes of the Axon and Blade lineups, Nubia is challenging the big names in the premium tier.
Nubia Z17 in official photos
That being said, the big question is whether the Nubia Z17 can, for starters, stand up to the value flagships by OnePlus and Xiaomi. Another potentially interesting relationship to explore is the one between the Nubia Z17 and ZTE Axon 7/7s. Well try and find out which approach worked out better.
Nubia Z17 in the hand
Follow along on the next page for a closer look at the exterior design of the Nubia Z17.
Unboxing
A Nubia handset will never miss an opportunity to make a fancy entrance. Just like the Z11 and the Z9 before it, the Z17 a rrives in style. The packaging is somewhat simpler, but thats probably a good thing since nobody really needs an expensive box pushing the price up.
The companys traditionally bold black and red accents are still intact, though. The phone comes in a two piece cardboard box. The contents are set on two levels, the accessories packaged underneath the handset itself. Both the Nubia Z9 and Z11 came with a premium set of headphones in the box. Our Z17 review unit had none. It might be a market-specific thing or the headset fell victim to cost-cutting this time around. Either way, a quality set couldve probably helped users get over the missing audio jack.
Nubia Z17 package contents
Thats right, Nubia made the switch to a single Type-C port, getting rid of the 3.5mm audio jack. Of course, this means you need to embrace #donglelife and carry around the little passive adapter. Also, you cant really charge your phone while listening to music, not without an extra adapter, that is.
Sourcing the latter might be a challenge, especially if you want to keep using the DAC inside the Z17 and not one embedded in a dongle or the headphones themselves. Nubia opted for the Type-C standard, but left a DAC inside the phone that carries its analog audio via the pair of Sideband Unit (SBU) pins on the Type-C port.
What that means is that the provided dongle doesnt do any conversion, but simply connects your audio jack to the said pins. There are certain benefits to this approach, one of which being that you dont have to rely on external DACs in third-party accessories. That, however, is only valid if the internal DAC performs well - well test that in detail in the audio chapter. Of course, you can still pick up any pair of active Type-C headphones or an active adapter to use with the Nubia Z17.
On to charging then. As mentioned earlier, Nubia boasts Quick Charge 4+ compatibility on the Z17, an industry first. In all fairness, the QC 4/4+ situation is currently a bit murky, but the promo materials did mention up to 15% faster charging on mobile devices and we are pretty certain that must require up to 28W of power output. However, the charger provided with the Nubia Z17 is only rated at 12V@1.5A, 9V@2A and 5V@3A. This is exactly what the older QC 3 is rated at. Plus, the Z11 charger was clearly labelled QC3, while the Z17s unit has absolutely no mention of Qualcomm or its charging tech.
As we researched this even further, it turned out that at the time of writing this, there is not even a formal procedure in place for certifying Qualcomm QC4+ chargers. Were sure these will come to the market, but just not yet.
Nubia Z17 charging timeSo even if the Nubia Z17 is compatible with the new standard, the bundled charger isnt. Now, that might be an issue of supply and availability that will be remedied in units shipped at a later point. But, with the package we got for testing, it is really not fair to claim Quick Charge 4 or 4+ technology. The charging times we got in our battery tests prove our point.
Nubia Z17 360-digree spin
If there is one thing we can definitively say about Nubias flagship line these last few years is that ever since the Z9, every device has had a unique appearance. The signature red contrasting accents got carried over to the Z11 and now to the new Z17 as well. Its an acquired taste for sure, but we still admire Nubia for sticking with those little yet prominent accents.
As for the construction, there is an obvious consistency to be observed as well - you get the curved front glass, complete with Nubias clever optical tricks to simulate an edge-to-edge panel. There is also the exquisite brushed metal frame.
Beyond that, the Z17 is an interesting mix of its two predecessors. It features the metal back of the Z11, as well as a rounded frame. However, the chamfers look a lot similar to those on the Z9, with strong and well defined edges.
Nubia Z17 color optionsIn fact, the Z17 seems to be trying to rekindle the really bold look of the Z9. Some of the color options take the red theme to the extreme. Flame Red is a particularly strong spin on the traditional Nubia black and red scheme, only reversed. Then there is Aurora Blue, which reminds us of the equally eye-catching similar shade on the recent Huawei P10.
It is worth noting, however, that neither the soft finish on the back, nor the side cham fers really provide a secure grip. The Z17 is a very slippery handset. The curvy front panel doesnt help in this respect either.
Hardware overview
An edge-to-edge display is always an attention-grabber. The same goes for a curvy front panel. By those standards, the Z17 looks very trendy but, to be fair, it cant really be part of the curved display elite. Unlike Samsung or Vivo, Nubia still hasnt gone the extra mile to actually curve a panel. Instead, the Chinese OEM has a simpler and far less expensive approach. Just like the Z11 and Z9 before it, the Z17 uses some clever optics to sort of stretch out the edges of the picture onto the curved part of the glass. It is a cool solution but certainly has its drawbacks, like image distortion along the edges.
Nubia Z17 curved display technology (aRC)Material-wise, you get an undisclosed v ariety of Corning Gorilla Glass on the front. Also, to further ease the minds of potential buyers, Nubia claims its aRC 2.0 design not only looks good but also provides some additional shatter protection, thanks to a cushion layer between the screen glass and the metal frame. Then again, this isnt something new - the Z11 was built the same way.
Aside from the glowing red circle on the home button, the front of the device is surprisingly clean. Even though the color is admittedly a bit out-there, we got used to in pretty quickly and we have to say it looks particularly good in the dark. If its up your alley, you can also enable the breathing light function.
There are two more capacitive controls beneath the display as well. These are only marked by small red backlit dots and can be remapped to Menu and Back the way you like - neat!
Nubia Z17 front side
At the top you get the 16MP selfie camera, an earpiece and proximity and light sensors. The latter two are pretty well concealed on models with a black frame.
Around the rear, the Z17 offers an almost uninterrupted and surprisingly smooth metal surface. Gone are the plastic top and bottom bits from the Nubia Z11. Instead, Nubia has managed to get away with only one and well concealed antenna line near the bottom of the back panel. The fingerprint reader almost looks like a naturally recessed point in the metal plate, while still retaining a distinct chamfered edge for finger guidance.
Nubia Z17 back sid e
The dual-camera setup is compact and fits snug in the top left corner, along with its dual-tone LED flash. It features a very slight camera hump, which shouldnt really be a problem, as far as lens protection goes, especially if you opt for a case. The red accent really ties in well with the button LEDs on the front, but we just cant shake the feeling that something is wrong - either the red line or the entire camera module are somehow misaligned relative to the phones body.
Nubia Z17 left side
The sides of the unit are both very clean. You only get a SIM card tray on the left that can take one or two SIMs. Sadly, no microSD expansion option. It sits very flush and has the exact same color as the frame i tself.
Nubia Z17 right
The same goes for the volume rockers and power button on the right. There are no accents or textures here, which we appreciate overall, but also seems like a missed opportunity for some extra signature accents.
Nubia Z17 bottom side
The bottom of the Nubia Z17 has the USB Type-C port, flanked by two symmetrical grilles. Only one is an actual speaker though. The other one houses the main microphone.
There is a second mic on the top of the unit for noise suppression, along with an IR blaster - an increasingly rare feature. What is missing, though, is a 3.5mm audio jack. You just have to live with either analog or digital audio via USB.
Nubia Z17 top side
One very interesting thing to note here is the fact that an almost invisible plastic inlay runs down the middle on the top bezel and extends slightly down the sides on the phone. This is actually and extremely well concealed second antenna line. We are really impressed with Nubias approach here.
Display
"Bezel-less" is not exactly the buzzword it was a few years back. Infinity displays and ultra-wide aspect ratios seem to have taken over. Still, Nubia s optical tricks are impressive enough, even if a little outdated. As already mentioned, however, there is a downside to bending light to extend out an otherwise flat LCD panel. You can spot distortions along the edges quite easily, especially when viewing the phone at an angle.
Still, if you dont focus too much on the image quality in that particular border area, the overall style benefits still outweigh the inherent deficiencies. In other words, we quite like what we see. Just like its predecessor, the Z17 uses a 5.5-inch, FullHD panel. Nothing too fancy, but still plenty sharp, with a pixel density or around 403ppi.
The panel is a rather basic IPS LCD unit, but one with surprisingly wide viewing angles.
The maximum brightness is average and tops off at around 388 nits. There is a Max Auto boost that needs to be enabled in the settings first. However, it is not particularly useful, as it only managed to push the display up to 392nits in our tests.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.267 | 388 | 1451 | |
| 0.268 | 392 | 1461 | |
| 0 | 435 | ∞ | |
| 0.462 | 603 | 1305 | |
| 0.00 | 391 | ∞ | |
| 0.00 | 563 | ∞ | |
| 0.37 | 502 | 1349 | |
| 0.46 | 608 | 1336 | |
| 0.005 | 341 | 68200 | |
| 0.44 | 637 | 1448 | |
| 0.228 | 468 | 2053 | |
| 0.277 | 564 | 2036 | |
| 0.29 | 428 | 1543 | |
| 0.539 | 428 | 794 | |
| 0.564 | 507 | 899 | |
| 0.41 | 665 | 1622 | |
| 0.00 | 352 | ∞ | |
| 0.43 | 475 | 1097 | |
| 0.59 | 628 | 1064 | |
| 0.463 | 573 | 1238 | |
Still, thanks to the low black luminance, the Nubia Z17 scores a respectable contrast level. Sunlight legibility is serviceable, although not really impressive.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 Apple iPhone 6s
3.783- Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - X iaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Color accuracy is not really the Z17s strong suit. This is rather surprising since it offers quite a few color correction options. On the default "Colorful" setting, we measured an average deltaE of 6.5 and a maximum of 13.1. Lowering the brightness down to 200 nits only made things worse. Overall, the panel just looks really cold, with a clear blue tint to whites. Individually, most of the other colors arent all that bad.
For the most c olor-accurate settings possible, we ended up using the "Natural" color mode and sliding the gamma correction as far as it goes into the Warm setting (makes sense). This resulted in an average deltaE of 5.1 and a maximum of 11.1 - still far from what we would consider color-accurate. Of course, for many users out there, this may not be a strong point of consideration.
Connectivity
The Nubia Z17 ticks most boxes when it comes to connectivity. It is a Dual-SIM device taking two nano SIMs. Worldwide band coverage across 2G, 3G and 4G is pretty decent - definitely better than the Xiaomi Mi 6, although nowhere near the OnePlus 5. The LTE is Cat. 12/13 for theoretical speeds of up to 600Mbps of download and 150Mbps of upload - theres no gigabit LTE on the Nubia Z17, even though the chipset is heavily advertised to support it. We dont really think its that much of an issue.
Wi-Fi b/g/n over 2.4GHz and a/n/ac over 5GHz is supported. Bluetooth is still of the older 4.1 var iety, so dont expect anything fancy along the lines of the OnePlus 5s aptX HD. NFC support is another check mark on the spec sheet. Positioning uses GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou satellites. There is no FM radio, but the Nubia Z17 does have an IR blaster.
The only interface you get is USB Type-C. We already mentioned it supports analog audio output, via the provided adapter. It also has OTG.
Battery
The Nubia Z17 is equipped with a 3,200mAh battery - only a bit smaller than that of its OnePlus rival and nearly identical in capacity to the Sony Xperia XZ Premiums unit. Since all of these smartphones are based on the Snapdragon 835 chipset, there is a certain degree of consistency to be expected in terms of battery life.
For the most part, this appears to be true. The Z17 managed to score an impressive 81 hours of endurance in our testing routine. A quick comparison with the OnePlus 5 reveals that both devices behave equally well in terms of 3G call time. 19h is definitely not bad, especially considering poor past experiences weve had with units intended for the Chinese market and networks.
Video playback is quite easy on the battery as well. 12:26 is a definitely a solid accomplishment on an LCD panel. Naturally, the OnePlus 5 squeezed a few hours more out of its efficient Optic AMOLED display. But its the browser that pleasantly surprised us. Since our Z17 unit didnt have Google Play Services or Chrome pre-installed, we opted to conduct the test with the default browser. Initially, we were quite suspicious of it, as it seemed to be prone to some off traffic re-routing and the default ad blocker managed to kill the JavaScript on our test suite. Still, once we turned the latter off, the browser did very, very well, netting over 13hours of endurance.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Nubia Z17 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. Weve established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case youre interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones weve tested will compare under your own typical use.
Nubia UI 5.0 - feature heavy
Like many other manufacturers, primarily aimed at the Chinese market, Nubia is no stranger to flashy, bloated and over the top custom versions of Android. Nubia UI 5 is no exception to the rule. The OS is custom end-to-end and is filled to the brim with added features and little tweaks and options everywhere you look.
Our review unit is particularly stuffed with "stuff" since it is running a Chinese ROM Android 7.1.1 Nougat ROM. Besides the multitude of odd local apps, this also means a total absence of Google Play services and the Google App package and no apparent way to sideload any of them. Not without rooting the device, at least. Of course, we did our best to work around this and not to judge the OS too harshly based on its localized features. What we did find a little hard to swallow, however, was the overwhelming amount of bad and confusing English text translations, found all throughout the UI.
Bad English translations and Chinese text are a common occurrence
A few quick online searches, however, did lead us to stores, claiming to offer the Nubia Z17 with an international ROM, which hopefully has no such issues and is a lot more streamlined. Not to mention, the presence of Google Play Services. You should look for such a unit if you decide on importing the Z17 from China.
Last year, we praised the Z11 unit we got for review for the clean and almost vanilla feel of its International Android 6 - Nubia UI 4.0 ROM. This time around, however, we find this version of Nubia UI 5 adopting the polar opposite ideology of "more is better." We realize added functionality can be a major draw for many prospective buyers, but there still has to be a cutoff point somewhere. And Nubia UI 5 plays fast and loose with this abstract boundary.
Before we go on criticizing the bloated nature of the OS, we feel it is worth giving credit to N ubia for including a powerful Themes engine this time around. This was a sore point we had with the older version of the ROM. Again, it might be a regional thing, since the Z9 also had a Theme store. All we know is our review unit has a rich online selection of skins, along with a choice between a 4 or 5 column interface.
Launcher customization options are back
To truly make the Z17 yours, you can also rearrange the capacitive home buttons. By default, the back key is on the right, old-school style. You can even bind a long press on the home button to one of a few pre-defined system actions. Not the other two buttons, though.
Capacitive key remapping
The lockscreen also lends itself to some visual tweaking. By default, you only get a simple static image, with a clock widget, and a quick camera shortcut. However, there are also a few other unlock options to choose from and a dynamic GalleryLockScreen setting. It comes complete with its own online repository of images, divided into categories you can subscribe to. Of course, you can add your own photos to the mix as well.
Basic lockscreen • Unlock options • GalleryLockScreen
Nubia has opted out of an app drawer once again. Thats the launcher style popular in China, no app drawer - instead, you are supposed to have all apps on the homescreen (think iOS, but with widgets here and there).
Folders help organize the madness if you have too many apps and you can dock the 4 or 5 most used apps in the bottom row. Some of the folders also come with an optional app suggestion feature that tries to bring up relevant apps, based on your usage history.
By default, the leftm ost panel on the home screen is dedicated for shortcuts to Nubias numerous special camera modes. It also houses the neoShare activity widget, which is another local Chinese-only feature. Luckily, the launcher does give you an option to disable this page altogether.
Dedicated camera and neoShare home panel • Folders • App suggestions
One area that has received a major redesign in Nubia UI 5 is the notification and quick toggle shade, or should we say shades. This time around, Nubia decided to separate the two things out in a vaguely iOS fashion. Swiping from the top of the interface opens a dedicated notification are - one of s everal the OS recognizes as distinct places for notifications.
The quick toggles and brightness slider are moved to their own shade, that, unfortunately, doesnt seem to offer customization. It can be pulled up from the bottom of the UI.
Dedicated notification shade • Separate quick toggle shade
Just be sure to swipe up a little to the left or right of the home button. Doing a central swipe is a different gesture, which by default, triggers the Split screen UI. The gesture situation gets even more confusing if you opt to trigger the slip screen feature with a downward swipe as well. Oh, and there is also a side panel to the right. It acts as somewhat of a Google Now interface, with a few available widgets. These can show you reminders, a quick summary of the system status, recent files or quick contextual travel directions.
Dedicated FIT Card interface
Boy, thats a confusing mess of gestures and interfaces, if we ever saw one. And its just the tip of the iceberg. Just wait until we get to the rest of the edge and touch gestures the Z17 has to offer in a little bit.
The Split Screen feature is actually one of the better implementations out there, minus a few slightly irritating issues. For one, you can view the homescreen twice, dock and all, which just looks weird. Also, not all apps resize to fit their allotted portion of the screen, most remain a downscaled 16:9 version of themselves, which is often too tiny to use properly. The good news is that even third-party apps seem to work in this mode and some of them are smarter about resizing than the Nubias native apps.
Powerful Split Screen feature
Speaking of powerful multitasking, we cant fail to mention another great little trick the Nubia Z17 can pul l off. It is called Dual instance and just like the name suggests, it allows you to have two separate versions of an app installed.
But before we get into all the extra usability features, and there is a lot of them to cover, lets finish off with the basic navigation and notifications. The app switcher employs a horizontal layout, with a swipe away gesture for recent apps. Theres also an X that will "Accelerate" your phone by closing running apps and freeing some ram.
You actually get a say in what background activities get axed by this optimizer. This is achieved on a per-app basis within the Power settings menu. Unless you specifically tell the OS not to touch a certain app, it will get the boot. It is perhaps worth noting that Nubia has made the feature more aggressive, since the logic used to be the other way around in Nubia UI 4.
Power manager • Power Saving modes • Super Power Saving • Per app power saving schemes
And if you think thats the only battery saving measure Nubia UI 5 has to offer, you are wrong. Besides the per-app control, you also get four distinct power savings schemes. And thats not even counting the three power savings modes, including a super saver one, which limits the phone to basic functionality only. You can get some pretty detailed battery usage statistics for both hardware and apps as well.
You also get to decide exactly which apps can autostart with the system , potentially saving even more power. That is actually part of a bigger interface for managing permissions on a per-app level. As you can imagine, this includes controlling their access to hardware components, like the camera or GPS as well. Handy, for sure, if you have the time to get your hands dirty and manage every single app, without potentially crippling or breaking it.
Powerful Permissions manager
And there is more potential still for granular control and hardware optimization, all bundled up in the NeoSafe app. You can access most of the features we just described from various points in the set tings menu as well, but NeoSafe is the convenient central managing hub for them all. We already discussed the Permissions and Power options and the Cleaner and Antivirus are pretty self-explanatory.
Antivirus • Data manager • Data manager • Intercept
Flow is an extension of the permission manager, which lets you restrict certain apps from using Wi-Fi or network data. We assume it is somehow tied in with Nubias own roaming data package market, which is one of the numerous apps, pre-installed on the Z17. Intercept lets you whitelist or block numbers for calls and notifications - pretty nifty.
Powerful notification manager
Speaking of notifications, we mentioned Nubia UI 5 recognizes a few distinct types of them and areas to display them in. It also offers a phenomenal level of per-app granular control. Bear in mind that most apps tend to install without granted access to any notification privileges by default. So, if you need something in particular, you have to go in and enable it specifically rather than the other way round.
Gestures
While Nubi as approach to a curvy front panel might not be the most cutting-edge or technologically advanced one, the OEM has managed to make great use of its bezel-less design with a plethora of custom gestures.
First up on the list of gestures is the inward swipe that brings up the FIT Card interface, we mentioned earlier. Swipe up or down on one side of the screen - that can switch back and forth between apps or launch a couple of apps (one for up, one for down). Oddly, the left and right edges can no longer be individually set to either mode, which was a thing on the Z9.
Edge gestures
The Z9 used to recognize squeeze, much like HTCs U U11, but the featur e was removed from the Z11 and it is absent from the Z17 as well. Frankly, its not really that big of a loss, since the control scheme is already incredibly confusing even with one less available gesture.
Even more Edge gestures
Swiping on both edges simultaneously can be set to adjust the screen brightness. Again, the Z9 allowed you to use the gesture alternatively as a volume control. An up-down-up-down gesture on one edge can only be set to accelerate the phone, i.e. close running apps, complete with a cool animation. Double clicking the edge can double as a back button.
OK, thats it, right? No more gestures, smart features or anything of the sorts to make using the Z17 more like a rocket ship. Well, no. Actually, there are a few other gestures that dont pertain to the edges of the phone and this were deemed unworthy to be placed under the "FIT" moniker. Lets pretend that made any sense to begin with...
Even more gestures
Anyway, you can double tap the display to wake the Z17. Also cover the screen to lock it. Realistically, we probably see ourselves remembering these two and using them at least a few times more than the convoluted edge-based finger-twisters. There are also a pair of three finger gestures, which we frankly didnt even have the energy to research them at this point.
Smart sensing gestures
Whats that you say? You think the Nubia Z17 is pretty nice, but it could use some extra control gestures? Dont worry, theres more! Try "Smart sensing" on for size. You can pick up the phone to dial or answer and flip to mute or pause playback. Also, shaking the phone can be used to "conveniently" invoke the "Accelerate" feature. By the way, shaking the phone will also align you icons while you are in a very specific part of the Launcher settings menu. Does that qualify as another gesture? It might as well do. We wouldnt want anyone to think the Nubia Z17 doesnt have enough control gestures.
Accessibility options
Oh, oh, we almost forgot, there is a magnification gesture hidden away in the Accessibility menu as well. Also, something called "One-key Exchange smart installation", which may or may not be a gesture and a trio of other options, which we can only assume are only useful in China, since Nubias translation team didnt even bother to translate them in English.
There is also a quick toggle for the flashlight here, scheduled power off and on and even a toggle to disable the standard Android button combination for grabbing a screen capture. Nubia does provide the option to use a press on the fingerprint reader for that instead, so we guess it sort of makes sense.
Other added features
Speaking of confusing China-centric options, there is a WeChat Red Packet Assistant. There is also a Remote Camera feature that allows you to control another Nubias camera remotely. It is an interesting concept, but it is rather baffling why Nubia decided to put a shortcut to it in the "More Features" settings menu.
Synthetic benchmarks
The Nubia Z17 is a true flagship offer and a beastly one at that. It is built around the latest Snapdragon 835 chipset. This means a potent 4x2.35 GHz Kryo & 4x1.9 GHz Kryo CPU setup and Adreno 540 GPU. Naturally, this lets the Z17 rub shoulders with the cream of the crop on todays smartphone market.
The Snap dragon 835 powerhouse is still found in only a number of handsets. These include the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+ pair, Sony Xperia XZ Premium and HTC U11 - all more expensive than the Z17. However, there are other rivals out of China which have also taken up the hard task of integrating a Snapdragon 835 chip on a budget - most notably, the OnePlus 5 and the Xiaomi Mi 6. In a perfect scenario, free of all the additional availability and support concerns, these are the contenders the Nubia Z17 has to face and beat.
Making it in this fairly new, ultra-value, sub-$500 niche is probably one of the toughest challenges a manufacturer can take up in 2017. After putting the Z17 through its paces quite thoroughly, we are happy to report that it aces the performance round.
Kicking things off with the pure CPU-based GeekBench, we can see the Nubia Z17 hold its own with a multi-threaded workload and even out-inch the other Snapdragon 835 phones in single-core tests.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
6719 - ZTE nubia Z17
6622 - OnePlus 5
6604 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
6301 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
5460 - LG G6
4175
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
1966 - OnePlus 5
1932 - Xiaomi Mi 6
1929 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
1836 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
1832 - LG G6
1767
Now, it is important to note that Nubia has included a special per-app Performance mode in Nubia UI 5.0, that promises to push the phone that extra bit harder for a while at the expense of more heat and a bigger battery draw. Naturally, we gave it a go, but the difference in purely synthetic performance wasnt all that big. On the flip side, the phone did start to heat up quicker, so we opted not to use it.
That being said, all the posted results are achieved without any additional trickery or boost modes. There mere be a more noticeable performance difference in certain real-world scenarios, but during our tests, we really didnt manage to trip up the Z17 not even a tiny bit. And we tried. The Snapdragon 835 simply has more than enough pow er to go around, without any additional tweaking. It is also worth noting that we have the 6GB RAM version of the Z17. We dont really think having 8GB will net you any significant performance improvements either, but thats a topic for another discussion.
GeekBench 4 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
6404 - ZTE nubia Z17
6275 - Xiaomi Mi 6
6132 - Huawei Mate 9
6112 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
6106 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
5837 - Samsung Galaxy S7
5245 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
4333 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
4278 - LG G6
4209 - HTC U Ultra
4201 - ZTE Axon 7
3990 - Nubia Z11
3926 - Sony Xperia XZ
3868 - LG V20
3824 - HTC 10
3621
GeekBench 4 (single-core)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
2065 - OnePlus 5
2031 - Xiaomi Mi 6
2026 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
1943 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
1915 - Huawei Mate 9
1898 - Samsung Galaxy S7
1854 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
1824 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
1815 - Nubia Z11
1755 - LG G6
1733 - HTC 10
1708 - ZTE Axon 7
1702 - HTC U Ultra
1647 - Sony Xperia XZ
1578 - LG V20
1576
Basemark OS 2.0 is a little bit less kind to the Nubia Z17, but its score is still nothing short of impressive. We have to confess that our original expectations for the Chinese review unit were pretty low, considering all the add ed bloat the ROM is lugging around. As it turns out, however, Nubia is keeping a tight grip on the background activity and other unnecessary loads.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
3601 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3547 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
3319 - ZTE nubia Z17
3281 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
3174 - Huawei Mate 9
2637 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2434 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
2381 - ZTE Axon 7
2346 - HTC U Ultra
2222 - LG V20
2159 - Sony Xperia XZ
2151 - Samsung Galaxy S7
2128 - LG G6
2126 - HTC 10
1839 - Nubia Z11
1790
Pretty much the same can be said about AnTuTu as well. It is another compound benchmark that takes a lot of metrics into account, meaning things like RAM and storage speeds are also up to code on the Nubia Z17.
AnTuTu 6
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
180331 - ZTE nubia Z17
178629 - Xiaomi Mi 6
177326 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
168133 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
155185 - HTC 10
154031 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
144223 - LG G6
143639 - LG V20
141945 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
140324 - HTC U Ultra
139750 - Samsung Galaxy S7
132084 - ZTE Axon 7
129926 - Nubia Z11
129099 - Sony Xperia XZ
124266 - Huawei Mate 9
122826
The Z17 shows off some impressive muscle in the graphics department as well. We are just a little bit skeptical of the Open GL 3.0 and 3.1 off-screen scores, since 3 frames is a big difference on the exact same Adreno 540 GPU. Regardless, the Z17 definitely performs on par with the competition.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
63 - OnePlus 5
60 - Xiaomi Mi 6
59 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
57 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
50 - HTC 10
47 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
44 - LG G6
41 - HTC U Ultra
41 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
40 - LG V20
40 - Samsung Galaxy S7
38 - Sony Xperia XZ
37 - Nubia Z11
31 - Huawei Mate 9
30 - ZTE Axon 7
15
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
56 - OnePlus 5
56 - Xiaomi Mi 6
56 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
47 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
47 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
41 - Sony Xperia XZ
37 - Nubia Z11
34 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
34 - HTC 10
28 - Huawei Mate 9
28 - Samsung Galaxy S7
27 - LG V20
25 - LG G6
24 - HTC U Ultra
24 - ZTE Axon 7
12
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
43 - OnePlus 5
41 - Xiaomi Mi 6
41 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
39 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
39 - Sony Xperia XZ
31 - HTC 10
31 - ZTE Axon 7
31 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
30 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
30 - LG V20
29 - Samsung Galaxy S7
28 - HTC U Ultra
27 - LG G6
26 - Nubia Z11
22 - Huawei Mate 9
22
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
41 - Xiaomi Mi 6
41 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
41 - OnePlus 5
40 - Sony Xperia XZ
32 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
32 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
30 - Huawei Mate 9
23 - Nubia Z11
22 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
18 - LG V20
17 - Samsung Galaxy S7
15 - HTC 10
15 - ZTE Axon 7
15 - HTC U Ultra
13 - LG G6
12
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
25 - Xiaomi Mi 6
25 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
25 - OnePlus 5
24 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
23 - Sony Xperia XZ
20 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
20 - LG V20
20 - HTC 10
18 - HTC U Ultra
18 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
18 - Nubia Z11
16 - LG G6
16 - Samsung Galaxy S7
15 - ZTE Axon 7
15 - Huawei Mate 9
13
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Z17
25 - Xiaomi Mi 6
25 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
25 - OnePlus 5
24 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
20 - Sony Xperia XZ
19 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
19 - Nubia Z11
17 - ZTE Axon 7
16 - Huawei Mate 9
14 - LG V20
12 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
12 - HTC U Ultra
10 - HTC 10
9.9 - LG G6
8.5 - Samsung Galaxy S7
7.9
Basemark X and Basemark ES 3.1 paint a bit of a different story. Again, we cant really deduce what caused the lower scores for sure, but they dont look all that trustworthy. We are confident the Adreno 540 can do better.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- OnePlus 5
38844 - Xiaomi Mi 6
38541 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
38507 - Huawei Mate 9
36519 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
36506 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
36062 - HTC U Ultra
35875 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
34951 - ZTE nubia Z17
33513 - Samsung Galaxy S7
32345 - ZTE Axon 7
32243 - LG G6
30507 - Sony Xperia XZ
29548 - LG V20
29385 - HTC 10
28882 - Nubia Z11
23899
Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 6
861 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
842 - Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
817 - OnePlus 5
796 - Huawei Mate 9
794 - Samsung Galaxy S7
732 - ZTE nubia Z17
619 - ZTE Axon 7
606< /span> - HTC U Ultra
582 - Sony Xperia XZ
577 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
556 - LG G6
541 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
538 - LG V20
526 - Nubia Z11
432
The Nubia Z17 clearly has some trouble with synthetic tests. Some of the results we got are a bit suspiciously high, while others fall just a little short. After some careful evaluation and a lot of re-tests, with and without Performance mode, we are certain the Z17 makes proper use of its Snapdragon 835 chipset and can live up to the flagship performance expectations that come with it.
Most inconsistencies we recorded seem to be linked to the OS. We experienced absolutely no issues or slowdowns, while using the prone for real-world tasks. Hopefully, we can get our hands on a proper international version of the phone soon, so we can re-test everything. In case you are looking into the Nubia Z17, definitely scout out a non-Chinese version, as well. We really do think it will save you some headaches. If nothing else, Google Services are enough of a bonus in our book.
Telephony and loudspeaker
The phonebook is fairly standard, a part of the same multi-tabbed app as the dialer. You can assign personal ringtones for each contact and scan a business card to quickly add a new contact. Since there are no Google Play services (on this Chinese version) you cant count on getting your phonebook synced with the initial setup.
The final tab of this app is titled "Yellow Page." That includes local listings, complete with search. It is in Chinese only and is a pretty common feature for this local market. Sadly, we couldnt really try it out.
Phone app, contacts and Yellow Pages
The dialer shows your recent calls with the keypad on top (which can be hidden to make more room for the call log). Smart dialing is enabled - that is you can quickly search your contacts by typing - but the phone also pulls numbers for various shops and businesses from the Internet. The Info button next to each number shows more about that business.
Popping two SIM cards into the Z17 also gives you the appropriate options, like a second call button.
In our loudspeaker test, the Nubia Z17 only managed to score an "Average" mark. Granted, it is only a single point short from the "Good", but we still wouldnt count on catching all calls in loud environments. Plus, with a single speaker, it cant really come anywhere close to the impressive experience the ZTE Axon 7 delivers.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing | Overall score | |
| 61.9 | 66.0 | 62.1 | Below Average | |
| 61.6 | 65.5 | 67.6 | Below Average | |
| 65.0 | 68.2 | 70.8 | Average | |
| 63.1 | 66.7 | 74.3 | Average | |
| 64.3 | 70.7 | 71.2 | Average | |
| 62.1 | 71.2 | 73.8 | Average | |
| 63.4 | 68.6 | 76.4 | Good | |
| 69.5 | 69.3 | 71.1 | Good | |
| 66.8 | 68.8 | 74.5 | Good | |
| 70.0 | 69.1 | 71.8 | Good | |
| 68.2 | 68.6 | 80.9 | Good | |
| 66.1 | 69.0 | 84.1 | Very Good | |
| 69.2 | 72.9 | 77.5 | Very Good | |
| 67.3 | 73.1 | 80.6 | Very Good | |
| 61.7 | 73.1 | 86.7 | Very Good | |
| 66.4 | 72.2 | 84.1 | Very Good |
Text input
Just like the Nubia Z11 and the Z9 before it, the Z17 relies on the Android AOSP keyboard by default. It has come a long way and is actually pretty decent. Nubia used to bundle TouchPal as well. However, it now seems to have its own custom solution.
It is clearly geared towards Chinese input and has the according layouts and writing recognition. It also comes bundled with voice typing and emojis. It still features Latin characters, so it can technically be used in a Western setting as well.
AOSP keyboard • Nubia custom keyboard
Messaging
Like the dialer, the messaging app lets you easily send a message from either SIM card. Once you open a message thread you also get a clear indication of which SIM card received a given text too. The app itself looks like it belongs on iOS, it has a fairly clean UI but its functional.
Nubia Messages app
Oddly enough, it features a second dedicated tam for service messages alone. Kind of an odd choice, but again, it might be more useful than we think within China.
In the absence of Google Play services and thus a Gmail app, you do need some sort of alternative e-mail client. Nubia has provided a pretty clean and functional one. However, it had some odd issues reconnecting reliably to the Goggle mail server and we didnt manage to grab some screenshots from it. Kind of makes us wonder if there isnt some DNS or other type of traffic filtering going on the the background, since Google services arent really welcome withing China.
Come to think of it, the default browser does seem to go through some odd redirects when accessing pages from time to time. It is probably best not to dwell too much on it, avoid purchasing non-international units and hope for the least amount of traffic sniffing beyond that.
Assorted apps
If you thought the Nubia Z17 has a surplus of additional gestures, wait until you see the default app package. To be fair, some of it is necessary in the absence of Googles industry standard apps. There are a few pretty nifty tools as well. However, most of the pre-loaded apps are either in Chinese or they are not functional or practical to use outside of China.
Lots of bloat out of the box
All the basics are nicely covered. You get a Clock app, Calendar, File Browser, Calculator, a stopwatch and a flashlight. Although, we really think the latter simply belongs on a quick toggle in 2017. (Just to clarify, it is a quick toggle as well, but we still find the single picture, single but ton app interface a bit unnecessary.)
Clock • Calendar • File manager • Calculator • Flashlight
The Notes app is definitely nice to have and so is the Weather one, at least in theory, that is. For some reason, its database only includes cities within China. In contrast, the Remote app for the IR blaster is really well made, full-featured and does not mind being used abroad. Its database of appliances is surprisingly rich.
Recorder • Notes • Weather • Remote
The quick shortcut to the Update menu is kind of convenient. So is the simple mode, although it doesnt really clean up the interface that much, nor make it significantly bigger and easier to see. It is also really easy to exit, which is counter intuitive if you intend the phone to be used by children or elders, or other similarly non-tech savvy users. Given its level of complexity, that sounds like a real possibility.
Update interface • Easy mode
The projection app and nubia Roaming helper also look potentially convenient. However, they are also clearly geared towards Chinese customers. One requires a WeChat account to negotiate the connection and the other only offers data plans in Asian countries.
Projection app • Projection app • nubia Roaming
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