Verdict
The Nubia Z60 Ultra has the right mainframe , the proper photographic camera , an unco pristine - face OLED covert and excellent battery life-time . It just lacks some of the software and intention polish of the right top - price earpiece , making it a qualified recommendation .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Nubia Z60 Ultra will turn over heads , if not always for the right reason . It ’s a phone from a mark most hoi polloi do n’t know , and has an sharply blocky conception .
Some might love it . Most probably wo n’t , but at least it ’s a trivial different . The Nubia Z60 Ultra also provides a practiced amount of technical school for your money , include a decent treble rearward camera appeal and a libertine processor .
The real rationality to consider a Nubia Z60 Ultra ? Long electric battery life story . 6000mAh battery capacity hold this one of the few high - end telephone set that can in reality last a couple of days between tutelage .
Its pricing is passably competitive too . The Nubia Z60 Ultra starts at £ 749 for the simulation with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB entrepot , while the 16 GB RAM and 512 GB memory rendering is £ 899 . That upgrade is n’t really worth £ 150 , so I ’d recommend sticking with the cornerstone Z60 Ultra , which is the one I used .
Design
The Nubia Z60 Ultra is a strange - look sound . There ’s an industrial blockiness to the rear , and each of the three television camera is house in a distinct shape of surround .
It has never failed to make people call for what it is . But I ’m not certain I ’d go as far as to say anyone peculiarly admire its appearance . “ Big and weird ” is the vibe here .
The Nubia Z60 Ultra ’s strong-arm front matches the tone too . This is a chunky , heavy phone . It ’s 246 thou and 8.8 millimetre chummy , and the brick - like shape does nothing to hide this heaviness .
This one does n’t go easily on hands or sac . At least it does n’t find remotely crummy . The Nubia Z60 Ultra ’s frame is aluminium , the back frosted glass . A case is clump too . It ’s not the usual silicone sleeve but a laborious gauze-like shaping cuticle that primarily protects the back and corners , as much of the side are go out bare . That ’s kind of sensible , as it does n’t make the headphone any wider .
No - one needs the Nubia Z60 Ultra to be any wider .
The more technical side of the phone is square , though . It has an IP68 water resistance rating , as good as you ’ll find in a earpiece like this , and there ’s an IR blaster up top . It lets the telephone set act as a universal remote control . But Nubia understandably does n’t think there ’s much solicitation for it for a westerly audience as there ’s no preinstalled IR app .
On the right side , by the power clitoris and volume rocker , is a small motion-picture show permutation . By nonremittal this open up the camera app , but it can also be set to toggle silent mode or flashlight , among other action at law .
There ’s no phone socket , a feature article that would accommodate a swot - well-disposed telephone set like this , and there ’s no microSD card one-armed bandit either .
Screen
The Nubia Z60 Ultra ’s rear is contentious , but we can all revalue how slight its CRT screen borders are up front . This is a 6.8 - inch OLED with a 120Hz max refresh rate and Full HD - like 2480 x 1116 pixel resolution .
It involve me a brace of day to actually notice the single neatest part of the Nubia Z60 Ultra cover , though . It has an invisible under - screen selfie television camera . There ’s no need to inspissate out the top screen border to fit a camera in , as in aSony Xperia I V. And unlike some of the other under - screen door designs , you ca n’t tell a camera is under there disregardless of what ’s on - sieve ( as we ’ll see later , this results in a categorical - out bad selfie camera , but it ’s all good news for the video display ) .
Like most speech sound OLED filmdom these years , this one is colorful , bright and sharp . It ’s great too , an ideal aerofoil for YouTube and the like . When in bright consideration it can pass on 800 nit of brightness , rising to 922 nits when displaying HDR content . Not bad .
However , it ’s not the swish of displays in one important respect . Colour is n’t calibrated cautiously enough to make your photos look as they should unless you use the more muted “ flabby ” colour mode .
On first shift to this fashion it may seem a little grim - energy by comparison , but I ’ve grown to be intimate it . This is an all - circular firm display .
The Nubia Z60 Ultra has two-channel loudspeaker system , and they are OK . maximal volume could be high , as could the big businessman of the lower frequencies and bass . However , I ’ve listened to 60 minutes of podcasts through these speakers happily enough . They just ca n’t compete with , for case , the sound of a kettle boiling nearby .
Camera
The Nubia Z60 Ultra has three rearward camera , and what I moot to be a nigh - ideal regalia . There ’s a 50MP veritable camera , a 64MP 3.3x periscope lens and 50MP radical - wide .
Nubia has n’t put in any trash cameras to bump up the lens system count , and that soar range is fantastical for a telephone that begin at well under £ 1000 . You really feel like you have a plenty of compositional options at your fingertip whenever you pull out the camera . And the Pseudemys scripta on the side starts the camera app for agile - fervency shot .
Image quality is solid from all three camera , and the Nubia Z60 Ultra uses a commixture of becoming Omnivision and Sony sensors ( Sony IMX800 , OV64B40 , OV50E40 ) .
Pictures agree up well at night , even when using the ultra - wide , and the Auto HDRlargelyavoids overexposure in more tricky prospect . The main tv camera also has an unusually “ zoomed in ” focal distance by phone standard , which was a not - unpleasant shift from the average .
I do n’t call up the Nubia Z60 Ultra will trouble the the likes of of theSamsung Galaxy S24 UltraorPixel 8 Pro , though .
There ’s a somewhat celluloid look to the processing up close , and snap - to - shot speed here is n’t amazing . You have to wait a 2nd or so between captures , create it seem as though the Nubia Z60 Ultra takes a linear feeler to processing , getting one picture squared away before let you hit the shutter clit again .
count through the few hundred photos I occupy with the Nubia , there are a few other electronegative tendencies here . figure can come along oversharpened , colour can run a little hot and the Z60 Ultra like a bright and punchy image , to an extent that can once in a while contribute to rebuff over vividness or unnatural - looking skies . The master photographic camera also suffers from purple fringing , which can be quite obvious in sure fit .
Which of these little issue you ’ll discover , if any , varies by the scene . Some of the idiosyncrasies can be tweaked aside with a spry edit , though .
My overriding takeaway is a good zoom , a character ultra - wide and package / hardware powerful enough to cope at night is a recipe for a good time , irrespective of a few figure quality complaint .
The Nubia Z60 Ultra ’s selfie photographic camera is very pitiable , though . It ’s a 12 - megapixel Omnivision sensing element , which produces humbled - detail , whitish - looking images . However , it ’s hide behind the screen , with no punch hole in the cover itself .
Nubia sacrifice selfie quality for a more motion-picture show - favorable display , and that ’s perfectly fine in my volume . Do not buy this phone if you love a good selfie , though .
Video is solid . The Nubia Z60 Ultra tv camera app rent you buck with all three rear photographic camera , all at up to 4 K resolution , while the primary camera can even head up to 8 K resolution . I ’d urge stick to 4 K , though , as stabilization is disabled at the maximum resolution .
Performance
The Nubia Z60 Ultra has an excellent processor , theSnapdragon 8 Gen 3 . It ’s a highly efficient chipset with tonnes of graphics power .
It pairs beautifully with the great self-aggrandising OLED screen , and entail the Nubia Z60 Ultra is a capital phone for peregrine gambling .
Unlike plenty of phones with early generations of the chipset , the Nubia Z60 Ultra does n’t suffer from striking thermal strangling either . Testing suggest it loses 20 % of its apex functioning after 20 bit going full - throttle , and that the loss is gradual , stabilize after 15 transactions .
I ’ve test plenty of speech sound that lost up to 60 % using these Qualcomm 8 - category processors , so a 20 % performance release is more than hearty .
Software
The Nubua Z60 Ultra ’s front end does not make a peachy first mental picture . Nubia uses an interface called Fluid MyOS 14 .
It ’s not great - sounding , lacking the optical gloss of the best . The sizing of certain user interface objects and the number put on each cover are all just somewhat off compared to the most coherent - looking custom interface .
The preinstalled apps are n’t great either . The flaky default browser app was rapidly replaced with Chrome ( which is also preinstalled ) , and some tweaking is need to get the port looking midway right on the screen .
Thankfully , Fluid MyOS 14 does n’t attempt anything too ambitious and has a familiar layout . And it does volunteer plenty of way to subtly fine-tune how the Nubia Z60 Ultra look . Within a day or so I ’d for the most part bury about my first negative impression of the user interface . Do n’t let this one sway your decision too much , as Android still feels slick and antiphonal here .
Battery life
The battery is the skilful cogent evidence the Nubia Z60 Ultra is made for a pretty hardcore techy crowd . This is a 6000mAh assault and battery , 1000mAh higher capacity than the standard for a large - filmdom phone .
As you ’d expect , barrage fire life is excellent . It can last two days of promiscuous function , or an absolute hammering on a single day .
During testing I got to take the Nubia Z60 Ultra on a weekend rupture away , and it ’s utterly idealistic for that job thanks to its ultra - reliable toughness . It is something of a shame it does n’t have wireless charging , though . This was likely too crafty to fit in the budget when the entry - level spec variation with 256 GB storage and 12 GB RAM is competitively price . But the rivalOnePlus 12has not just wireless charging but A-one - quick 50W wireless .
Nubia includes an 80W charger in the box . While not as nippy as the 100W of the OnePlus 12 or 120WXiaomi 13 T professional , it ’s easily enough comment to ensure charging times do not become leaden just because of the high battery capacitance .
It reaches 45 % in 15 minutes , score 50 % at 17 proceedings , reaches 78 % at the 30 - minute score and hits 100 % at 44 proceedings .
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Should you buy it?
The Nubia Z60 Ultra has an unco gamy - capacity battery , and lasts old age between charge compared with much of the competition .
This is an odd - looking phone , and alike quirkiness are get hold throughout . Its camera , while near , has some combative processing elements , and the interface and software program need some tweaks to bet and sense their best .
Final Thoughts
The Nubia Z60 Ultra is an unusual flagship phone , one most mass will never hear about .
Two of its key strengths are a big cover that is n’t cut off by a notch or plug cakehole , thanks to an under - screen door selfie photographic camera , and an extra - large battery that results in extra - long electric battery life-time .
There are trade - offs , though . This is a with child and heavy headphone , and a kinda worthless one by conventional standards . Its software package is n’t great either . As ever this is just a thin veneer on top of standard Android , and you may tweak most elements , although the somewhat heavy - handed television camera image processing does n’t have such easy workarounds .
Trusted Score
How we test
We essay every mobile phone we survey soundly . We use industry - standard tests to compare features properly and we habituate the phone as our master machine over the review period . We ’ll always narrate you what we find and we never , ever , accept money to review a product .
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FAQs
It is water resistant to IP68 , meaning it can take full submersion in water at a astuteness of at least 1.5 m.
Nubia is a relative of ZTE , but it claims to operate as a separate company .
It does not have wireless charging .
Test Data
Full Specs
