Under the overall trend of the mobile phone industry towards the popular and herd, Nubia's products have been adhering to a unique industrial design style and a unique understanding of images in recent years, which is rare in the current industrial environment.
At the end of 2023, Nubia released the Z60 Ultra, which takes Nubia's exploration of industrial design and imaging to the extreme in recent years. Due to the use of the ultimate full-screen visual experience brought by the under-display camera, the unique and highly personalized image DECO design language on the back, and the overall design style of industrial toughness, the Nubia Z60 Ultra is instantly recognizable among many mobile phones and has unique aesthetic value.
At the same time, in terms of performance and battery life, the performance of the Nubia Z60 Ultra also surpasses the performance of many Snapdragon 8 Gen3 models currently on the market, not only the performance is aggressive, but also the battery life almost surpasses the current flagship models on the market.
1. The most personalized industrial design products in 2023
The appearance of the Nubia Z60 Ultra gives the impression of being an extreme and personalized product, which is very different from all the mobile phones on the market in recent years.
From the point of view of appearance and feel,NubiaZ60 Ultra is not a product that goes to the public aesthetics,Maybe for female users,NubiaZ60 UltraThe design is not pleased,Modern industrial design style plus a relatively thick feeling,It may be difficult for female users to have the impulse to buy this product。
Perhaps it is this maverick design style that caters to the favor of another part of the user.
NubiaZ60 UltraThe front adopts ZTE's fifth-generation under-screen camera technology,The front screen is not only in the leading position in the industry in terms of screen-to-body ratio,And the front camera can hardly see the impact on the screen,At the same time, with an extremely narrow bezel,Let the performance of its screen truly achieve"Full screen",The front panel presents the impression of a complete screen,It is in addition to ZTE products in recent years,Unique existence,Full of visual impact。
The back of Nubia Z60 Ultra adopts glass AG frosted glass process, which is different from the processing process of other manufacturers, the back glass of Nubia Z60 Ultra presents a metallic texture, with a metal frame, and the visual experience of the overall back and frame presents a modern industrial style.
At the same time, unlike the popular round or square image DECO, the three image modules of the Nubia Z60 Ultra are separated, but they have different forms in terms of color and form, and echo each other, showing different forms and functional hints in a unified design language. Although the entire image module occupies a large position, the overall coordination is good.
The middle frame of the Nubia Z60 Ultra adopts a right-angle design, and the function buttons are all designed on the right, except for the volume key and the power button, which retains Nubia's previous custom function buttons. The power button is not only designed to be red, but also designed with different textures on the surface of the power button and custom function keys, so that users can easily confirm which key is through the touch of different textures.
As far as the overall appearance design is concerned, whether it is the screen, back or middle frame design, the appearance design of Nubia Z60 Ultra is the only obvious existence of personalized features in the mobile phone industry in 2023;
Second, the performance and battery life surpass many new flagships
The screen of Nubia Z60 Ultra adopts a new flexible UDC full screen, using ZTE's fifth-generation under-screen camera technology, and is equipped with ZTE UDC Ultra independent display chip, with BOE Q9+ light-emitting material, so that the stability of its screen color display is improved50%.
With the support of a series of technologies, the screen of Nubia Z60 Ultra is not only the only full-screen manufacturer that uses under-screen camera technology, but also the color performance, resolution and other parameters of its screen have reached the industry's first-class level. The 6.8-inch AMOLED screen has a local peak brightness of 1500 nits, achieving 100% DCI-P3 color coverage and supporting 2160Hz high-frequency PWM dimming.
In terms of processor, the Nubia Z60 Ultra also uses the third-generation Snapdragon 8 mobile platform, adding the ZTE Lingxi performance engine, which is significantly better than the flagships of other brands of the recently released Snapdragon 8 Gen3 platform in terms of performance.
In the actual test, at a room temperature of about 24 degrees, the score can directly reach 2.13 million, which is more ferocious than some flagship mobile phones that claim to be the main performance. In the Geekbench 6 test, the single-core score was 2239, and the multi-core score was 6990 (the ultimate performance can exceed 7000), and the overall performance of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 can be ranked in the top three.
In actual use, in use cases such as gaming, browsing, and video playback, the performance of the Nubia Z60 Ultra can provide excellent performance support for applications. In terms of fluency, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's fluency has been top-notch in various tests, such as interrupted app startup, background app switching, and continuous app launch. Compared with some problems with MyOS in previous years, the new version of MyOS has equaled the systems of mainstream manufacturers in terms of fluency.
In terms of battery life, Nubia Z60 Ultra is equipped with a 6000mAh battery, which is the largest capacity battery configuration in the flagship models of first-line manufacturers, and is equipped with 80W fast charging, which can be fully charged in about 35 minutes in actual use; From the perspective of actual use, the Nubia Z60 Ultra is currently the strongest mobile phone in terms of battery life, and the only one that can compete with it is another sub-brand of ZTE, the Red Magic Z9 Pro.
In terms of configuration and performance, the only regret of the Nubia Z60 Ultra is that there is no wireless charging function, in addition, in terms of performance, battery life, display, etc., the Nubia Z60 Ultra is currently the strongest of the Snapdragon 8 Gen3 flagship mobile phones.
3. Unique image performance and first-class picture quality
Nubia Z60 Ultra's image performance is its most distinctive advantage, starting from the Z40, Nubia has adjusted the focal length of the main camera to 35mm equivalent, and on the Z50 series, the telephoto focal length is limited to 85mm, forming a unique concept of Nubia's mobile phone for mobile images.
With the exception of the Nubia, almost all current flagship phones have wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle, and telephoto configurations. In terms of focal length selection, it is generally 15mm, 23mm and 70mm focal length configuration, from the perspective of actual shooting, the main camera adopts a wide angle of 23mm, on the one hand, the problem of image quality degradation at the edge of the photo is inevitable due to the wide angle, and at the same time, in the actual shooting, the excessive angle of view also brings a certain difficulty to the user shooting. From the perspective of the history of the development of SLR, the focal length below 23mm is not used very frequently in practice, and for life recording shooting, the focal length of 35mm to 50mm is the most commonly used focal length and the most suitable focal length. In terms of telephoto, the main shooting types are more distant landscapes and portraits, with focal lengths below 50mm causing irreparable distortion of faces when shooting portraits, while focal lengths between 85mm and 135mm are the most suitable focal lengths for portraits.
Judging from the focal length configuration of the Nubia Z60 Ultra, the configuration of the 35mm humanistic focal length and the 85mm portrait focal length has brought more obvious changes to the user's improvement of photo experience and picture quality.
In terms of CMOS, due to the influence of the unique focal length, the three CMOS of the Nubia Z60 Ultra have adopted an exclusive customization method. The wide angle is 50 million pixels equivalent to the ultra-wide angle of 18mm, the CMOS is OmniVision OV50E, with an area of 1/1.55 inch, the main camera is a combination of 5000 pixels with an equivalent focal length of 35mm, and the telephoto is a periscope telephoto with a 64 million pixel equivalent focal length of 85mm, CMOS is the main model of this year's telephoto, OmniVision OV64B;
It should be noted that the Nubia Z60 Ultra main camera, this area is 1/1.49 inch CMOS, although it is SonyIMX800, but with the support of 1G+6P exclusive coating lens, the actual shooting center image quality is roughly equivalent to the one-inch CMOS effect, and even in some special scenes, its details and clarity are stronger than those of mobile phone products that use one-inch CMOS from some manufacturers.
Performance in bright environments
In bright light, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's three image modules perform remarkably, with a transparent overall image, rich detail, and top-notch resolution, with barely visible smear marks and excellent noise suppression.
In the above example, the ceramic enamel details in the center of the picture are fully expressed, the cracks on the white glaze are clear, and the light and shadow effects are also relatively well reproduced.
The Nubia Z60 Ultra's 85mm telephoto end is somewhat surprising, with a much improved resolution compared to its predecessor, the Z50 Ultra, and compared to the 2023 flagship model, the resolution is higher than that of most image-focused models.
In the example above, architectural detail is clearly visible in the main frame, with natural transitions around the edges, and color noise is barely visible in the sky. When the font on the building in the center of the picture is enlarged, the edges of the font are clear, the digital flavor is not too heavy, and the lines of the building are compact.
In terms of tolerance, the tolerance performance of the Nubia Z60 Ultra main camera is also impressive, in the large light ratio environment, the processing of the highlights is more in line with the Xi seen by ordinary eyes, not too bright but not deliberately darkened, retaining enough details; the dark details are excellent, and the texture is delicate. In the backlit environment, through exposure control and algorithm optimization, the overall picture presents a relatively excellent light and shadow atmosphere.
In the example above, the details and color transitions in the highlights at the sky are well represented, and the architectural details in the backlit shadows are well restored, whether it is the details of the trees or the lines of the building, they are clearly variable. Although there are slight traces of smearing in the dark areas, it is still difficult to detect without zooming in and comparing carefully.
Performance in low-light environments
The Nubia Z60 Ultra's performance in extreme low-light and night-scene conditions is a bit over-exerting in wide-angle, main, and telephoto conditions, and the detail is mediocre, but in normal low-light environments, it looks very good.
The reason for this may be related to its exposure strategy, but this inconsistent play creates uncertainty about the Nubia Z60 Ultra's image performance.
In the night scene sample above, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's main camera is on the bright side, and it seems to be still the industry tradition of previous years to shoot night scenes into daytime effects, although the center image quality is acceptable, but the lines on the edges of the buildings in the distance are more heavily smeared, the details of the trees in the shadows have been lost, the lights in the highlights are blurred, and the outline of the building has seriously lost its original appearance. Of course, the sense of atmosphere and the handling of warm and cold tones are still relatively good.
In non-extreme low-light environments, the Nubia Z60 Ultra performs differently, with remarkable detail, resolution, and color reproduction. In the example above, the shadow tones in the complex lighting environment are well handled, the details of the picture are perfectly rendered, and the light and shadow effects are also very moving. After zooming in, although there are traces of this smearing, the details are excellent, the picture is compact, and the transitions brought by the light have been well restored. The most surprising thing is that the overall picture is transparent and the noise is light.
What's even more surprising is the portrait performance in low-light environments, in the above example, the texture of the facial skin of the characters in the picture has been very well restored, the details of the clothes have to show a very good shadow tone, and under the high sensitivity of the ISO5000, the overall picture is still relatively clean and transparent, and the light and shadow effect rendering of highlights and dark details is impressive.
Noise, color reproduction, and exposure strategies
The Nubia Z60 Ultra's noise suppression is impressive, with noise levels among the few best in the 2023 flagship, both in high-sensitivity performance in low-light environments and low-sensitivity performance in bright-light environments.
In actual sample shots, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's noise is imperceptible in sub-ISO1000 conditions, and noise suppression remains within acceptable limits even in environments around ISO5000.
In the example above, the backlit face is rich in detail, with natural transitions between light and shadow, and although ISO has reached 1000, the effect of noise is hard to see in skin tones on faces. The curtains in the highlights and the clothes in the shadows on the back, although there are some signs of smearing in some areas, the noise in the overall image is very well controlled, and the color noise that affects the image quality is barely visible.
In terms of color reproduction, Nubia Z60 Ultra still adheres to a more intense style in realism, and the overall color reproduction performance is slightly more gorgeous than that of the entity, which may be more pleasing to ordinary users.
In the above example, since the main colors of the picture are non-saturated colors, the color of the overall picture has been well restored, and the atmosphere of the overall picture is also very moving.
It should be noted that due to the Nubia Z60 Ultra's intense color style, it is easy to have color overflow when shooting subjects with high saturation, especially when shooting subjects such as bright red roses, you need to pay special attention to the color and light of the picture.
In terms of exposure strategy, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's exposure strategy is roughly the same as its predecessor Z50 series, and when the light is slightly bad, it still maintains the shutter speed by increasing the ISO sensitivity, especially in night scenes and extreme low-light environments, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's sensitivity may be around 10000. The impact of this exposure strategy on image quality is obvious, and through algorithms such as noise reduction and sharpening, it is inevitable that the smudge marks and digital feel will be brought to the image. Happily, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's noise suppression algorithm is excellent, allowing the image quality to be rendered relatively well in low-light environments.
In terms of portraits, it may be the real strength of the Nubia Z60 Ultra in terms of images, with a focal length of 35mm relative to a focal length of 23mm, shooting environmental portraits can not only explain the environment, but also make the subject more prominent, which is a good focal length for environmental portraits.
The focal length of 85mm is the golden focal length for portraits, whether it is half body or full body, it can not only have a sense of space compression, but also ensure the three-dimensional contour of the person's face.
The 35mm focal length allows for a more prominent and more human-eyed view than the 23mm focal length of other devices, while creating a better visual expression between the subject and the environment. The default mode of the Nubia Z60 Ultra does a good job of dealing with the relationship between the subject and the environment, and the background is properly blurred, which not only reflects the environmental factors, but also allows the character to stand out from the environment, which is difficult to achieve without the help of an algorithm at a wide angle of about 23mm.
The Nubia Z60 Ultra's periscope telephoto performance is even better in portraits, especially in portrait mode, where it exceeds expectations.
The sample above was shot with the Nubia Z60 Ultra periscope telephoto in portrait mode, with a shutter speed of 1/35 sec. and a sensitivity of 320. In terms of image performance, the Nubia Z60 Ultra has accurate exposure and impeccable focus in a fully backlit environment, and the overall picture is relatively transparent, with no noticeable noise in the frame. Impressively, the Nubia Z60 Ultra has the best skin-optimized effect on SkinNano, which is probably the best optimized for human skin among the flagship phones on the market. After the facial skin is treated, the transition is natural and smooth, but the skin texture is not lost, compared with the effect of other manufacturers' products, it is more realistic, and the treatment of the eye part is also very good, and there is no excessive impact on the clarity of the eyes because of the optimization of the skin.
Of course, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's portrait mode is not perfect, and it produces false recognition in the recognition of the scalp, and the hair at the edges is broken. At the same time, in the hair section, there is a loss of detail and color noise is generated.
Overall, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's image performance is very outstanding, but not perfect, compared with the mainstream flagships in the current market, its overall image performance can be ranked in the top three, especially in terms of portrait shooting and portrait mode, the Nubia Z60 Ultra's performance should be the best at the moment.
Comprehensive conclusions
Nubia's insistence on not conforming to the crowd has been fully reflected in the Nubia Z60 Ultra, which is unique in the current mobile phone industry, whether it is its appearance design, manufacturing process or unique understanding of mobile phone images, Nubia Z60 Ultra has shown very personalized characteristics, which is not only a matter of improving product recognition, but also a unique understanding of the future development of mobile phone products and insistence on innovation.
At the same time, judging from the performance of Nubia Z60 Ultra, Nubia has not only achieved highly personalized product performance, but also reached the industry's first-class level in terms of performance, battery life and fluency, reflecting the demeanor that a real first-line manufacturer should have. It can be said that Nubia is a niche brand, but the Nubia Z60 Ultra shows the unique understanding of the development of the mobile phone industry and the spirit of continuous exploration of product innovation by industry veterans like ZTE.