Nubia Z17 Lite Review - The (almost) perfect smartphone for 200 €!

Foreword: Nubia Z17 Lite

Nubia smartphones are rather unknown on the local market. Better known, however, is ZTE, a leading global manufacturer of mobile devices to which Nubia is a subsidiary. The recently released Nubia smartphones impressed above all with their excellent hardware equipment, good workmanship and an extremely appealing design. However, many of the manufacturer's smartphones are primarily intended for the Chinese market. The Nubia Z17 Lite has also only appeared in China so far. As the predecessor model Nubia Z17 already showed, a global start can be expected, which is why we have already subjected the Chinese model with international ROM to a test in advance.

 

Design, workmanship and delivery

When it comes to the appearance of its smartphones, Nubia attaches great importance to a classy and, above all, striking design. It's the same with the Nubia Z17 Lite. The smartphone has a so-called unibody design. The rear of the housing and the housing frame are made from one piece and form a unit. The housing material is aluminum. The smartphone is available in black, black-gold and blue.

 Constructed is the Nubia Z17 Lite reasonably: 

Starting with the front, a first, optical specialty catches the eye. The Z17 Lite is one of the few smartphones with a display that actually extends to the inner edge of the housing and leaves an excellent bezel-less look thanks to the additional curved glass. Nubia has placed 5.5 capacitive control buttons below the 3-inch display. In the center there is a circular home button that shines in striking red. This also serves as a notification LED and lights up pulsing red when notifications are received. The control buttons on the left and right also light up red when pressed. The auricle is placed in the middle above the display. To the left of it, Nubia has housed the 16 megapixel front camera.

 As already mentioned, the case frame and case back form a unit and, at least in our test model, are matt black. The feel is positive, even if the smartphone is a bit slippery in the hand. The power button and the volume rocker are on the right-hand side of the housing frame. On the left is the SIM slot, which can be equipped with two nano SIM cards. Nubia does without a 3.5 mm audio jack. A corresponding adapter 3.5 mm Kline to USB-C is included. As a result, the underside of the frame is equipped with a USB-C socket in the middle. Loudspeaker openings are located to the left and right of it, only one of which actually functions as a loudspeaker opening (mono). Instead, the microphone is hidden behind the other opening. Another, noise-reducing microphone is placed inside the top of the frame.

Let's get to the back of the case. The gold-colored Nubia lettering is striking. Above it is a circular fingerprint scanner with a beveled and also gold-colored edge. Last but not least, there is a dual main camera on the back with a prominent red border and an LED flash on the right.

The build quality of the Nubia Z17 Lite is first class. The scope of delivery includes the smartphone, a charger, a USB-C cable, a 3.5 mm audio jack to USB-C adapter, a SIM needle and a user manual.

Display

The Nubia Z17 Lite is an almost rimless smartphone that attracts attention with its particularly low bezel. The optical effect is almost reminiscent of a curved display from the current Samsung Galaxy S model series, although Nubia has not installed a curved display. Instead, Nubia lets the display surface extend to the inner edge of the case. The curved effect is caused by a display glass that is curved towards the edges. A disadvantage of this is that the curved glass, which, in contrast to many other smartphones, already merges into the curve above the display, shows a clear rainbow effect with slight distortion. In everyday life, however, this effect is not a problem.

The smartphone is equipped with a 5.5 inch in-cell display. In the case of an in-cell display, the LCD and the touchscreen are connected to one another without an intermediate layer. This means that panels can be made even thinner, which often results in a thinner and lighter smartphone. The resolution of the display is 1920 x 1080 pixels. Due to the point density of 403 PPI achieved in this way, individual pixels can no longer be seen with the naked eye.

The display convinces with rich colors, albeit with a slight bluish cast, which is less noticeable in everyday use, a very good contrast and a high viewing angle stability. The color display can also be individually adjusted within the display settings. The maximum luminance of the display is around 445 cd / m². The display remains easy to read even when there is strong incidence of light.

The touchscreen works precisely and recognizes up to 10 simultaneous inputs. The coated and hardened Corning Gorilla Glass ensures good sliding properties and protection against scratches.

Performance

In contrast to many other smartphone manufacturers from China, who mostly rely on processors from MediaTek, Nubia uses processors from Qualcomm. The Z17 Lite is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 653. This middle class processor has 4 Cortex A72 and 4 Cortex A53 processor cores that clock at up to 1.95 GHz. According to the so-called big.LITTLE architecture, the cores are again divided into two clusters, a power and an energy-saving cluster. The aim of this “heterogeneous computing architecture” is a more efficient distribution of power. The memory equipment is generous and amounts to a 6GB LPDDR3 main memory and a 64GB eMMC5.1 flash memory. A memory expansion using a microSD memory card is not provided. The system-on-chip graphics processor is an Adreno 510 GPU.

The Nubia Z17 Lite proves to be extremely powerful in everyday use. The memory speed of 8787 MB / s is first class despite the LPDDR3 module and even surpasses many other smartphones with LPDDR4X memory. The smartphone can easily switch between apps, even with numerous apps that are open at the same time. The internal eMMC5.1 flash memory delivers a meager but still average write and read speed of 153 MB / s and 186 MB / s, respectively. The Nubia Z17 Lite also cuts a good figure in gaming. Games such as Asphalt 8 can be played smoothly and image breakdowns are a rarity. An excessive heat development does not occur.

Despite the good everyday performance, there are abnormalities in the Bechmarkt tests. A test with Geekbench 4 has shown that the smartphone does not fully utilize the processor performance. In the multicore test in particular, below-average results are achieved, which are almost 50% below the measurement results of other smartphone models with identical equipment. However, it appears to be a software issue. A look at the Geekbench test results database reveals that the Nubia Z17 Lite achieved better results with earlier firmware versions. If the error is corrected with future updates (currently V1.03), this passage will of course be corrected!

user interface

The manufacturer ROM "Nubia UI 5.0" is used as the user interface. As with many other smartphone manufacturers, the user interface is based on Android 7.1.1, but differs significantly from stock Android in terms of looks and functions.

Adapted to the design of the smartphone, Nubia UI 5.0 uses custom icons in a gold and black tile look. If you want to change the appearance, you are of course free to install any theme launcher. There is no app drawer. Instead, apps are placed on pages.

The quick access has also been adapted. The quick access to settings and notifications has been separated. A swipe from top to bottom opens a notification window. A swipe from bottom to top opens quick access to apps and settings. Functional extensions include various gesture and smart sensing options. Apps can be changed, for example, with a 3-finger swipe. Smart Sensing enables notifications and recently opened apps to be closed at once by shaking the device. Edge gestures are triggered by swiping the display edge, for example to adjust the brightness, to start and switch to predefined apps or to clean up the memory. As a security feature, apps can be blocked individually. The guaranteed performance of each app can be adjusted for improved energy management.

One problem that many Nubia smartphones share is the confusing situation with regard to ROMs. With the exception of a few models from the manufacturer that have also appeared on the international market, Nubia mainly produces for the Chinese market. Accordingly, many devices are delivered with a Chinese user interface, which usually allows a language change, but has no preinstalled Google apps, especially the Google Play Store. The Google Play Services must therefore be installed on the smartphone via sideload, which already led to numerous problems with the larger Nubia Z17.

 Our test copy has already been delivered with an international and therefore multilingual ROM including Google Apps. It was therefore not necessary to sideload the Google Play Services. However, many ROMs adapted for the international market are so-called “shop ROMs”, which the seller adapts and installs accordingly.

Camera

The back of the smartphone is equipped with a dual main camera. The sensors are subdivided into a Sony IMX258 color sensor and another Sony IMX258 sensor, which, as an “auxiliary sensor”, only records monochrome images. The aperture of the main camera says Nubia with f / 2.2. Further features are a phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and a two-color LED flash.

The image sensor of the front camera comes from Samsung and has a resolution of 16 megapixels. A particularly large image area is captured by the wide angle of 80 °. The aperture of the front camera is f / 2.0.

Practical test of the main camera

In view of the fact that the Nubia Z17 Lite can only be classified in the mid-range range, the smartphone's camera equipment delivers convincing recording quality. The focus is primarily on Nubia's “NeoVison 7.0”, a camera system specially tailored for Nubia smartphones, which offers numerous recording options and embellishes it with smart AI recordings.

 Image recordings impress with their strong, yet natural color rendering. The smallest details come into their own and there is hardly any image blurring even towards the edges of the image. In poor lighting conditions, the color reproduction remains reasonably good, but there is clearly visible image noise over the images, which is also accompanied by a significant loss of detail. Nevertheless, the Nubia Z17 Lite delivers an acceptable recording quality, especially in comparison to other mid-range smartphones, even in poor lighting conditions. Understandably, however, it cannot keep up with current flagship models.

The Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) works precisely and focuses within a very short time. The tripping time is average. The shutter release time increases, especially in poor lighting conditions, which can sometimes lead to blurred images. Optical image stabilization (OIS) is not available. Instead, Nubia relies on a permanently integrated electronic image stabilization (EIS). Using the monochrome image sensor, it is possible to take real black and white photos. Zooming is possible with up to 8x (digital) magnification.

Of course, a smartphone with a dual camera should not be without a bokeh or depth effect mode (foreground sharp - background blurred). With the Nubia Z17 Lite, this depends very much on the lighting conditions. In particularly good lighting conditions, details are extracted cleanly. In poor lighting conditions, however, the unsharp area becomes increasingly imprecise. The unsharp area can be adjusted afterwards in image processing.

The HDR mode ensures an improved dynamic range. This can be switched on and off, but can also be set to an automatic mode. If the Auto-HDR mode is active, NeoVision decides when it makes sense to switch on the HDR function. In the test, the Auto-HDR mode proved to be extremely effective and conjured up high-contrast images without drowning shadows or eroded lights. Even hands-free HDR recordings are no problem despite the lack of optical image stabilization (OIS). The Auto-HDR mode of the Nubia Z17 Lite forgives even the smallest camera movements.

 The main camera records videos with maximum 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) at 30 frames per second. With a resolution of 1080p, even a smooth 60 frames per second are achieved. Image breakdowns in increasingly poor lighting conditions do not occur. The refresh rate remains constant. The video recording quality scores just as much as the photo recording quality through pleasant color and detail reproduction. Only in poor lighting conditions does the image noise increase significantly in video mode. The autofocus works precisely and focuses within a very short time without pulsing afterwards. The sound recording quality is convincing. 

Camera app

The camera app of the Nubia UI 5.0 is one of the best and most functionally extensive camera apps. In the general image recording mode alone, there are 16 different effects and presets to choose from. For example, light painting can be done at the push of a button, starry skies can be captured in the special starry sky mode, or recordings with a clone effect or image overlap can be completed. So-called "wigglegrams", 3D recordings that are mainly known from iPhone users, can also be recorded with the Nubia camera app. A total of 9 color filters create an Instagram-like effect. Integrated image processing enables extensive, subsequent processing of the images taken.

The Pro camera mode allows setting options for exposure time (1/60000 - 2 sec.), White balance (2250 - 7750 K), ISO (100 - 12800) and focus. Image recordings can also be saved in the lossless digital negative format (DNG).

Practical test of the front camera

Nubia has also done a lot with the front camera and has given the Z17 Lite a 16 megapixel Samsung image sensor. The manufacturer does not provide any information on the exact sensor designation. If one assumes, however, that one of the usual Samsung ISOCELL sensors was installed, which normally does not act as a front camera but as a main camera on many mid-range smartphones, the Nubia Z17 Lite would be comparatively well equipped.

The recording quality of the front camera is excellent and even surpasses many smartphones in significantly higher price ranges. The front camera takes photos with pleasant sharpness. Colors are captured accurately. Even in poor lighting conditions, the front camera captures enough details to take usable selfies. The same applies to videos that the front camera records with a maximum resolution of 1080p. There is no automatic focus. Instead, the front camera uses an “Infinity Focus”. For selfie fanatics, there is also a “Beauty Face” mode that narrows and smoothly blurs the face.

connectivity

Telephony

The Nubia Z17 Lite can cope with 2G, 3G and 4G mobile communications, but as is so often the case in this country, Band 20, which is widely used for LTE, is not supported. The smartphone can be used simultaneously with 2 nano SIM cards (dual SIM). The mobile communications behavior is very solid in terms of telephony and mobile surfing. The call quality is not objectionable either via the earphones or the hands-free function.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

The smartphone supports the WiFi protocols 802.11 / b / g / n / ac. The Z17 Lite achieves a decent data throughput in WLAN. Connection range and connection stability are above average and therefore not objectionable. Bluetooth is supported with version 4.2. Here, too, the smartphone shows a convincing connection and transmission quality.

GPS and sensors

 The navigability of the Nubia Z17 Lite is to be criticized. Although many satellites come into view and a GPS fix is ​​found relatively quickly, the accuracy of the position determination leaves a lot to be desired. Regardless of whether you are navigating through the city or in the country, the signal strength is comparatively low, which means that deviations can occur more frequently while navigating.

The sensor equipment consists of a distance sensor, a gyroscope, an acceleration sensor, an e-compass and an ambient light sensor. There is also a fingerprint sensor on the back, which unlocks the smartphone without any major delay and impresses with its high recognition rate. NFC is also on board.

Audio

Following the trend, the Nubia Z17 Lite also manages without a 3.5 mm audio jack. Headphones or external speakers can only be wired to the USB-C socket on the smartphone. A USB-C to 3.5 mm jack audio adapter is included. The sound quality via the adapter leaves nothing to be desired.

The sound via the mono speaker is also convincing. The maximum volume is reasonable without distorting it. Music played through the speaker sounds powerful and clear.

Battery

The built-in battery has a capacity of 3200 mAh. The measured capacity corresponds to the information provided by the manufacturer. The Nubia Z17 Lite proves to be extremely frugal in everyday use. The "Power Management" built into Nubia UI 5.0 has the battery consumption under control and ensures a fair distribution of power without impairing performance.

With normal use, the smartphone can easily be used for 1 ½ days without having to recharge. Even a running time of 2 days is quite possible with conventional use. Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0 is supported for fast charging. A corresponding charger is not included with the global version of the smartphone. With the supplied charger, the smartphone is fully charged after 2 ½ hours. But even with various Quick Charge 3.0 compatible chargers, no better charging time could be achieved during the test phase. Although charging was carried out with a slightly higher voltage and amperage, the result was that the charging time of just under 2 hours was only 30 minutes less than the charging time with a conventional charger.