Nubia Z70 Extremely Intro
What does it take to face out in at this time’s overpopulated cellphone market?
The brand new Nubia Z70 Extremely checks all of these packing containers. See, if life has taught us something, it is that when one thing appears too good to be true, it often is, however there are all the time some exceptions to the proverbial rule. May the Nubia Z70 Extremely be simply that, an outstanding value-for-money exception that does all the pieces proper and would not value an arm and a leg?
Let’s reply all these questions!
Desk of Contents:
Nubia Z70 Extremely Specs
A specs monster
| Specs | PHONENAME |
|---|---|
| Dimension and Weight | 164.3 x 77.1 x 8.6 mm, 228gr |
| Show | 6.8-inch AMOLED, 144Hz, 2000 nits of bri |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite, 3nm |
| Software program | Android 15, Nebula OS |
| Cameras | 50MP wide-angle, F1.6-F4.0, 35mm 50MP ultra-wide, F1,8, 13mm 64MP telephoto, F2.5, 70mm 16MP under-screen |
| Battery Dimension | 6150mAh Si-carbon |
| Charging Speeds | 80W wired cost No wi-fi charging |
| Costs | $729 for 12GB/256GB $829 for 16GB/512GB $949 for 24GB/1TB |
Nubia Z70 Extremely Design and Show
An all-screen cellphone with a head-turning digicam structure
The Nubia Z70 Extremely is a cellphone that positively stands out. It’s a stable cellphone, with an unmistakable and distinctive rear design, which sort of reminds us of the quirky point-and-shoot cameras from greater than a decade in the past. That is courtesy of the massive digicam meeting on the rear, which depends on a staggered digicam design, daring colours, and two contrasting glass panels to face out.
The remainder of the cellphone employs a typical flat design. The satin-like aluminum body is generally flat however has minuscule chamfers simply across the corners, which supplies off a premium really feel and makes this Nubia really feel nice within the hand.
Oh, and this is but one more reason why the Nubia Z70 Extremely appears to be like identical to a digicam: it has a tiny two-step shutter button, positioned on the decrease proper a part of the aspect body. This button permits you to shortly open the digicam from anyplace, in addition to focus and seize a photograph or a burst of photographs.
There’s additionally a {hardware} change button positioned excessive up on the left aspect of the cellphone. That one is customizable, permitting you to entry some core options just like the digicam, flashlight, or the voice recorder, however probably the most helpful characteristic is the power to modify between sound modes, such as you used to do on iPhones with a bodily ringer change.
There’s additionally an IR blaster on the prime of the cellphone. That is nonetheless a wildly in style characteristic on telephones primarily supposed for the native Chinese language market, although it has primarily disappeared within the West. It would not damage to have it on board, although: it is extra handy to make use of your cellphone as an alternative of a number of cumbersome remotes.
The Nubia Z70 Extremely is a reasonably large cellphone, nevertheless it would not really feel overly cumbersome or uncomfortable to make use of. The truth is, it feels stable in a great way, with reassuring weight and form that makes dealing with it a pleasing expertise.
The cellphone boasts each IP68 and IP69 water and dust-certification, which signifies that it is not solely impervious to submerging in as much as 1.5m of freshwater for as much as half-hour, however it may well additionally survive high-pressure and high-temperature (as much as 80ºC) water jets. This makes the cellphone just about waterproof, and Nubia has made good use of that: the digicam has a devoted underwater capturing mode.
Unboxing the Nubia Z70 Extremely is pure pleasure (Picture by PhoneArena)
Contained in the Nubia Z70 Extremely field, you will discover the cellphone itself, the standard handbook and leaflets, a really first rate silicone case, in addition to an 80W wall adapter and USB-C cable. Kudos the place kudos is due, that is nice worth, and far more than most different producers gives you as of late.
The show on the entrance is a 6.85-inch AMOLED that helps as much as 144Hz of easy refresh fee. To be trustworthy, it is already difficult to note any distinction previous 120Hz on a cellphone, however hey, if the numbers go up, we won’t be mad.
Look, ma, no punch-hole! (Picture by PhoneArena)
What you will positively discover with the Nubia Z70 Extremely is the uninterrupted viewing space. Sure, this cellphone has a selfie digicam hidden underneath the display, so no ugly punch-hole right here that can get in the best way of your YouTube movies or TV exhibits.
There are many screen-related settings accessible (Picture by PhoneArena)
Nevertheless, at 100% APL the place the entire display is displaying a white picture, the Nubia truly beats the Galaxy by a few hundred nits. The one factor we do not actually like right here is the minimal brightness––it is 3.4 nits, which is fairly excessive.
Shifting on to the colour rendition, it is fairly good. The Nubia has a virtually good default shade temperature, gamma, and shade accuracy. Grey colours have an ever-so-slight yellow-ish tint to them, however you will not discover that outdoors of a shade calibration take a look at.
Show Measurements:
When it comes to biometrics, the Nubia Z70 Extremely boasts an under-display optical fingerprint reader. It really works simply high quality, nevertheless, it is noticeably slower to react than ultrasonic fingerprint scanners, and sometimes, your fingerprint won’t be registered on the primary strive. Apart from that, it is completely okay.
Nubia Z70 Extremely Digicam
Positively a blended bag of excellent and unhealthy
With a digicam setup trying like this, we have been anticipating extra (Picture by PhoneArena)
The telephoto digicam has a barely diminished native optical zoom, providing a 70mm (2X) zoom in comparison with the 85mm (2.4X) zoom on the Z60 Extremely. When you can nonetheless seize pictures on the longer focal size, it now depends on digital fairly than purely optical zoom.
On the entrance, there’s a 16MP under-display digicam, seamlessly mixing into the display. Nevertheless, its picture high quality is generally underwhelming.
When it comes to software program, the digicam app is filled with options, although lots of the included capturing modes really feel gimmicky (just like the underwater digicam mode). The Professional digicam mode is sweet, although. The interface is unintuitive, notably when switching between zoom ranges and focal lengths, which might make the person expertise extra complicated than handy.
The picture high quality is a blended bag. Positive, the principle and telephoto cameras ship a lot of element and good colours, however the dynamics are principally missing, and zooming in on a photograph will frequently showcase some oversharpening artifacts, which are not a very good factor to see on a late-2024 flagship. All cameras are likely to under-expose the scene, and the dynamics aren’t nice more often than not, with crushed shadows and blown highlights galore. The identical is true with for the ultra-wide digicam, too.
The front-facing digicam is generally okay when you consider the truth that it is tucked underneath the show. Positive, finer particulars are non-existent, and most selfies you are taking will flip to watercolor work as quickly as you zoom in somewhat, however when taken in good lighting, the photographs are usable.
Video High quality
Movies taken with the Nubia are fairly mediocre. The dynamics vary is not preferrred, leading to overblown highlights and crushed shadows in lots of situations. There are many oversharpening artifacts, and when the sunshine will not be preferrred, extreme noise, particularly when utilizing the devoted telephoto zoom. The recorded audio is not nice, both.
Nubia Z70 Extremely Efficiency & Benchmarks
Will we even deserve a lot energy?
Do not choose, Minecraft is life (Picture by PhoneArena)
It is none aside from the Snapdragon 8 Elite that is powering the Nubia Z70 Elite. Qualcomm’s first 3nm cell chip that is accessible to Android producers is certainly a powerhouse that gives us with entry to extra uncooked energy than we will realistically use.
The cellphone is out there in three completely different storage configurations: 12GB RAM with 256GB of storage, 16GB RAM with 512GB of storage, and the top-of-the-line 1TB model with 24GB of bodily RAM. Except for that, you can even allocate a portion of the storage to behave as RAM; on our 12GB unit, you may allocate 12GB of RAM further.
Efficiency Benchmarks:
The identical is true of the 3DMark Excessive gaming take a look at, which makes it clear that the Snapdragon 8 Elite is a prime performer in the case of gaming. The “low” rating simply surpasses the iPhone 16 Professional Max by a really lengthy shot, which signifies that even at its worst, the Nubia Z70 Extremely will nonetheless run circles round Apple’s best. The “excessive” rating, then again, represents the preliminary burst of gaming efficiency with no throttling, the place the Nubia Z70 Extremely and the Snapdragon 8 Elite are positively in a league of their very own.
Thermal administration is superb on this cellphone. The cellphone does get somewhat heat after an extended gaming session (15–20 minutes), however by no means too scorching, and body charges keep constant. Nice job!
Nubia Z70 Extremely Software program
There are a great deal of visible and useful customization settings that allow you to fine-tune the person interface. It is intuitive and logical to get round Nebula OS, and though it has some minor quirks, it is not a nasty person interface by any means. What I like about it, nevertheless, is the dearth of any bloatware: the cellphone comes with just some core apps pre-installed, which is nice. Except for a inventory browser, cellphone app, and a file supervisor, you are solely getting the bottom suite of Google apps.
When it comes to AI (the leitmotif of this decade, it appears), the Nubia Z70 Extremely would not have many of those on board. There’s the AI Translate characteristic, which gives real-time translation throughout cellphone calls, and… two different options that do not actually make the most of AI, an interface sidebar and a 5G sign booster. We won’t say we’re dissatisfied with the dearth of fluff AI options.
After all, Gemini AI is only a energy button press away.
Nubia says that the Z70 Extremely will get three years of software program updates, together with a significant improve to Android 16, every time that one lands.
Nubia Z70 Extremely Battery
Nice, however with some room for enchancment
The Nubia Z70 Extremely comes with a really large 6,150mAh silicon-carbon battery; these provide a lot higher power density than normal lithium-ion batteries. That is simply 150mAh greater than the Nubia Z60 Extremely, however we aren’t complaining in any respect, particularly contemplating that a lot of the Nubia’s rivals arrive with considerably smaller batteries. For instance, Samsung has been caught within the 5,000mAh rut for half a decade now, with seemingly no plans to supply a bigger battery on its Extremely flagships anytime quickly.
How does the Snapdragon 8 Elite pair with the Nubia’s 6,150mAh battery? In our personal battery exams, that are all performed with the shows manually set at 200 nits of brightness, the cellphone performs admirably and delivers glorious battery backup. In our internet shopping take a look at, which simulates an informal shopping expertise, the cellphone lasts for almost 20 hours.
Nevertheless, the place it actually shines is our video streaming take a look at, the place it beats all of its rivals with a super-solid results of 12 hours and 49 minutes of video playback. Lastly, in our 3D gaming take a look at, it lasted for 13 hours and 29 minutes, only a half an hour lower than the Galaxy S24 Extremely.
PhoneArena Battery Take a look at Outcomes:
In actual life, it is principally protected to say that it is a two-day cellphone with common use. Heavy customers and avid gamers ought to most likely anticipate one thing nearer to a one-day cellphone, however as normal, your mileage will fluctuate.
A have a look at the Nubia Z70 Extremely’s USB-C port (Picture by PhoneArena)
When it comes to charging, the cellphone helps 80W wired charging, and also you get a wall adapter within the field together with the cellphone, which is nice information. The cellphone takes 44 minutes to totally cost with its inventory charger. A big a part of that is trickling, although, as a 30-minute cost will internet you 75% of battery cost, which needs to be sufficient for a full day of intensive use.
PhoneArena Charging Take a look at Outcomes:
The Nubia Z70 Extremely would not help wi-fi charging.
Nubia Z70 Extremely Audio High quality and Haptics
The Nubia Z70 Extremely has stereo audio system, however the audio high quality is common at finest. The utmost quantity is comparatively low, but there’s nonetheless noticeable distortion at larger quantity ranges––not good. The audio system all the time sound like they’re struggling and torturing themselves.
The sound stage is tiny, the bass is mediocre, and the general audio expertise is not notably engaging. There is a DTS setting with numerous equalizer presets, however tinkering with these would not enhance the expertise. An iPhone or a Galaxy ship a considerably extra satisfying expertise.
When it comes to haptic suggestions, the vibrator on the cellphone feels exact, however a bit too weak and tinny. It lacks the attribute sturdy rumble that an iPhone or a Galaxy will get you, as an alternative you get a high-pitched vibration that doesn’t really feel notably good.
Must you purchase it?
It is a first rate cellphone total (Picture by PhoneArena)
Nicely, the Nubia Z70 Extremely is a blended bag of a cellphone––it has many strengths, however some weaknesses, too.
Beginning at $729, it is glorious worth once you issue within the 3nm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip on board. Though telephones with the newest Qualcomm chip are nonetheless troublesome to come back by and can solely develop into prevalent in 2025, we doubt it is possible for you to to get a extra reasonably priced cellphone with the 3nm Snapdragon chip within the US. So, in the event you’re fastidiously calculating your “efficiency per greenback” gained, few telephones can match the Nubia Z70 Extremely in the meanwhile.
The intriguing design, nice battery life, and splendid display are additionally some facets of this Android unique that go into the “strengths” column.
Nevertheless, it may well’t be all good, and it is regular that some corners have been reduce to realize the general worth proposition. The digicam has some points and is not on the identical stage as most flagships offered within the US. The audio high quality is common. The interface is okay, however uninspiring as compared with its rivals. Nonetheless, minor points within the grand scheme of issues, however pay attention to these.
The Nubia Z70 Extremely seems like a cellphone for budget-conscious patrons that also wish to experience the newest tech wave. That is completely high quality, so far as they’re conscious of the underwater rocks that generally may make the journey disagreeable.