In the realm of mobile phone photography, most of the users will be targeting towards flagship and flagship killers to quench the thirst in the quest of experiencing the best of your snapshots in your hands. But what if ZTE is able to offer something affordable, along with some selected features within the hardware and software that is similar to one? Today we will review and take a look at the ZTE nubia Focus Pro 5G.
Design & Aesthetics
Most the base design of the ZTE nubia Focus Pro 5G comes down to the more superior version of the nubia lineup, the ZTE nubia Z50 which the most particular part is the back design, covered in smooth plastic glass looks to it, along with the circular shape camera island that hosts all the rear camera hardware. The frame of the phone is made of polycarbonate and maintains the weight of around 200 grams, considering the amount of hardware fitted inside, it is still relatively ok compared to the majority of the smartphones out there carrying similar weight. Since we mentioned about the frame, there is a slider that is user configurable to any of the apps installed followed by a soft touch button which is always defaulted as a shutter click/execution for camera capture with vibration haptic.
The ZTE nubia Focus Pro 5G comes in 2 choices, Glass in black or Vegan Leather in brown/gold. The glass pretty much represent a classic feel like any other smartphone while the vegan leather option does show some premium touch to it.
Display & Audio
Being an affordable device, the ZTE nubia Focus Pro 5G is still be able to be fitted it with 120Hz dynamic refresh rate screen, though it is just an IPS LCD screen, when looking towards the display directly, colors and contrast still remains close to accurate, only when looking towards the side or sideways view, you may not be able to see it that clearly, but that is to be expected. Looking at the positive side, this is still a very sizable 6.72 inch FHD+ display that is able to peak quite brightly at about 500nits. Besides that, the phone is also Widevine L1 certified for Google Play DRM apps like Netflix or Disney+.
Lets get on to the audio, like most ZTE phones marketed outside, this one has DTS audio enhancements as well but driven with only a single speaker. But if you need more personalize audio, this can be adjusted via the Sound DTS settings with multiple profiles to choose from. Besides that, one can also use the USB C port to plug in headphones or just use any TWS bluetooth earbuds as part of the personal audio experience. Suffice to say, even with single speaker, it is still clear and loud.
Camera
The camera is one of the strong part of the Nubia Focus Pro, boasting a 108MP camera with OIS providing good quality photoshoots and also feature some of the modes inherited from the nubia Z series like Street Photography, Portrait mode and RAW mode along with five focal lens in total within the rear camera hardware, making it another contender within the mid range camera phone segment.
Monocolor mode
Night Mode
Day/Indoor mode
Day time photos as usual came out great as usual with pretty good dynamic range while falls abit short during night time photoshooting, however the phone has software AI mode to enhance the photos optionally or automatically with HDR support. The built in shutter button makes it easy to snap photo as well. The overall outcome is acceptable when compared to phones within the price range. Lastly the phone has up to 4K 30FPS support but does not have 60FPS mode on all resolutions. The same can be said on the front 32MP camera providing the same quality adequately with wide zoom.
Performance, Software, Experience
Beneath the phone, the Nubia Focus is powered by the mid range Unisoc T760 Octa Core SOC with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of fast internal UFS 3 storage. There is no expandable storage option but 256GB is plenty enough for the majority. With that said, you will also get WiFi 5Ghz, Bluetooth, GPS and NFC as well which covers basically what smartphone should have and offering a full suite of connectivity range required for a phone.
The phone internal is designed around being a camera centric phone and sort of a gaming phone, games such as Genshin Impact with hover around 40FPS average which is pretty good with sustained thermals on the battery and body temps measured around 38 celcius, and I find that pretty normal for a such phone at that price point. That being said to the total overall performance, it is still standing within it’s range against some of the competitions.
Software wise, it is still running on Android 13 with almost stock UI experience from ZTE’s MyOS, and just a few bloatware here and there, nothing serious or intruding apps. Most of the base features are AOSP with Google Services ported over to this phone with ZTE’s own Adaptive 5G feature, gesture and motion and dual app duplicator, so basically you are enjoying an almost pure Android experience with close to no compromises with theme settings and Live Island, which has similar functions to iOS Dynamic Island. Under the settings, you can also set the slider to be used to activate vibrate mode, flashlight, voice recoerder or exit camera mode. In other words, basically you are just using an almost stock Android phone with just some additional UI only, keeping it clean.
Benchmarks
Above is the benchmark results that is honestly much place slightly above any starter class 5G phone, which in my honest opinion, that is ZTE intention in selling this phone.
Verdict & Conclusion
In the end of the day, mobile photography may not be needed to be expensive after all, it is again all about what you needed to shoot or snap within your budget means, and the ZTE nubia Focus Pro stands as one of the ‘starter’ pack within the affordable pricing segment. Sure enough it may not be able to compete with the over 1000 USD level flagship, but it still offers some of the flagship like killer features and one of the beginner level phone that is able to record video at 4k 30FPS. RM999 is the official pricing that you are paying for and there should be no regrets if you wanted to get one to experience it.
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