ZTE Nubia V18 smartphone - advantages and disadvantages

ZTE is not yet so popular in our market, but recently some of its models even lead the rating of high-quality smartphones. Along with other leading Chinese brands such as Meizu, Xiaomi, Huawei, the company is actively pursuing global markets. Popular models in the Nubia and Axon lines are selling well around the world.

In 2018, ZTE introduced its new smartphone, the Nubia V18, which is the younger version of the Nubia N3 model. The Nubia V18 has the specification of a flagship model with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of ROM, a large battery and a 6-inch bezel-less screen. At the same time, at the price, it fits into the budget segment.

This ZTE model is the main competitor to Xiaomi's popular Redmi 5 Plus model. They have similar characteristics. Consider all the pros and cons of the Nubia V18 and compare which model is better.

Appearance

The Nubia V18 is beautiful. There is class and style in the design. At the front is a 6-inch screen with a modern 18: 9 aspect ratio. Very narrow bezels at the sides and wider at the top and bottom. The small top bezel houses a selfie camera, a speaker grill and sensors. The bottom bezel is also petite, while the side narrow bezels are almost invisible. The screen occupies 78% of the panel area. And this is a good indicator.

ZTE has used modern materials in this model. The back panel is metal. The glass on the front panel uses 2.5D technology. The double lines for the arched antennas are curved differently than we saw on the N3. ZTE did not support the trend of installing a dual rear camera and released a model with one. The camera comes with an LED flash located under one slightly convex glass with the camera in the upper left corner. At first glance, it may seem that these are two cameras.

The fingerprint scanner is on the center of the back, obviously because there is no room for that in the front. Although it may not be conveniently located for everyone, it works clearly without interruptions. The Nubia logo is located under the scanner.

The power and volume keys are located on the right side of the phone, while the nano SIM and extra memory slot is on the left. You can put either two SIM cards in the connector, or one SIM card and a MicroSD card up to 128 GB. Also on the left, there is a new button to enable silent mode, like Apple and OnePlus. It's comfortable. At the bottom is the Micro-USB interface, at the top is a 3.5 mm jack.

The smartphone is thin, its dimensions: 75.5 x 158.7 x 7.75 mm, weighs only 170 g.

The Nubia V18 is available in 3 color options:

• red;
• gold;
• the black.

Specifications

We list the main technical characteristics of the Nubia V18

Screen

Display diagonal 6 inches, resolution FULL HD 2160 × 1080 pixels. The aspect ratio of the screen is 2: 1 (or 18: 9). The screen is produced using IPS technology and is good for a budget model - with rich colors and excellent brightness. Everything is clearly visible on the display in any light, even in the sun. The angles at which you can look at the screen without distortion and loss of brightness are very large. The screen is perfect for watching videos and playing games on your phone.

operating system

The smartphone is running Android 7.1 with Nubia UI 5.1 shell. Android is not the newest, but the interface from ZTE is not bad. A bit similar to the Apple language, as usual with the Chinese. For example, quick settings can be accessed by swiping from the bottom of the screen, the icons look like those of Apple. The notification settings are a bit buggy. They are difficult to set up, and they do not always arrive on time, and sometimes even get lost somewhere.

The interface of the shell is convenient, it works quite quickly, no delays or freezes were noticed, but sometimes applications crash. This is unpleasant, especially since ZTE does not always regularly release updates with bug fixes. Let's hope the Nubia V18 has better luck than some of ZTE's other devices.

The screen unlock function with face recognition works quite clearly and quickly.

Performance

The smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, an eight-core processor with 64-bit architecture. The processor is clocked at 2.0 GHz and is manufactured using a 14 nanometer process to prevent overheating and underclocking. All cores based on Cortex A53 are assembled into one cluster.

Qualcomm Adreno 506 is responsible for the graphics. It has 96 computational modules that deliver up to 130 Gflops. GPU frequency 650 MHz. OpenGL 3.1, DirectX 11.2 and APIVulcan 1.0 are supported.

The 4 GB RAM, clocked at 933 MHz, allows for excellent multitasking. Permanent memory 64 GB, but can be expanded up to 128 GB. These are very good indicators, but it is bad that there is no simpler and cheaper modification. This would allow it to compete more successfully with Redmi on price.

The processor is not new, but pretty nimble. Good for watching videos and playing games. Although in heavy games, the maximum settings will have to be removed. Therefore, this smartphone is not the best solution for active games.

The smartphone is generally quite productive. Here are some test results:

• AnTuTu - 78,000;
• GeekBench - 870 (1 core);
• GeekBench - 4300 (all cores).

Autonomy

The smartphone has a stationary 4000 mAh lithium polymer battery. It is enough for 2 days of active work. So the autonomy of the device is at its best. Fast charging is not provided, and this is a minus.

Cameras

ZTE has always stood out for the quality of its cameras. Even the best manufacturers usually don't put good cameras in budget smartphones. But the popularity of ZTE models is also due to the excellent quality of the photos obtained. The Nubia V18 is also up to par. Let's see how the device takes pictures, how it takes pictures in good lighting conditions and how it takes pictures at night.

Main camera

The smartphone is equipped with a rear camera of 13 Megapixels and an aperture of f / 2.2. ZTE applied an artificial intelligence system to analyze the photo scene and auto-adjust the camera to its characteristics. Autofocus works well. Apparently due to the fact that the main camera is not dual, there is no background blur function. Color reproduction is natural and juicy. When shooting in low light conditions, the quality deteriorates, there is more noise, detail suffers, and the white balance is disturbed.But all the same, even at night the camera shoots at a good level.

Thanks to its HDR (high dynamic range) support, the camera handles very contrasty scenes well. For example, if part of the frame is in the bright sun, and part in the shade, then the smartphone gently smooths out the difference in illumination, slightly dimming the brightness in the sunny part and brightening the shadow one. The result is a harmonious photo with natural colors.

As always, ZTE has rich settings for shooting modes, you can manually set the desired ISO, white balance and many other parameters. What photographers need.

4K video not supported, only 1080p. There is no stabilization, which is bad for the quality of videos, but in general they turn out to be of decent quality.

Selfie camera

Selfie camera 8 megapixels with f / 2.0 aperture. It is wide-angle - 80 degrees. Overall, the front camera leaves a good impression too. Focusing, sharpness, contrast - everything is great. The camera is clearly better than the main competitor Redmi 5 Plus.

Sample photos

Wireless interfaces

The Nubia V18 supports dual-band Wi-Fi, but does not support phone payments (no NFC). Unlike the ZTE Blade V9, where the opposite is true. Supports Bluetooth 4.1, Dual Sim. There is GPS and GLONASS. No radio.

Comparison with other popular competing models

Let's compare inexpensive models with similar functionality and characteristics. This will help you decide which one is best to buy. So, a brief overview of the main competitors.

Comparison with ZTE Nubia N3

Even outwardly, the V18 is very similar to the N3. The back is pretty much the same, with the V18's slightly rounded corners at the front. The N3 is slightly thicker and heavier by installing a larger battery.

The filling also differs little. The V18 has a simpler camera: the main camera is a single 13 MP instead of a dual 16 MP + 5 MP, the front camera is 8 MP instead of 16 MP. The V18 also has a smaller 4000 mAh battery versus 5000 mAh and does not support fast charging. The average price in stores is also close, the V18 is slightly cheaper.

It is not clear why ZTE breeds competitors to itself, releasing models with similar characteristics and prices. But here the selection criteria are simple: if the camera and autonomy are important, then you need to buy the Nubia N3, if these indicators are not critical, then you can save money and choose a thinner and sleeker Nubia V18.

Comparison with ZTE Blade V9

Once again, the ZTE model fights against the ZTE model. Both devices are new in 2018. The Nubia V18 differs from the Blade V9 more than it does from the N3. The ZTE Blade V9 comes in two types with different amounts of memory 3/32 GB and 4/64 GB. Let's compare the latest modification closer to the V18.

The advantages of the Nubia V18:

• bigger screen - 6 inches versus 5.7;
• less bezels around the edges of the screen;
• more powerful processor - Snapdragon 625 2.0 GHz versus Snapdragon 450 1.8 GHz;
• a larger battery - 4000 mAh versus 3200 mAh;
• dual band Wi-Fi.

Blade V9 benefits:

• better main camera - dual 16 Mp + 5 Mp versus single 13 Mp;
• better selfie camera - 13 MP vs 8 MP;
• newer software - Android 8.1 vs Android 7.1;
• NFC support.

How to choose from these models? In general, the Nubia V18 is a more powerful device with a large screen, but again loses to the competitor in terms of photo quality.

Comparison with Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus

And finally, a comparison with the main competitor Redmi 5 Plus. Smartphones very similar in characteristics. They have the same chipset, the same battery capacity, very similar screens. The advantage of Xiaomi is support for fast charging, although there is no fast charging device in the box. You need to buy it additionally.

The Nubia V18 beats the Redmi 5 Plus in photo and video quality, especially on the front camera. The selfie camera of Redmi generally let us down, and even the presence of a flash does not save it. With a flash, the range of the camera in the dark increases, but if you shoot close, on the contrary, the effect of flare occurs. Nubia at the time of shooting, instead of using a flash, brightly illuminates the space using the screen. And the close-up photo is softer and more natural.

If you don't care about the quality of photos and videos, then you can choose according to how much each of the models costs in stores, since the other parameters of smartphones are almost the same.

Bottom line: the pros and cons of the ZTE Nubia V18

• stylish frameless design;
• metal case;
• capacious battery;
• large bright screen;
• good camera;
• face unlocking.

• lack of an NFC module;
• lack of fast charging.

Nubia V18 is just appearing on our market. There are few offers, it is difficult to say where it is profitable to buy this model. But already there are good reviews about this phone. Users purchased the device mainly via the Internet. The smartphone is suitable for those who want to buy a budget reliable phone with good performance, camera, large screen and modern design.