Of all the phones from China this year, it is the Nubia Z7 range that has generated the most requests for us to review! So why is this China only ZTE phone such hot property? And why do so many readers want us to review this phone?
It really doesn’t take a smartphone professional to workout why the Nubia Z7 range, and especially the Nubia Z7 mini have become such an in demand piece of kit, but let’s just narrow it down to just 5 main points.
Nubia Z7 mini size
Not everyone wants a 5.5-inch + phone, but this is a matter that Chinese smartphone makers, and international phone makers, are tending to ignore. While last year most flagships were around 5-inch in size, this year has seen display sizes averaging 5.5-inch and up.
For fans of smaller phones it leaves little to choose from, but thankfully the Nubia Z7 mini is one of the better options and happens to have a 5-inch 1080p panel.
LTE and dual SIM
Although I am only just feeling the need for a dual SIM phone myself, other users have long been asking for a flagship dual SIM device. Sure dual sim phones have been available for a while, but nothing with a flagship processor from Qualcomm.
The Nubia Z7 mini, max and the flagship Z7, all get a Qualcomm processor and dual-SIM allowing you to have both your work and social numbers in one phone. More still the Z7 also boasts LTE too!
Micro SD card reader
Even at a time when phone memory is on the up and cloud services are cheaper than ever, it is still extremely handy to simply slip an SD card in to your phone and extend the memory. Usually this isn’t offered as making a phone with more built-in memory is an easy way for large profits for phone makers. The Nubia Z7 mini, though, does have one!
Gizchina News of the week
Rear camera and camera app
Not having actually test one for ourselves (yet) we can’t confirm these reports, but Chinese tech sites, and lucky customers who have tested the Nubia Z7 mini and max tell us the rear camera on the Z7 is one of the best on the market. Not only that, but the built in Camera App on the Nubia OS is a feature packed offering that would please even the most professional photographer/
Nubia Z7 mini price
In China the price of the Nubia Z7 mini is well below 2000 Yuan! Impressive considering it offers the same size and resolution display and powerful Snapdragon 801 CPU as the Xiaomi Mi4, but with the added benefit of dual SIM, LTE and micro SD card reader.
Affordable Chinese smartphones don’t always translate in to affordable international phones though. Tax, shipping and reseller profits tend to take their toll, but the Nubia Z7 mini can still be found online for as low as $339 with shipping! Edit you can save $5 with the code: gizchina.
When will we finally review the Nubia Z7 ?
We have been trying to source a Nubia Z7 mini to review for a while now, but still not able to secure one! However we have been speaking to sources today who are going to try and send over a Nubia Z7 max for us to test soon! As soon as we get confirmation we will let you know.
Is the Nubia Z7 mini the type of phone you would like to own, or are you more a fan of the Meizu MX4, OnePlus One or other phones?
Why don’t you try to get one from oppomart, gizchina.
The only weak spot in the Z7 mini that I see may be the battery – so please test it for the review.
I would like Z7 Max for me an Z7 Mini for my wife 🙂
Bude ti stacit aj mini,ver mi:)
Miso, I have Galaxy S4, and I would like to 5,5 inch display… My wife have Galaxy S3 (4,7″), so 5″ for her 🙂
And S4 has 2600mAH and Z7 Mini “only” 2300, so I am not sure if the battery life will be good…
I have the mini, and the phone will survive one day of heavy usage without any problem, so those 300 mAh will not do any big difference in normal every day use…
Is the battery removable?
As low as $285 on aliexpress
I agree with Ivan. Seems a “low” battery for such phone.
A mini isnt 5 inch… 4.3~4.5 would be better. 5 inch is just to big, nope she didnt said that.
These days sadly 5 inches in mini. Most flagships these days are 5.5 inches and some are even pushing 6 inches. It is starting to get a bit out of control, pretty soon I might as well just carry my Nexus 7 in my pocket lol.
I own Z7 Max and I can say that it is great phone. comparing to OPO (that I own too) it is a bit less quality materials, but dual sim 4G sold me.
I’ve already tried some Chinese versions of CM11 but it lacks of many details as its based on old kernel for snapdragon 800 (bad optimization)
stock nubia OS is kind of weird so I didn’t try to use it much, but I have to admit that camera was awesome.
Will hte Z7 Max work on AT&T 4G LTE?
Sorry, I didn’t check carefully, but you can confirm that on theirs official website
no,AT&T uses the following bands:
band 2,band 4,band 17,band 30
while nubia z7 mini uses band 1, band 3, band 7
actually those bands dont match with any of american carriers.
How is the battery? What is the max on screen time we can expect?
Camera quality?
I get 2 days on battery without problems. If I use it heavily (browser, mail, calls, wifi, 4G, games, camera, …) it can finish day with 30% battery without problems.
Camera with CM11 is nothing special, but with nubia OS it is probably the best camera on the market – photos are just stunning, even comparing with OPO.
You should absolutely write a complete review, they’re really hard to come by. Info on battery life, dual sim functionality (especially dual-sim app integration) and such is invaluable and doesn’t always line up with specifications. The phone looks excellent on paper, but it’s hard to know for sure without an unbiased user review.
I don’t have much time for that, but here are some tips.
* most important question right now: CyanogenMod 11 or Nubia OS:
* CM11 – the problem is Chinese hacker used old kernel from nubia, for snapdragon 800. He did some modifications but still it is not in the best state – it is missing some features like IR or better camera hadrware utilization. But, on the other hand, CM11 is really outstanding OS, very productive for everyday work
* Nubia OS – somehow optimized for this device, but overall not very attractive for me. Camera is stunning tho. Default launcher is bad. Also, I miss some trivial stuff like SIP integration in dialer or international T9 dialing.
* Conclusion is to wait for official nubia z7 (nx505j) kernel to be released from ZTE. You all may help on that matter by sending email with that request to: mobile@zte.com.cn
If we manage to get kernel, CM11 would be almost as good as on OPO. Then nubia Z7 max will be “real killer”
* other points:
* battery is more than good, can last 2 days on normal use, more than 1 day with heavy usage
* dual sim is working good, althought I hate dual sim problems with hangouts, but that is known bug in hangouts app (that means you have to use stock messaging app instead of hangouts)
So just really short review of ZTE Nubia Z7 mini (I have it for almost 2 weeks now):
Phone si quite small and enough light. I switch to Nubia from Hero H7500+ which is now for me too big and heavy:D
Display: quite good, black is really deep for IPS (probably IGZO display from sharp?), but as much as I tried (and I changed the color reproduction) the white is not so white as I would want (but I must admit, that I compare the display with Idol X – one of the best IPS screens on the market, and also my with H7500, which has some really nice screen, that miss only the OGS technology). And that´s my second point – sunlight reading, which is quite good, but until the moment you will compare it with Idol X. Alcatel has brighter display, and it can get more juice on direct sunlight, which is better, but still you will be able to read +- everything unde direct sunlight with Nubia Z7 mini. The color reproduction is more realistic than vivid (as it is for example on the Idol X). The automatic brightnes works fine, so you don´t have to switch to the manual birghtnes.
Camera – I would say perfect app from Nubia, you have perfect auto auto mode + super higly controlled manual mode + the creative mode with filters and lot of funny small creative modes… Picture quality si super in case you are taking picture with enough light. There is also the LED flash, but the synchronization of the led flash with the camera need some improvement for the future. In this case I compare picture with the Idol X, which are much more better in the night or inside compared to those ones from Nubia. But I must admit, that the Idol X has better and definitily more power lighter LED flash than Nubia.
Also few words about the camcorder app – video is perfect – especially 4K, I would never say that there s gonna be so huge big different between full HD and 4K video, but Nubia changed my mind. There is also slow motion, but for now it is possible to take slow motion only in 480p mode, not on 720p mode. Let s hope that chinese developers in ZTE will add mode for also 720p slow motion video (camere and also hardware should have not problem to do that)
Battery – after 2-3 recharges the battery life was +- 3 and half hous for screen on time (mostly browsing on wifi and 3G via Chrome, also downloading apps, taking pictures and video, I don t play a lot, so no playing till now). After 10 recharge cycles I can see that the battery is doing better. The screen on time is now +- or little bit better than it used to be on my previous Hero H7500+, so 4-5 hours screen on time, which for me is enought for one day heavy usage (I have always turn on my data/wifi, I do some calls per day – 10-30 minute daily). So from battery perspective, I am very happy. Also there is one big plus quite – fast charging compared to some mediatek phones. Speaking in numbers – ot takes one hour to charge the phone from 10 to 64% (so almost 1% per minute!!!), and after 2 hours you will get from 10% to 86% (tested with chines 1Amp charger, but I have heard, that with 2Amp charger, the charging is even faster, so why to have big battery, in case you have fast charging, and the phone will survive without problem till the end of the day).
So maybe you think I am not happy customer of the Nubia, but I must admit, I love the phone. Firstly, I was not really happy to loose the stock android (from my H7500+), but after 2 weeks, I must admit the the Nubia UI is enough good for me. There are some nice apps, I did not have any bugs till now, the phone has enough power to handle everything from the market. And for only 300USD it was shut up and take my money. Chinese know that, and that s probably the main problem to get the phone now from china. For almost every normal user it will be great buy, I wanted 5-inch screen, micro SD slot, and good camera with good display, and I got it.
Where did you buy it? Could you tell me what is the frame rate in 480p slow motion?
Hi.
I bought the Nubia from Aliexpres (I had some chat with the seller, so I knew when he will restock new Nubias, but sorry guys, I will not provide you the link because the seller finished with the shop last week…)
I check the slow motion video, and the video analyzer “told” me, that the video has 118.978462fps – so I would say it s 120fps, but do not forget, for now it supports slow motion video only on 480p. Anothe questions?
Hi Mike,
I’m going to buy this lovely smartphone, but i have 2 question about sim slot.
1) can we have 4G network in one slot and have 3G network in other one?
2) Can we have 3G network on both slot in the same time?
Does the phone get hot? Are you able to get HSPA+ GSM if you live in the US? (I have T-mobile and I know 4G LTE isn’t compatible with this phone)
And thanks for actually describing the battery life in detail. When I was searching forums for details about the battery life I just found the most vauge responses imaginable that barely got me any more knowledge about the battery life. I think the battery life might be enough for me.
“probably IGZO display from sharp?” — No, more like CGS according to another source (http://droidcn.blogspot.gr/2014/07/zte-nubia-z7-mini-review.html).
I checked the specs and according to them Z7 Mini doesn’t support 4K recording, only its bigger cousins Z7 and Z7 Max support it, how did you manage to record 4K videos using it?
Did you customise the camera app or the stock camera app itself supports 4K recording?
IR support?
Why don’t you try to get one from oppomart, gizchina.
The only weak spot in the Z7 mini that I see may be the battery – so please test it for the review.
I would like Z7 Max for me an Z7 Mini for my wife 🙂
Bude ti stacit aj mini,ver mi:)
Miso, I have Galaxy S4, and I would like to 5,5 inch display… My wife have Galaxy S3 (4,7″), so 5″ for her 🙂
And S4 has 2600mAH and Z7 Mini “only” 2300, so I am not sure if the battery life will be good…
I have the mini, and the phone will survive one day of heavy usage without any problem, so those 300 mAh will not do any big difference in normal every day use…
Is the battery removable?
As low as $285 on aliexpress
I agree with Ivan. Seems a “low” battery for such phone.
A mini isnt 5 inch… 4.3~4.5 would be better. 5 inch is just to big, nope she didnt said that.
These days sadly 5 inches in mini. Most flagships these days are 5.5 inches and some are even pushing 6 inches. It is starting to get a bit out of control, pretty soon I might as well just carry my Nexus 7 in my pocket lol.
I own Z7 Max and I can say that it is great phone. comparing to OPO (that I own too) it is a bit less quality materials, but dual sim 4G sold me.
I’ve already tried some Chinese versions of CM11 but it lacks of many details as its based on old kernel for snapdragon 800 (bad optimization)
stock nubia OS is kind of weird so I didn’t try to use it much, but I have to admit that camera was awesome.
Will hte Z7 Max work on AT&T 4G LTE?
Sorry, I didn’t check carefully, but you can confirm that on theirs official website
no,AT&T uses the following bands:
band 2,band 4,band 17,band 30
while nubia z7 mini uses band 1, band 3, band 7
actually those bands dont match with any of american carriers.
How is the battery? What is the max on screen time we can expect?
Camera quality?
You should absolutely write a complete review, they’re really hard to come by. Info on battery life, dual sim functionality (especially dual-sim app integration) and such is invaluable and doesn’t always line up with specifications. The phone looks excellent on paper, but it’s hard to know for sure without an unbiased user review.
I get 2 days on battery without problems. If I use it heavily (browser, mail, calls, wifi, 4G, games, camera, …) it can finish day with 30% battery without problems.
Camera with CM11 is nothing special, but with nubia OS it is probably the best camera on the market – photos are just stunning, even comparing with OPO.
I don’t have much time for that, but here are some tips.
* most important question right now: CyanogenMod 11 or Nubia OS:
* CM11 – the problem is Chinese hacker used old kernel from nubia, for snapdragon 800. He did some modifications but still it is not in the best state – it is missing some features like IR or better camera hadrware utilization. But, on the other hand, CM11 is really outstanding OS, very productive for everyday work
* Nubia OS – somehow optimized for this device, but overall not very attractive for me. Camera is stunning tho. Default launcher is bad. Also, I miss some trivial stuff like SIP integration in dialer or international T9 dialing.
* Conclusion is to wait for official nubia z7 (nx505j) kernel to be released from ZTE. You all may help on that matter by sending email with that request to: mobile@zte.com.cn
If we manage to get kernel, CM11 would be almost as good as on OPO. Then nubia Z7 max will be “real killer”
* other points:
* battery is more than good, can last 2 days on normal use, more than 1 day with heavy usage
* dual sim is working good, althought I hate dual sim problems with hangouts, but that is known bug in hangouts app (that means you have to use stock messaging app instead of hangouts)
Battery Life seem to be the deal killer for me actually.
So just really short review of ZTE Nubia Z7 mini (I have it for almost 2 weeks now):
Phone si quite small and enough light. I switch to Nubia from Hero H7500+ which is now for me too big and heavy:D
Display: quite good, black is really deep for IPS (probably IGZO display from sharp?), but as much as I tried (and I changed the color reproduction) the white is not so white as I would want (but I must admit, that I compare the display with Idol X – one of the best IPS screens on the market, and also my with H7500, which has some really nice screen, that miss only the OGS technology). And that´s my second point – sunlight reading, which is quite good, but until the moment you will compare it with Idol X. Alcatel has brighter display, and it can get more juice on direct sunlight, which is better, but still you will be able to read +- everything unde direct sunlight with Nubia Z7 mini. The color reproduction is more realistic than vivid (as it is for example on the Idol X). The automatic brightnes works fine, so you don´t have to switch to the manual birghtnes.
Camera – I would say perfect app from Nubia, you have perfect auto auto mode + super higly controlled manual mode + the creative mode with filters and lot of funny small creative modes… Picture quality si super in case you are taking picture with enough light. There is also the LED flash, but the synchronization of the led flash with the camera need some improvement for the future. In this case I compare picture with the Idol X, which are much more better in the night or inside compared to those ones from Nubia. But I must admit, that the Idol X has better and definitily more power lighter LED flash than Nubia.
Also few words about the camcorder app – video is perfect – especially 4K, I would never say that there s gonna be so huge big different between full HD and 4K video, but Nubia changed my mind. There is also slow motion, but for now it is possible to take slow motion only in 480p mode, not on 720p mode. Let s hope that chinese developers in ZTE will add mode for also 720p slow motion video (camere and also hardware should have not problem to do that)
Battery – after 2-3 recharges the battery life was +- 3 and half hous for screen on time (mostly browsing on wifi and 3G via Chrome, also downloading apps, taking pictures and video, I don t play a lot, so no playing till now). After 10 recharge cycles I can see that the battery is doing better. The screen on time is now +- or little bit better than it used to be on my previous Hero H7500+, so 4-5 hours screen on time, which for me is enought for one day heavy usage (I have always turn on my data/wifi, I do some calls per day – 10-30 minute daily). So from battery perspective, I am very happy. Also there is one big plus quite – fast charging compared to some mediatek phones. Speaking in numbers – ot takes one hour to charge the phone from 10 to 64% (so almost 1% per minute!!!), and after 2 hours you will get from 10% to 86% (tested with chines 1Amp charger, but I have heard, that with 2Amp charger, the charging is even faster, so why to have big battery, in case you have fast charging, and the phone will survive without problem till the end of the day).
So maybe you think I am not happy customer of the Nubia, but I must admit, I love the phone. Firstly, I was not really happy to loose the stock android (from my H7500+), but after 2 weeks, I must admit the the Nubia UI is enough good for me. There are some nice apps, I did not have any bugs till now, the phone has enough power to handle everything from the market. And for only 300USD it was shut up and take my money. Chinese know that, and that s probably the main problem to get the phone now from china. For almost every normal user it will be great buy, I wanted 5-inch screen, micro SD slot, and good camera with good display, and I got it.
Where did you buy it? Could you tell me what is the frame rate in 480p slow motion?
Hi.
I bought the Nubia from Aliexpres (I had some chat with the seller, so I knew when he will restock new Nubias, but sorry guys, I will not provide you the link because the seller finished with the shop last week…)
I check the slow motion video, and the video analyzer “told” me, that the video has 118.978462fps – so I would say it s 120fps, but do not forget, for now it supports slow motion video only on 480p. Anothe questions?
Does the phone get hot? Are you able to get HSPA+ GSM if you live in the US? (I have T-mobile and I know 4G LTE isn’t compatible with this phone)
And thanks for actually describing the battery life in detail. When I was searching forums for details about the battery life I just found the most vauge responses imaginable that barely got me any more knowledge about the battery life. I think the battery life might be enough for me.
Hi Mike,
I’m going to buy this lovely smartphone, but i have 2 question about sim slot.
1) can we have 4G network in one slot and have 3G network in other one?
2) Can we have 3G network on both slot in the same time?
“probably IGZO display from sharp?” — No, more like CGS according to another source (http://droidcn.blogspot.gr/2014/07/zte-nubia-z7-mini-review.html).
I checked the specs and according to them Z7 Mini doesn’t support 4K recording, only its bigger cousins Z7 and Z7 Max support it, how did you manage to record 4K videos using it?
Did you customise the camera app or the stock camera app itself supports 4K recording?
IR support?
Battery Life seem to be the deal killer for me actually.
I own the regular Z7 it is one of the best phones I have ever owned or used. The 2k screen is a thing of beauty and the camera is amazing. I bought mine in Beijing from a dealer I work with who gave me an incredible deal I couldn’t refuse.
Get me a deal too please. 🙂
Lol I couldn’t even get a second one for my wife, these phones are so in demand in China it’s not even funny. I do a lot of work in China and one of my clients is a contractor for several Chinese electronics companies. I still had to pay but got it for less than retail.
How many phones do you own balcobomber ? lol, Do you keep all your old models tucked away in their original boxes ?
It is missing NFC 🙁
I own the regular Z7 it is one of the best phones I have ever owned or used. The 2k screen is a thing of beauty and the camera is amazing. I bought mine in Beijing from a dealer I work with who gave me an incredible deal I couldn’t refuse.
Get me a deal too please. 🙂
Lol I couldn’t even get a second one for my wife, these phones are so in demand in China it’s not even funny. I do a lot of work in China and one of my clients is a contractor for several Chinese electronics companies. I still had to pay but got it for less than retail.
How many phones do you own balcobomber ? lol, Do you keep all your old models tucked away in their original boxes ?
It is missing NFC 🙁
Roughly quoting the author “but there have been no dual sim phones with the top end snapdragon processor”. Utter nonsense. Samsung, HTC, Lenovo are three manufacturers who have had them for over a year. As for your self imposed artificial scarcity, the phone is on sale for $299 on minideal right now.
Roughly quoting the author “but there have been no dual sim phones with the top end snapdragon processor”. Utter nonsense. Samsung, HTC, Lenovo are three manufacturers who have had them for over a year. As for your self imposed artificial scarcity, the phone is on sale for $299 on minideal right now.
Audio on this device sucks and so does the screen. I know i got one for 1 day and then sold it again. Got a zenfone 5 and even that is better.
ow man really? I just ordered one. how is the brightness?
Audio on this device sucks and so does the screen. I know i got one for 1 day and then sold it again. Got a zenfone 5 and even that is better.
ow man really? I just ordered one. how is the brightness?
Still no luck with getting phone for review?
Still no luck with getting phone for review?
what is the SAR value of this phone?
what is the SAR value of this phone?
hello…plz sugest me honestly….i need phone with
excelent camera
good look
durable..
so plz tell me about zte z9 mini…is it very good phone or just good???
and help to chose…
1..sony xperia z3 compact
2..vivo xshot
3..zte z9 min
4..huawei p7
waiting for ur honest reply….thanks
hello…plz sugest me honestly….i need phone with
excelent camera
good look
durable..
so plz tell me about zte z9 mini…is it very good phone or just good???
and help to chose…
1..sony xperia z3 compact
2..vivo xshot
3..zte z9 min
4..huawei p7
waiting for ur honest reply….thanks