India continues to be a major source of interest to Chinese phone makers, and lucky Indian customers can look forward to 3 great phones form Nubia and Xiaomi soon.
From the 18th November, smartphone fans in India will be able to get their hands on the flagship Nubia Z7 and its affordable sibling the Nubia Z7 Max. The Z7 is a 5.5-inch 2K smartphone with LTE, and Snapdragon 801 while the Max is the same size but 1920 x 1080 display and 2GB RAM.
Gizchina News of the week
In other news, Hugh Barra over at Xiaomi has confirmed that the next phone to launch in India will be the Xiaomi Redmi Note. A firm launch date has not been confirmed but sources believe the 5.5-inch Xiaomi will go on sale in the next 2 months.
Its a great time to be a Chinese smartphone fan in India!
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Dear Andi, hope u r able to post a review of elusive Nubia Z7/Z7 max…before it comes to India..coz at least i for one have been looking forward to this phone as dual SIM replacement for my Note 2..but will pull the trigger only on reading posititive review from Gizchina.
Already have one, imported from China through AliExpress. Works dandy in India, inducing curiosity and a little jealousy in fanboys of different camps. Happy to answer any desi questions you might have 😉
Amit a few questions. (a) Is it Z7 or Z7 Max ( b) Price in US $ incl. shipping (e) Customs duty (e) Build (f) Audio quality (g) connectivity & battery.
I wanna read Amit’s reply 😛
Replied Daniel. Check above. 🙂
Sure – I got the Z7 Max (which is the middle model, in spite of what the name suggests).
Total Price Breakdown (USD 415):
Phone: USD 378
Special Case: USD 9
DHL Shipping: USD 28
Customs in India: Negligible.
Build Quality: 2nd best I’ve held in my hands – second only to the Samsung Wave Series Phones (those who used those know what I’m talking about). Unlike many top end phones (Samsung), the matte finish is EXQUISITE. And the minimal design, subtle curves, the light-ring home button, and the brilliantly done back camera unit, without any bulge or a crater-disaster like Samsung’s Galaxy series camera units, all result in a phone that is a please to hold and handle. I never felt the same handling a Galaxy S5, or a Moto X or the LG G2 etc.
Audio Quality: Perfection – The dolby settings are mindblowing (found in the audio settings menu in system settings). Unlike most other sound enhancement gimmicks which claim divine 3D experiences which turn out to be sonic disasters with bad phasing, the Dolby enhancements and presets are plain awesome. Also, the degree of control over the EQ (spline EQ, really!) is an audiophile’s dream come true. Coupled with a good pair of earphones (ES10, XBX etc.), you’re going to stop listening to a lot of other devices altogether.
Connectivity: Great. No signal drops, voice call quality is flawless. Internet, whether on WiFi or mobile network (3G) is smooth as silk. I can’t comment on 4G, as I don;t have a 4G connection.
Battery: 1.5+ days easily. 2.0 days with a battery saver and sensible settings.
Other things I love: Nubia UI 2.0: THE BEST custom Android skin I’ve used. The settings app – oh. my. Gestures, fast GPS, 42000+ AnTuTu score, and……….drumroll……DUAL SIM.
I would have paid up to 40k for a phone like this if I had to, it makes Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony etc. look retarded.
bro irrespective of whether u paid by paypal or credit card, how much was the currency conversion charges in percentage? and any other hidden charges for the transaction? these charges bother me more than the customs ! thanks
No hidden charges. Plain and simple mid market rate conversion (day rate). I’ve never heard of anyone suffering from credit card currency conversions, but have heard of lots of people suffering with customs and excise departments, exactly the opposite of what you fear.
Fantastic brother can you please tell me the name of the seller from ali express, i have had a bad experience from the same as their got a lenovo branded phone that was actually a cheap clone, please i would be waiting for your reply
best of luck with your phone, nicely described the phone just wanted to listen some more about camera, my current phones are redmi 1S, and previously xperia Z, just shifted due to dual sim needs, but i am missing more power ram and camera to be very true, please wud like to ask for my needs do you think nubia camera will be as equal or little better than xperia z camera?
See above (reply to Arun’s question about the camera) – it’s better than 95% phones, barring only the special camera phones like the 41MP Nokias. Photo quality and 4K video quality is superb.
As for the seller, this is who I bought it from:
http://bit.ly/1udkOmm
(Store link is on the right, this is the product page). Generally I won’t buy from any seller on AliExpress who doesn’t have 4 or 5 diamonds rating, or a crowns ratings (highest). Sort by seller rating when searching – that way you will be purchasing from the most trusted and successful sellers on AliExpress.
Xperia Z camera? You must be joking – the Z cam had quite crappy photo quality. This is not even in that league, honestly.
thanks alot bro, you replied as was needed 🙂
The quality of ZTE phones is not that high, I got a faulty screen on my Z7 Max (one line of discoloration) so the phone is going back to the seller. The phone also rebooted twice in the short time i used it (1-2 hours), I’m not that impressed… The reboots could be due to the sellers ROM I suppose though.
The only other guy I know who ordered a Nubia Z7 Mini had his screen develop problems in one day too so he had to send it back as well ( but he got a replacement that apparently works).
Personally I don’t think I want another Nubia phone, I don’t trust the hardware quality and I think the GUI is very lacking and obfucscated. Just too bad there are not that many competitors, and those phones have their own problems too
Your opinion, not mine. I still stick by what I said, that the Nubia series is of exquisite quality. A faulty phone should not be the yard stick for the whole family. Sometime back my cousin purchased the HTC One M8, a very revered phone when it comes to build and looks, but there was no sound after 1 day, and a boot loop.
Now, does it mean that the quality of HTC phones is not high? based on the case of an isolated statistical outlier? Surely not. It was just bad luck – and it’s not even indicative of the individual phone’s quality per se – the damage could well have come from shipping and handling.
It’s fine that you don’t like something, and are entitled to an opinion as much as anybody else is. But to label an entire series just on the basis of a single bad experience is just ridiculous. What does that make OnePlus / OPPO with all the screen / hue issues? Or Apple with the bending issues?
Be realistic. At the insane price point, ZTE has cut no corners with the Nubia Z7 series. Also, experience of the UI is quite subjective. What you hate, others might love. There are people who can’t live without Touchwiz (Samsung), and I can’t understand how someone can survive with that bloat for a minute? So the Nubia GUI is lacking and obfuscated for you, but not in an absolute sense.
Lastly, there are many, many competitors. IUNI, Oppo, Meizu comes to mind, and then there are slightly lesser known brands.
It’s two failed phones out of two that I know of. I was interested in a ZTE phone some years ago too and I remeber that it was not that uncommon that those phones failed after a few months. Also you can find consensus on XDA or such sites that ZTE has lower quality than other major Chinese brands. I personally bought close to 10 Lenovo phones in around 15 months and none of them had any hardware faults.
And a phone with 32GB memory but with a system partition for apps that is only 2.5GB is just plain s****d (I know that some other Chinese brands such as Oppo do the same thing). Yes, there is some hack from the Chinese Nubia forum to extend it to 6 GB (still not that great) but you risk bricking your phone and voiding the warranty.
I hardly want TouchWiz, but _some_ useful options at the power off menu would be nice. And when you swipe down from the top of the screen, your finger is at the top of the screen, why would I want to move my finger to the bottom of the screen and there scroll in a list of (very small) icons? Maybe this is improved in the latest firmware, I don’t want to update it since I have to send it back.
If one want a 5,5″ phone with dual-microSIM 4G that works both in Europe (FDD 2600) and in Asia then the list is actually very short…
Hi Amit,you did not mention about camera…please post link for full size camera pics…Badly required to consider this phone..
Solid pics. I used to work with Camera Zoom previously, but this phone’s Camera app is miles ahead in terms of controls. There is an auto mode, pro mode. I prefer the pro mode, with helpful on screen guides and easy selection of controls – ISO/WB/DOF/Manual Focus/Gradienter, it’s all there.
Colors are a punchy, noise upto ISO 800 is very controlled for a mobile cam module, and the best part is the sharpness – if you have still hands, you’re in for a treat.
As for quality of photos, no issues – great pics as long as you can keep your hands steady. Detail at 100% crop is way ahead of the curve.
Coming to the video module – 4K recording is present! (even on the MAX). High speed recording is present only for 480p, but this could be changed with firmware upgrades. Video recording quality is splendid at 4K, although the large files are a pain to edit on my crappy, aged desktop. But the quality at 4K is impressive indeed.
Great reply…can you post sample pics?That would be of great use for me and for others who are deciding on good smartphone.
Hello Amit,gentle reminder…Can you send the full size rear camera pics to stud2686@gmail.com or post it in this forum?
wow u sure its the Z7 flagship? even China can’t get their hands on it yet..
meanwhile in Malaysia they are bringing in ZTE models that no one wants…
How about shipping the Z7 in China and Hong Kong before sending them all to India?
You know… try to keep your promises to the customers that have been on the waiting list for the Z7 (in your Shenzhen store) for 4 months!!!
Z7 only exists on paper. But does the Nubia store in SZ have all the accessories and other phones? I may go there on my next visit…
@andi when are the results for the Mi 3 contest coming out? Its been two months…
It’s all suspense,ZTE India did not confirmed that for sure they will launch Nubia Z7 Max & Nubia Z7 Model in India.Instead ZTE India has sent out invites stating that they will be launching two new smartphones for the indian market.So,let’s wait & watch!
Andy could please when can we ZTE Z7 max would be launched in India
What the hell,Gizchina should be verifying before posting,This post is saying that Zte nubia and max will be released in India on 18th november but this had not yet happened..
..I trusted this post and was eagerly looking for the release of Nubia z7 max…Very disappointed…..