With promising first impressions already under it’s belt, how does the Nubia Z11 Mini impress in our full review?
For those of you who have managed to miss our previous posts about the Nubia Z11 Mini you can catch up in the following posts:
If you had already read those post then you will already know that I was pretty impressed with the phone so far, so what are my opinions on the Z11 Mini overall? Find out in the full Nubia Z11 Mini review below.
Nubia Z11 Mini Review – Design
The Z11 Mini looks a little like a Sony Xperia and even an iPhone in some ways. The dual glass panels and full CNC alloy chassis give the phone a quality look and feel.
On the front is a 5-inch FHD display, the trademark Nubia red halo (and don’t you dare try to copy it), and a 2.5D curve at the very edges.
As the glass of the front curves it meets a narrow plastic border before touching the CNC chassis.
The machined frame is where you will find a SIM/SD card tray, USB Type C, 3.5mm headphone jack and power and volume buttons. Unlike other similar spec phones the Z11 Mini doesn’t have an IR remote, but that’s fine by me as I never use them anyway.
Construction of the rear of the phone is similar to the front with another 2.5D curved panel and narrow plastic border. The rear also has a fingerprint scanner, single LED flash, 16 mega-pixel F2.0 rear camera and the Nubia logo.
Personally I love the compact 5-inch design, and I feel the build is just as good as any other phone from a premium phone maker. My only issue is how easy the phone picks up fingerprints and smudges, but although glossy it doesn’t slip around on smooth surfaces like some Xiaomi phones do.
Nubia Z11 Mini review – Hardware
Nubia have done an excellent job of specing out the Nubia Z11 Mini, and not only is the hardware all very good, but it all works together well too.
Starting from the front again, hardware features include a 5-inch FHD 1920 x 1080 display for a pixel density of 441ppi. Above the screen is an 8 mega-pixel F2.4 front camera, and on the chin is the halo home button (which also acts as a notification light) and hardware buttons on either side for moving around the Nubia UI ROM.
Flip the phone over and you have a 16 mega-pixel F2.0 rear camera (which has been a joy to use), single LED flash and fingerprint scanner.
As I mentioned in my first hands on with the phone, the fingerprint scanner on the Z11 Mini isn’t the most accurate available on the market (that honor goes to the scanner used by Vivo), but it is still a damn sight better than the fingerprint scanner on the OnePlus 2 (which is basically useless most of the time).
Internally Nubia have opted for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 chipset. This is an octacore CPU with an Adreno 405 GPU. The chipset runs with 3GB RAM. While this might not be as impressive a set up as a Snapdragon 820 phone with 6GB RAM, you would be hard pressed to actually notice any differences when opening multiple apps and the day to daily running of the phone.
Storage is handled by 32GB internal memory, plus there is room for up to a 200GB SD card via the SIM/SD tray. If you do use an SD card you can only fit a single SIM, or with no SD you can use dual SIM cards. During my time with the Z11 Mini I used the phone on Vodafone in Spain and 3 in the UK with no issues.
Audio on the Nubia Z11 Mini is very impressive. The phone had DTS sound which needs to be turned on either in the settings or from within the music app. with DTS off audio is unimpressive, but flip the switch and it’s another story. Audio through the external speaker is decent enough too.
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So with so much goodness going on is there any area where the Z11 Mini isn’t quite so good? Well the 2800mAh battery is a little bit of a disappointment. Not only is this a little on the small side for a 2016 smartphone, but the actually endurance of the battery isn’t the greatest either.
My worse battery life was just half a day, but I was really heavily using GPS, data and Google maps. The best I’ve managed is a day and a half, but much of that was with the phone simply in stand-by. Figure on getting just a day of use on general from the Z11 Mini, and expect to need to charge the phone up before you head out on the night.
Nubia Z11 Mini Review – Benchmarks
Nubia Z11 Mini Review – Camera
The camera on the Z11 Mini is really very good. Not only is the 16 mega-pixel sensor good, but Nubia have used some great lens, a 6 lens stack, F2.0 aperture and then topped it all off with a feature rich camera application.
Taking photos is fast, and with the high-end lenses you can get some really wonderful images.
The camera is so good on the Z11 Mini that its a challenge to actually take a bad photo. Pretty much every shot I got with the phone was worth sharing. This is really impressive for any level of phone, but especially so for a device retailing at just 1499 Yuan in China.
Slow Shutter Samples
The Z11 Mini has slow shutter modes ranging from just 1 second exposure all the way to 21 minutes!
Nubia Z11 Mini photo samples
Nubia Z11 Mini Review – Nubia UI
Nubia UI is based on Android 5.1 out of the box and so far it’s not received any updates while I’ve been using it. This isn’t a huge issue as all the important stuff works out of the box.
Nubia has spent a lot of time to really get the most from the system and seek as much performance out of the hardware as possible, and while they were at it they added some nice features too.
Edge features is one of the diamonds in the ROM and really makes navigating and moving between apps fast and even fun. With edge gestures on, I had the Z11 Mini switch between background apps by swiping up and down on the right edge, open the camera by swiping down on the left (Chrome when swiping up) and clear all background apps by rubbing the right edge.
If you want to close apps one by one or lock them into a white list just hold down the right hardware button and the task manager will pop up.
As this is the international version of the Z11 Mini, Google is tied in to the system out of the box, so there is no need to root the phone and side load Google, simply turn the phone on and log in to your account. All the usual Google apps are in the ROM as standard and everything works, but like many Chinese phones Android Auto isn’t currently supported.
Nubia Z11 Mini Review – Gallery
Nubia Z11 Mini Review – Conclusion
In a nutshell the Nubia Z11 Mini is a stellar phone. Its built well, has great performance, a feature packed ROM and a camera that rivals those found on devices costing double.
My only issue is the battery life. If you really are a heavy user then you are going to need to charge the Z11 Mini through the day, which is a shame because other than that this is a great phone.
Even with the lower than average battery life it has been hard for me to put the Nubia Z11 Mini down, and since the day of arrival (and until something better comes along) I believe I’m going to continue to use it.
the battery is a deal breaker for me, since i play games for hours and do my writting this is why i have to have my Cubot h2 around me even if i have a main “flagship phone” but this looks like a great phone and OH MY GOD the camera quality looks stunning, phones like these make me even more dissapointed in the mi 5
R.I.P andi’s one plus x 2015-2016
Damn, now i have to sell my Redmi Note 3 Pro.
I think next Z11 will have a better battery, IR blaster and 5,5″ maybe, that will be perfect
Nubia cameras and applications are better than any Xiaomi I think, just have to try Mi5 but NeoVision is pretty good, that’s why I like Nubia.
I am interested by the Redmi 3 Pro for its compact size and am also considering the Nubia Z11 Mini but its battery life isn’t that great. I am wondering if the battery life of the Z11 will get better with ROM optimization by ZTE. Note 3 Pro is a great phone but the size is too big for one hand usage.
If you don’t care about camera quality, Redmi 3 Pro is OK, but quality of Nubia phones are better than Redmi line. Redmi Note 3 is almost the same size of Xiaomi Mi3, feels even more comfortable than Mi3 (5″)
I believe you regarding the Note 3 Pro, it is an amazing phone with higher performance. The only problem is that I am planning to use my next phone with a silicone case (thin of course) so with the width of the Note 3 Pro which is 76mm I will be most of the time forced to use it with 2 hands. My screen ideal size is in fact 5.2-5.3″ but there are no Redmi series with screen at that size. Regarding the Redmi 3 Pro, its CPU is not the best but it works pretty well. This Nubia Z11 Mini is in fact an amazing phone, it is a shame that they did not put a 3000mah inside. Maybe with system update its battery life will get better.
The SD650 happens to be very fast and efficient. I average 6-8 hours sot with my RN3P. It’s also one of the most compact 5.5 inch phones around. If you find it too big for one handed use here’s a cool tip for you. When you open the screen swipe the capacitive buttons to the right or left and the one handed 4.5 inch screen will appear on the side you swiped to. Presto!
Hi TheOracle, thank you for your comment. I know about the one handed mode in the MIUI system. The fact is that I am also concerned by the weight and the size of the phone so I need to get a new jacket with huge pockets in order to take the phone outside (I hate to put phone in trousers pockets). I am scared to move from a BlackBerry 8900 (small and compact) to a 5.5″ phone directly, that’s the reason why I am trying to find the right phone for me. Redmi 3 Pro is also cheaper. Thanks.
If you don’t restrict yourself to Xiaomi only you’ll have a much larger selection of good phones. Moving up to a 5.5″ phone may seem a big jump but once you do it you’ll never go back to a smaller one. I had the same problem and it’s the norm for me now.
You are right, if I do not restrict myself to Xiaomi only I will definitely have a much larger selection of good phones. I am interested by Xiaomi devices mainly because of the community behind each device. I do not have any background about android so I do prefer to secure my investment. There are a bunch of smartphones out there but it also depends on my budget. I do like a lot the Huawei P9 Lite but this one is sold above $300. I take notice of what you wrote above regarding your personal experience with 5.5″ phone in order to make my decision. Thanks a lot for your advices and the time passed to reply me. I do appreciate! Have a great wonderful day!
Well , now I see Nubia used the same sensor as Xiaomi Mi5, Sony imx298, so must be good enough.
In this case the Nubia seems to take pretty good pictures. But you should never base it just on a phone using the same sensor. You could put this sensor in an Elephone and it will take terrible pictures.
Everything you put on an Elephone will look like crap hahaha even IPhone’s camera XD
baterry = 7… was generous , maybe 4 or 3.
No big deal. Install Nova Launcher (or any Launcher) and you will get app drawer.
There’s thousands of launchers you can use to get an app drawer. But this is where a lot of UI’s are going these days. Personally I am starting to prefer folders to an app drawer.
Samsung there is an option to remove app drawer if I am not mistaken as I saw on hand on video while ago.
but the rumor that android N might drop app drawer may make no app drawer become mainstream.
wait … its actually HARD to take BAD pics with this ?!
omg , why no 10/10 on the cam then , Andi ?!
Basing it just on his pictures I would give it an 8, they are very good but not on the level of the Galaxy S7, Huawei P9, or LG G5.
Honestly the P9’s camera is nothing to yell about, especially when compared to the other flagships.
I used one this weekend, its an incredible camera. But it’s also a camera where you have to get the settings just right.
LOL, stop speaking out your ass balco, the S7, P9 and G5 are nothing compared to the Nubia camera. They’re maybe better than the Z11 mini but definitely not better than the Z9 or Z9 Max. If you don’t believe me follow this link.
My Z9 Max arrives today, couldn’t wait for the Z11 or Z11 Max. If you watch Nubia’s release conferences you’ll see how much time they dedicate to just explaining the features of the camera, they even gave out tripods last year for the Z9 invitations. The Nubia line is purely for camera enthusiasts and photographers who want very close to DSLR like photos.
Nubia has some very good cameras but the Z9 is nowhere close to the any of today’s flagships.
Using company provided pictures is the worst way to prove your point. Most companies hire professional photographers to take those photos and most heavily touch them up. Some don’t even use the reference phone to take those photos. Even some of the crappy brands will have awesome company provided photos.
I know what you mean but its quite evident that you’ve never used a Nubia. They’re particularly proud of their camera capabilities so much so that their boot animation has photographs taken by Nubia users. Each photo has a caption which states the user who submitted it. Having used the Z9 Max for the past couple of hours I can truly say that the camera on this phone is better than the S7, P9 and G5. The Z9 has an IMX234, I believe that was used by the G4 but I’m sure you know that its not about the megapixels but the lense etc. that make a camera reach those heights. What features of the latest flagships take them to a level above the Nubia? Some of these “flagships” don’t even come with manual control! If it wasn’t for developers spending hours implementing these things how can this “flagship” boast a camera better than that of phones with an equally similar camera with manual control?
I owned a Z7…..
Oscar, please tone down your offensive rhetoric. Balco is one of the main reasons we follow this site and there is no space for gratuitous insults here. He is simply stating his opinion and those of us who value his contributions know that he is speaking from quite another place than that which you have suggested. As for you, however…
LMAO, Really? Balco stated his opinion and I stated mine. I agree with a lot of what balco says but not on this occasion. If that somehow hurts you then don’t read my comments.