Nubia Z60 Ultra review: Can it beat Samsung & Google?

The Nubia Z60 Ultra promises heaps of performance, at least in terms of hardware. How does the phone fare overall? We find out.

Nubia might be a somewhat unfamiliar name when it comes to smartphones. The likes of the iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel are well known at this point, while the likes of Nubia and other less-popular brands generally go unnoticed.

However, these brands are as important. They are experimental and are known to push the envelope, whereas bigger brands make safer bets.

Nubia is an offshoot of the ZTE brand, and has been making some excellent gaming phones under the RedMagic brand. We’ve tested a few of their gaming phones in the past, too.

I’ve spent extensive time with the Nubia Z60 Ultra and was impressed by its performance, hardware specifications, and, most importantly, the pricing. But, it can be a difficult device to recommend due to some downsides. Here’s why.

Key Specs

• Display: 6.8-inch Full HD+ BOE Q9+ AMOLED panel, 1116 x 2480 pixels, 120Hz refresh rate
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC
• Memory: 8GB, 12GB or 16GB RAM
• Storage: 256GB or 512GB
• Battery: 6,000mAh unit with 80W fast wired charging
• Cameras: 50MP+50MP+64MP triple rear camera setup, 12MP under-display front cam
• OS: MyOS 14 based on Android 14
• Weight- 246 grams
• Others: IP68 water resistance, 5G, NFC, and Bluetooth 5.4

Price

The Nubia Z60 Ultra comes in two colorways – Black and Silver. There are three variants based on memory and storage combinations. The phone is available on both Amazon and the official brand website.

Design

The Nubia Z60 Ultra has a pretty straightforward design. It’s boxy and has a flat-screen, which further accentuates its sharp rectangular design. On the front, you have a massive and gorgeous display.

On the back, however, you get a rather massive rectangular camera bump that might remind you of a Pixel phone. The primary camera has a red-colored circular outline. It has a gigantic periscopic camera module next to it, while another camera module is on top of the primary sensor.  

The Leica-like red-colored dot with text and the dual-toned flash sits in the top corner. The phone’s rear panel is also flat, and the matte black color has a shimmer effect, which looks fantastic when it reflects light.

The right side of the phone houses all the buttons – a volume rocker, a red-colored textured power button, and a programmable slider button. An IR blaster is at the top, while the dual sim slot, USB-C charging port, and bottom firing speakers are at the bottom.  

The phone looks slick, and the massive camera module is an attention grabber. Thanks to its bold design, you’ll always feel curious glances unsuccessfully trying to identify the brand and model. The Z60 Ultra is “top-heavy” because of its massive camera module and it could easily topple out of your hand if you’re not careful, however.

Performance

The Nubia Z60 UItra might be priced in the upper mid-range price segment. However, it boasts flagship hardware specs. Powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC and up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of fast UFS 4.0 storage. The Z60 Ultra is ideal for gaming, content consumption, content creation, or multi-tasking – no matter whatever you throw at it, the phone sails through.

Even after prolonged usage or long gaming sessions, the phone remains cool, nor will its performance degrade over time, either.

I tested games like Star Wars, Need for Speed – No Limit, Real Racing 3, Genshin Impact, Modern Combat 5: Mobile, and others on the phone without any issues whatsoever.

I also used the phone to edit videos and photos to share on my social handles while on the go and never experienced any lag at all.

The huge AMOLED screen at the front is a treat to watch movies or shows on the go. Since the phone has an under-display camera, it has no notch or cutouts to hamper your viewing experience. The screen brightness on this phone peaks at 1500 nits, which is way lower than that of flagship devices like the Galaxy S24 Ultra. The display is bright enough for outdoor usage.

An IP68 rating helps keep the phone safe from more than accidental exposure to water or dust. The front display has Gorilla Glass 5 protection, slightly dated compared to other modern devices.

A massive 6,000 mAh battery is another blessing, as the phone can go for a day and a half quickly without you needing to look for a charger. When you need to charge the phone, you get an 80W charging brick in the box, which can completely charge the battery pack in just over 45 minutes. Unfortunately, the Z60 Ultra doesn’t have any wireless charging support.

Software and camera

If there is one aspect where this phone disappoints, it’s the software offering. At a time when you see heaps of smartphone makers offering AI-powered features, the Nubia Z60 Ultra, surprisingly, has none.

While the phone excels on the hardware front, the software isn’t powerful enough to utilize the power under the hood. On top of that, the brand has made some weird choices. For example, there is a dedicated gaming mode on the phone, but the only way to access the Game Space app is via a shortcut under the notification drawer. Alternatively, you can use the programmable slider button to access game mode, but there is no actual app icon that you can press. Similarly, you have an IR blaster on the phone, but there’s no app to actually use it.

While there is minimal bloatware on the phone, the UI reminds me of RedMagic’s Red Magic OS 9.0. I’m not a fan of either UI and have been using Nova Launcher Prime to customize the device’s look and feel instead.

The camera is anticipated to be another highlight of the phone; unfortunately, that too is a hit-or-a-miss experience, despite its massive camera modules.

On paper, the Z60 Ultra boasts a very powerful camera module with two 50MP sensors and a 64MP sensor. However, the performance is nowhere near what you’d expect from an “Ultra” phone.

While all three sensors have OIS, a slight hand movement while capturing a photo is enough to switch the lens. This results in the loss of focus, alignment, and loss of frame, which is highly frustrating if you’re trying to capture closeup photos.

The primary sensor captures detailed and vibrant images with proper lighting and offers a shallow depth of field whenever required. The images from the 50 MP ultra-wide sense look washed out and, often, overexposed.

The selfie camera is just there to capture some self-portraits. Don’t expect to capture anything detailed or share anything worthy with it. The under-display camera is still a massive compromise you must make to get a notch-less display.

Aside from that, the camera app has many features and modes that can be overwhelming. It made me feel as though the brand prioritized preset shooting modes over image processing and the phone’s software.

Should you buy it?

The Nubia Z60 Ultra boasts one of the most impressive hardware specs on paper, translating to fantastic value for money. If you’re into casual gaming and photography and need a phone with a ton of raw power, then the Nubia Z60 Ultra is ideal.

But it does fall short of expectations as the half-baked software cannot utilize the horsepower at its disposal fully. If you need a well-rounded device that isn’t as bold and has bleeding-edge hardware but offers balanced performance and better software, you can consider the OnePlus 12R.

Verdict: 4/5

The Nubia Z60 Ultra could have been the real flagship killer had the software and hardware complimented each other. It misses more than hits and leaves the user wanting for more.

It is a promising device that shows that Nubia has access to the hardware and has all the will required to make a great phone. The good thing is that software updates can fix most of the stuff. Nubia only offers three OS updates. Hopefully, Nubia can rectify the issues with the software to make this phone an easy recommendation.

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