Chinese smartphone brand Nubia showcased the Nubia Red Magic Mars and the Nubia X phones at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The Red Magic Mars has a gamer-centric design and features but it’s the Nubia X with dual displays that stole the limelight at the CES. It beautifully addresses the problem of accommodating the selfie camera on increasingly bezel-less and notch-less phones. Let’s take a detailed look at the Nubia X features, design, camera, and other details.
Nubia X design and display
Since Apple introduced the iPhone X with a display notch, dozens of Android vendors have adopted the notch. But some have implemented their own innovative ways to accommodate the selfie camera without opting for the notch. With Nubia X, the Chinese company has done away with the front camera altogether. The front panel is nearly bezel-less with no selfie camera. Nubia claims it has a 93.6% screen-to-body ratio.
It has a gorgeous 6.26-inch Full HD+ LCD screen with 1080 x 2280p resolution. There is also a 5.1-inch HD+ OLED display on the back panel with a 720p resolution. The rear screen is boxed-in because of the dual cameras on the back panel and the Nubia logo at the bottom. At first glance, it seems like just another gimmick. But both the display panels are fully functional and you can easily switch between the two. You can set the device to automatically swap the screens when you flip over. The rear screen looks like the smaller version of the front panel.
The rear display features five layers, a blue light filter to ease the strain on the eyes, and is designed for e-reading. When you want to take a selfie, just flip over the phone and use the dual rear cameras to capture stunning selfies. The fully functional rear display will let you see if you and your friends are in the frame, and adjust the settings.
The back display can be used for many more things than just taking selfies. It is capable of replicating whatever is on the front screen, or use one app on the front and another on the back simultaneously. You could be reading an ebook on the rear screen and playing a game on the front. Gamers can also tailor the second screen to use it as a customizable control system – meaning your fingers won’t interrupt the action on the front.
The rear display is practical and useful, but given its location it could become a fingerprint magnet. The phone has a sturdy metal and glass body. The handset is 8.4mm thick and weighs 181g.
Nubia X specifications
For security, it has two fingerprint sensors – one on the left side and another on the right side of the device. Users have to place their forefinger and thumb on them at the same time to unlock, which is an annoying way to unlock your phone dozens of times every day. Nubia says having two fingerprint sensors means better security.
The device packs a decent 3800mAh battery with Quick Charge 4.0 fast charging support. It runs Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset because it debuted in China in November 2018. Nubia is expected to launch a new version of the device in the coming months with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 855 SoC. It’s worth pointing out that the Snapdragon 845 is still a powerful processor that can handle any task you throw at it.
The base model of Nubia X features 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. The company also sells an 8GB RAM variant with 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB of internal storage. It supports dual-SIM functionality and runs Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. Nubia hasn’t talked about if or when it plans to upgrade the device to Android 9 Pie.
The phone has no camera on the front. On the back panel, it gets a 24-megapixel lens with an f/1.7 aperture and a 16MP lens with f/1.8 aperture. The larger sensors ensure that you click great pictures in low-light conditions.
Price and release date
Nubia has already been selling the phone in China, but hasn’t disclosed when it plans to launch it in the US and other Western markets. The fact that it showcased Nubia X at CES suggests the company plans to sell it in the Western markets. We are hoping the Snapdragon 855 variant of Nubia X would find its way to the US and European markets later this year.
The company hasn’t revealed its pricing either. It sells at around $500 in China, though. Nubia has come up with a cool solution for the display notch or top bezel.
