A true flagship phone shouldn’t sacrifice performance for photography, nor should it sacrifice photography for the gaming experience. Instead, it should max out the experience in both imaging and performance, creating a truly all-around flagship.
The Nubia Z80 Ultra Starry Sky Collector’s Edition in my hand not only continues Nubia’s tradition of excellence in the camera field but also combines RedMagic’s professional tuning expertise in the gaming field. Whether it’s the camera performance, the gaming experience, or the exclusive full-screen under-display camera, it can be said to be a street photography gaming machine that is very worthy of attention this year, capable of both shooting and gaming.
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Screen Quality
Every time I get a new Nubia phone, I’m always impressed by this notch-less full screen. Nubia has given this screen a vivid name: the Sky Full Screen. It pulls you right in with a completely immersive visual experience. It uses a 6.85-inch, 1.5K AMOLED flexible flat screen with X10 luminescent material, a 144Hz refresh rate, and 2K+ 120Hz super-resolution and super-frame rate for an even more outstanding display effect. The under-display camera has been upgraded again; even if you look closely, there’s no trace of it.
This immersive, ultra-high-resolution screen experience fulfills all my fantasies about a true full-screen display. It’s also co-tuned with Qualcomm for an ultra-clear visual engine, featuring a 3000Hz instantaneous touch sampling rate. Paired with SGS low blue light eye protection certification, whether for daily use, gaming, or watching movies, there are no visual distractions. This refreshing feeling is truly special.
And the full-screen display, combined with the ultra-clear visual engine jointly tuned with Qualcomm, plus the master-level 1115K speakers, provides an excellent audio-visual experience with strong immersion.
Design & Build
The Starry Sky edition uses a six-layer micro-etching process, which presents a 3D relief effect similar to an oil painting under different light angles, giving it a great sense of depth. Even the frame has been incorporated with micron-level star-track surround stereo photolithography. Every detail of the body is very artistic. The rear module continues Nubia’s classic design language. The main camera is decorated with a flowing red ring, and the interior is inlaid with a precise gear texture.
Camera Setup
Underneath lies its camera powerhouse: a fifth-generation native 35mm custom optical lens. Friends who know photography know that 35mm is a focal length that produces excellent photos. It covers humanities, portraits, and landscapes, can be used for near or far shots, and can adapt to a wide variety of shooting scenes. The Z80 Ultra’s 35mm main camera, compared to the 23mm main cameras on most phones, allows you to compose your shots better. It can balance a wide field of view while properly highlighting the subject. Without cropping, it can directly output 50-megapixel high-quality photos.
In daily shooting, whether this main camera is used for portraits or still life, you don’t have to worry about distortion, and there is no loss in image quality. When shooting humanistic subjects, it can perfectly blend the subject with the surrounding environment, making the photos more narrative. Paired with the phone’s built-in physical shutter button, when you encounter a scene you want to capture, you can long-press to launch the camera, half-press to focus, and full-press to take the picture. The entire capture process is seamless, ensuring you don’t miss any wonderful moments in life.
Of course, the Nubia Z80 Ultra can also deliver high-quality imaging across all focal lengths. The 18mm custom wide-angle lens has lower distortion and natural perspective, allowing for more dynamic street photography shots.
At the same time, when other flagships have less impressive wide-angle configurations, the Nubia Z80 Ultra’s wide-angle is equipped with a large 1/1.55-inch sensor, which is a top-tier configuration among wide-angle lenses. There is also a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto lens, allowing you to capture distant scenery in full detail.
This time, Nubia has also provided a selection of photo filters, with up to nine curated filters. Each filter can be custom-adjusted, allowing creators to choose their own color style according to the shooting scene.
Performance and Software
In terms of performance, it’s equipped with the 5th-gen Snapdragon 8 flagship chip. As Qualcomm’s annual flagship, its performance is very strong. It’s also paired with LPDDR5X and UFS 4.1 for a flagship trio. You can feel for yourselves how powerful this combination’s AnTuTu score is nearly 4 million. The phone is quite fast in running and launching apps. It’s worth mentioning that this time it uses the same gaming engine as Red Magic, with comprehensive tuning across multiple dimensions like frame rate, temperature, and power consumption to unleash the powerful chip’s potential, ensuring stable and long-lasting high frame rates in games for a smooth picture.
Let’s take a look at its gaming performance. For Honor of Kings, which has the most players, a whole game runs smoothly at max settings without any stutter. After a 30-minute game, the back temperature is only 36 degrees Celsius.
Similarly, for the popular game PUBG, aiming and shooting are seamless without any lag. Paired with its unique gaming shoulder triggers, it’s an incredible experience. After 30 minutes of play, the back temperature is only 37 degrees Celsius.
In addition, this product is equipped with a 7200mAh silicon-carbon anode battery, which isn’t afraid of even extreme low temperatures. It’s paired with 90W wired fast charging and 80W wireless fast charging. It also supports wireless reverse charging, completely eliminating battery anxiety.
The new AI OS 2.0 also implements full-modal interaction, supporting interruption at any time. The AI capabilities have been upgraded again, and the improvement from the “evaluation assistant” is quite significant.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, it has an artistic exterior design, an industry-exclusive full-screen under-display camera, a 35mm golden focal length for master-level imaging, and full-powered performance with an esports experience.
The Nubia Z80 Ultra is just such an all-around, top-tier flagship with no weaknesses. It is both an outstanding street photography king and a passionate esports artifact. So if you are a person who loves to play, loves to take pictures, then believe me, it will definitely not disappoint you.
