Nubia miniS hands-on review: a high-value small flagship with IMX318 camera

After launching the small-sized Z11 mini, the large-screen and long-battery Z11 Max, and the borderless flagship Z11, Nubia, which has a complete product lineup for the year, unexpectedly launched the fourth product in the Z11 series at the end of the year, the Nubia mini S, which once again focuses on the small-screen market.

As for how to make small-screen mobile phones better, Nubia has focused its attention on the two aspects of appearance design and photography. Can the Nubia miniS, the finale of the show, play a strong role in supplementing Nubia's product layout this year?

98% metal content, the most attractive product in the same price range

The Nubia miniS, equipped with a 5.2-inch full HD display, is still a device that is extremely easy to operate with one hand. The black glass front and the iconic design of the small red circle present the family style of the Nubia brand.

What’s more interesting is that Nubia miniS is a product with a “chin shorter than forehead” on the front. For a mobile phone without virtual buttons on the screen, it is very considerate to have the entire screen lower and close to the finger operation area. However, the 2.5D glass covering the front is Corning’s third-generation Gorilla Glass, according to the official website. Compared with the fifth-generation Gorilla Glass used in some mobile phones, it seems not advanced enough.

Different from the Z11 mini's customizable back cover design, the Nubia miniS directly uses mainstream metal materials this time, but this does not make the back of the machine lack highlights. The 98% metal ratio has become the product's advantage. The rear fingerprint recognition module also has multiple functions such as taking pictures, paying, and taking screenshots.

An important reason why the phone is 98% metal is that Nubia miniS uses a curved antenna strip design close to the edge, similar to Apple iPhone 7. When looking directly at the back of the phone, you will hardly notice its existence.

But unlike the iPhone 7, the antenna strips of the Nubia miniS are not located at the corner of the back and the side. The main part is placed on the back of the machine, and there is even a certain distance from the upper and lower edges of the back. In addition, the Nubia miniS does not make the antenna strips close to the body color like the black version of the iPhone 7. This means that upon closer observation, there is still room for improvement in design.

Talking about the other major component on the back of the machine, the camera, it is undeniable that the camera and flash of Nubia miniS are protruding. However, it is not appropriate to understand it in the same way as the camera protrusion commonly seen on ordinary mobile phones, because under the slightly curved back curve of Nubia miniS, the slightly raised camera makes all parts of the entire back side on the same plane. Putting the phone on the table will not produce a "seesaw" phenomenon. Virgos and people with obsessive-compulsive disorder do not need to worry about this.

23-megapixel custom camera recreates the "SLR"

In terms of hardware configuration, Nubia miniS is not much different from the so-called flagship phones in most usage scenarios. The memory combination starting from 4GB + 64GB is already at the level of mainstream flagships. Qualcomm's 14nm process eight-core low-power processor, combined with a 3000mAh large battery, also provides sufficient battery life for mobile phones with not-so-large screens.

In the photography part, which Nubia has always been good at and is also the biggest upgrade point of the machine, Nubia miniS uses an eye-catching 13-megapixel front-facing + 23-megapixel rear-facing lens combination. In particular, the rear camera uses the SONY-customized IMX318 stacked image sensor, creating the possibility of recreating the "SLR camera in the mobile phone".

When taking photos of scenery during the day, the Nubia miniS shows great advantages over the iPhone 6s. The 0.1s high-speed focus can efficiently capture the object to be photographed, and the brightness and color accuracy of the picture are also more pleasing to the eye.

In the backlit HDR mode, the performance of Nubia miniS and iPhone 6s is similar, with a realistic picture style without any unnecessary post-processing traces. If you zoom in on the picture, the 23-megapixel Nubia miniS has better image details than the 12-megapixel iPhone 6s.

In low-light scenes at night, Nubia miniS tends to take brighter photos, which is different from iPhone 6s. Although the brighter picture affects the imaging quality of the light-filled part of the photo to a certain extent, it also makes the dark content of the picture appear richer.

In addition to the photos themselves, Nubia's accumulated experience in the field of mobile photography also makes Nubia miniS ahead of most competitors in terms of ease of use and gameplay of taking photos. The photo interface is similar to that of Apple iPhone, and the manual exposure slider on one side of the focus frame can be adjusted in any area of ​​the screen, which is very easy to use.

Equipped with the further improved NeoVision 6 customized version, Nubia miniS continues to use functions such as light painting, cloning camera, DNG camera, etc. to increase the imagination of the camera. One person can "form" a four-person band, which can still be achieved with this latest Nubia mobile phone.

In general, the Nubia miniS, priced at 1,499 yuan, is, to some extent, Nubia's more in-depth product segmentation in the fiercely competitive 1,000-2,000 yuan market for domestic mobile phones. Compared with the previous Z11 mini, it chooses to upgrade both design craftsmanship and camera imaging, which is extremely in line with the brand characteristics. From the actual results, these upgrades are enough to capture people who have higher requirements for small-screen mobile phones.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.