Nubia Z11 Mini S Review

Nubia has announced the latest mid-range phone from the company, the Z11 Mini S. The company has already launched the Z11 and Z11 Mini along with the N1 which was launched recently. The Nubia Z11 Mini S is a mid range phone with 5.2 inches Full HD display and is powered by Snapdragon 625 Octa core processor with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage along with a whopping 23MP camera and 13MP front camera. The phone also packs a 3000mAh battery. So how does the phone perform in this price segment? Let’s find out in this detailed review.

Design and Build:

Nubia Z11 Mini S is good looking device finished in metallic chassis with a unibody construction. The rear panel comes with a curved finishing which gives a good grip on the device and also the smaller form factor because of the 5.2-inch display adds to the usability aspect. The edges are chamfered and give a premium finish to the phone. The rear panel has a matte finish and comes with the 23MP camera at the top along with LED flash. The camera ring has been given a red color to add to the aesthetics. The fingerprint scanner sits below the camera unit and it is followed by the Nubia logo.

On the right side, you have the power and volume keys, while the left side houses the SIM tray. The top panel features the 3.5 mm audio jack while you get the USB C type port and speaker unit at the bottom. The front panel has the 5.2 inches Full HD display, front-facing 13MP camera and the capacitive buttons. The home button has a circular right with red backlight which also doubles up as the notification light. The build quality of the device is also good and overall it is a compact device to use.

Display:

The Nubia Z11 Mini S comes with a 5.2 inch Full HD (1080p) display with 2.5D curved glass along with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The display quality looks pretty good with vivid colors and good viewing angles. The brightness levels are also acceptable and the outdoor visibility is decent. The touch response is very smooth and overall it is a good display on the Nubia Z11 Mini S. Currently most of the devices have moved to 5.5 inches in screen size and if you are person who loves smaller form factor, then you will definitely love the Nubia Z11 Mini S.

Software:

Similar to any Chinese OEMs, the Nubia Z11 Mini S also runs a custom UI on top of Android. The phone comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and has Nubia UI 4.0 on top of it. The UI comes with a custom notifications and quick toggles along with multiple home screens devoid of an app drawer. The settings panel is also a custom one offering additional features.

The phone supports a handful of gestures in two categories- edge gestures and regular gestures. The edge gestures allows you to switch between apps or even clear all the background apps in one go. There is also option to have split screen view, where you can run two apps at the same time side by side.

The phone also features dual instance which allows you to run two instances of the same app, for example you can use two WhatsApp or two Facebook accounts. The phone also comes with bundled tools like sound recorder, flashlight, FM radio and long screenshot option. It also features an in-built screen recorder.

The fingerprint scanner also comes with some added features apart from unlocking the device. You can use the fingerprint scanner for locking apps and also for super screenshot.

While the UI comes loaded with features, one thing missing on the UI is the ability to customize the looks. Sadly, the phone does not come with support for themes, a feature usually found on most Chinese OEMs. You can customize the quick toggles by drag and drop.

Performance:

The Nubia Z11 Mini S is powered by one of the most power-efficient chipsets, the Snapdragon 625 clocked at 2.0Ghz and coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. The phone also features dual SIM card and micro SD card expansion slot which is a hybrid one. Since the phone offers plenty of storage, in most cases you wont need micro SD card.

The performance of the device in day to day usage was very good and there were hardly any lags or issues. It responded well to all the tasks it was put to. The gaming performance of the device was also quite decent and when we played high graphic rich games, there was no heating on the device. Except for a few frame skips, the overall gaming performance was good. The call quality and the speaker performance of the device is also good and it supports DTS.

Multitasking on the device was also good and you can also switch the back and multitasking buttons. The fingerprint scanner performance was also good and it can also be used to super screenshot and also lock apps.

The AnTuTu benchmark score for the device is 62890 which is a quite good score for a mid range phone. Overall, we would say the Nubia Z11 Mini S performed pretty well.

Camera:

Camera is definitely one of the best aspect of Nubia Z11 Mini S. It packs a 23MP rear camera with f/2.0, 6P lens, PDAF and sapphire lens protection, while the front camera is a massive 13MP with 5P lens, auto focus and screen flash. There is a LED flash for the rear camera.

The camera interface is quite similar to what we have seen on Cool 1 and lot of other Chinese OEMs. It packs a pretty good interface with lots of modes and filters to choose from. The phone also comes with manual mode and beauty mode. Now coming to the samples taken with the device, this is one area where the device performs really well. The photos taken in daylight conditions came out well with good color reproduction, contrast and overall clarity looked good. The detailing was also impressive. The close up images also had plenty of details and overall quality was impressive. Now coming to low light images, this is one area where the Z11 Mini S impressive us and the quality of low light photos were really good. The noise levels were minimal and the sharpness levels are impressive in low light captures. Overall, this is one of the best cameras with excellent low light imaging abilities in sub Rs 20000 price segment. The front facing camera also performed really well with good color reproduction and the selfies turned out to be great.

The phone can record videos in 1080p @ 60fps and also 4k and the quality was also good. Overall, the camera on the Z11 Mini S shines and one of the best in this price segment. Here are some of the samples taken with the device.

Battery Life:

Nubia Z11 Mini S packs a 3000mAh battery and the performance is pretty good. With the efficient Snapdragon 625, you can easily get almost 1.5 days of battery life on the phone. Even if you are a heavy user, you can easily get 1 day of battery life. Also, since the phone has smaller display to power, the battery performance is good overall.

Verdict:

Nubia Z11 Mini S is one of those devices which ticks almost all the right boxes with good design, display, software, decent performance and excellent camera along with good battery life. It also offers plenty of storage and also 4GB RAM. Priced Rs 16,999, the Nubia Z11 Mini S is a good package if you are looking for a good mid range premium device.