Introduction
150g of polycarbonate and 5 inches of a full-HD screen. Amazing what they'd call a mini these days. Technically, the ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is the compact version of the bezel-free Z9 but size isn't the first thing that sets these two apart.
The difference in display diagonal is minor and both have 1080p resolution, which means the 5-inch mini has a tad crisper screen. The battery capacity is the same, which is also a point in the Nubia Z9 mini's favor. A memory card slot is another.
But well, there's probably no way to break the bad news gently, so there we go. No edge-to-edge display for the Nubia Z9 mini. Other than that, the two look nearly identical and that's a compliment to the mini, which uses plastic where the bigger Z9 had glass.
In fact, there're more positive side effects of that than negative. For starters, the mini is a good 50g lighter and the rear cover opens to a microSD card slot, which the superior phone didn't get. The mini is more customizable too via a number of optional back covers that can be purchased separately at less than $30 each.
The inevitable hardware downgrades have helped the Z9 adjust its price to fit the midrange bracket. With a tag of around $300 though, it has quite a bunch of rivals to take on, especially in Europe and America where ZTE's exposure and brand-awareness are still developing.
However, the phone is not without its merits so we'd be foolish to write off its chances. The signature black and red exterior stands out and the software does have a few interesting custom features as well. Equipment-wise, the Z9 mini goes by the midrange book and is genuinely trying to over-deliver where it can without blowing the budget. It is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC, along with 2GB of RAM. A reliable camera, LTE, the latest Android and expandable memory are among the major highlights.
Key features
- Dual SIM support, dedicated SIM and microSD slots, no sharing
- 5.0" 1080p capacitive LCD (441 ppi)
- Qualcomm MSM8939 Snapdragon 615 chipset: quad-core 1.5GHz Cortex-A53 and quad-core 1.0GHz Cortex-A53, Mali-405 GPU; 2GB of RAM;
- 16MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording
- 8MP front-facing camera, 1080p video recording
- Android OS v5.0.2 Lollipop with Nubia UI 3.0.8
- 16GB of built-in storage; dedicated microSD card slot
- Cat. 4 LTE (150Mbps); Dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac; Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0; GPS/GLONASS/; FM radio; microUSB port
- Active noise cancellation with a dedicated mic
- Non-removable 2900mAh battery
Main disadvantages
- No NFC
- Non-removable battery
- No quick charging or wireless charging support
- No Gorilla Glass display protection
The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is trying to make its way through a crowd of midrangers which can turn hostile to ambitious newcomers. ZTE knows it needs to raise its profile in the developed markets and the Nubia line is at the spearhead of their campaign. Without the edge-to-edge screen, the mini is counting on the eye-catching exterior and the novelty factor to lure users away from the big name rivals.
ZTE Nubia Z9 mini official photos
Proper localization should be an important part of that effort, as at the moment the Nubia Z9 mini is entirely geared towards the Asian markets and even our test unit is missing the standard Android services. This is not unusual for Chinese handsets but ZTE had better be working on language and software versions if it wants to carry some of its momentum over to Europe and America.
Follow us to the next page to see the ZTE Nubia Z9 mini getting unboxed and posing for some close-ups.
Display
The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is equipped with a pretty standard LCD panel. It is only slightly smaller than the Z9's at 5.0-inches, down from 5.2. Except for the absent edge-to-edge effect, the two screens are probably identical and the min's screen is reasonably sharp, with nice deep blacks.
Keeping the resolution of the original Nubia Z9, the mini's screen has more pixels per inch. At 441ppi, the Nubia Z9 mini is a little sharper.
The actual numbers are pretty close. The Nubia Z9 mini's screen is a little dimmer with a maximum brightness of 394 nits, compared to 440 on the Z9, but neither offers exceptional contrast.
Contrast ratio is even closer at 895. The mini's sunlight visibility is only average. It is actually a little uncomfortable to read the Z9 mini's camera viewfinder on a bright sunny day, as the camera interface is all dark.
Sunlight contrast ratio
ZTE Nubia Z9 mini battery life
The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is powered by a 2900mAh battery, just like its premium sibling. This is plenty of juice for the midrange hardware, so we can forgive the not too slim profile.
We hoped for the Z9 mini to beat its premium sibling but the reality was different. The Z9 mini scored an overall rating of 65 hours, which is 5 hours less than the Z9. Somehow, the Snapdragon 615 and slightly smaller screen weren't exactly more economical compared to the Snapdragon 810 and 5.2-icnhes of display diagonal on the Z9.
The Z9 mini was almost unaffected by dual-SIM usage with about 3 hours less in the overall endurance rating. In comparison, the Z9 took an 11-hour hit from having two radios on.
As for the rest of the scores, they are pretty decent for a midranger. The Z9 mini offers only about two hours of talk time less than its flagship counterpart and practically the same time in video playback. Web browsing is only around eight hours on the mini, which could be due to the QQ browser and lack of optimization, but also the slower chipset might potentially be working overtime on some pages that the Snapdragon 810 would typically breeze through.
Both the Z9 and the Z9 mini allow a good deal of user control over apps and power consumption. This includes detailed monitoring of battery performance, as well as limiting background services and control of power-hungry apps. The OS is even nice enough to notify you automatically if any power-hogging is detected on the system.
Unfortunately, there is no support for Quick Charging or wireless charging on either model.
Our proprietary score also includes a standby battery draw test, which is not featured in our battery test scorecard but is calculated in the total endurance rating.
Our battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you want to learn more about it.
Connectivity
The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is a dual SIM device, dual standby device with quad-band 2G/GPRS/EDGE and 3G with HSPA. 3G supports a total of six bands, whereas 4G has seven.
It can reach speeds of up to 42.2Mbps of download and 5.76Mbps of upload on HSPDA, as well as 150Mbps of downloads over Cat.4 LTE.
Local connectivity is covered by dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac. DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct and hotspot mode are also available. Bluetooth 4.0 is also on board with A2DP. The microUSB 2.0 port supports USB host.
The satellite navigation chip inside the phone is compatible with GPS/GLONASS. There's an FM radio too. NFC is missing on the Z9 mini, as opposed to the original Z9.
