Nubia Focus 5G review — Great price, solid performance

ZTE is going through a transition to the Nubia brand and we’ve had one of their latest devices on the test bench for a couple of weeks. In the past, ZTE has been known as a cheap brand but the Nubia rebrand is looking to change some of that. Honestly, the Focus 5G is a really good start at changing some opinions of the brand.

What is it?

The Nubia Focus 5G is an entry level 5G enabled device that carries with it, some reasonable specs. In particular, the camera is quite a surprise packet, giving results far more impressive than the $249.00 price tag would have you believe is possible.

Internally, the hardware isn’t going to excite the spec hungry users; but for a large portion of the market it’s enough. You’ve got a 6.6″ HD+ display that runs at 120Hz. It comes with 256GB UFS3.1 storage and is powered by a a 5000mAh battery.

The system is driven by a Unisoc T760 chipset and 4GB (extendable by 10GB) of RAM. All in all, it’s a reasonably well specced device as a mid-range option, but at an entry level budget.

On the rear, is an unusually prominent camera array for a device in the entry range of the market. In that array, you’ve got a 108MP main camera, with a f/1.75 aperture and a 2MP depth lens. An interesting choice to make; complemented by the 8MP selfie cam.

What’s in the box?

Like most phones, in the box you get the device, some basic documentation, a charging cable and importantly, the charging brick. In most cases, I’d say this is probably unimportant because of the fact most people have them laying about, but this one is particularly low profile making it very convenient to drop in your bag when you’re on the move.

I’ve always been a fan of having at least a basic case in the box, just a TPU to keep your device clean and damage free until you get (assuming you want it) a better, more durable case.

The look and feel

This is an interesting device, because I feel like this is presenting as a far higher end unit than it actually is. If I saw this in a store, I’d be expecting it to cost in the region of $500.00 to $700.00 because of the presentation and specs, but it’s only $249.00

In the hand, the physical dimensions are similar, although very slightly smaller to that of the Pixel 8 Pro. So for users of larger phones, it’s a very comfortable size with a nice screen and reasonably snappy performance.

I’m not sure if I’m pleased, surprised or both: But the Nubia Focus 5G has a really solid feel to it. The buttons have a gentle, but notable “click” to them, making them nicely tactile; you know when you’ve pushed them through this feedback. This is a stark comparison to some other similar budget devices on the market, where you can feel from the weight (or lack of) and the spongy buttons that there are some compromises in the build quality to meet a budget. Some cheaper phones, feel cheap but this feels like it belongs in a higher price bracket.

The real-world performance

Specs, look and feel will only tell part of the story with any device. Of course, if you’re dealing with a bleeding edge technology device, you’re unlikely to have any grumbles with the performance but what about a phone that costs roughly 10% of the top market devices?

There were a few little quirks I noticed as a heavy user, but to my surprise, non were outright deal-breakers. But I’ll start with the screen; the touch response was good, not brilliant, but a 7/10 pass mark compared to a new device that landed on the test bench at the end of this testing period. The main issue I had with the screen was the dynamic backlight adjustment being noticeably slow; particularly outdoors where (on several occasions) I found myself turning my back to the sun in order to see the screen clearly.

If I’d been on the phone a bit during the day, lots of apps open and particularly if I’d used the camera a lot; there was a bit of slow down on the phone. I noticed this particularly after recording video and the phone was a bit warmer than ambient, that apps would take longer than usual to open. That’s really my only main grumble with the performance of this phone.

A particular highlight was the battery life that I got from the 5,000mAh battery. Even on the really heavy days of use, I got through (although, only just…) from unplugging at 5:50 am until around 11 pm with a few percent of battery remaining. I was pretty happy with the fast-charging capability too, taking a 22.5W charger (I used one of the GaN chargers I have as the provided charger doesn’t provide the full charging capability of the phone) the battery would get back up to around 60% battery in under 45 minutes.

When use was more consistent to my usual routine, I was getting a solid 30 – 36 hours out of the battery between charges.

Smile for the camera

I mentioned earlier that the camera setup is a 108MP main camera, and while this on its own is a nice spec to have; there’s no telephoto or ultra-wide or optical zoom support to make this the killer feature it could be for the Focus 5G. Having written, read, re-written and re-read this line multiple times – I know I’m being unfair on a $249.00 phone… it feels like it’s remarkably close to being unbelievable value. Raising the price by $50.00 and adding an ultra-wide lens would get this phone over that line – but I’ll move on now.

The available modes are “camera family” (encompasses time lapse, ultra res, panorama, multi-exposure and mono), Pro, Photo, Night mode and portrait as well as video. Once in the camera app, you can tap select or swipe between these; although transition can be a little sluggish, to select them and they’re very much as you’d expect in terms of results.

The multiple preset focal lengths mean that the camera can, in fact take some pretty decent photos when you’re on the move. Even if you’re trying to track a moving target, the depth sensor helps the focus come in quickly and you’ll still get some reasonably good photos.

As part of the selfie camera though, the default “beauty” mode provides some odd results. The colours end up over-saturated, textures are smoothed and facially; people look almost like unnaturally like an anime character. Yes, this can be and did get turned off pretty quickly as it’s just a strange setting to have on by default.

Should you buy one?

I can see this fitting for a number of potential markets, whether it’s someone who is being forced from their ever–reliable 3G device with the pending network shutdown, to someone who wants an affordable 5G device with a good camera and solid battery life.

Provided you don’t want to play games on this, as it struggles a bit, there’s not really anything bad to say about the Nubia Focus 5G. It’s a solid phone, and at the $249.00 price, it offers remarkably good value for money.