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The Nubia Z20 is an impressive two-screen phone that actually works, with a decent battery life that will last you all day long. Photo: Ben Sin

Lifestyle Gadgets

ZTE Nubia Z20 review: dual screen phone’s rear display great for selfies and flipping between apps

The Z20’s back screen allows users to take selfies with the phone’s main (and only) camera system, which sports a 48-megapixel Sony sensor
Although phone doesn’t include Google apps out of the box, Nubia’s official website offers an almost stock version of Android that can be easily installed

Smartphones

Ben Sin

Published: 10:15am, 26 Nov 2019

Why you can trust SCMP

Of all the quirky ways that Chinese phone brands have come up with to skirt the iPhone notch design – from pop-up selfie modules to flip-over cameras to drilling a hole in the corner of the screen – putting an entire separate display panel on the backside is perhaps the most extreme.

Vivo tried this approach with last year’s Nex Dual Screen Edition, but ZTE’s sub-brand, Nubia, was actually the first to market a two-screen phone.

The Nubia X was full of compromises such as a low-res second screen, a mediocre camera system and a terrible Chinese Android skin that couldn’t run Google apps at all, but Nubia has fixed all of that with its sequel: the Z20.

Yes, it can run Google apps too.

The Nubia Z20 has a 4,000mAh battery and is charged via USB-C. Photo: Ben Sin

Design and hardware

The Z20 sports a 6.4-inch screen on the front and a 5.1-inch screen on the back. Unlike last year’s X, whose back screen was a noticeably inferior LCD display, both panels on the Z20 are made from superior OLED technology. The 1080p front screen is still of a higher resolution than the 720 x 1520 back panel, but the difference is negligible. The back screen allows users to take selfies with the phone’s main (and only) camera system, which consists of the usual main/wide/telephoto triple-lens system used by almost literally every phone this year.

The triple-camera system on the Nubia Z20 consists of a 48-megapixel camera, a 16-megapixel wide-angle sensor and an 8-megapixel telephoto zoom lens. Photo: Ben Sin

Considering the Z20’s 3,499 yuan (roughly US$500) price tag – which puts it firmly in the “mid-tier” range – the hardware and build quality are excellent. The phone’s front and back have curved sides that blend seamlessly into the aluminium chassis, like you would find on a Samsung Galaxy flagship, resulting in a device that is almost smooth all around. The only interruptions to the smooth exterior are the two grooves on the left and right side that house fingerprint scanners.

This curvy, seamless build quality was once reserved for pricier big name flagships from Samsung or Huawei, as Chinese phones tend to use less expensive flat display panels. The Nubia Z20 is the second phone after Xiaomi’s Mi Note 10 to offer that curvy Samsung feel on a mid-tier handset.

Powering the phone is a Snapdragon 855+, the best possible chip from Qualcomm right now. Even Samsung’s and Google’s much more pricey recent releases use an older standard 855.

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Software and features

The Nubia Z20 ships with the same heavy Android skin that doesn’t include Google apps out of the box, but it is possible to side-load Google Mobile Services by installing APKs.

Better yet, Nubia’s official website offers an almost “stock” version of Android (an unaltered Android system as Google intended, with all Google services intact) that can be installed onto the phone with just a few taps.

A 5x zoom image captured by the Nubia Z20. Photo: Ben Sin

I have been running the plain Android system on it throughout my testing. Unfortunately, it’s still version 9, so some of the best features of Android 10, such as the system-wide night mode (darkened UI) or the swipe gesture navigation, are missing here.

While the second screen is mostly here to aid selfie-taking, Nubia has also optimised software to take advantage of the extra display. The two screens have separate RAM management for separate app operations, which means each screen “remembers” the app it’s running, even as I switch back and forth between the screens.

For example, if I am playing a game on the main display and I have WhatsApp opened on the back screen, I can flip the phone over in the middle of my game to quickly respond to a WhatsApp message, then return to the main screen to continue. On a normal phone, responding to a WhatsApp would usually require exiting the game first.

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Performance and battery life

I have encountered no performance issues in my two weeks of using the Nubia Z20. Even when I flip between the screens rapidly on purpose, the device doesn’t suffer from hiccups or lag. Battery life is also great, and the 4,000mAh cell can power the phone for an entire 14-hour day.

The camera system comprises a 48-megapixel Sony sensor, a 16-megapixel wide-angle camera and an 8-megapixel telephoto zoom lens. The hardware is very similar to the dozens of other mid-tier Chinese offerings from OnePlus to Xiaomi to Vivo, and in still photography with good lighting, the Z20 does very well.

Where Nubia’s image processing falls short is computational photography, which is needed for night photography, zoom shots and video recording. Here, the Z20 tends to exhibit more noise and jerkiness and loses to similarly priced peers such as the OnePlus 7T, Oppo Reno or Xiaomi Mi Note 10.

Excellent dynamic range on display here in this day time shot captured with the Z20’s 48-megapixel camera. Photo: Ben Sin

Conclusion

The Nubia Z20 is a phone with flagship specs, a sleek design with an uninterrupted notch-less screen and an attractive price. This should be enough to make it a hit in Europe and North America – as the phone will, surprisingly, be sold in the US too.

But in Hong Kong and China, the competition is much, much stiffer. While I like the look and feel of the Z20 over most other handsets, I think recent releases from Oppo, Realme, Xiaomi and OnePlus all offer a bit more. Xiaomi, for example, has a phone with a 108-megapixel camera at around the same price range. Oppo, with it’s Realme X2 Pro, offers a phone with a 90Hz screen – and a better camera system.

Dimensions: 158.6mm x 75.3mm x 9mm

Weight: 186g

Display: 6.42-inch 1080 x 2340 OLED (front); 5.1-inch 720 x 1520 OLED (back)

Battery: 4,000mAh

OS version reviewed: Android 9 with either Nubia UI 7 or stock Android

Processor: Snapdragon 855+

Cameras: 48-megapixel main lens with f/1.7 aperture; 16-megapixel wide-angle lens; 8-megapixel telephoto zoom lens

Memory: 8GB RAM; 128GB ROM

Colours: Black, blue

Price: 3,499 yuan

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: ZTE’s new offering is a solid performer with great dual display

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