1. The courageous leader in true full-screen phones: Nubia

When it comes to true full-screen phones, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Xiaomi MIX. Although the concept phone from several years ago was not perfect, it convinced me that a phone with a front that is all screen is the way of the future. As expected, in the following years, various camera technologies emerged, including folding, flipping, stretching, and under-screen cameras. However, surprisingly, the phone industry has recently fallen into a collective silence, with nothing but waterdrop and hole-punch screens appearing overnight, making things incredibly dull and boring.

I tried to understand the obsession of fighting alone, but when I saw the Nubia Z50 Ultra, I realized that persistence can make the impossible possible. As the only domestic phone brand that is still persisting in developing under-screen camera technology for true full-screen phones, the bravery and rebelliousness of Nubia, who refused to follow the mainstream or compromise on security, deserve my utmost respect.

Nubia Z50 Ultra Specifications:

● Performance: Snapdragon 8Gen2 processor, LPDDR 5X memory + UFS 4.0 flash memory

● Screen: 6.8-inch AMOLED under-screen full screen, 120Hz refresh rate / 2480 × 1116 resolution, 1440Hz PWM high-frequency dimming / DC dimming, BOE screen material / 400ppi

● Camera: Rear 64MP main camera IMX787 OIS, 64MP periscope telephoto OV64B OIS, 50MP ultra-wide-angle JN1; 16MP under-screen front-facing camera OV16E1Q

● Battery: 5000mAh battery + 80W wired charging

● Other: 0815 X-axis linear motor, dual speakers, NFC support, infrared, Bluetooth 5.3, triple-frequency GPS, USB 3.1, optical screen fingerprint unlocking solution, MyOS 13 system (Android 13), 163.9 × 76.3 × 8.3mm, 228g

2. From the Future: Nubia Z50 Ultra

If I had to summarize the Nubia Z50 Ultra in one sentence, I would say that it is a phone from the future. Unlike other smartphones that use interchangeable shells, I was impressed the first time I held the Nubia Z50 Ultra in my hand. The extremely narrow borderless design on all four sides, combined with the front camera that suddenly disappears, makes it feel like you are holding a perfect, complete screen without the distracting notches or waterdrop displays.

This is a 6.8-inch AMOLED screen with a peak brightness of 1500 nits, and the border width is only 1.48-1.68mm, which creates a visual effect of no boundaries. The brand new fourth-generation under-screen camera technology allows the camera to be nearly invisible on a dark background, and only faintly visible on a light background or from certain angles. In addition, the hardware upgrades and a series of AI-enhanced technologies enable the under-screen front camera to capture photos with exceptional quality.

The Nubia Z50 Ultra's front under-screen camera has a 16MP/f2.0/2.24μm specification, and the actual photo samples are shown below: the first photo taken in normal lighting conditions is impressive, with even the individual strands of hair clearly visible; the second photo taken in low light conditions is also well restored, capturing the textures of different materials. In my personal opinion, the Nubia Z50 Ultra's front under-screen camera has reached the level of being fully usable.

As a true full-screen smartphone, the Nubia Z50 Ultra has several advantages over traditional smartphones, including:

●  Larger screen: With an extremely high screen-to-body ratio, the Nubia Z50 Ultra provides a larger screen, allowing for a more enjoyable viewing experience for videos and games without the front camera getting in the way.

●  More immersive experience: The ultra-narrow border design and high screen-to-body ratio provides a more immersive visual experience.

●  Higher efficiency: With more screen space, users can efficiently perform multitasking or split-screen operations.

3. Understanding Photographers Better: Double Golden Focal Length

When choosing a mobile phone, people are most concerned about the screen, camera, and performance. Various joint camera systems are no longer a novelty, but the Nubia Z50 Ultra has taken a completely different approach. This direct display of the focal length prominently on the lens module is indeed bold, and those who understand photography can immediately see that it is from an expert. The 35mm+85mm double golden focal length together make up the NEO VISION comprehensive imaging system.

Below are dynamic images of the viewing range of the five focal lengths, from far to near: 14mm → 35mm → 50mm → 85mm → 170mm. Unlike the smooth and continuous zooming process of other mobile phones, the Nubia Z50 Ultra allows you to feel the different segments when different lenses are called, allowing photographers to precisely control the real output ability of each camera.

In order to more fully utilize the hardware of the lens module, the built-in camera shooting program has also made targeted function cuts. Here are several main camera modes:

Photo mode: Provides the powerful functions of super-sensing autofocus and preset focus, enhancing the communication between the camera and the photographer, allowing the photographer to clearly perceive the focus position and the calling of different focal length lenses.

Professional mode: Almost the same experience as a SLR camera, it can finely display and adjust various professional parameters and is the favorite of SLR enthusiasts.

Street snap: Quickly adjust the 35mm golden focal length to capture moments of inspiration at your fingertips. Compared with the 24mm focal length, it can provide a wider view, and even novices can easily take beautiful photos.

Why are 35mm and 85mm called the golden focal length? Because these are the two most commonly used focal lengths in photography, they are highly loved by photography enthusiasts and professional photographers. Let's take a look at the charm of these two golden focal lengths. "35mm Golden Focal Length" is suitable for many shooting scenes, from landscapes, buildings, interiors, people, to advertising, it can be well presented. Compared with the common 26mm focal length, it can provide a wider view, more shooting content, and lower fault tolerance, and it is a versatile focal length. "85mm Golden Focal Length" is an excellent choice for shooting portraits. The advantage of this focal length is that it can blur the background, making the subject more prominent, while also showing the outline and details of the person, making the portrait more vivid, three-dimensional, and rich. You should know that many photos full of advanced sense are created with this focal length. In portrait photography, 35mm can also take natural portraits, capturing the environment and expression of the entire person, making the picture more immersive. In fact, many people are not lacking in eyes to discover beauty, but they just lack suitable shooting equipment for the moment. "Street snap" is another classic 35mm shooting focal length, because of its unique "small wide-angle" perspective, 35mm focal length is also called "humanistic lens king" by everyone. It can not only retain the environment around the subject, but also use the environment to set off the character to tell a story, and it is an important means of expressing emotions.

The Nubia Z50 Ultra offers six shooting modes, including portrait, night view, video, photo, professional, and street photography. Each mode provides photography enthusiasts with quick selection of focus functions, as well as features such as automatic HDR, AI recognition, and 20 filters. Additionally, the "Camera Family" integrates 25 fun, practical, and entertaining shooting modes in a treasure box. After experiencing the NEO VISION full-image system with the Nubia Z50 Ultra's 35mm+85mm dual golden focus segments, the entire photography experience is noticeably unique. It does not emphasize a simple and brainless logic of taking photos but rather hopes that users, after mastering the basic knowledge of photography, can easily obtain higher-quality photos.

4. Gaming Performance Dominates the Leaderboard

As the flagship smartphone of 2023, the Nubia Z50 Ultra undoubtedly comes with the latest second-generation Snapdragon 8 chipset. It uses TSMC's 4nm process, features Adreno 740 GPU + 8-core CPU, and has a maximum core frequency of 3.36GHz, with 4 large cores at 2.80GHz and 3 small cores at 2.02GHz. The AnTuTu benchmark score reaches around 1.3 million, ranking 5th on the leaderboard.
To further enhance the gaming experience, the Nubia Z50 Ultra offers exclusive e-sports optimizations such as a 960Hz sampling rate, smooth and stable frame rate 3.0, e-sports space, and linear vibration dual speakers. In professional tests using Perfdog, the Nubia Z50 Ultra has an average frame rate of 59.9, an average fluctuation of 1.4, and an average power consumption of 5.4W, showing comparable performance to gaming smartphones.
In fact, this kind of gaming experience is not surprising given that Nubia's Red Magic 8 Pro is a gaming phone that was the first to feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen2. The inherent advantage of such gaming tuning experience is unmatched by other phones. As for heat dissipation, it also drew on the Red Magic's expertise, with the highest temperature after half an hour of full-load Genshin Impact at only 43.5℃. Its 7-hour battery life is second only to the iPhone 14 Pro Max, and it can be fully charged in about 30 minutes with 80W charging power.

5. How to Evaluate the Nubia Z50 Ultra

The Nubia Z50 Ultra is an impressive high-end flagship smartphone. Thanks to the Red Magic, it boasts the performance and optimization of top-tier gaming phones; thanks to the under-screen camera, it offers an almost perfect visual experience of a true full-screen; and thanks to the dual golden focal lengths, it can provide photography enthusiasts with a unique shooting experience and better-looking photos.
Technology often relies on shell-changing and collaboration to appeal to consumers, which is a mockery of many smartphone brands. However, Nubia has been deeply involved in under-screen camera technology for years, bringing us such a futuristic smartphone. I believe that this is the real technological innovation, rather than just changing the appearance. The Nubia Z50 Ultra is like a lonely warrior, bringing the future full-screen mobile experience ahead of time. The kind of perfect screen without punch holes or water drops allows us to no longer compromise with our belated realization, and is what we have forgotten about our original ideals and pursuits.