Nubia Z80 Ultra Review: Dual 35mm Street Camera and Gaming Powerhouse

I. Imaging: 35mm + 18mm Golden Dual Focal Lengths, Professional-Level Street Photography Experience

1. Exclusive Dual Focal Lengths + Large Sensor: Restoring the Beauty of Humanity and Space
The Z80 Ultra continues Nubia’s triple-main-camera imaging system. Its core highlight is the exclusive custom 35mm + 18mm golden dual focal length setup designed for street photography, covering both documentary and creative wide-angle needs.

35mm Humanistic Main Camera: Equipped with a 50MP, 1/1.3-inch custom Light and Shadow Master 990 sensor, it supports an f/1.7 large aperture and OIS optical stabilization. This focal length closely matches the human eye’s perspective, precisely highlighting subjects while separating messy backgrounds, restoring the authentic narrative feel of street scenes. It avoids the overly broad yet imprecise nature of traditional 23mm lenses. With its native 35mm focal length, it delivers full-resolution 50MP images without cropping.

18mm Ultra-Wide Main Camera: Features a 50MP, 1/1.55-inch large sensor with an f/1.8 large aperture for excellent distortion control. This focal length excels at creating a sense of spatial depth — whether capturing the vertical layers of urban architecture or the neon reflections on rainy nights, it produces visuals rich in both tension and storytelling.

64MP Periscope Telephoto: Uses a 1/2-inch large sensor with OIS, supporting 15cm telephoto macro and AI multi-frame super-resolution algorithms. It significantly improves detail clarity when shooting distant scenes, completing the telephoto setup.

2. Physical Shutter Button + AI Assistance for Fast, Accurate, Effortless Street Shots
Street photography is all about capturing decisive moments. The Z80 Ultra optimizes shot efficiency through operation design and smart assistance.

Two-Stage Physical Shutter Key: The body features a two-stage camera-style shutter key, supporting “half-press to focus, full-press to shoot.” Long-pressing it from a locked screen instantly launches the camera, allowing blind operation to capture spontaneous street moments without touchscreen delay.

Multimodal AI Imaging Master: Powered by a large AI imaging model that provides real-time, hands-on guidance. It offers real-time composition guides, posture recognition for portrait suggestions, scene-specific creative tips, “ant-eye view” low-angle prompts, and even real-time voice guidance — just ask and receive personalized shooting advice.

Custom Filters and Image Optimization: The built-in Filter Factory includes popular street styles like positive/negative film, retro, Bresson, and black-gold, plus a unique “Xuzhou Old Flavor” filter and watermark. The AI Fast Motion Capture uses adaptive shutter algorithms and multi-frame denoising to freeze moving people and traffic while enhancing background clarity, preventing blurry shots.

3. Professional Photography Kit: Lightweight Expansion for Creative Freedom
For photography enthusiasts, Nubia also introduces a professional photography kit: tech nano-leather finish, titanium-colored aluminum frame, and genuine leather grip for comfort and stability. It includes an intelligent camera control bar, physical mechanical keys, and customizable zoom, exposure, and filter dials/knobs — achieving DSLR-level precision. With T-mount expansion lens adapter and cold shoe interface support, it can connect to professional lenses and fill lights, turning the phone into a portable camera.

II. Performance: Red Magic Technology Empowerment for Gaming-Level Experience

1. Full-Strength Performance Triangle with No Weakness
At its core, the Z80 Ultra runs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Leading Edition processor, paired with LPDDR5X memory and UFS 4.1 flash storage — forming a powerhouse trio for smooth handling of heavy apps and large-scale games.

2. Red Magic Gaming Engine + Cooling System: Stable and Cool Performance
CUBE Sky Engine: Derived from Red Magic’s gaming series, this core technology intelligently predicts game loads and dynamically allocates computing resources. When running demanding titles like Genshin Impact or Honkai: Star Rail, it achieves 2K resolution + 144Hz super-frame rendering with 33% lower latency. Combined with AI Super Stable Frame 4.0, it ensures no frame drops or stutter, maintaining high performance and low power consumption.

Esports-Grade Cooling: Features composite liquid metal and a massive 3D Ice Steel VC vapor chamber for efficient heat dissipation. Even under full gaming load, the surface stays below 45°C, preventing throttling.

III. Display & Battery: Immersive Control + Enduring Power

The 6.85-inch Sky Full Display adopts an industry-first holeless design with X10 under-display lighting, supporting a 144Hz refresh rate and 3000Hz instant touch sampling. In collaboration with Qualcomm’s visual engine tuning, it delivers an immersive visual experience. The new Synaptics touch chip and full-link touch optimization improve first-frame response by 20%, offering esports-grade precision with physical game keys for enhanced control.

The 7200mAh battery uses 4th-gen Nanhai technology with AI “zero” power consumption optimization, lasting over 1.5 days of daily use. It supports 90W wired charging, 80W wireless charging, and reverse wireless charging for flexible power solutions.

IV. System: Nebula AI OS 2 — Stylish and Functional Evolution

The Z80 Ultra features the upgraded Nebula AI OS 2 system, revamped in both interaction and functionality.

Super Little Star 2.0 AI Assistant enables emotional interaction and continuous dialogue after one wake-up, supporting full-duplex interruption for more natural communication.

AI Call Assistant can answer calls, summarize, and translate conversations; Smart Alarm offers personalized wake-up experiences; Document Search locates key info quickly, and over 300 one-command shortcuts improve task efficiency.

3D Ultrasonic Fingerprint Unlock works in 0.04 seconds with high accuracy even in wet or low-light conditions. Over 500 system optimizations across performance, office, and imaging modules ensure smooth, fluid transitions from unlock to app switching.

Summary

Overall, the Nubia Z80 Ultra demonstrates remarkable breakthroughs in both imaging and performance. Its exclusive 35mm + 18mm golden dual focal lengths deliver 50MP high-definition shots straight out of the camera, complemented by extensive AI-assisted features for effortless shooting of both people and scenery. Mobile gamers will also find it a joy to use, thanks to stable frame rates, precise touch, and powerful cooling. The Nubia Z80 Ultra is truly an all-rounder — a “street-shooting gaming powerhouse” that excels in both photography and gameplay.