SpecEagle review · Nubia

Nubia Z9 review: A 2015 phone with a near-bezel-less "frameless" edge-touch display.

SpecEagle Editorial·May 2015·$550
Overall
48/100
Class rank
#90 of 100
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

The "frameless" edge-display pioneer.

Nubia Z9 pushed an aggressive near-bezel-less "frameless" design with edge-touch gestures years before curved screens went mainstream. The hot SD810 and accidental edge touches were the costs, but the camera's pro mode and bold design built Nubia's enthusiast following.

01Display

70/100

70/100 trails the 74-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2015.

TypeIPS LCD, "frameless" edge, 60 Hz
Size5.2 inches
Resolution1,920 × 1,080 px (FHD)

02Camera

60/100

60/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2015 — 7 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

Main16 MP, f/2.0 (Sony IMX234), OIS
Selfie8 MP

03Performance

60/100

60/100 trails the 64-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2015.

ChipsetSnapdragon 810 (20 nm)
RAM3 / 4 GB
Storage32 / 64 GB

04Battery

56/100

56/100 is one of the weaker battery results among flagship phones of 2015 — 10 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

Capacity2,900 mAh
Wired10 W

05Build

70/100

70/100 trails the 72-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2015.

06Value

56/100

56/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2015.

What works
  • "Frameless" edge display with side-touch gestures.
  • OIS camera with manual pro mode.
  • Compact 147 g.
  • Distinctive Nubia red-circle design.
What doesn't
  • Snapdragon 810 overheated.
  • Edge accidental touches were common.
  • Small battery.
  • Nubia UI rough abroad.
Cross-shop it against
Pixel (1st gen, 2016)
$649 · score 86/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 100-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .