[Review] The ZTE Nubia Z9 Max is a phone of contradictions

One of our AndroidGuys writers recently sent me the Nubia Z9 Max to review. It’s interesting to use Android again after having switched to iPhone about a year ago. There are some annoyances about the phone, but also some features I like as well.

First Impressions

First of all, I’m going to say that one of the biggest annoyances about Android are the skins and bloatware that some companies and carriers slap onto their phones. For those that don’t know, bloatware is typically defined as sh*tty pre-installed apps that are basically native advertisements.

This phone came with five bloatware apps. I’m not going to give them credit by mentioning their names, but there they were. I promise this won’t be yet another article from an Apple user, endlessly comparing the two platforms. However, bloatware is a terrible experience for users, and manufacturer skins are barely any better.

I know some people that like them, but I think they are terrible and I believe pure stock Android is the only way to go. Skins and bloatware make me feel murderous, and I promised my therapist I wouldn’t go down that road. Now then, after having installed the Google Now launcher from the Play Store, we can safely proceed.

Features

• Dimensions: 154.8 x 76.6 x 7.9 mm (6.09 x 3.02 x 0.21 in)
• Weight: 165g
• Display: 5.5″ 1080p, 401 ppi
• Platform: Android 5.0.2 Lollipop (Nubia 3.0 UI skin)
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 810; quad-core 1.5 GHz, quad-core 2.0 GHz
• Memory: 3GB
• Storage: 16GB internal; microSD up to 128GB
• Camera: 16MP, autofocus LED flash; video [email protected]/8MP front, 1080p
• Battery: 2900mAh

The phone is a little big for my preference, and somewhat awkward to hold. The Nubia is basically a stretched out iPhone 4, and the sharp angles of this phone combined with the red color accents give the Nubia a masculine, almost aggressive appearance. Despite the phone having a glass back, it’s actually not that slippery to hold as it’s a very light phone.

On the bottom we find capacitive buttons that are kind of annoying. Specifically, the Back button doesn’t pull up the list of recently used apps like other Android phones do. Instead, that’s all it is – it brings you back one app at a time.

The phone only has one speaker, but it’s surprisingly loud and does a great job when it comes to music and movies. As for the camera, I was also pleasantly surprised. Aside from the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge, I have yet to see an Android phone that takes decent pictures. But the Nubia’s camera produces crisp, slightly over-saturated images that give your environment a vivid look. The camera doesn’t work well in low light environments, but the majority of smartphone cameras aren’t great in this capacity either.

Despite the 2900mAh battery, it didn’t seem to last very long even when I wasn’t using it. I found myself charging it almost twice a day, and it takes a couple of hours to charge. This probably has more to do with the poor battery management of Android Lollipop. Speaking of Lollipop, I did some research but I was unable to find a time frame for upgrading the system to Marshmallow.

I was unable to press the “System Upgrade” button, and I think this is more of the sneaky-handed tactics used by Nubia. Similarly, I couldn’t install any APKs. The phone simply would not let me press that “install” button, and my guess was that it automatically put some kind of block on it. Installing APKs is a security risk and not recommended for the majority of users anyway, but after the built-in adware that I had to experience, this just angered me even more.

Conclusion

The hardware of the phone is good, and gives the phone a premium look and feel. The software experience was incredibly frustrating though. To be fair, that’s not entirely Android’s fault, that is the fault of the manufacturer. The open nature of Android is both a blessing and a curse. If you have the knowledge and tinkering skills necessary to flash the ROM and install something like CyanogenMod, then I recommend the phone.

You can pick up the phone over at Banggood for $355.99.

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