This smartphone appeared on the market a very long time ago - in 2014, so it is not new. Today, the smartphone costs about $210, which, of course, is a little expensive. It should be noted that interesting proposals with good prices periodically appear on Chinese websites. So, for example, the brand Grand ZTE S2 today can be purchased for $ 86. When reviewing the Nubia Zed7 model, we will try to find out what is better to buy: former flagships or budget novelties.

The smartphone comes in a white presentable box. A special shipping film is pasted on the back of the phone, and a regular one on the front. protective film. There is also a spare glass for the phone, which cannot but rejoice, as well as instructions and other waste paper.

The charger gives out 1.5 amperes, it is sharpened for Chinese sockets, however, sellers also put adapters for Russian counterparts in the kit. Finally, last element is a standard USB cable.

Appearance

The smartphone is presented in two colors: white and black. The screen diagonal is 5.5 inches. Display resolution - Full-HD. The third-generation Gorilla Glass is on the front.

At the bottom there are three touch buttons with a small backlight. At the top are: front camera, earpiece, various sensors, for example, reacting to illumination. The event indicator is the home button - when you miss a message or a call, it starts to light up in red.

Banggood

At the top end there is a standard headphone jack (3.5) and an infrared port. At the bottom there is a USB connector, as well as a hole for a conversational microphone.

There is nothing on the left side, but on the right, as expected, there is a button for volume control, a button for turning the smartphone on and off. On the back of the phone is the main camera and LED flash, right in the center is an additional microphone for noise reduction. At the very bottom of the main speaker with two protruding spikes, due to which the sound is not suppressed if you put the phone on a flat surface.

The back side of the device is pleasant to the touch and also does not collect fingerprints much, except when your hands are wet. This cover can be easily removed. There is a non-removable battery, two slots for Micro SIM and one slot for a micro SD card.

The phone is assembled soundly. The lid does not bend, during shaking nothing dangles and does not play. The phone is quite comfortable in the hand.

The dimensions of the device are 76 millimeters in width, 152 millimeters in length and 8.7 millimeters in thickness. It weighs quite a bit - 160 grams.

Software part

The phone runs on a proprietary firmware - nubia UI, based on Android 5. There will be no wireless update because the device was released in 2014. Everything that was possible has already been updated.

The interface is multilingual. Translation into Russian covers more than 90% of all phrases and applications. Initially, everything is set in Chinese, but if you go to the settings and select the "Automatic language" option, then you can just install Russian in it.

What you need to know about this firmware? It is quite large and functional. For example, there is an NFC data transfer mode. You can adjust the color saturation and color rendering temperature mode (from cold to warm, and vice versa).

The hardware of the smartphone Zte Nubia Z7 Max

In gig-bench, the phone scores 899 and 2040 points. The Ultra Citadel toy plays at almost 50 frames per second at Full-HD resolution of 1920 x 1080. And all this at ultra high graphics settings. After half an hour of playing, it turns out that a little throttling is still present, because the speed drops to 44 frames per second.

In the Antutu test, the phone scores 59478 points, mainly due to its processor - SnapDragon 801 (32 bits, 4 cores, maximum clock speed - 2.5 GHz).

13.1 megapixel camera without interpolation. RAM - 2 gigabytes. Front camera - 5 megapixels without interpolation. Built-in memory 32 GB, but initially available 25.8 GB. Multi-touch is designed for a full 10 touches, although on the first attempts it is easy to make only 9.

Buy a smartphone Zte Nubia Z7 Max is available on the site Banggood. Product delivery time is two to eight weeks when ordered in a standard way. The cost of the product is $86. Comes with Charger, an adapter for Russian sockets and a standard USB cable. There is also a spare glass for the phone, a protective film and a user manual.

How many working sensors are in the phone?

• Magnetic sensor (the device has a working compass);
• Gyroscope (the phone can be used for virtual reality glasses);
• Orientation sensor;
• Proximity sensor;
• accelerometer;
• Light sensor;
• wifi sensor. Even being behind three walls from the router, the phone is able to catch its signal by 50%.

Using a USB adapter, you can easily connect a USB flash drive, mouse, and even a printer to print output to your phone. The screen of the phone is not of a budget level. In absolute darkness, even when changing angles, the picture on the display is viewed without any inversion. If you make the minimum brightness, then everything is visible quite well (in the dark). The only negative is the home button, which is too bright.

Communication, sound and GPS

The phone works fine in 2G, 3G, 4G - the frequency range is full. Compared to the Xiaomi phone, the earpieces are much louder here. The sound of music in headphones is excellent quality. Compare with Xiaomi phone Red Me 3 Prime, it can be argued that Zte Nubia Z7 Max is not inferior to him at all.

The external speaker is also loud. Lacks, of course, low frequencies, but it is felt that the speaker is not cheap. GPS module of excellent quality - can catch more than 15 satellites at a time.

Gaming test

gta san andreas. It is not comfortable to play at the maximum setting, for a normal game it should be set at an average level. You can play races at maximum settings, but you need to understand that you won’t be able to play tanks at high settings. The maximum heating of the processor reaches up to 42 degrees Celsius.

Despite the presence of official suppliers of its products, the Chinese giant is little known in our country, and if an ordinary user has met models of this company, then most likely with inexpensive budget solutions. But in its assortment there are products that, in terms of their characteristics and workmanship, can compete with the flagship devices of leading brands.

One of them will become the hero of this review. The ZTE Nubia Z7 Max is part of the updated line of premium Nubia 7 devices, in which, in addition to it, there are two more smartphones: the ZTE Nubia 7Z Mini and the ZTE Nubia 7.

You should not pay much attention to the “Max” prefix, since the most powerful device in the lineup is the ZTE Nubia 7, while the Nubia Z7 Max and Nubia 7Z Mini are positioned as junior models and differ only in size.

Specifications

Model	ZTE Nubia Z7 Max
Screen	5.5", IPS, dot density 403 ppi
Permission	1920x1080
Operating system	Android 4.4
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC), 2.5 GHz, Krait 400, quad-core
GPU	Adreno 330, one core
RAM, GB	2
Flash memory, GB	32
Memory card support	MicroSD up to 64
Cameras, Mpix	Main 13 (flash, autofocus), frontal 5
Battery, mAh	3100
Dimensions (WxHxT), mm	76 x 152.7 x 8.7
Weight, g	160
SIM slots, pcs/type	2 micro SIM
Price, rubles	~14 000 order from China/ ~18,000 in Russian stores

On paper, we have another "shovel" with a modern filling and for a quite reasonable price - if you take it in stores, and very tempting if you order directly from China. Let's see if he can surprise us.

Packaging and equipment

The ZTE model comes in a small, nice looking cardboard box.

On the front part, only the name of the line to which the device belongs is given - Nubia.

Introduction

This summer, the Chinese company ZTE announced three smartphones of the Nubia line: 7 mini, 7 and the "semi-flagship" MAX. Why is it half flagship? The fact is that just the "seven" is equipped with a screen with a higher resolution, it has 3 GB of RAM instead of two for MAX. Agree, it is a bit strange to give the gadget a MAX prefix, given that it does not have a maximum configuration.

In our country, unfortunately, this event was not marked by the local representative office of ZTE, and the device itself is not officially sold in Russia. To test the Nubia 7 MAX smartphone, I had to order it from China, you will find information about the online store at the end of the review.

The device is notable for the fact that it works under the control of "fresh" Google versions Android, the "heart" is one of the most productive solutions - Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, the screen, although not "top-end", deserves respect - 5.5 inches IPS-FHD. 13 MP camera with F2.0 aperture with a lot of "soft" bells and whistles like long exposure shooting; there are many manual camera settings. The battery also did not let us down - 3100 mAh. The device functions without problems in Russian networks not only 2G / 3G, but also 4G!

In the ZTE MAX network, it costs about $370, that is, about 15,000 rubles. We ordered it even before the dollar jumped, so the smartphone cost us less.

Design, dimensions, controls

When I tested the previous generation of Nubia devices, in particular the Z5, it was felt that the developer had put a lot of time and effort into creating the product. I left a whole section on the description of the materials and appearance of the gadget. This time, the company either didn’t have enough money for a designer, or they didn’t care what the look of the novelty would be, the main thing was to install a cooler stuffing. In general, Nubia 7 MAX turned out to be much simpler than its predecessor.

There are two colors of the "seven": white and black. On sale basically saw only a black device. The front side is dark, merges with the screen matrix, so it looks quite interesting. The frame on the edge slightly rises above the screen, thereby protecting it from external influences- for example, if you put the phone face down on a horizontal surface. The edging is made of metal and painted black. In Nubia 5, the frame was thicker, solidity, quality, and security were felt. In Nubia 7 all these things are not perceived. You can guess that the edging is metal only by scratching the material.

The back cover is completely made of dark gray plastic, covered with a soft-touch layer. The shape of the case is rectangular, the side faces are even.

The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, there is an oleophobic coating, although not very effective. The finger glides over the surface perfectly. Prints remain on the screen, but are erased quickly and easily. For several weeks of active use of the smartphone, not a single scratch remained on the glass, the case was not rubbed, the paint did not peel off anywhere.

Despite the fact that the case is collapsible, I had a complete feeling that the cover still can not be removed, and on the net they write about 7 MAX only lies. The device is really well-assembled: the lid sits tightly, does not play or creak, with strong compression the gadget does not crunch, even when twisting the case does not make any sounds. With this, it’s not scary to go into reconnaissance :)

The speech speaker is located in the place where it is usually found in all phones - at the top center. Covered with black metal mesh. The speaker volume is very high, about the level of Samsung Galaxy Note 3/4, Apple iPhone 5/5S/6 or LG G3. The timbre is pleasant, both high and low frequencies are heard. The interlocutor is heard clearly and legibly.

Under the speaker are light and proximity sensors. They work quite correctly. To the right of them is the front camera with a wide-angle lens.

The branded red round touch button (“endless possibilities”) is located under the display. To the right and left of it are touch buttons. They glow red. The brightness of the backlight can be set manually or entrust it to automation. In addition, the round button flashes while skipping various events.

At the bottom is a micro-USB connector, enclosed in a light metal casing. Given that the entire body is black, the "micro usb" stands out. To the right of it is the main microphone.

Above is a 3.5 mm audio output for headphones or a headset, next to it is an IR transmitter. Its presence is due only to the fact that it is in the Samsung S5 and some other popular models, and not because it is really needed.

On the right side of the device is a volume rocker, a little lower - the power button. They are made of glossy plastic, slightly rise above the body, their pressing is soft, the stroke is small. The button for activating the screen backlight (lock) is located well, exactly under the thumb of the right hand.

The camera recessed into the body and framed by a red metal ring, flash, speaker and second microphone are located on the back of the device.

To remove the back cover, you need to pry it from the notch on the lower left corner. On the back of the panel is an NFC antenna. The upper and lower parts of the case are plastic, and the rest of the interior of the decoration is made of dark-colored metal. On the right side, there are three slots: for microSD, microSIM1 and microSIM2. Only the SIM1 (2G/3G/4G) slot works for data transfer, SIM2 can only receive and send calls and SMS. Strange, of course, but nothing can be done about these Chinese phones. There is only one radio module here!

In general, the impression of the appearance is positive. The main thing is that the ergonomics of the design is excellent, given the considerable dimensions of the device (153x76x8.7 mm). If you are interested in weight, then it is 170 grams.

Comparative dimensions:

ZTE and Apple iPhone 5

Display

The ZTE Nubia 7 MAX has a 5.5-inch screen. Again, the manufacturer follows the fashion to increase the screen size. The physical size is 68x122 mm, the frame on top is 14 mm, on the bottom is 17 mm, on the right and left is a little less than 4 mm.

The resolution, unlike Nubia 7, is FullHD here, that is, 1080x1920 pixels is 400 pixels per inch. Quite a decent figure, the pixelation is not striking, the detail is excellent.

The matrix is ​​made using IPS technology, there is no air gap between the glass and the screen. The viewing angles are large, the picture is not distorted when the display is tilted, it does not turn purple or yellow, the brightness decreases slightly. White color seemed to me as natural as possible; The “depth” of black is good, there is no matrix flare. The colors are rich and pleasing to the eye. In the settings there are three saturation points and three color temperature selection points. I advise you to leave everything as it is by default.

In general, the Nubia 7 MAX display left only positive impressions.

The touch layer fulfills up to 10 simultaneous touches. The sensitivity is excellent.

Screen settings:

Black color

White color

Viewing angles

Comparison with Huawei Ascend Mate 7 (left - ZTE, right - Mate 7):

Battery

The ZTE smartphone uses a 3100 mAh non-removable lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery. The manufacturer does not provide any figures, and we are not offended by this - we will test the sample ourselves.

If you use the phone for about 20-23 hours, the battery will be completely discharged, subject to 30 minutes of calls per day, 6 hours of constant use of Wi-Fi Internet (Twitter, mail, downloading applications and installing them), about 5 hours mobile internet and hours of listening to music.

You can only listen to music for 30 hours, watch only video (maximum screen brightness, high volume, movie resolution - HD 720p) - 6-7 hours. If you want to play with toys (for example, in GTA SA), then the battery will sit down after 3-4 hours.

In general, the expected performance, given the sufficiently capacious battery, not the largest screen.

Communication options

This model, despite its origin, works with 2G (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900), 3G (850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100), and most importantly - with our 4G LTE. Tested on the MegaFon network - the flight is normal. For 4G to function, you need to go to the settings, select the "Msim" section and click on Card One. Next, turn on 4G Mode. Let me remind you once again that the data slot is SIM1.

There is an NFC chip, Android Beam is involved. There is Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot), Bluetooth version 4.0 (A2DP). USB 2.0 (OTG) is used for file transfer and data synchronization.

The device easily finds up to 50 satellites (GPS - Qualcomm® IZat™ Gen8B) in a few seconds, even near the window during a "cold" start. Frankly, very surprised by the sensitivity.

Memory and memory card

The Nubia 7 MAX uses 2 GB of RAM, with an average of about 900 MB free. The older Nubia model has 3 GB of RAM.

Despite the fact that the device has 32 GB of internal memory, the manufacturer installed a slot for a microSD memory card here. The maximum volume is 64 GB.

Camera

The device was equipped with two camera modules: the first and main - 13 MP with autofocus, lens aperture F2.0; the second one is frontal at 5 MP without autofocus, with a wide viewing angle, lens aperture F2.3.

Although from the point of view of “software” the gadget was equipped to the eyeballs, most of the chips turned out to be practically useless, especially the “FUN” section. But first things first.

The quality of the photos, it seemed to me, deteriorated a little with the firmware update. However, there was nowhere to go: either the stable operation of the device and poor frame quality, or a glitch on a glitch and decent frame quality.

The minimum ISO value is 100, the maximum ISO value is 1600. The minimum shutter speed is 1/5000 second, the maximum value is 1 second. There is no optical stabilizer, so the tooltips have instructions on how to use a tripod.

I got the impression that the developers could not come up with a correct photo processing algorithm, as it is felt that there is potential. Probably, a weak module was installed in this model: a lot of color noise, blurring of image details, and so on.

There is a separate noise removal option in the settings, but it works extremely aggressively, turning the picture into a soap spot. In short, the best detail is missing.

Autofocus does not work well: sometimes even by tapu it does not focus. It can be configured manually, but this function is implemented unsuccessfully: a strip with a scale appears below, which must be scrolled either to the right or to the left. At the same time, it is not clear from the display exactly where the focus was “pointed”. Usually in such situations, the central region of the frame is enlarged to correctly adjust the sharpness.

In short, ZTE 7 MAX does not take pictures very well, but there is potential - all hopes for firmware!

The device can record video in resolutions up to 3840 x 2160 at 30 frames per second (in low light - 10 fps). The quality is amazing, much better than any camera phone that records in FullHD. From the video on Nubia 7 MAX it is easy to choose screenshots that will not be much inferior to photos. Focus can be selected either constant or tapu. The sound is clear, mono, although there are two microphones.

The front camera takes 5-megapixel shots of excellent quality. Video - 720r.

EXIF information

Settings. From bottom left to right: gallery, switching to video mode, shooting, switching to photo mode, additional options (Auto, Pro and Fun). Above - settings, turning the flash on or off, OnLine tips on how to take pictures correctly, a timer and switching to the front camera.

Camera settings:

Camcorder settings:

Additional options. On the right, you can easily switch the device to Pro or Fun mode. In the first case, you can use the camera with separate autofocus and exposure (the circle is the choice of the exposure point, and the square is focusing), night mode through settings. In the second case, the following effects are available:

• Startrack. Very long exposure
• Galaxy photo. About the same as ST
• light painting. Long exposure and increased contrast
• supernight. Increase shutter speed again, theoretically you can shoot handheld
• Crystal. Not quite clear and intelligible effect
• Multi Exposure. Combining multiple images
• Deleting objects
• Object tracking. Several shots are taken where the subject is constantly in focus. Drawing a trajectory
• Video editor
• effects
• Panorama
• A series of shots

Some effects, frankly, are incomprehensible to me or duplicate each other. There is a SloMo video, but it is recorded in 480p resolution.

Video file characteristic:

• File Format: MP4
• Video codec: AVC, 20Mbps
• Resolution: 3840x2160, 30 fps
• Audio codec: AAC, 96 kbps
• Channels: 1 channel, 48 kHz

Sample photo on the front camera:

Performance

This model has one of the most productive chips - Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 MSM8974AC: 4 processor cores on the Krait 400 architecture, the frequency of each can reach 2.5 GHz, the manufacturing process is 28 nm. Adreno 330 (578 MHz) is used as a video accelerator. Read more about the chip on the official page.

Before the firmware update, the device behaved extremely unstable: it rebooted, warmed up, during a conversation it could reset the call and could not update itself, which is the saddest thing. I had to "update" manually. On the this moment the latest Firmware is V14.07.25 or build number NX505J_CNCommon_V1.41, Android version 4.4.2.

It was on this firmware that everything fell into place. The smartphone stopped slowing down and buggy. Games run without any problems.

Screenshots from games:

Performance Tests:

The ZTE 7 MAX has branded shell. To unlock the display, press the power button and drag the lock icon to the center of the screen. If you pull it further, the camera will start. Not very comfortable.

There is no menu, all icons are presented on virtual desktops. Pinch - display all tables. Up to 5 icons can be placed in the bottom panel.

The notification bar is pulled out from the top. In its lower part, turn on or turn off various functions: WiFi. Bluetooth, data transmission, GPS and so on. The number of these icons is adjustable in the settings.

Otherwise, the changes are shallow, the shell is relatively simple and indistinct, I would say that it is primitive.

It should be noted that the device does not have services Google Play, you have to install them yourself. The Russian language is partially available, mostly everything is in Chinese or English.

If you open the developer options, you can see the following animation:

Multimedia

Music player. After launch, two large folders appear in front of you: all albums and favorites. Below - playlist, albums, artists, folders, download manager and more.

The volume of the speaker is slightly above average, the quality is not bad. If you close the speaker hole, the volume level will drop to almost zero.

The volume in the headphones is very high, all the “ears” that I have in my collection are swinging. So, if you need loudness at the limit of what is possible, take Nubia and you will not lose. I really liked the quality: the sound is powerful, rich, the basses are pleasant, there are high ones.

There is an equalizer in the settings. There is an FM radio.

The smartphone can play, as you might guess, video in any resolution, including 4K.

Conclusion

Today, the “gray” ZTE Nubia 7 MAX (and, unfortunately, there is no other yet) can be bought for 18,000 rubles or ordered from China a little cheaper. It seems to me that the cost is quite justified, since this is one of the most powerful smartphones in front of you.

I consider the following to be the main positives:

• Powerful processor
• Capacious battery
• High-quality screen matrix
• Very loud sound in headphones
• Headphone sound quality
• The presence of a radio (recently, there is no FM in the flagships)
• Two sim cards
• 4G operation in Russian networks
• The presence of a slot for microSD in the presence of 32 GB of internal memory
• 4K video recording
• Quality build

Obvious disadvantages:

• Not 100% stable yet
• Lack of Google services out of the box
• Nondescript and non-functional shell

If we talk about the camera, then it is weak, but it shoots better than many devices in this price category.

What did not like

Not the best signal reception

What did you like

Size, design, fast geolocation, headphone sound, interface, stability, bright LED flash

What did not like

I'm not comfortable with the volume and power buttons located next to each other - it's easy to confuse. In addition, the buttons are very soft.
For full use, you must have initial training in "finishing" the firmware. For example, to install Google Apps (connect Google account and use the Play Market), you need to get Root and install custom Recovery.
Some UI elements are inferior in design to the best samples (for example, small photos and fonts on the call screen, the design of the curtain is also not very pleasant).
The battery is non-removable.

What did you like

Like appearance. Strict and discreet, no chrome edges and buttons, not like a soap dish. Powerful hardware (although I don’t play; AnTuTu has 45-46 thousand), 2 SIM cards (I don’t use it, maybe someday for mobile Internet), 32 GB of memory + support for SD cards. Bright display with realistic white color (after Samsung AMOLED screens), there is less light exposure in the sun than Samsung. I still haven’t appreciated the screen coverage, because I haven’t removed the perfectly glued factory film. Good sound both in the speaker and in the headphones (the sound in the headphones is better than in the SGS4 I9500, I use the Neutron player. We can say that the sound in the headphones is good). Everything works stably, at night it “sleeps” perfectly. The battery is normal (lasts for a day, a little better than the SGS4, but nothing fantastic). The battery is non-removable (this, of course, is a minus). I am satisfied with the camera (many settings, for a full-fledged photo I recognize only a DSLR). It heats up weakly.

What did not like

What did you like

just super

What did not like

Haven't found it yet.

What did you like

Screen, screen size, small width of the phone with this screen size, Russian LTE on two SIM cards.

What did not like

The camera is frankly weak. Moreover, the sensor itself is good, the software part let us down. When you install alternative software for the camera (for example, from Lenovo), you can get decent pictures in any conditions. We are waiting for the firmware update.

What did you like

1. Dimensions - large screen, thin body, almost no frames around the screen. Fits in hand. 2. The most powerful hardware allows you to solve any problems - the coolest games fly at maximum settings. 3. Battery - with this screen size, it can live up to 4 days without charging at medium loads (calls, wi-fi, reading) 4. High-quality sound from both speakers, cool screen. 5. 4G LTE works with our operators without any questions on any of the selected SIM cards 6. A huge number of factory Russified and custom firmware and plugins are available + very competent help, support and a bunch of all kinds of instructions on the forum.

What did not like

There are no particular shortcomings. Glitches are also not noticed. Warning: weak contact group in the sim tray. I inserted the SIM card through the adapter, there was a small barb that caught on the contact and arched it. When installing a SIM card through an adapter, make sure that the SIM card is on the same level with the adapter.

What did you like

The phone made me very happy. The signal picks up very well, the sound is clear, without distortion, as if the subscriber is standing nearby. The screen is of good quality, a little hard to see in bright light. Thanks to 2 GB of RAM and a powerful processor, all programs run very quickly, from light applications to heavy games, menu scrolling is easy, without brakes. The case is made qualitatively, does not creak, lies comfortably in the hand. The camera is not to say that it is prohibitive, with good lighting The quality of the pictures is good, if not enough, the average. I liked the unlock by double tapping on the screen, convenient. The charge holds well, if you use it very intensively, then 5-7 hours will be enough, if in normal mode then 2-3 days is enough. The screen consumes the most. Excellent sound when listening to music, thanks to the built-in Dolby Digital Plus, the sound is clear and spacious. A lot of different priblud, such as the next track when the phone is fed forward, the end of a call by turning over and so on, everything can be configured as you like. GPS is a separate issue, it catches satellites within 5 seconds and displays them in 8-15 pieces, the reception is excellent.

Detailed testing of the new tablet phone from the advanced series

ZTE has once again updated its line of nubia smartphones, which is positioned as a series of premium products. The flagship model called ZTE nubia Z7, which replaced its predecessors ZTE nubia Z5 and Z5s, has now become the main one in this series. Traditionally, the manufacturer supports several of these “premium models” in the assortment at the same time, united by the nubia line. Previously, there were two modifications: the flagship itself and its mini-version, and we have already published a review of a new mini-model called ZTE nubia Z7 mini). However, this time the Chinese also released the so-called “maxi” modification - a smartphone that, in theory, should have been similar to the flagship in most characteristics, but bypass it in size and screen area.

To our surprise, the ZTE nubia Z7 Max is actually no bigger than the updated flagship, and in some ways even smaller. With similar physical screen sizes (with the same 5.5-inch diagonal), the Max version had a lower screen resolution in pixels (1920 × 1080 versus 2560 × 1440 for the ZTE nubia Z7). Also, in the “main” model, the amount of RAM has been increased to 3 GB, but otherwise both smartphones are almost the same.

Video review

To get started, we suggest watching our video review of the ZTE nubia Z7 Max smartphone:

Now let's look at the characteristics of new items.

Key Features of ZTE nubia Z7 Max (NX505J)

	ZTE nubia Z7 Max	Huawei Ascend Mate 7	Oppo Find 7	LG G3
Screen	5.5" IPS	6" IPS	5.5" IPS	5.5" IPS
Permission	1920×1080, 400ppi	1920×1080, 367 ppi	2560×1440, 538 ppi	2560×1440, 538 ppi
SoC		HiSilicon Kirin 925 (4x ARM Cortex-A15 @1.7GHz + 4x ARM Cortex-A7+i3)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4x Krait 400) @2.5GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (4x Krait 400) @2.5GHz
GPU	Adreno 330	Mali-T628 MP4	Adreno 330	Adreno 330
RAM	2 GB	2 GB	3 GB	2/3 GB
Flash memory	32 GB	16 GB	32 GB	16/32 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	microSD
Operating system	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.4	Google Android 4.3	Google Android 4.4
Battery	non-removable, 3100 mAh	non-removable, 4100 mAh	removable, 3000 mAh	removable, 3000 mAh
cameras		rear (13 MP; video 1080p), front (5 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 4K), front (5 MP)	rear (13 MP; video 4K), front (2 MP)
Dimensions and weight	153×76×8.7mm, 170g	157×81×7.9mm, 185g	153×75×9.2mm, 173g	146×75×8.8mm, 155g
average price	T-10958359	T-11036156	T-10752992	T-10848744
Offers ZTE nubia Z7 Max	L-10958359-10

• SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 (MSM8974AC), 4 cores Krait 400, 2.5 GHz
• GPU Adreno 330
• Operating system Android 4.4.2
• Touch display IPS 5.5″, 1920×1080, 400 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 2 GB, internal memory 32 GB
• Support for microSD memory cards up to 64 GB
• Communication GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• WCDMA communication: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz
• 4G data transmission: TDD-LTE (B38/B39/B40/B41), FDD-LTE (B1/B3/B7)
• Bluetooth 4.0, NFC
• USB 2.0, OTG
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS (A-GPS), Glonass
• Camera 13 MP, F2.0, OIS, autofocus, 4K video
• Camera 5 MP (front)
• Accelerometer, proximity sensor, light sensor, gyroscope, electronic compass
• Li-ion battery 3100 mAh
• Dimensions 153×76×8.7 mm
• Weight 170 g

Contents of delivery

The novelty received as a package exactly the same in appearance and structure of the box in which its brothers in the line were delivered. This is a small box, almost the size of a smartphone itself, made of hard white cardboard with a red layer in the middle. The packaging looks stylish and expensive due to the fact that there are no pictures on its surfaces and only the minimum necessary information is applied.

Inside, in two small compartments, a poor set of accessories is stored: a small charger (5 V, 1.5 A), a USB connection cable and several thin paper books. As in all cases with the products of the nubia series, the packaging and its contents are presented so pathetically that the most favorable mood is immediately created for further acquaintance with the product.

Appearance and usability

In terms of size, the novelty turned out to be quite overall, you can’t name a compact smartphone with such dimensions, although the line separating the “compact smartphone” from the “shovel phone” has recently been erased quite strongly. Nevertheless, the ZTE nubia Z7 Max is a very large and rather heavy mobile device that fits in the palm of your hand, but it is absolutely impossible to work with it with the same hand.

At the same time, the smartphone is quite thin, the back cover is beveled to the sides, and the surface has a rough non-slip coating, which generally favors the convenience of holding the device in your hand. The smartphone does not slip out of the fingers, and there are practically no fingerprints left on it.

The body of the smartphone is entirely made of plastic, the surface of the plastic is rough, matte, but solid - there is no rubberized soft-touch effect here. The back cover completely covers not only the back, but also the sides, putting on the smartphone's body in the manner of a casing. All hardware buttons, respectively, are fixed on this very cover, so without it the device cannot be fully used.

As with other nubia products, the overall design of the ZTE nubia Z7 Max turned out to be very calm, the smartphone does not look expensive or stylish, it is a completely ordinary-looking, rustic mobile device made of matte plastic. The design of the new nubia certainly does not claim to be premium, there is absolutely nothing to show off to the owner of this device. And at the same time, upon closer examination, the smartphone exudes some kind of nobility, by the quality of small elements, it becomes clear that this product is not from cheap Chinese handicrafts, it has a more impressive pedigree.

Case ZTE nubia Z7 mini has a monoblock structure with a removable back cover, which is held by several plastic latches. The cover can be easily removed; for this purpose, a corresponding ledge is provided on one of the ends. As already mentioned, all side keys are removed along with the cover.

Under the cover are two slots for Micro-SIM cards, as well as a microSD slot that supports the installation of memory cards up to 64 GB. To remove SIM-cards from the slots in the upper part, corresponding holes were made, with which you can push the stuck card. The battery here is tightly closed from the user's eyes with an additional casing, there is no direct access to it. Hot-swapping of SIM cards is not supported - when changing, you must restart the device. The slots are equivalent in terms of their capabilities, but since there is only one radio module, only one of the SIM cards will work in 4G / 3G at the same time, and the other at this moment only functions in 2G.

On the back surface there are several familiar elements: a small window of the main camera, framed by a metallized painted ring, next to it is the eye of a single-section LED flash that can work as a flashlight using a preinstalled program.

A slot is cut in the lower part, which serves to let the sound out of the speaker. On the outside, near the hole, there are two slightly protruding protrusions that prevent the sound from being muffled by a hard surface. Not to say that it was the prettiest of the elements of nubia devices - such a blackened emptiness of the gap is clearly missing at least some kind of metal grille. This, by the way, is one of the noticeable external differences between the cheaper modifications of the Z7 Max and Z7 mini from the main flagship one: in the ZTE nubia Z7 itself, the speaker grille is made in the form of an array of small round holes, which looks much more expressive and aesthetically pleasing than this nondescript slot.

On the other hand, the speaker has a grille, located in the upper part of the front surface. The front panel is completely covered by a flat protective glass Gorilla Glass 3. The front camera window and sensor eyes are hidden under glass in the upper part above the screen, next to the painted metal speaker grille.

The role of the light indicator is traditionally performed by a round touch button at the bottom under the screen. The circle slowly pulses bright red to indicate charging modes and incoming events; it's called Breath Light. The indicator functions can be configured in a special section of the menu.

Two illuminated dots on the sides are the usual back and menu touch buttons, devoid of their classic designations. However, this option also has its advantages: since the buttons do not have icons with specific designations, their functions can be reassigned through a special menu (at least just swap the buttons).

Mechanical controls are located on one, right side of the device. Here you can find the lock button and the paired volume key. The location of the mechanical buttons is comfortable, with one finger you can easily reach any of them. The keys themselves are quite large, easy to find blindly. The key travel is short, but elastic enough, there are no problems with this.

The universal Micro-USB connector is located at the bottom end, it supports the external device connection mode (OTG), so you can connect a flash drive to your smartphone and read information directly from it.

Headphone audio jack (3.5 mm) is located on the top. Next to it you can see the eye of the infrared transmitter, which serves to emulate the remote control. remote control. To work with it, a corresponding program is preinstalled in the smartphone, which contains numerous settings for working with various equipment, from TVs to set-top boxes. There are no plugs or covers for the slots and connectors of the device, since the smartphone is not protected from water and dust. The ZTE nubia Z7 Max does not have a strap attachment.

As for the color options, there are traditionally only two of them for the ZTE nubia Z7 Max model: black and white. Recall, however, that the updated mini version of the flagship, ZTE nubia Z7 mini, is offered in a much wider range of different colors.

Screen

The ZTE nubia Z7 Max is equipped with an IPS (CGS) LCD touchscreen. The screen dimensions are 68 × 121 mm, the diagonal is 5.5 inches, the resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels. Such a parameter as dot density is 400 ppi here - the density is not a record, but very high. Outside, the screen is covered with protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass. The thickness of the side frames from the edge of the screen to the edge of the case is about 3 mm - the frames are quite narrow, but, for example, the recently presented six-inch tablet phone Huawei Ascend Mate 7, which also managed to visit our laboratory, has even narrower side frames.

The brightness of the display can be adjusted manually, or you can use automatic adjustment. When you bring the smartphone to your ear, the screen is locked using the proximity sensor. Multi-touch technology allows you to simultaneously process multiple touches, but, traditionally for mobile devices ZTE nubia, more than three touches will be recognized only when gesture support is turned off, otherwise the device processes only three simultaneous touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

On the screen of this smartphone, a protective film was initially and most likely factory-glued, which we removed. The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the off screens (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is ZTE nubia Z7 Max, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the ZTE nubia Z7 Max is as dark as that of the Nexus 7. The ghosting of reflected objects on the screen of the ZTE nubia Z7 Max is very weak, which indicates that there is no air between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix). gap (screen type OGS - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of borders (glass-air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (very effective, maybe a little better than Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much easier, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

At manual control brightness and when displaying a white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 395 cd / m², the minimum - 19 cd / m². The maximum brightness is quite high, and given the excellent anti-reflective properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors will be at high level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by light sensor (located under the slot of the front speaker). V automatic mode as the ambient light conditions change, the brightness of the screen both increases and decreases. In complete darkness, the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 19 cd/m² (normal), in an artificially lit office environment (approx. without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 370 cd / m² (not to the maximum, but this brightness is enough). As a result, the auto-brightness function works absolutely adequately. At any brightness level, there is virtually no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS type matrix. Micrographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even at large deviations of the gaze from the perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photos in which the same images are displayed on the ZTE nubia Z7 Max and Nexus 7 screens, while the screen brightness is initially set to about 200 cd / m² (white field in full screen), and the color balance on the camera is forcibly switched to 6500 K. White field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And a test picture:

Color reproduction is good and colors are saturated on both screens. Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, and the contrast remained at a high level. And the white box:

The brightness at an angle at the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), and decreased by about the same amount. The black field, when deviated diagonally, highlights medium or strong and acquires a hue from red-violet to yellowish or remains approximately neutral gray. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is approximately the same!):

On the other diagonal

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is not ideal, the black field has a pronounced tint and is not very dark:

Contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is low - about 625:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 18ms (9ms on + 9ms off). The transition between grayscale 25% and 75% (according to the numerical value of the color) and back in total takes 30 ms. The gamma curve constructed from 32 points with an equal interval according to the numerical value of the shade of gray did not reveal a blockage either in the highlights or in the shadows. Approximation exponent power function is 2.19, which is almost equal to the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power dependence:

The color gamut is sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components to each other:

As a result, visually the colors have a natural saturation. The balance of shades on the gray scale is slightly compromised, since the color temperature is noticeably higher than the standard 6500 K. The deviation from the black body spectrum (ΔE) in most of the gray scale is less than 10, which is considered a good indicator for a consumer device, but at the same time, ΔE varies greatly from hue to hue - this negatively affects the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance does not matter much there, and the measurement error of color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

In this smartphone, in the screen settings, it is possible to slightly reduce or increase the color saturation (color contrast, gamut does not change). Choose a profile Glow, we get:

And the result when choosing a profile Soft:

If you look closely at the average saturation of the colors, you can determine that the result of the correction corresponds to the names of the profiles. In the first picture a little brighter, more saturated, in the second - a little softer, paler. A test with color gradients shows that even when choosing an option standard there is a decrease in gradations in the area rich colors, and here in Soft with gradations everything is in order:

Let's summarize. The screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device, most likely, can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is permissible to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of flicker and air gap in the layers of the screen, as well as the sRGB color gamut and an acceptable color balance. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.

Sound

In terms of sound, the new ZTE nubia smartphone is, as always, good. Nothing is said about the presence of a separate sound chip, perhaps it is not here, but there is support for Dolby Digital sound processing technology. The sound emitted by the main speaker is generally not bad, no special distortions were noticed, but this is not the loudest of smartphones. There are no distortions in the auditory dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor, intonations and timbre are well recognizable. Music player rich in possibilities, and the settings can be influenced to increase the volume and add low frequencies. There is an FM radio as standard on the smartphone, and there is also a voice recorder. The radio works only with connected headphones that act as an antenna. The voice recorder can record a conversation from the line using regular means, in the settings you can even set the recording of all telephone conversations in automatic mode.

Camera

Smartphone ZTE nubia Z7 Max is equipped with two modules of digital cameras with a resolution of 13 and 5 megapixels. The main, rear camera has a 13 megapixel matrix with a Sony Exmor IMX214 CMOS sensor with OIS optical stabilization, autofocus and a single-section LED flash. The camera shoots in 4208×3120 resolution.

By default, the camera shoots in automatic mode, but there are two more in the settings: professional (Pro) and also entertaining (Fun). In the latter, the user can apply any of the effects to the picture: "warm", "lomo" or, for example, "fisheye". In professional mode, it is possible to display a two-axis level on the screen and two types of grids (one of them is snail-shaped), as well as timer control. But the most interesting feature of this mode is manual selection of the metering point. Two frames appear on the display: green and pink. Green is responsible for the focus point, and pink is for the metering point. To equalize the exposure to a specific object, you just need to move the pink dot to this object, and the camera will set the desired exposure.

The camera can shoot video in 1080p and UHD (4K) resolution, 1080p mode at 60 frames / s, unfortunately, is not provided. Sample test videos are shown below.

• Movie #1 (260 MB, 3840×2160 (4K))
• Movie #2 (45 MB, 1920x1080)

Sample photos with our comments are presented below.

	The foliage is worked out well, but the sharpness drops noticeably in the corners.
	The camera copes with noise by half. Not everything has been processed.
	Good long-range sharpness.
	The camera works out shadows well, but to the detriment of light areas, the dynamic range is narrow.
	Even on long-distance cars, the numbers can be distinguished.
	This shot perfectly demonstrates the identity of the camera modules in the "small" and "large" versions of the Z7.
	An example of a common focus error: the whole image is soapy.
	Good sharpness throughout the field of the frame and according to the plans.
	The camera does a good job with text.
	Yes, and she succeeds in macro quite well.

The camera turned out good. Even field shots are enough to understand that the camera module is the same as in ZTE nubia Z7 mini, and therefore, they cope with shooting in about the same way. The problem areas are still the same: inappropriate sharpening, hacky noise reduction, which processes only half of the noise (although it hides this half of the noise well). It should be noted that the sharpness of the Z7 Max camera is good - not always and not everywhere, but basically it works out the details really well. Also worth noting is the problem with autofocus, which does not always work stably, so you will have to watch the camera when shooting.

In general, the camera, like the "small" nubia Z7, was a success. With documentary shooting, she will cope well, with art - a little worse.

Telephone part and communications

ZTE nubia Z7 Max works as standard in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, there is also support for fourth-generation LTE (4G) networks, including those frequencies that operate on the territory of our country. In practice, with a SIM card of the domestic operator MTS, the device is confidently registered and works in the 4G network. Moreover, a SIM card in any of the slots successfully copes with this, but, as usual, only one of them can function simultaneously in 4G / 3G mode, and the second one is limited to 2G mode at this time.

The smartphone supports NFC technology, you can also connect external devices (whether mice, keyboards or flash drives) to the USB port. The navigation module supports both GPS and the domestic Glonass, as well as the satellites of the Chinese Beidou network (they are marked with red flags).

Spontaneous reboots / shutdowns were not observed during testing. The screen of the smartphone is large, so the drawing of letters and numbers on the virtual keyboard is quite comfortable to control. By the way, for the convenience of working with one hand, a mode for reducing the size of the desktop screen is provided. There is no dedicated top row with numbers on the standard keyboard - you will have to switch the layout every time. The layout itself and the layout of the keys are standard: to switch the language layout, just press the button with the image of a globe. The phone app supports Smart Dial, but the popular swipe input method (Swype) was not found, at least in the European layout.

The smartphone supports two SIM cards, and in general, work with them in the menu is organized according to a familiar principle: you can assign any of the SIM cards as the main one for organizing voice calls, data transfer or sending SMS messages; when dialing a number, you can also select the desired card directly in the telephone interface. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G / 4G networks, however, only one of the cards can operate in this mode at the same time. The slots are equivalent in terms of their capabilities, but since there is only one radio module, only one of the SIM cards will work in 4G / 3G at the same time, and the other at this moment only functions in 2G. To change the assignments of card slots, you do not need to swap places - this can be done directly from the phone menu.

OS and software

The Google software platform is used as a system android version 4.4.2 and proprietary graphic user interface Nubia UI 2.0. The most noticeable feature of the shell is the absence of a separate application menu. Icons of installed programs are automatically laid out directly on desktops, the creation of folders is naturally supported.

There is a wide functionality of working with gestures, there are a lot of them in the menu, they are combined into several sections, and there are visual instructions for each. The notification panel is quite informative and has a navigation bar for accessing the most important functions, but it is located not at the top, like the others, but at the bottom of the panel. Its content can be customized and sorted according to the user's own taste.

The organization of working with the screen with one hand is unusually implemented: instead of bringing the elements closer to one of the edges, the entire working screen itself is reduced in size. That is, when this function is enabled, a small copy of the desktop appears in the corner, to any corner of which you can easily reach with the finger of one hand. Several different possible sizes are supported.

There are a sufficient number of pre-installed programs, but most of them are useless for us due to the lack of support for languages ​​other than Chinese - you need to manually install more familiar and familiar applications. And since our test device was intended for the Chinese market, and there, as you know, branded google apps apps don’t like it too much, there was no pre-installed Google Play app store in the smartphone. We had to resort to the help of non-standard methods again. Those who are interested can do the operation themselves at their own peril and risk. Just in case, we list the main steps.

To get started, install necessary tools Android for Windows. This is easy to do with (reboot after just in case). Now download the archive with rooting tools. Unzip "TowelRoot v3.apk" and "SuperSU Pro v2.0.0.apk" into your smartphone's memory. Install the first apk file through the smartphone explorer, launch the application and click "Make it rain" (an active internet connection is required for successful rooting). Then run the second apk file and grant superuser rights to the application installed with it.

Next is the installation of CWM-recovery. In order not to reboot again, copy the archive with Google applications to the phone's memory in advance. Now download the archive and extract its contents. Run "!flash_recovery.bat" and connect your phone in debug mode. It is enabled in the developer settings - this item appears in the settings menu if you click on "Build number" many times in the phone information. In the program window that appears, press "1" and "Enter". After a few seconds, a couple of requests for obtaining root rights will appear on the phone, grant them. If successful, the phone will reboot into CWM recovery (it is controlled using the mechanical buttons of the smartphone). Select install from internal storage, and then the copied archive with applications. Before rebooting into Android, the smartphone may complain about problems with root rights, in this dialog box we selected "fix". Then the smartphone rebooted and Google applications started working without problems.

Performance

The ZTE nubia Z7 Max hardware platform is based on the most powerful single-chip system (SoC) Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 with four Krait 400 cores. This platform has the functionality of Snapdragon 800 with a slightly higher frequency of processor cores: Snapdragon 801 can operate at frequencies up to 2.5 GHz, in while the core frequency of the previous version of the chip was limited to 2.3 GHz. The presented model uses the maximum version of the platform - MSM8974AC. Graphics processing in the smartphone is handled by the Adreno 330 video accelerator. The amount of RAM is 2 GB, and about 23 GB of the nominally designated 32 GB is available for the user's needs in the device. The amount of internal memory can be further increased by microSD cards: the smartphone supports such cards up to 64 GB. You can also connect external flash drives, keyboards and mice to the Micro-USB port using a special adapter in OTG mode.

To get an idea of ​​the platform performance of the tested smartphone, let's run a standard set of tests.

For convenience, we have summarized all the results obtained by us when testing a smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks in tables. Several other devices from various segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within a single comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing in MobileXPRT, as well as in the latest versions of AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

According to the results of testing in benchmarks, the device proved to be one of the most powerful and productive modern mobile devices on the market. In the AnTuTu test, the test subject showed even better results than the generally recognized world leaders demonstrated before him. However, it is not yet clear how the results of the two versions of the popular benchmark correlate with each other, because now the fourth version has been replaced by the fifth, and all new devices are now tested in it. For now, we will have to mark in the plates in which versions of the benchmark this or that model was tested. However, the difference is probably not so great, all top-end smartphones based on Snapdragon 801 are, in any case, the most powerful mobile devices on the market today, the power of which will be enough to perform any tasks for a long time to come.

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (due to which the speed can rise above 60 fps).

The results of testing the graphics subsystem in the Epic Citadel gaming test, as well as Basemark X and Bonsai Benchmark:

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them depend significantly on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, you should not expect everything from a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it.

According to the test results, the ZTE nubia Z7 Max smartphone pleasantly surprised by the presence of full support for all the necessary decoders in its smartphones. Unlike the majority of reviewed devices from other companies, the capabilities of the built-in video player were enough to play all our standard test clips without any problems. At the same time, there were no problems with sound, and in a third-party MX player you don’t even have to switch to hardware playback in the Hardware+. That is, to put it simply, this device will play any video downloaded from the network without any problems.

Format	container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Regular video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720×400 2200 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720×400 1400 Kbps, MP3+AC3	plays normally	plays normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280x720 3000Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280x720 4000Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920x1080 8000Kbps, AC3	plays normally	plays normally

We did not find the MHL interface, as well as Mobility DisplayPort in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video signal playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output frames of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In tests, we used the MX Player video player in Hardware+ mode. The test results are summarized in the table: Red marks indicate possible problems with the playback of the corresponding files.

According to the criteria for displaying frames, the quality of playing video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. The smartphone can even display 4K resolution files up to and including 30 fps. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p), the image of the video file itself is displayed one-on-one, exactly on the edge of the screen and in true Full HD resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - all gradations of shades are displayed in the shadows and in the highlights - which is required for the correct playback of typical video files.

Battery Life

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery built into the device is a decent 3100 mAh. However, even with such a large amount of battery, the device did not set any records, showing decent results, but nothing more.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D game mode
ZTE nubia Z7 Max	3100 mAh	15h 20m	8h 20m	4h 10m
Huawei Mate 7	4100 mAh	20:00	12:30 pm	4h 25m
ZTE nubia Z7 mini	2300 mAh	13h 20m	7h 20m	4h 50m
Vivo Xshot	2600 mAh	20:00	8h 40m	4h 15m
Oppo Find 7	3000 mAh	9 a.m.	6h 40m	3h 20m
Oppo Find 7a	2800 mAh	16h 40m	8h 20m	3 a.m.
HTC One M8	2600 mAh	22h 10m	13h 20m	3h 20m
Samsung Galaxy S5	2800 mAh	5:20 p.m.	12:30 pm	4h 30m

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd / m²) lasted 15.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and with continuous viewing of YouTube videos in high quality (HQ) with the same level of brightness through a home Wi-Fi network, the device lasted about 8.5 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone worked for a little over 4 hours.

Outcome

As for the cost of the novelty, it is still unknown at what price this device will be officially sold on the Russian market, but unofficial suppliers already offer it for about 18 thousand rubles. During the presentation in China, the novelty was priced at $320. For this money, the user gets an excellent, high-quality and balanced product, very little different from the flagship of the nubia brand. High-quality materials and assembly, good ergonomics, a good camera, excellent screen and platform - all this is worthy of praise in itself, but especially - given the more than reasonable price. Unfortunately, this statement is true only for the Chinese market - this excellent smartphone will reach us, having already risen in price.