Nubia Neo 5G Review – Gaming design and performance?

After using the Nubia Neo 5G as our daily driver, we share our thoughts and experiences with the affordable gaming phone.

Nubia Neo 5G Unboxing and First Impressions

Nubia Neo 5G’s edgy gaming aesthetic

To recap, the Nubia Neo 5G features a unique and eye-catching futuristic gaming-themed design at the back that also changes colors depending on how the light hits the back.

It has a 120Hz 6.67-inch IPS screen, a 6nm UNISOC T820 octa-core processor with Multi-layer heat dissipation system, Mali-G57 MP4 GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, and a 4,500mAh battery with a 22.5W fast charging.

At the back are the 50MP rear main camera and the 2MP secondary camera while in front is the 8MP selfie camera.

It is running on Android 13-based MyOS 13. Other features include WiFi, 5G, 4G, Bluetooth, NFC, OTG, GPS, dual Nano SIM, In-display fingerprint scanner, mono speakers and DTS:X Support.

In the Philippines, it is priced at only PHP 18,990 for the 8GB/128GB variant.

Let’s dive into the review!

Multimedia Experience

Curved screen with a notch

In front is the aforementioned 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen with a 2,400 x 1,080 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate.

The panel is nearly bright enough to be readable under direct sunlight at maximum brightness. The colors are vibrant while the contrast is decent. Text and detail are crisp at 1080p resolution.

It supports 10-points of multi-touch which makes it good for multitasking or games that support multiple simultaneous touch inputs. It responds quickly and accurately to our taps and gestures.

Around the panel are asymmetrical-sized bezels with the chin bezel being the thickest. On the upper part of the panel is the notch with the selfie camera. On the top bezel is the slim ear piece.

Top and bottom view

For audio, the phone is equipped with a single bottom-firing speakers. Around the phone are two microphones used for noise cancelling in calls and audio recording.

The sound from the bottom-firing speaker has a decently loud maximum volume but does introduce some distortion. When placed at 85 percent, the clarity, separation and quality is surprisingly good enough.

It has a 3.5mm audio jack for people who prefer wired audio.

The microphones do a good job of picking up sounds from a meter away while the noise-cancellation for calls is good too.

Nubia had to make a trade-off to get the price down and to keep the 120Hz FHD+ panel, they had to give up stereo speakers. So if directionality from stereo speakers is important to you, the mono speaker could be a deal-breaker.

Cameras

Nubia Neo 5G’s rear cameras

As mentioned earlier, the phone is equipped with a 50MP f/1.8 main camera and a 2MP f/2.4 secondary camera with an LED flash.

The included modes of the stock camera app include Capture, Video, Portrait, Pro, Panorama, Refocus, Timelapse, QR Code, 50MP, Street, Night and Document modes.

The Pro mode allows switching of ISO (100-3200), Shutterspeed (1/1,000-0.5 seconds), White Balance, EV (+-3), and Focus.

Added features include metering modes, level, and anti-banding.

Rear Camera Samples

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 1x daylight

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 2x crop daylight

All daylight images from the rear camera produce surprisingly consistent results in terms of color, contrast and detail. The colors, contrast and detail are decent but we have seen better from similarly priced smartphones.

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 1x indoors

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 2x indoors

The above images were taken in a well-lit coffee shop. The resulting images from the 1x and 2x were consistent. Both have similar detail, color and contrast.

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 1x low light

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 2x low light

For low light, the sharpness and detail were affected by the slight noise build-up. We also noticed that the phone tended to increase the shutter speed to compensate. The light sources also tended to overexpose.

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 1x night mode

Nubia Neo 5G rear camera 2x night mode

The Night mode improves the sharpness, detail, and contrast while reducing noise and grain, especially in bright areas for 1x and 2x. However, the light sources were still overexposed.

Overall, the rear camera produced good images that needs tweaking to get the best possible result. However, there are phones in the price range that perform better.

The 8MP selfie camera is on the notch.

Camera modes include Photo, Video, and Portrait.

Selfie Camera Samples

Selfie Daylight

Daylight selfies from the Nubia Neo 5G are good. You immediately notice the sharpness and detail. The colors of most elements in the frame are accurate but struggle with skin tones.

Selfie Portrait

The portrait mode’s edge detection is good. It only struggled with individual hair fibres.

Selfie indoors

Indoors, the image is similar to daylight where the sharpness and detail are good while the colors are mostly accurate except for skin tones. In this case, portions of the skin tones are over exposed.

Low light selfie

In low light, the selfie camera’s images have more grain and noise which affected the color, detail and sharpness of the overall image. The light sources also have begun to overexpose.

There is no night mode for selfies.

Overall, the front camera produced images with decent color, contrast, sharpness, and detail but struggled with skin tones in daylight. Indoors and low light are where the detail, sharpness and color accuracy deteriorate.

The rear and front-facing cameras can record up to 1080 at 30fps. But only the rear camera has stabilization with a crop (EIS). The footage has decent sharpness and color but shaky.

Performance

Nubia Neo 5G’s AnTuTu and GeekBench scores

To recap, the Nubia Neo 5G has the 2.7GHz 6nm UNISOC T820 octa-core processor, Mali-G57 MP4 GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage. It features a Multi-layer heat dissipation cooling system.

During the AnTuTu test, the phone’s temperature increased by 6.8 degrees while the battery lost 2 percent power. This means the phone runs warm underload but is power efficient.

Nubia Neo 5G’s 3D Mark and CPDT scores

Nubia Neo 5G benchmarks:

AnTuTu – 438,345
Geekbench 6 – 885 (single-core), 2,321 (multi-core)
3D Mark WildLife – 2,003 at 12 average fps
CPDT – 205.38 MB/s sequential read speeds and 190.77 MB/s sequential write speeds

The Nubia Neo 5G scores in AnTuTu, Geekbench, and 3DMark are in the range of what we expected from this combination of chipset and software.

Nubia Neo 5G Genshin Impact screenshot

Nubia Neo 5G Genshin Impact graphics setttings

In Genshin Impact, it is set on the lowest graphics settings as the default. Playing the game is decently smooth when wandering around the world but when in combat with many animations, the phone struggles.

Solo Leveling: Arise Graphics Settings

In Solo Leveling: Arise’s default graphics settings is set to Normal at 30fps. When playing the game, it is mostly smooth but will have the occasional stuttering when the screen fills up with animations and damage numbers.

Nubia Neo 5G’s Call of Duty: Mobile’s default graphics settings

In Call of Duty: Mobile the default is low graphics with medium frame rate. If you switch to medium graphics, it will automatically set frame rate to low. You also have the choice to push the frame rate to high with low graphics settings. When playing with the default, the game runs smoothly but when pushed to high frame rate increases the temperatures of the phone faster too.

In our experience, the phone can handle the majority of tasks like navigating through the OS, opening apps, web surfing, and social media without struggling. It only struggled with heavier games.

We enjoyed playing games on the nubia except for the occasional stutters when the screen is filled up.

The phone has an side-mounted fingerprint sensor and face unlock for security. The initial setup and subsequent uses are quick and it detects our biometrics instantaneously. It works even if your finger is a little sweaty.

The face unlocks only struggles when the camera is dirty or when we are wearing a mask and sunglasses. The screen brightens up when used in the dark. Face unlock even has a super bright mode that can be set in the settings.

Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, OTG, GPS, and dual nano SIM.

Connection is usually stable for WiFi and we get 4 to 5 bars of mobile data signal most of the time.

Inside the phone is a large 4,500mAh battery. It lasted more than under 10 hours on our usual PCMark Battery benchmark. In daily use, we were consistently getting around 5 hours of on-screen time even when constantly connected to 5G, WiFi and Bluetooth devices. When playing games continuously, it would last under 5 hours.

The battery charges via USB-C with the 22.5W wall charger which charges the phone 100 percent in under 90 minutes.

MyOS 13 drawer

It is running on MyOS 13 based on Android 13. It comes with visuals akin to the design at the back of the phone. It gives it a unified and aggressive feel.

Navigating through the OS and opening apps is smooth. Included are the features added on Android 13 but with the visuals of MyOS.

Preinstalled are the Goper and the GameSpace app.Goper is an accessory management app that connects to other Nubia devices while the GameSpace is the brands take on app that compiles all the games installed with added gaming focused features like performance tweaks and accidental touch prevention.

Pros – Unique design, Lightweight and solid build materials, 120Hz FHD+ IPS screen, has 3.5mm audio jack, 5G,

Cons – Shaky video with only EIS, skin tones in photo and video can be improved via firmware, Single Speaker

Nubia Neo 5G Specs

Display: 6.67-inch LCD (IPS) screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 395 ppi

CPU: 2.7GHz 6nm UNISOC T820 octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G57 MP4

RAM: 8GB

ROM: 256GB

Back Camera: 50MP w/ AF + 2MP f/2.4 + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 8MP w/ FF

Battery: 4,500mAh w/ 22.5W Fast Charging

OS: Android 13

Connectivity: WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz), 5G SA/NSA, 4G LTE, Bluetooth, OTG, NFC, GPS, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock, DTS:X Ultra, Multi-Layer Heat Dissipation System, USB-C, Colors: Starry Black

Dimensions: 163.7 x 75 x 7.98 mm

Weight: 189 grams

Price: PHP 9,999

Verdict

GIZGUIDE web surf

The Nubia Neo 5G is a visually appealing device with a 120Hz FHD+ IPS screen and lightweight body.

In terms of raw performance, the phone can run non-demanding apps and games decently and will run demanding games in low graphics with playable frame rate but will struggle when the screen is filled with animations.

The mono speaker is decently loud with good separation and clarity.

The rear 50MP camera and the 8MP selfie cameras capture decent images but struggle in low light and with skin tones. Firmware could fix these concerns.

Surprisingly, the 4,500mAh battery lasted longer than we expected, and with the 22.5W charger, it is fully charged in 90 minutes.

At this price range, the competition is fierce. The Cherry Aqua S11 Pro is priced lower but offers similar performance.

We recommend the Nubia Neo 5G if you can get it at a discount or if you want a gaming phone that can perform and look the part.

What do you think guys?

Build/Design – 4.25

Multimedia Experience – 4

Cameras – 3.75

Performance – 4

Average – 4/5

Som Manacor

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