Nubia M2 Review: Good everyday performer but camera falls short of expectations

Striking looks and ergonomic to use

There's no doubt that Nubia as a smartphone maker produces one of the most strikingly appealing mobile devices. We have recently reviewed Nubia Z17 Mini which impressed us with its stylish design and capable dual-lens camera setup. The Nubia M2 seems like a bigger version of the Z17 Mini as it also features a dual-lens camera module and somewhat similar stylish design.

My review unit came in Black which combined with Gold colored metal frame looked pretty head turning. The smartphone sports rounded edges, compact body-7 mm sleek and is encased in a tough, dual-diamond cut metal frame. The 2.5D curved glass seamlessly blends with the metal frame to create an all glass finish at the front fascia.

The rear side looks even more appealing with the dual-lens camera module placed on the rubberized matt finish back panel. The company says that the Nubia M2 is made out of 95.6 percent aluminum alloy and has been given protective ceramic spray finishing for a rugged design. The smartphone is also very ergonomic and can be used with one-hand.

Vivid full HD AMOLED display

Nubia M2 sports a vivid 5.5-inch AMOLED screen. The display has a full HD resolution that gives out a pixel density of 401ppi. The multimedia playback and gaming experience is commendable considering the fact that

AMOLED panel punches out vibrant colours and deep blacks. The display however has a warmer tone to it and whites seem to look like a bit yellow.

Thankfully, Nubia's customized UI allows you to tweak the color balance from within the display settings as per your preference.

13MP+13MP dual-lens camera is a mix bag of electronics

I have tested several Nubia devices and they perform really good in camera department. This is the reason I was quite excited to test the dual-lens camera on the Nubia M2. Sadly, I am not very much pleased by the way Nubia has implemented the dual-lens setup on M2. The camera hardware comprises of two 13MP sensors. These are basically individual RGB and Monochrome sensors with 0.1S Hybrid Focus and PDAF.

The first shortcoming is the low aperture values of the two 13MP Sony CMOS sensors that form the dual-lens camera setup. The respective aperture size is not the best fit for low-light photography as it does not allow the camera hardware to intake a good amount of light, resulting in noisy and dull images. Secondly, there's no Optical Image stabilization, but that's quite acceptable considering the mid-range price-point.

Nubia's proprietary Neo Vision technology comes in rescue to reduce noise in low light and it actually works to some extent. The low-light pictures have noticeable amount of noise and are not going to please the hard-core shutterbugs.

Most importantly, the bokeh effect created by the dual-lens camera is quite artificial. The unnatural blurring is very much visible around the edges of the subject in focus. And the Portrait mode itself is quite out of line. It slows down the camera and you have to be very patient to derive the best results out of the camera hardware.

The Gionee A1 Plus which sells at Rs. 27,000 has a slightly better dual-camera implementation. Another shortcoming is the colour accuracy that the sensors capture. There's a noticeable color shift in the data you see on the screen and what you see in real-life. You can only tweak the color balance in the display settings to solve the problem.

Thankfully, the 13MP primary lens delivers some great pictures with standard photo mode turned on. It captures good detailing and is a quick snapper. The images look vivid and crisp on the 5.5-inch full HD screen. The 16MP selfie camera is also a good performer.

The ISOCELL CMOS camera with 2μm virtual pixel size and a decent f/2.0 aperture captures bright and crisp selfies. It has an 80-degree wide-angle lens so you can also fit in your gang in one single frame.

Nubia Camera family with a variety of modes and filters

Besides, you get the standard suite of Nubia camera family, which is undoubtedly the selling point of Nubia cameras. The Neo Vision 6.5 camera family has multi-exposure, Light Painting; Electronic Aperture; Slow Shutter; Star Trail; SLO-MO; Time-Lapse; Video Maker; Trajectory; DNG; Clone; Macro Camera; PANO; Monochrome camera and 16 other features to please photography enthusiasts. Last but not the least, the rear cameras can also record videos in 4K format.

Click Here for More Camera Samples

Ample RAM to multitask and good processing power

The choice of Snapdragon 625 CPU at Rs. 22,000 looks odd in the days when you can get a Snapdragon 820 in under Rs. 12,000, courtesy- Lenovo Z2 Plus. However, the tried and tested chipset works very well in all scenarios and does not give any reasons to complain. Even some pricey handsets- for instance, the recently launched BlackBerry KEYone also comes backed by the popular Snapdragon 625 CPU.

During my review time with the Nubia M2, the CPU very well managed the light, medium and heavy processing tasks. The smartphone can also handle heavy gaming very well and the 4GB RAM makes sure you run multiple apps without any performance issues.

As far as storage is concerned, Nubia M2 offers 64GB of built-in storage, which is further expandable by up to 200GB via microSD card. The company also manufactures a variant with 128GB inbuilt storage; however it seems Nubia doesn't plan to introduce it in the Indian market.

Dated Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Nubia UI 4.0

Software is one department where Nubia is lacking behind from the competition. Like most of the previous Nubia smartphones we have tested, the M2 also ships with the dated Android 6.0 Marshmallow. I believe it is high time Nubia start updating its product lineup to Android Nougat as the upcoming Android O is just around the corner and almost every other smartphone maker has already offered the Nougat update to its users. Even the new handsets, including the sub Rs. 10k smartphones have also started to offer the latest Android flavor.

If you look past the dated Marshmallow, the company's customized skin- UI 4.0 is pretty intuitive and feature rich. The added layer brings tones of software tweaks to enhance the everyday user experience. The company's signature Edge gestures are undoubtedly the most talked about feature here and they work really well on the M2 as well. The Edge gestures include- swipe up/down from edges to switch between apps, swipe repeatedly from edges to kill the background apps, swipe from both edges to adjust brightness, double click the edge to return, etc.

Besides, you also get long screenshot, multi-screen view where you can two apps at the same time, screen recording that captures everything you perform on the display and dual-mode that allows you to access two accounts on one phone.

While Nubia fails to offer the latest software, the company's customized UI works like a charm and is entirely free of lags. The apps fire up instantly and there's no lag throughout the user interface and while you run multiple applications. The additional tweaks also enhance the everyday user experience.

Battery and Connectivity

Nubia M2 is by a 3,630mAh battery unit that also comes equipped with NeoPower 2.5 fast charging technology. The handset did manage to last a day with mix usage however a battery of at least 4,000 mAh would have made more sense here. Depending upon your usage pattern, the smartphone can last for a day, a bit less than that or can cross the 24 hour mark on a single charge.

As far as connectivity is concerned, Nubia M2 supports dual Nano SIM cards and come equipped with Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, GPS and USB Type C.

Conclusion

Nubia has once again delivered a good overall product in the form of Nubia M2. The smartphone looks every bit of stylish and is loaded with features. It is a good everyday performer and also serves well for multimedia streaming with its full HD AMOLED screen.

The 16MP front camera is impressive; however the highlight feature, i.e. dual-camera setup falls short of expectations. The standard mode delivers really good results but the bokeh mode is not very impressive. The smartphone also fails to deliver the latest software, which company plans to address with the Nougat update in the coming months.

If you can look past the software and slightly poor dual-lens implementation, the Nubia M2 is a good buy in the sub Rs. 25,000 price-point. Moreover, as there are not much worthy options to consider in the sub Rs. 25k price-point, Nubia M2 stands a chance to be a good overall Android handset in the mid-range category.