nubia Z60 Ultra review

Design, build quality, handling

The Z60 Ultra is one large phone, and it makes no excuses for it. Flat display, flat sides, flat back, sharp corners, a thick camera bump that covers a third of the rear - it's a blocky handset alright. And it's not light either - at 246g, this is among the heftiest Ultras.

For what it's worth, the Z60 Ultra does manage to own this aesthetic, and just because pocketability is nowhere on its priorities list, the phone looks stylish and feels quite reasonable in both the hand and the pocket. It reminds us a little of the original Xiaomi Mix and the simpler times of almost a decade ago.

Now, what that Mix had was a chin because back in those days, we didn't have under-display cameras. We do now, and the nubia doesn't have to ruin its facade with either a thick bezel on one end or a cutout for the camera - instead, its pixels are hidden behind the display pixels, creating an uninterrupted look. ZTE could have probably gone the extra mile and made the black border around the display a uniform thickness, but we'd understand if they had considerations beyond looks.

Speaking of under-display components, there's also the fingerprint reader lurking from underneath the 6.8-inch OLED panel. It's placed nicely high up the central axis of the phone and requires no dedicated effort to operate - your thumb just falls on the sensor, and the phone unlocks nearly instantly.

When it comes to controls, the Z60 Ultra has the usual power and volume keys on the right. The power button is red and knurled, so you can tell it apart by either sight or feel. Both the power button and the volume rocker are metal and have a nice click action.

In addition to these two standard keys, there's also a slider - knurled too, but with a crosshatch instead of the stripe of the power key. This one is used to open the camera app, directly into Street mode, which offers some extra functionality on top of the plain Photo mode (grain filters, exposure parameters overview, an extra zoom preset level at 50mm). It's ultimately nice to have a dedicated camera shortcut like this, though we're not fully convinced that Street mode is all that useful.

Back to the Z60 Ultra's physical properties, the flat frame that you'll be touching is made of aluminum and has a satin finish. It's not exactly fingerprint-proof, but it doesn't advertise smudges quite like a glossy frame would.

The back panel of the phone is made of glass - not that ZTE explicitly says so, but we checked with a blade. It's got that anti-glare treatment that shimmers when placed under direct sunlight, and it's pretty good at repelling grease, though grippiness isn't its forte. And while the panel itself doesn't accumulate dirt, the area between the raised 'lenses' for the main camera and the telephoto will pick up lint from your pocket.

The camera island is a separate slab, raised from the main panel. If you're the kind of person that pokes at things they shouldn't poke at, you could wedge a fingernail in between the two pieces, and we're not sure what that means for the phone's dust and water protection - but since it has an IP68 rating, perhaps they've thought about it. And perhaps you shouldn't be sticking your nails in weird places.

International buyers can get the Z60 Ultra in either black or silver colorways. China is additionally being treated to a blue version with what resembles van Gogh's Starry Night painting displayed on the back and a 'Starry Night' writing for those that skipped art history in school.

There's also another China-exclusive option called Photographer edition. It's got a faux leather back panel and some brushed metal-looking accent to emulate the styling of a classic rangefinder camera. To be fair, we wouldn't say that we're all too bummed about only getting the 'plain' colorways.