nubia Z70 Ultra review

Design, build quality, handling

The nubia design team got the broad strokes of the Z Ultra lineup's styling figured out a couple of generations back and the Z70 Ultra closely resembles the Z60 Ultra. Of course though, the shiny Starry Night colorway we have for review will certainly have a very different vibe than the satin black previous model we can compare it to, but if you look past the color, the family ties are certainly there.

Once you look closer, you'll start spotting the differences. There's been a reshuffling of the camera bits, the red-ringed main unit now relocated to the top left corner. It's so deep (perhaps partially thanks to the new variable aperture bits) that it has a two-step protrusion on top of the already massive camera island.

The telephoto module, on the other hand, has gotten slimmer this generation and no longer needs to stick out anymore, and it's been moved from the right side to the left. The ultrawide has taken center stage, which it doesn't quite deserve, so it doesn't get any unnecessary accents. The flash, styled like a ring, is to the right of this dual camera strip, while the flash-looking thing in the top right corner doesn't appear to serve any purpose.

nubia Z70 Ultra (left) next to nubia Z60 Ultra

Now, with the Starry Night version in existence, we'd see little reason for someone to get one of the other two colorways. That said, the fact that this particular livery only comes in a single 16GB/512GB memory configuration might indeed make the other colorways more appealing, one way or another.

Starry Night is an ongoing theme with these nubias, by the way. Both the Z60 Ultra and the Z50 Ultra had a Van Gogh-inspired option, only this one is the most striking - we (or at least some of us) approve.

Starry Night, Gold, or Black, the Z70 Ultra features a glass back of unspecified origin. The display, meanwhile, is covered with 2nd-gen Longxi Glass, which is twice as good in drop and scratch resistance as the first iteration, nubia says.

The glass that covers the display has a minute curvature towards the edges, so it's pretty nice to the touch. The bezels around the edges of the screen are also minimal, adding to the premium experience.

That said, perhaps nothing says 'posh' quite as much as a display with no cutouts and that's one of the Z70 Ultra's highlights. The 7th generation (nubia is counting) of underdisplay selfie camera disappears under (inbetween, really) the OLED pixels when they light up and makes for an undisturbed viewing experience. Sure, we've come to accept punch holes as a necessary evil, and they all but disappear themselves, once your mind adjusts to their presence, but no punch hole is always better.

No camera • Camera

Another thing under the Z70 Ultra's display is the fingerprint reader - that's nowhere as big of a deal. It's the optical variety, so you won't be using it for the Z70 Ultra's underwater camera mode (yes, there's that, too), but it's placed nicely high up and works without issue.

Speaking of water, the Z70 Ultra carries the same IP68/IP69 rating as the other recent high-end phones. In addition to the 1.5m submersion for as long as 30 minutes, the phone has been tested for water jets with a temperature of up to 80 degrees Celsius. One of these days we'll find out what the deal is with this new rating that all these new phones are getting suddenly.

Dual nano SIM slot, but no eSIM option, sadly

Along with the newly-found water resistance, the Z70 Ultra is offering an underwater camera mode. The touchscreen doesn't work underwater so hence the need for alternative controls. That one uses the volume rocker only, so the fact that the fingerprint reader isn't ultrasonic has apparently not affected underwater shooting. The volume up button cycles through modes and the volume down serves for capture action.

That's not the only way you can go about it though. The Z70 Ultra introduces a two-stage shutter release button - right where you'd expect it, on the right side of the aluminum frame, within immediate reach of your index finger. While it is somewhat customizable (you can launch the camera into photo/video/street/pro mode), you couldn't change modes with it while underwater, so the volume rocker operation above is still valid.

Some of you will probably recall that the Z60 Ultra had a slider control on its right side and that's now gone. As in, gone from the right side - it's been moved to the left. It can still be used as yet another means of launching the camera (in one of three modes), as well as for toggling on and off the flashlight, voice recorder or Game Space utility. It can also be a silent switch.

There's an IR emitter on the top of the phone, behind an oval opening. Oddly enough, there was no pre-installed app to work with it, at least on our software build. A quick trip to the Play Store fixed that, though finding a free one without ads might be trickier.