When looking at new phones, it’s easy to get tunnel vision looking at recognisable brands. Apple, Samsung, Motorola, Oppo – all the regular suspects you see at your local retailer. Then there are the telco-stocked handsets sold through the likes of Telstra and Optus. It might be easy to dismiss them as cheap and nasty products, but the Nubia Focus 5G proves that perception couldn’t be further from the truth.
Exclusive to Optus, the Nubia Focus 5G sits alongside the Telstra T-Elite 5G as a recently launched phone made by ZTE. The Nubia is the pricier of the two, largely due to its more powerful camera technology. 108 megapixels in a sub-$250 phone is a big marketing point, but how does it hold up to scrutiny?
As imposing as it looks at a glance, the Nubia Focus 5G is an impressive phone that takes advantage of its striking camera design. Its aesthetic might not be as elegant as its competitors, but it delivers where it counts, making a case for looking beyond the well-known brands.
Nubia Focus 5G review
First impressions
How can you not notice that gargantuan camera setup? It’s one of the boldest design choices I’ve seen on a phone, giving off the impression that it’s packing a mini DSLR lens. At a quick glance, you’d be forgiven for mistaking the Nubia Focus 5G for one of Nothing’s industrial-looking phones.
And you know what? I dig it. In a world of copycats and derivative designs, good on ZTE for doing something different. There is a slight drawback to the enormous camera design, however: the phone doesn’t sit flush when placed on its back. This isn’t an isolated quirk, considering phone cameras keep growing, but you need to keep it in mind so the device doesn’t slip off a surface.
Just about everything else about the Focus is standard fare. Both the side power and volume buttons are where you expect, and the face unlock is satisfyingly snappy.
It is noticeably heavier than other similarly-sized phones I’ve used. Initially, I thought it might have been a weight distribution issue caused by the large rear camera. That’s not the case, considering ZTE’s Telstra phone also feels weighty in the hand. Double-checking the spec sheet confirmed that it indeed is on the heavier side, at just over 210 grams. Meanwhile, Motorola’s Moto G85 I’m testing at the same time tips the scales at a reasonably lighter 170 grams.
This weight didn’t cause me any issues as such, but it did stand out. My main bugbear from a design perspective came from the slippery black rear material. My sweaty hands also didn’t appreciate the easily smudged finish. Fortunately, a silicone case comes included, providing a bit more grip.
I also appreciated the relatively vanilla Android 14 installation. Minimal bloatware clutters the phone from the outset, which is nice. My Optus comes pre-installed, due to the telco being the device’s exclusive retailer in Australia.
Nubia Focus 5G specs and price in Australia
| Display | 6.6-inch 1612 x 720 HD+ resolution 120Hz refresh rate |
| Dimensions | 163.6 x 74.9 x 8.9mm 210.5g |
| Processor | Unisoc T760 Octa Core 2.2GHz |
| Storage and memory | 256GB storage 4GB RAM + up to 10GB additional virtual RAM |
| Cameras | 108MP rear main camera 2MP rear sensor 5MP front camera |
| Battery and charging | 5,000mAh capacity 22.5W wired charging |
| Connectivity | Dual nano SIM Wi-Fi 5 Bluetooth 5.0 NFC |
| Network bands | 3G: WCDMA 850MHz / 900MHz / 2100MHz 4G: TD-LTE B40 FDD-LTE B1/B3/B5/B7/B8/B28 5G: n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n28/n40/n78 |
| Software | Android U 14 |
| Price (RRP) | $249 |
| Warranty | Two years |
| Official website | ZTE Mobiles Australia |
Performance
It’s remarkable how much better $250 phones are now than they were only a few years ago. Testing out the Nubia Focus 5G across a range of daily tasks, it’s not that much different than pricier handsets. It’s smooth and responsive, putting its 120Hz display to good use.
My personal preference is for a sharper display resolution instead of a higher refresh rate, but it’s a common trend among entry-level and mid-range phones. Here, the Nubia’s screen is only 1612 x 720 (referred to as “HD+”). It’s fine but not as crystal clear as a Full HD display, so you might notice a tiny bit of fuzziness when reading text.
As far as internal power and performance, the Nubia Focus 5G holds up well alongside similarly priced phones. Run through Geekbench 6, a common benchmarking app, it produced higher results than the slightly more expensive Oppo A79 5G. Both the Nubia and Telstra’s equivalent are neck-and-neck, due to their shared chipset. Each phone uses the Unisoc T760 processor, built to keep costs down and efficiency high.
| Device | CPU single-core | CPU multi-score | GPU (OpenCL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moto G54 5G | 921 | 2,329 | N/A |
| Telstra T-Elite 5G | 749 | 2,345 | 1,720 |
| Nubia Focus 5G | 749 | 2,234 | 1,715 |
| Oppo A79 5G | 718 | 1,836 | 1,163 |
| Oppo A18 | 435 | 1,454 | 565 |
| Moto G24 | 411 | 1,405 | 549 |
| Moto G04 | 381 | 1,335 | 446 |
In real-world terms, this means the phone is well-equipped to handle everyday tasks like web browsing, social media apps, and the fundamentals you expect from a phone in 2024.
Graphical performance, however, is typically where affordable phones can’t keep up with more premium contemporaries. Which is okay; that’s what you expect in return for affordability. 3DMark’s Wild Life test, designed to test graphical and gaming performance on mobile devices, showed that the Nubia Focus 5G performs as well as you’d expect. If anything, it actually outperforms the $399 Moto G85, while sitting within reaching distance of Oppo’s $599 Reno 11 F.
| Device | Score | Average frame rate (fps) |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy A35 | 2,798 | 16.76 |
| Oppo Reno 11 F 5G | 2,296 | 13.75 |
| Telstra T-Elite 5G | 1,634 | 9.79 |
| Nubia Focus 5G | 1,624 | 9.73 |
| Moto G85 | 1,557 | 9.45 |
Battery life
Aided by the fact that you won’t be running resource-intensive apps on the Nubia Focus 5G, its battery life holds up to scrutiny. After an hour of YouTube video playback with the display and volume set to 50%, a full battery dropped down to 97%.
It’s a decent result; not as high as some phones like the remarkably long-lasting Motorola Edge 50 Fusion, and it’s slightly lower than the same test repeated on the Telstra T-Elite 5G. But it’s still a good indication that the Nubia Focus will get you through the day.
My moderate use only saw me reaching for the charger well into the second day, which is par for the course for phones with 5,000mAh battery capacities. No complaints here.
Nubia Focus 5G camera
What separates the Nubia from ZTE’s Telstra equivalent is its camera quality. Claims of a 108MP camera on a $250 phone certainly grabs your attention, doesn’t it? A disclaimer I’ll repeat until my face turns blue is that megapixels aren’t everything. A high megapixel count generally indicates a reasonable capacity to zoom into an existing image before getting too much distortion. What truly matters is the size and quality of the camera sensor; higher light sensitivity enables better snaps across a range of lighting conditions.
This is why I was pleased the Nubia Focus 5G actually did capture some nice photos, even in poor lighting. Take, for example, these photos of my cat, Billie. Yes, I did shamelessly find an excuse to share cat pictures once again. There’s method to my madness, though.
Taken from the exact same position, these photos clearly demonstrate the main difference between Nubia Focus 5G and the slightly cheaper Telstra T-Elite 5G. I relied purely on ambient natural lighting, with the main challenge getting a good exposure based on the primary light source coming from behind the very fluffy subject.
The photo taken by the Nubia nailed the exposure, evenly lighting both Billie and the couch, all without overexposing the background. Meanwhile, despite toying with some manual settings, I struggled to capture a similarly nice shot with the T-Elite. I don’t hate it, as an underexposed photo is easier to salvage than an overexposed one, but it’s easier to get a read-to-share image from the Nubia phone.
Camera lighting comparison
Lighting is a continuing point of comparison between the phones, as you can see in my regular Pokemon plush test. Even the first photos, brightly lit with natural light, you can see the T-Elite doesn’t quite get the white balance right. The green colour of the plush bleeds into the couch and background.
Shutting all the curtains and bathing the house in darkness, the Nubia still managed to snap a usable shot, while the T-Elite struggled.
Swapping back to good lighting, you can see the white balance and detail differences between the phones. These photos of a Lego flower set are well-lit and colourful from both phones. What you might not be able to see due to web compression is that the Nubia produces far less noise and graininess, visible in the petals and background.
It’s a similar story to the front-facing selfie camera; both phones do well with natural light and replicating bright colours. While neither captures the same level of detail as much more expensive phones, the Nuba produces less distortion.
All up, the Nubia Focus 5G sports a rather nice camera setup for its price. That’s not to say the Telstra T-Elite 5G doesn’t perform – it’s fine given its sub-$200 price tag – it’s just that the Nubia exceeds expectations for a bit more money.
Who is the Nubia Focus 5G for?
If you want an affordable 5G handset equipped with an impressive main camera, the Nubia Focus is the phone for you. It’s got all the hallmarks of a good phone under $300: a long-lasting battery, a smooth display, and decent overall performance.
It’s a little on the bulky side, aided by its in-your-face camera design, but the results speak for themselves.
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