nubia Music Pro Review - Affordable, fun, and loud

We've been using the nubia Music Pro for a month now, and below is our experience with the music-focused entry-level smartphone.

Nubia Music Pro's vinyl-inspired design and LED notification

The nubia comes with the UNISOC T7200, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage, and a 5,000mAh battery. It has a 50MP main rear camera and a 5MP selfie camera, and is 4G only.

The phone features the colorful vinyl record-inspired design, which builds upon the previous generation. It supports DTS:X Ultra Audio and a 2.1 loudspeaker.

In the Philippines, the Nubia Music Pro is priced at PHP 4,299.

For our review part 1: nubia Music Pro Unboxing and First Impressions

Multimedia Experience

nbia Music Pro's screen

In front is a 6.7-inch screen with a 1600 x 720 resolution, a 60Hz/90Hz/120Hz refresh rate, and a 263 ppi. 

The panel is decent and surprisingly bright. It is plenty bright for indoors, but may struggle when under direct sunlight. The text and image produce acceptable crispness, while the color and contrast are decent.

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

The bezels around the panel area are asymmetrical, with the chin bezel noticeably thicker. On the top bezel is a well-hidden slim earpiece, while below it is the punch hole that houses the selfie camera.

Good color, decent crispness

The display is okay. 720p is showing its age, but at this price point, we can't complain, especially when the panel can switch between 60 and 120Hz refresh rates. We hope that next time we get a 1080p panel.

The phone is equipped with stereo speakers that can be pushed up to 600 percent. This is the phone's main selling point, and we were surprised at how loud it can get. We find that it produces sounds louder than some flagships. The quality of the sound at maximum volume isn't the cleanest, but at least we can hear it even in challenging situations.

Around the phone are microphones used for noise cancellation in calls and audio recording.

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

Cameras

Nubia Music Pro's rear cameras and main speaker

The back features a 50MP f/1.8 main camera and an AI camera with an LED flash. 

The included modes of the stock camera app include Photo, Video, Portrait, Pro, Panorama, Time lapse, Dual Capture, Night, QR code, and 50M modes.

The Pro controls include EV (+-3), ISO (100-6400), Shutter speed (1/1,000-1/5 secs), Focus, Metering (Average, Center-weighted, Spot-metering), and White Balance. 

The Portrait Mode uses the 1x camera only, and it comes with bokeh strength control (f/0.95-16) and Retouching (0-5).

Rear Camera Samples

nubia Music Pro rear main camera 1x

nubia Music Pro rear main camera 2x crop

The images from the main camera at 1x are okay. The sharpness and detail are decent, while the colors are vibrant. When zooming in to the 2x crop mode, the sharpness and detail drop by what looks like the noise reduction.

We only recommend using the 2x when in a pinch.

nubia Music Pro rear main camera close-up

With close-up images, the detail and sharpness remain decent while the colors are on point.

nubia Music Pro rear main camera indoors 1x

nubia Music Pro rear main camera indoors 2x crop

Indoors, the images from the 1x crop are consistent in daylight, where the sharpness and details are decent, while the colors pop. We did notice that light sources such as lamps tend to overexpose easily. While the 2x crop is slightly softer, the colors remain decent.

nubia Music Pro rear main camera lowlight

For low light, the main camera produced an image with vibrant color but with significantly less detail, and it is soft. The light sources were overexposed as well. We also notice a noticeable increase in grain in the shadow areas.

Nubia Music Pro Night Mode 1x

There is a night mode, but we only recommend it if the main subject is not moving. It improved the sharpness and reduced some of the noise.

Overall, the rear main camera has produced consistently okay images. In daylight and indoors, the 1x images are decently sharp and detailed, while the color is vibrant. The low-light images remained soft because of the buildup of noise and grain and because of the noise reduction. The night mode helps, but only when the subject is not moving.

Nubia Music Pro's front-facing cameras

The 5MP f/2.0 selfie camera is on the punch hole on the display.

Camera modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, and Dual View.

Selfie Camera Samples

nubia Music Pro rear selfie camera daylight

Daylight selfies from the nubia Music Pro are a mixed bag. The detail and sharpness are okay, while the colors are washed out. This is most apparent with the skin tones.

nubia Music Pro rear selfie camera portrait bokeh with beautification

The edge detection of the portrait mode is decent, but it struggles with single strands of hair. The bokeh has a nice blur, but it somewhat feels unnatural. Like the daylight selfie, the colors are washed out, and the skin tones are off.

nubia Music Pro rear selfie camera indoors

Indoor selfies have noticeably more noise and grain, which has softened the image. The white balance and skin tones are off, too. 

nubia Music Pro rear selfie camera lowlight

Like indoor selfies, the low-light selfies have noticeably more grain and noise, which has affected not only the sharpness and detail but also the colors. 

Overall, the front cameras produced selfies with okay quality. The sharpness and detail are good in daylight, but the skin tones and white balance are skewed. It also struggled in low-light selfies.

The rear and front cameras can record up to 1080p at 30fps. The footage is soft and shaky with noticeable grain and noise, while the color accuracy is a mixed bag. This phone wouldn't be our first choice for video recording, but it is there when you need it.

Performance

nubia Music Pro AnTuTu and GeekBench results

Inside the nubia Music Pro is the 12nm UNISOC T7200 octa-core processor, Mali-G57 MP1 GPU, 4G RAM, and 128GB storage. It managed to score 305,708 in AnTuTu, 391 in GeekBench Single-core, and 1,375 in GeekBench Multi-Core tests.

During the AnTuTu test, the phone's temperature increased by 6.4 degrees Celsius while the battery lost 7 percent power. 7 percent is a dramatic decrease for a benchmark test.

GeekBench AI and CPDT results

In GeekBench AI, it scored 361 in single precision, 360 in half-precision, and 647 in the quantized score. The internal storage got 154.52 MB/s in sequential read speeds and 160.09 MB/s in sequential write speeds.

nubia Music Pro benchmarks:

1. AnTuTu - 305,708
2. Geekbench 6 - 391 (single-core), 1,375 (multi-core)
3. CPDT - 154.52 MB/s sequential read speeds and 160.09 MB/s sequential write speeds
4. GeekBench AI - 361 single precision, 360 half-precision, 647 quantized score

The benchmark scores are within the range of what is expected in its price range. However, competition is fierce, and there are better-performing smartphones with a similar price point. 

The new 12nm CPU and GPU performance offer decent burst performance.

nubia Music Pro Call of Duty: Mobile Graphics settings

Our takeaway is that when playing games, the nubia can handle lightweight games well but will struggle with more demanding games.

In Call of Duty: Mobile, the nubia Music Pro managed to unlock the low graphics settings and medium frame rate. In our experience, it remained consistently playable for the first few hours of gameplay. It warmed up, but by a few degrees only. Never alarmingly hot.

In our experience, the phone can handle basic features such as navigating through the UI, opening and playing music, and switching between apps. It struggles with higher bit-rate media viewing or video capture.

The phone has a 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 unlock only struggles when the camera is dirty. The screen brightens up when used in the dark. It detects the face and unlocks the phone super fast, too.

Regarding connectivity, we have the following: WiFi, 4G, Bluetooth, NFC, OTG, GPS, and dualSIM.

Connections are usually stable for WiFi, and we get 4 to 5 bars of mobile data signal most of the time.

nubia Music Pro PCMark Battery result

Inside the phone is a standard 5,000 mAh battery. In our usual PCMark Battery Benchmark, it lasted for 7 hours and 33 minutes. This is inconsistent with our actual use, where we managed to get under 6 hours of on-screen time after being connected to WiFi and 4G data all day. We would unplug the phone at 8AM and end the day at 10PM with 15 to 20 percent battery each day.

The battery charges via USB-C with the 10W wall charger, which charges the phone 100 percent in 2 hours and 30 minutes. It does not have wireless charging.

nubia Music Pro's user interface

It is running on MyOS 14, based on Android 14. It comes preloaded with a music-themed look that leans towards the phone's focus on music lovers. Android 14 has been around for a while now. We hope that an Android 15 update will arrive soon.

It has a dedicated 'Music Box' settings category where users have access to its unique features, such as the 2.1 Channel (two speakers, one woofer), Touch-to-Share, Bluetooth Speaker, and Volume Boost. 

Touch-to-Share allows the Music Pro to share the multimedia Music that is currently playing via NFC. Bluetooth speaker mode allows the phone to be used as a Bluetooth speaker by a connected device. Volume Booster boosts the volume of the phone's speaker to 600 percent.

Pros - Eye-catching and music-themed design, lightweight, 120Hz HD+ screen, 3.5mm audio jack, 2.1 channel + 600 percent volume boost works

Cons - Low-light camera performance, Android 14-based MyOS 14 feels dated. 

nubia Music Pro Specs

Display: 6.7-inch 120Hz screen w/ HD+ resolution

CPU: 1.6GHz 12nm UNISOC T7200 octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G57 MP1

RAM: 4GB

ROM: 128GB

Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 + AI+ LED flash

Selfie Camera: 5MP f/2.4

Battery: 5,000mAh

OS: Android 14 w/ MyOS 14

Connectivity: WiFi, 4G LTE, Bluetooth, NFC, GPS, dual SIM

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, AI melody light, 2.1 percent loud ultra speaker, DTS:X Ultra audio, USB-C, Colors: Pop Art, Melody Wave

Price: PHP 4,299

Verdict

Nubia Music Pro web surfing

We are happy with the music-themed design, build materials, and the speaker performance of the nubia Music Pro.

Standout features for the price include 2.1 Channel, Volume Boost to 600 percent, and Bluetooth Speaker (where you can use the phone as a Bluetooth Speaker).

The display may be just 720p, but the colors are vibrant and the screen gets bright. 

It uses a 12nm SoC that makes it good for what it was designed for: calls, texts, messaging, web surfing, music, and video consumption. It also has a 3.5mm audio jack, but with how nice the sound is coming out from the larger speaker, you may not need it as much.

We managed to play for a decently long time with Call of Duty Mobile on the nubia Music Pro. It was very playable and stable. If the game were more demanding, the phone struggles.

The battery life is no joke as well. It consistently gave us 6 hours of on-screen time. Sometimes we would be playing music on the large speaker, and it would last longer than we thought it would.

Our main concerns with the phone, such as the middling camera performance, Android 14, and the 4G only, are offset by its affordable price of PHP 4,299.

We recommend the nubia Music Pro for people who want an affordable phone with a unique design, a powerful speaker, and longer battery life.

What do you think, guys?

Build/Design - 3.75

Multimedia Experience - 4.0

Cameras - 3.0

Performance - 3.5

Average - 3.56/5