The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini might take after its bigger sibling in terms of looks, but, as it's price tag would suggest, it is a undoubtedly mid-range offer. It is powered by what is currently Qualcomm's go to mid-range SoC - the Snapdragon 615. We have seen devices perform rather well with this chip, but it can also do quite poorly in our benchmarks when not properly implemented and utilized. The custom OS can have a major impact in this respect as well.
The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is equipped with a 5.0-inch Full HD screen, which is great for visuals, but does put some extra strain on the Adreno 405 GPU. RAM is set at 2GB which is plenty for most every task and the dual-band ac Wi-Fi chip should provide a stable stage for browser performance.
As for contenders, it really wasn't difficult finding Snapdragon 615-powered handsets to pit the ZTE up against. Samsung, for instance, has based a lot of new devices on the very same platform, like the Galaxy J7 and the metal A7 and A8 models. All three are priced slightly higher than the Nubia Z9 mini, but still within mid-range limits. HTC also has a couple of units with the Snapdragon 615 inside - the Desire 820 and 826.
And on the local market, there is Oppo, with the R5 and R7 models - both also slightly costlier than the Nubia, but still based on mostly the same hardware platform. The vivo X5 Max is also in pretty much the same boat and so is the Archos 50 Diamond. ZTE itself has another Snapdragon 615 phone, which we have previously reviewed - the Blade S6, so we are throwing it in the mix as well.
We also included a few other devices from the same price bracket as the ZTE Nubia Z9 mini. A quick search reveals that for about €230 to €300 you can currently pick up a Samsung Galaxy S5 mini or a Galaxy S4. Also the more-recent Galaxy A5. Other viable candidates include the Sony Xperia M4 aqua, the LG G2, most any Motorola Moto G, the Asus Zenfone 2 and a few other interesting offers. The following benchmark results show how well the Nubia Z9 mini stacks up against each one of them.
First up, we have the raw CPU performance test with GeekBench 3, which should be straight-forward enough. Having eight cores is a definite plus and the pretty standard Snapdragon 615 clock speed of 1.0 GHz and 1.5 GHz for the two clusters has proven itself capable under loads and otherwise easy on the battery.
We find the ZTE Nubia Z9 mini at the very middle of the chart. We can therefore conclude that the phone makes pretty good use of its Qualcomm chipset, but could potentially do better. Below the Z9 mini we find the vivo X5Max, which runs on the same chip, although the difference is negligible. However, we can clearly see the Blade S6, another recent ZTE handset way down the list with over 2000 points less, so the manufacturer definitely shows progress.
Still, there is some room for improvement. We see that the Xiaomi Mi 4i and Sony Xperia M4 Aqua both scored marginally better, so did the Archos 50 Diamond, the HTC Desire 820 and the two Oppo phones, not to mention the Samsung Galaxy A7, also running on a Snapdragon 615 chip. So, there is still a lot of power to be squeezed out of the silicon.
Higher is better
AnTuTu is a compound benchmark, which also takes into account RAM and GPU performance. Here the ZTE Nubia Z9 mini did a lot better for itself, which speaks well the performance of the rest of the device's internals.
In fact, it managed to outshine all of its Snapdragon 615-powered competitors and only fall short of a pair of octa-core Mediatek devices and the Asus Zenfone 2 with its Intel chip. That is a remarkable achievement, but it is also an isolated occurrence among all of the test, so take the Antutu score with a grain of salt.
Higher is better
Moving on to Basemark OS II, which is a another all-round benchmark. The ZTE Nubia Z9 mini appeared to be breezing through this benchmark as well. The overall score paint much the same picture as Antutu, with the ZTE leaving its equally-specked competitors in the dust. Thankfully, however, we came prepared and put the phone through our anti-cheat version of the same benchmark. We also made sure to cool the unit properly between tests, to eliminate any doubt of thermal throttling.
Here you can observe the regular scores:
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
We can clearly see that the Z9 mini falls short in the multi-core department, but that seems to be completely offset by the rest of the tests and the single-core score. However, the anti-cheat test reveals a boost in the scores, just enough to give the ZTE an edge. Now, we could be wrong, but these are the numbers we got. Judge for yourself:
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Graphics performance for the ZTE Nubia Z9 mini is as expected for the Adreno 405 GPU inside. Scores are pretty consistent with the equally specked competition. It is also important to note that the Z9 mini is equipped with a Full HD display, which takes its toll in onscreen tests.
The Xiaomi Mi 4i does seem to outshine a lot of the competition in the GFX 3.0 tests, both on screen and off screen, but the difference in frame rate is hardly noticeable in real life. As for the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua, HTC Desire 820, ZTE Blade S6 and Acer Liquid Jade S, they all have the "advantage" of a 720p screen resolution, which results in the impressive frame rates onscreen.
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Higher is better
Moving on the Browser performance the ZTE Blade Z9 mini has some glaring issues. This is where the odd OEM software really falls short. The enclosed scores were achieved with the phone's default browser.
It is clear that it can't come even remotely close to the performance of a powerful and highly-optimized browser, such as Chrome. Furthermore, the fact that the OS is missing the Google Play store and most other services related to it, makes switching to another browser quite troublesome. We did actually manage to side-load the Chrome apk, but, as expected, the Google account login didn't work.
Lower is better
Higher is better
The Nubia Z9 mini benchmark performance is a mixed bag and not surprisingly. The phone is equipped with perfectly decent mid-range hardware, but riles on a highly custom implementation of Android. As with most devices geared for an Asian market - the GUI is refreshing and houses a lot of nice little feature and functionalities, but comes at the price of bad optimization.
ZTE has already stated its intention to bring the Nubia Z9 to the US, which in tern means that the OS should be optimized for international use. Hopefully, that means that the Z9 mini will get the same software transformation. However, the mini version might never venture outside China, in which, we urge any prospective buyers to consider the current state of the OS and weather it will suit their needs.
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