The smartphone market is definitely a cut-throat industry
and manufacturers are always thinking of ways to one-up each other. A few years
back, it was in the processor and camera department that manufacturers were
competing on, and for the past few quarters, smartphone makers are competing
either for the thinnest phone or in this case, a bezel less display.
Chinese heavy weight ZTE just unveiled its own bezel less
smartphone – the Nubia Z9 beating another Chinese manufacturer to the punch.
The handset features a 5.2-inch Full HD 2.4D display bound by a very thin
reflective bezel that gives the illusion that is has an edge-to-edge display.
ZTE has equipped the Z9’s ultra-thin bezels with sensors and
a feature called FIT (Frame Interaction Technology) which allows users to
control certain functions by simply tapping or swiping at the bezels. There will
be three versions of the Z9. All three will have a Snapdragon 810 chip with an
Adreno 430 GPU and an octa-core processor.
The three versions (Classic, Elite and Exclusive) will have
different RAM and storage configurations starting at 3GB of RAM and 32GB of
storage, and goes up to 4GB RAM and 64GB of on board storage for the Exclusive
edition.
In the camera department, the Nubia Z9 comes equipped with a
16MP rear camera with an f/2.0 aperture lens and optical image stabilization. At
the front, we have an 8MP snapper which is perfect for selfies as it has an
80-degree angle lens.
Other notable features of the handset include an AKM4961
Hi-Fi processor with Dolby 7.1 surround sound, Bluetooth 4.1, MHL 3.0, NFC,
GPS, USB OTG, 4G LTE connectivity and for the Exclusive version, ZTE is
installing a fingerprint sensor both on the power and on the volume buttons.
The ZTE Nubia Z9 is now available for pre-orders in China
starting at around $530 for the classic version and goes up to $730 for the
Exclusive model.
