After a year, nubia Philippines is back with the follow-up to its retro-styled nubia Music, now called the nubia Music Pro. On paper, it promises a better experience, but does it really live up to the name or is it just here to look cool?
nubia sent us a review unit to try out, and after using it for a while, here’s the lowdown.
Design and Build Quality
At first glance, the nubia Music Pro looks very similar to last year’s model. The vinyl record player-inspired back design is still there, but now it has a new trick: an AI Melodic Light. This little light glows when you’re listening to music, watching videos, getting notifications, and more. It is a small detail, but it fits the whole music vibe perfectly.
Personally, I like this design better, especially in the POP Art colorway that we got. It pops more, while the Melody Wave version is cleaner but less striking.
The body is made of plastic, but it feels sturdy enough. It is a bit thick and heavier than some budget phones, so you’ll notice it in your hand or pocket.
At the bottom, you get the 3.5mm headphone jack, microphone, USB-C port, and secondary speaker. There is another mic on top, the SIM tray on the left, and on the right are the volume buttons and the power button that also works as a fingerprint scanner.
Display and Multimedia Experience
The screen of the nubia Music Pro got a size upgrade and is now 6.7 inches. It is still an IPS LCD with HD+ resolution, so you are not getting super sharp detail, but for the price, it is fine. Colors are decent, and brightness is good enough for most scenarios.
One upgrade I really noticed is the jump from a 90Hz to a 120Hz refresh rate. Scrolling feels smoother and snappier.
It also comes with Live Island 2.0, which shows small pop-ups for things like timers, music playback, flashlight use, and when you unlock your phone.
Sound-wise, the dual stereo speakers are surprisingly decent for a budget device. They will not replace your main speakers, but for casual listening or watching videos, they do the job. There is also the trusty headphone jack for wired headphones.
Some versions of this phone come with a magnetic speaker that attaches to the included jelly case. Ours didn’t have it, so I could not test it, but it seems like a fun extra for those who get it.
Performance
Inside, the nubia Music Pro is powered by a 12nm Unisoc T7200 octa-core processor with a Mali-G57 MP1 GPU. Compared to the older model, it is much smoother to use. Apps open faster, and I didn’t run into as many random lags.
For games, it handles light to moderate titles just fine. Mobile Legends: Bang Bang and Honor of Kings ran smoothly, but heavy games like Genshin Impact still push it to its limits.
The phone has 4GB of RAM, but you can turn on virtual RAM to get an extra 4GB from storage. It also has a large 128GB internal storage for those apps, images, and other files. In benchmarks, it scored 8,333 in PCMark Work 3.0 and 239,526 in AnTuTu.
Camera
The camera is not the main selling point, but it is not bad either. The rear camera of the nubia Music Pro takes reasonably sharp photos with good color and detail. Shadows and highlights are handled pretty well, and the colors look lively without going overboard.
The selfie camera is a bit hit or miss. In good lighting, it works fine, but it sometimes struggles with bright spots, especially in Portrait mode.
Videos max out at 1080p at 30fps. The quality is okay for casual use, but since there is no image stabilization, you will need a steady hand or a tripod.
Here are our nubia Music Pro sample photos:
Battery
nubia Music Pro’s 5,000mAh battery easily gets through a full day of heavy use. On lighter days, I could stretch it to nearly two days. In PCMark’s battery test, it lasted 13 hours and 53 minutes, which is pretty solid for a budget phone.
The downside is the slow 10W charging. It gets the job done, but it is not quick. An upgrade to 18W would have been nice.
Verdict
The nubia Music Pro is a nice upgrade from last year’s nubia Music. It improves in performance, display smoothness, and multimedia features, all while keeping its budget-friendly price tag. It is not perfect, especially with slow charging and basic cameras, but for under PHP 5K, it is a good choice for music lovers who want a fun-looking phone that actually delivers on its theme.
nubia Music Pro Specifications
- Display: 6.7-inch IPS LCD, HD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling rate
- CPU: 1.6GHz 12nm Unisoc T7200 octa-core processor
- GPU: Mali-G57 MP1
- RAM: 4GB + 4GB Extended RAM
- ROM: 128GB
- Rear Camera: 50MP + Aux lens + LED flash
- Front Camera: 5MP
- Battery: 5,000mAh, 10W charging
- OS: MyOS 14, Android 14
- Connectivity: 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, Dual SIM (nano), Dual 3.5mm headphone jack
- Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope
- Colors: Melody Wave, Pop Art
- Dimensions: 163.6mm (H) × 74.9mm (W) x 8.6mm (D)
- Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, AI face unlock, USB-C, FM antenna, NFC, DTS:X Ultra
