This smartphone lets you adjust its brightness and more, simply by stroking its sides
It’s got a fancy bezel-free screen too
The Nubia Z9. Heard of it? No. Neither have we. But it’s definitely caught our eye.
Its 5.2in 1080p screen, for one thing, is striking. The Z9 has a true edge-to-edge display, with each side wrapping slightly around the device itself.
Though it doesn’t reach the curvy heights of the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, it looks incredibly clean and modern, though we can’t speak for its quality, having yet to see one in the flesh.
The 8.9mm-thin Z9 also has another trick up it sleeve. Its Frame Interactive Technology means that its aluminium sides are grip and touch-sensitive, letting you interact with the phone without having to lay a finger on the screen.
One example is the ability to unlock it with a pre-defined grip, though we can’t see that being as secure as a fingerprint scanner or traditional pin code.
You can also use your thumb to flick up and down one side of the phone’s frame, to switch between open apps, which looks like a genuinely useful gesture.
Sliding up and down both sides can change the brightness which is also handy, though we’re not too sure about toggling the camera app by holding it horizontally with your fingertips – the Galaxy S6‘s home button double-tap still seems much quicker and easier.
You can also give the phone a quick double-squeeze, which toggles a smaller single-hand mode, which is another nice touch.
Specs-wise, we’re looking at Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 810 processor, and 3/4GB of RAM, depending on whether you spring for the 32GB Classic Edition or 64GB Elite edition.
That should all keep Android 5.0 Lollipop running smoothly, though it’s far too early to tell if the 810’s overheating issues have been sorted with some clever software/hardware tweaking.
There’s a 16MP camera on the rear which uses the same Sony IMX234 sensor found in the excellent LG G4, although the f/2.0 lens can’t match the G4’s snappier f/1.6 offering.
The front-facing camera is also rather impressive, packing in an 8MP wide-angle sensor for squeezing the best out of your many, many selfies.
The non-removable 2900mAh battery could be larger, but given the lack of a 2K screen, it should hopefully provide enough juice to comfortably last a day.
Predictably, there’s no mention of a release date or price outside China, and there may never be. If you do happen to find yourself in that part of the world however then you can snap up the Classic and Elite editions for around US$560 and US$645 respectively, ahead of their May 21 launch.
[via Engadget]
Esat Dedezade
Contributor 
