0:00Nubia is a brand often associated with
0:02affordable products. Last year, we were
0:05able to try out a bunch of their phones,
0:07including the V80 Design and the Nubia
0:10Air. This 2026, Nubia is kicking things
0:13off with another budget smartphone, the
0:15V80 Max. It features a large 6.9 in 120
0:20Hz display, a large 6,000 mAh battery,
0:22and a price under 10,000 pesos. But this
0:26begs the question, how does the Nubia
0:28V80 Max stack up against the highly
0:31competitive budget smartphone segment?
0:33Let’s find out in this review.
0:42What immediately caught our attention
0:44about the design of the Nubia V80 Max is
0:46how similar it looks to the current
0:48Samsung smartphone aesthetic. At first
0:51glance, anyone could mistake it for
0:53Samsung’s flagship device or an almost
0:55any other phone in their lineup. Here at
0:57the rear is what seems to be a triple
0:59camera system. But don’t be fooled.
1:02There’s only one actual camera. More on
1:05that later. In terms of size, it’s quite
1:07a big phone, but it’s not that heavy,
1:10nor is it overly bulky. It only measures
1:128.3 mm thick and weighs about 191 g.
1:17Since this is a budget phone, it’s not
1:19exactly the most premium to the touch.
1:21The frame and back panel is made of
1:24plastic and not the best kind, but
1:27overall it is still quite solid
1:29nonetheless. And at least it looks
1:32great, especially in this Stardust
1:34purple color that we have over here.
1:36Thankfully, the volume rocker and power
1:38button that doubles as a fingerprint
1:40scanner are positioned ergonomically. We
1:42found it easy to [music] reach with our
1:44fingers. So much so we think end users
1:46with small [music] hands won’t run into
1:48any trouble. At the bottom you’ll find
1:50the USBC port, the monol [music]
1:54speaker, a 3.5 mm audio jack, which is a
1:57rare find these days, and a primary
1:59microphone for calls. On the left side,
2:02there’s [music] the dual SIM card slot
2:04with a dedicated micro SD card slot. And
2:06finally, at the top [music] is a
2:09secondary microphone for loudspeaker
2:11calls. Novia claims the phone is quite
2:14rugged, capable with tubecertified drop
2:16resistance. It also features an IP64
2:19rating for dust and water resistance.
2:22This rating indicates users shouldn’t
2:24submerge this device in water, but at
2:26least it can handle splashes without
2:29issue. Considering how big the Nubia V80
2:32Max is, naturally, it also features a
2:36large 6.9 in IPS panel with up to 780
2:40nits of peak brightness. Despite its big
2:42size, it’s not exactly the best looking
2:45display. [music] It features an HD plus
2:47resolution, not even full HD, which
2:50means we’re limited to just 720p on apps
2:53like YouTube. And for those of you
2:55wondering, it’s rocking a Widevine Level
2:583 certified display [music] panel. The
3:01viewing angles aren’t that great,
3:04especially from the sides. The
3:06asymmetrical bezels aren’t that thin
3:09either, leaving users with less display
3:11space to work with. If you’re someone
3:13used to a higher resolution smartphone,
3:16you can definitely [music] tell that
3:17this isn’t the best looking display out
3:19there. Thankfully, the display features
3:22a 120 Hz refresh rate, which users can
3:24feel through navigating through its UI
3:26and such. While its 120 Hz display gave
3:29the phone smooth animations and like
3:32with scrolling and such, its actual
3:34display quality didn’t really live up to
3:36our expectations.
3:38As for the single loudspeaker, [music]
3:41it’s decent for what it offers. The
3:43vocals are relatively clear when
3:45listening, and there’s also a good
3:47balance between [music] the highs and
3:48mids. It’s actually quite loud, too,
3:51with the option to bump the speaker
3:53levels to 200%. However, we don’t
3:56recommend doing so since the quality is
3:58sacrificed in exchange for loudness.
4:01Also, keep in mind that the speaker
4:03[music] can easily be blocked by our
4:05fingers when holding like this. Well,
4:07that’s just what happens when you have
4:09downwardfiring [music] mono speakers in
4:12your device. As for biometrics, there’s
4:14a sidemounted fingerprint scanner that
4:16doubles as the power button and face
4:19unlock. [music] In 2026, a sidemounted
4:22fingerprint scanner feels a little
4:24dated. Apart from that, recognition is
4:27quick and accurate, but some of us from
4:29the studio would recommend face unlock
4:31on this Nubia V80 [music] Max for a
4:34faster experience. Remember that triple
4:37camera layout we mentioned earlier?
4:39Well, it’s not the triple camera system
4:41one would expect from a quick look
4:44because only the 50 megapixel main
4:47shooter with phase detection autofocus
4:49takes actual photos. Composing the other
4:52two cameras are a 2 megapixel depth
4:55sensor and an auxiliary sensor. For
4:57selfies, there’s a 16 megapixel front
5:00camera here in front. The camera of the
5:03Nubia V80 Max captures [music] decent
5:05images in well-lit environments. By
5:08keeping it in its standard 1x zoom or 2x
5:10at [music] most, the images were
5:12relatively sharp and featured nice
5:14contrast. The images aren’t anything to
5:16write home about, but it’s more than
5:17adequate for users wanting to capture
5:19memories. From our eyes, the images look
5:22a bit flat, lacking the moody feel some
5:25cameras give, but it’s nothing users
5:27can’t fix in post. However, when users
5:29start losing light, the image [music]
5:31quality also starts to drop. The camera
5:33of the V80 Max struggles when shooting
5:35in low light. Images come out soft with
5:38noticeable artifacting, and it gets even
5:40worse when users zoom. Switching to
5:42night mode helps a bit, but ironically,
5:45the image loses even more details in the
5:47process. Video recording on the V80 Max
5:50is limited to just 1080p at 30 frames
5:52per second for both the front and rear
5:54cameras. There’s no OIS or any sort of
5:57stabilization [music] either, meaning
5:58users will have to bring a tripod or
6:00gimbal for steadier shots. As for the
6:03output, it’s very much similar to the
6:05images we capture. It’s decent during
6:07the day or in well-lit environments, but
6:09starts to drop in quality when in low
6:11light conditions. However, the drop in
6:13quality is a lot more noticeable in the
6:15video rather than the photos. If
6:17anything, we wish Nubia added at least a
6:201080p [music] at 60 frames per second
6:21option for shooting video using the rear
6:24cameras or [music] camera raw, which
6:26does seem to be the standard for most
6:28budget smartphones nowadays. Under the
6:30hood, the Nubia V80 Max packs a UNISOC
6:33T7250 processor. Our review unit comes
6:36with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal
6:39storage. We found the storage quite
6:41lacking after installing only our
6:43benchmarking apps [music] and two games.
6:45With that, we highly recommend taking
6:47advantage of the dedicated micro SD card
6:49slot for expandable storage. It’s not
6:52exactly the best performing smartphone,
6:54but it’s more than adequate for everyday
6:56use. If we leave too many apps running
6:59in the background, [music] the phone
7:00experiences some lag once in a while.
7:02However, it’s not bad enough to cause
7:04major problems. What we noticed is that
7:07performance takes a big hit when storage
7:10is full. Like any other phone, there
7:12were times when apps simply wouldn’t
7:14open, but once we freed up some space,
7:17everything functioned as expected. As
7:19for gaming, it’s not exactly great at
7:22it, which is a shame considering it
7:24features a 120 Hz refresh rate. It’s
7:26more akin to playing light games like
7:29Mobile Legends. Heavier titles like
7:31Genchin Impact have a hard time running
7:33on this phone. Even with all the
7:35settings at their lowest, the game has a
7:37hard time running smoothly. But then
7:40again, we have to set our expectations
7:42considering this is a budget smartphone.
7:44And for those of you interested in our
7:46benchmark scores, they should be on your
7:48screens now.
7:52[music]
8:08>> [music]
8:11>> In terms of operating systems, the
8:13Venubia V80 Max ships with Android 16
8:17skinned with my OOS on top. It’s not
8:20exactly the best looking operating
8:21system on the market, but there are
8:23customization and personalization
8:25options. Users can fully customize the
8:28home screen and design to their liking.
8:31And while it doesn’t have any bloatware,
8:34which is nice, there’s also no dedicated
8:37gallery app. Instead, all the phones
8:39captured using this phone are saved to
8:42Google Photos, which depending on who
8:44you’re talking to, is a good photo
8:46gallery app as well. But in our opinion,
8:49it’s better used for managing photos
8:51backed up to the cloud than as a
8:53dedicated gallery app. The highlight of
8:56my OOS is its AI functions. Google
8:58Gemini and Circle to Search are
9:00integrated into the phone. Despite being
9:02a budget model, it also features its own
9:04Nubia AI, which features a wide [music]
9:06range of tools to use, which we may
9:08explore in a dedicated OS video in the
9:11future. Unlike the V80 design we tried
9:13out, there is no AI button on the V80
9:16Max. Powering the Nubia V80 Max is a
9:18large 6,000 mAh battery pack. We were
9:21able to get through an entire day of
9:22using the phone to run benchmarks, play
9:25games, watch videos, and even capture
9:27photos and videos. In our PC Mark Work
9:293.0 Auto battery test. The device
9:31garnered a result of 14 hours and 9
9:34minutes. In terms of charging, it only
9:36features a 22.5 watt wired charging
9:39rate, which isn’t the fastest, allowing
9:41us to top up the device from zero to
9:43full in an hour and a half.
9:45Additionally, end users can choose to
9:47help others since it supports 10 watts
9:49of reverse wired charging. In terms of
9:51connectivity, the V80 Max gets the
9:54essentials. [music] It gets standard
9:55dualband Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, two
9:58standard GPS protocols. Call quality
10:00works [music] fine on either Wi-Fi or
10:02data, but we don’t get any eSIM support
10:06here for those of you wondering. Now, in
10:09conclusion, the Nubia V80 Max is a
10:11decent phone for those who just want an
10:13everyday workhorse for less than 10K.
10:16It’s not the best performing nor the
10:18best looking, but at least its overall
10:21construction will help make the phone
10:23last long enough. As for the price, we
10:26mentioned it retails for under 10,000
10:28pesos. However, compared to what its
10:30competition offers in terms of
10:32performance, [music]
10:33it’s hard to pick this phone over the
10:36others. It retails at 9,999 [music]
10:39pesos for the same 8 + 128 gig variant
10:42we have here. This could be considered
10:44expensive for its class considering the
10:46lackluster performance and our
10:48experience on this phone. Thankfully,
10:50those who are interested can get it for
10:536,499
10:54pesos via the early bird promo. At that
10:57price, it sounds a lot more reasonable.
11:00Which is why if you really want the
11:02Nubia V80 [music] Max, we recommend
11:04getting it on a sale. Still, what do you
11:06guys think about the Nubia V80 Max?
11:09Would you choose this over other budget
11:12smartphones? Share your thoughts in the
11:14comments section below. And if you
11:17enjoyed this video or found it
11:19informative or educational or a little
11:21fun, be sure to smack that like button,
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11:26of our future uploads. Be sure to
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11:33tech news and reviews. Once again,
11:37Nubia, V80 Max, Miguel T, and I’ll see
11:40you guys in the [music] next video.
11:43Cheers.
⚠️ This transcription is auto-generated from YouTube captions. Some text may not be 100% accurate.
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