ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G has a conventional, non-folding form factor with no rugged build certification and no water resistance. It measures 166 mm tall, 76.1 mm wide, and 8.5 mm thick, with a total volume of 107.38 cm³. The device weighs 208 g, placing it on the heavier side for a smartphone of its size.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G features a 6.72″ IPS LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 px and a pixel density of 392 ppi, delivering a reasonably sharp image across its large panel. The display runs at a 120Hz refresh rate with a 240Hz touch sampling rate, contributing to smooth scrolling and responsive input. It does not include branded damage-resistant glass, and there is no support for HDR10, HDR10+, or Dolby Vision; Always-On Display and a secondary screen are also absent.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G is powered by the Unisoc T820 chipset, built on a 6 nm process with an octa-core CPU spread across three clock tiers — one core at 2.7 GHz, three at 2.3 GHz, and four at 2.1 GHz — using big.LITTLE architecture with HMP support for efficient task distribution. It comes with 8GB of DDR4 RAM running at 2133 MHz and 256GB of eMMC 5.1 internal storage, with no ECC memory support and a maximum memory ceiling of 8GB. The integrated Mali G57 MP4 GPU operates with a turbo clock of 850 MHz and supports OpenGL ES 2.3 and OpenCL 2, while the SoC also includes integrated LTE, TrustZone security, and 64-bit support. In benchmarks, the device scores 454,601 on AnTuTu, 8,410 and 2,857 on Geekbench 5 multi- and single-core respectively, 1,958 on 3DMark Wild Life, 208 on 3DMark Steel Nomad, and 12,646 on PCMark Work 3.0, with the PCMark battery test returning a result of 719 minutes; PassMark results stand at 5,114 overall and 1,894 for single-core.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G has a dual rear camera system consisting of a 50 MP primary sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and a 2 MP secondary lens at f/2.4, both using a CMOS sensor without back-side illumination or optical image stabilization. The main camera supports phase-detection autofocus for stills, continuous autofocus during video, and touch autofocus, but does not include laser autofocus. Video recording tops out at 1080p at 30 fps with no HDR10 or Dolby Vision recording support, though slow-motion capture is available. Manual controls cover ISO, exposure, focus, and white balance, while shooting modes include HDR, burst, panorama, and timelapse; raw capture and manual shutter speed are not supported. A single LED flash is present on the rear — no dual-tone or RGB flash — and the front camera offers a 16 MP single-lens setup without a flash, an under-display placement, or a secondary lens.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G runs Android 13 and includes a broad set of privacy controls such as clipboard warnings, location privacy options, and camera/microphone access management, though Mail Privacy Protection and cross-site tracking blocking are absent. On the customization side, it supports dark mode, dynamic theming, theme customization, widgets, and customizable notifications, while focus modes and app offloading are not available. Productivity features include split-screen multitasking, Picture-in-Picture, full-page screenshots, a media picker, sharing intents, Live Text, and the ability to play games while they download. The OS also offers on-device machine learning, offline voice recognition, voice commands, device tracking, a child lock, battery health check, extra dim mode, and multi-user support. Direct OS updates from the vendor are not provided, and Quick Start and Wi-Fi password sharing are also absent.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G is equipped with a 6000 mAh rechargeable, non-removable battery that supports 33W fast charging, and a charger is included in the box. Wireless charging is not available. The device features a battery level indicator and an ultra power-saving mode for extending usage when the charge runs low.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G includes stereo speakers and a dual-microphone setup, along with a built-in FM radio. There is no 3.5 mm headphone jack, and none of the advanced Bluetooth audio codecs — aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX Lossless, or LDAC — are supported.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G supports 5G connectivity alongside Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) and Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac), Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC, with a dual-SIM configuration and no external memory slot. It connects via USB Type-C at USB 2.0 speeds, and cellular download and upload speeds reach up to 750 Mbits/s and 210 Mbits/s respectively. For location, the device includes GPS with Galileo support, a compass, gyroscope, and accelerometer, while a barometer, infrared sensor, heart rate monitor, and ANT+ are all absent. Security is handled by a fingerprint scanner, with no 3D facial recognition or iris scanner on board. The US SAR ratings are 1.23 W/kg for the head and 1.46 W/kg for the body, and the device does not include HDMI output, DLNA certification, satellite SOS, crash detection, a stylus, or a built-in projector.

The ZTE Nubia Neo 2 5G includes a video light for use during video recording, while its display is flat and uses neither sapphire glass nor an e-paper panel.