Review of the Umidigi Z1 Pro smartphone: stylish “Chinese” in a thin all-metal case

Equipment

Our smartphone is clearly not a budget one, so the box looks like it. Several casings, everything opens in a cool way, inside there are all sorts of envelopes, separate boxes, and so on.

There is nothing unusual about the configuration itself:

• USB Type-C cable red
• power supply (5, 7, 9 or 12 volts / 1.67 or 1.25 amps)
• protective glass for screen
• instructions in English

Of course, we didn’t forget about the simple silicone case. It will do for the first time, because the model is new, go find a suitable accessory for it.

The UMIDIGI Z Pro smartphone is another no-name flagship for a lot of money.

Hi all. Today we are reviewing a new product from UMIDIGI (formerly UMI) - Umidigi Z Pro. It is not known what the rebranding is connected with, but UMI received a negative rating among buyers after several unsuccessful smartphone models. Umidigi Z is available in 2 versions: simply Z and with the Pro prefix. The regular version has less memory and does not have a second rear camera with bokeh functions and hardware monochrome, which the hero of the review can boast of. I’m one hundred percent sure that there will be comments like: why do I need no-name junk for a lot of money, I’d rather buy a Xiaomi. And you’ll be right, only masochists and reviewers buy such “flagship” smartphones (Umi, Elephone, Doogee, etc.) for that kind of money. Traffic...

But in reality, not everything is so sad... This phone uses flagship components and has its own “chips”: 3 13MP cameras, 10 cores, 2.5D IGZO screen, Helio X27 processor. But as usual, not fully optimized software leads to the fact that the latest hardware works at the level of the previous Helio X20 processor. Promises of constant updates and OTA updates to Android 7.0 ring from the lips of Chinese marketers, but in the end we get one, maximum 2 updates and that’s it... a new model comes out and no one will remember about the old Z Pro. So, it's time to look at the specifications of the Z Pro. Here you should pay attention to memory, cameras, Hi-Fi sound, screen and battery - these are all the main advantages of a smartphone.

Technical characteristics of the smartphone.

NET

2G: GSM 850(B5)/900(B8)/1800(B3)/1900(B2) 3G: WCDMA 900(B8)/2100(B1) 4G: FDD LTE 2100(B1)/1800(B3)/2600( B7)/800(B20)

FRAME

Dimensions - 15.4 * 7.6 * 0.82cm Weight - 175g SIM Dual SIM (2 Nano SIM cards or 1 nano and microSD).

SCREEN

Type - IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors IGZO (2.5D Arc screen) 5.5 inches FHD

PLATFORM

OS - Android OS, v6 (they promise OTA update to 7.0) Chipset - MTK Helio CPU - MTK Helio X27 Deca-core 2.6Ghz CPU Processor (3 cluster architecture: 2 cores of 2.6 GHz Cortex A72 and 8 cores of Cortex A53). GPU – Mali-T880 MP4 875MHz

MEMORY

Slot for microSD memory card, up to 256 GB (installed instead of SIM 2 card) 32 GB ROM 4 GB RAM LPDDR

CAMERAS

Rear: 13MP SONY IMX 258 + 13MP SONY IMX 258 flash with 4 Auto-focus diodes, hardware monochrome + bokeh mode (background blurring). 1080P, 2K, 4K

Front Camera: 13MP FF SAMSUNG S5K3L8 Softlight LED

SOUND

3.5mm
Hi-Fi audio jack:
NXP-TFA9890

COMMUNICATIONS

802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4/5GHZ dual - band Bluetooth v4.1 GPS Type-C otg

BATTERY

non-removable Li-Ion 3780mAH/4.35V battery

Contents of delivery.

The package includes a Type-C cable (a minus for me, it’s impossible to find a Type C in the urban jungle, you have to always have it with you. My family has a smart phone with a Type C - I know what I’m talking about ), a charger with quick charge support (express pump 3) 5\7\9\12V, instructions in English and a needle for the SIM card tray. By the way, the box is tin, which looks very expensive and unusual.

And, in fact, the UMIDIGI Z Pro smartphone itself.

Appearance.

Front view of smartphone. A sort of iPhone. 2.5D glass, fingerprint scanner in the bottom center - Touch ID, front camera (13MP Samsung). The screen of the smartphone is excellent: with bright colors and decent viewing angles. Nice IPS matrix, without any complaints. Manufacturer: Sharp.

The entire body is all-metal, with plastic inserts on the top and bottom (underneath are most likely antennas). There is also a company logo, 2 cameras, and a four-LED flash. Why such a huge inscription CE 0700 is not clear to me.

A closer look at the dual camera from Sony IMX 258, a flash of 4 diodes and a second microphone for noise reduction.

On the right side, as usual, is the power button and volume rocker. There is a chamfer on the edge that immediately adds +10 to the tactile sensation when using a smartphone. Thanks to the rounded sides, and the smartphone itself is very thin, it fits in the hand like an iPhone 7.

On the left side is a tray for SIM cards and microSD (combined tray: nano SIM + nano SIM or microSD). In general, a combined slot is a sore subject and has questionable convenience. On 4pda there is information on gluing Sim and SD to get 2 SIM + memory card.

On the bottom edge there is a microphone (in one of the holes), 2 stereo Hi-Fi speakers (the sound is better than that of the Xiaomi RN3 Pro, according to 3 independent sources. No noise at maximum volume) and a Type-C input for charging/transfer files\OTG.

On top there is only 3.5 mm for headphones.

On the front surface, at the bottom, there is a touch (not physical) home\menu\back key and, guess who, it has a fingerprint scanner (Touch ID) built into it. Also, from the bonuses, you can additionally enable the home\menu\back on-screen keys.

On top is an earpiece, a 13MP soft light camera from Samsung for yourselves (honestly, it shoots at the level of 6MP cameras, like the same Xiaomi ones), and there is also an event indicator (for me personally, a smart without an event indicator is not smart).

Operating system and graphical shell.

The smartphone has Android 6.0 installed (they promise an update to 7.0 via OTA, but of course we believe them, yay). As experience shows (I dealt with the “flagship” Elephone P9000 - firmware and fixes, a maximum of 2 updates). However, pure Android, Russian language in stock, almost everything has been translated. The last update was on March 21 and there has been silence for 2 months now.

There is also a function for changing color temperature, I fell in love with it after Xiaomi smartphones, I like to make the colors a little warmer, without that blue tint.

Performance and benchmarks.

Epic Citadel result. 50 frames at ultrahigh quality FHD.

Everyone’s favorite Antutu 6.7.2 showed 98,000 points (and at the presentation of the smart it was generally 110,000 and everyone was pretty blown away by these numbers). For example, RN3 Pro on Snapgragon gives 72,000 points, and RN 4 - 82,000 points. But this is all synthetic, then we’ll look at the toys, and a surprise awaits us there. The PC mark gave out 5400 points (if you re-enter 4600 points, we lose due to throttling, more on that later). The same thing happens with Antutu - cold start - about 100k points, hot smart - about 80k. Still, the 10 nuclear stove makes itself felt.

Information from the AIDA 64 program. By the way, the cores are not divided into A72 (2 pieces) and A53 (8 pieces), but in RN 4 it shows exactly which cores (2+4+4) and frequency.

Communications.

Internet connection test Speedtest, provider Cosmos TV (10 Mbit). The speed works, but the connection is not very good; Xiaomi would have full connection (in short, the norm for MTK). The presence of sensors (Antutu shows, by the way, the presence of NFC, but not a single program with NFC works and not a word on the website), the level of WiFi signal through 2 concrete walls (frequency 2.4 GHz) - the signal is noticeably weaker than on Xiaomi and multi-touch for 5 touches - that's why not 10? 2 is enough for me, but you are like a flagship.

About GPS. The usual slow-motion GPS from MTK takes 30 seconds for an exact location, the same Snapdragons determine the location in 5-10 seconds no more. Pulls GPS and GLONASS satellites.

Gaming performance.

Well-known tanks with a built-in FPS meter and normal load at maximum.

A couple of minutes of play 43 - 55 FPS. Stable.

5 - 7 minutes and hell begins in a ten-core firebox FPS drops to 30, and then generally to 18 FPS.

But at the minimum everything is stable, 50 frames go. By the way, not to say that the phone is really hot. On the cores it is about 65-70 degrees, which is quite normal. Most likely the software is flawed and the top X27 processor works at the level of the same P10 and X20. It's a pity…

Autonomy.

Battery 3780mAH/4.35V. Please note - the battery is of high voltage. It lasted me 2 days. I've been testing it all this time. WiFi and bluetooth did not turn off at all. If you use it for calls, then 4 days will be enough. I would even say that it holds better than RN3 Pro. Perhaps due to the higher voltage, we get more power. In a dream, consumption is 2-3%, which is good news. I was afraid that the crooked firmware would consume 10-15%, as the Elephone P9000 did, until I injected it with custom firmware and disabled all sorts of miracle applications from friends from the land of the rising sun.

Camera.

The same Wow at the conference and presentation of the smartphone. But in fact, the photos are so-so . I couldn’t find anywhere to change their quality. The Chinese were in such a hurry that they forgot about switching quality. Shoots at RN3 and R3 levels. In good lighting the photos are normal, but otherwise they are greyish. But the trick here is in two super features that 2 cameras give us: bokeh mode and hardware monochrome (black and white photography, but it is done not by software, but by hardware).

Let's take a quick look at the settings. Modes are switched by scrolling. There is a Pro Foto mode - manual adjustment of all parameters, but no matter how I tried to configure it (I have photography experience), I couldn’t get anything really great.

Focuses quickly. The flash, by the way, is a 4-diode flash - like a spotlight. But what's the point of it if you get soap in poor lighting? The problem is 99% in the software, since the Sony IMX 258 crashes normally, for example on the same RN3 Pro the photos are fire.

Examples of photos.

Let's start with the chips. Bokeh mode. By the way, to get such pictures you need to try really hard. But in general, I liked Bokeh, although if you set the focus correctly, you can get this on a regular smart one.

The next super feature is hardware monochrome. It’s also quite good, you definitely can’t do it programmatically. There's a whole gradation of gray here.

And finally, May 10th - snow. Lack of light and in the end we get a picture that any budget employee could take for $70.

Advantages and disadvantages.

+ The latest Helio X27 processor, 10 cores (albeit with a caveat, see cons) + Design and build quality (here are 10 points, without reservations) + Fingerprint scanner in the front home touch button (Touch ID). I personally am already tired of the scanners in the back in the middle, like all Xiaomi ones. + Camera features: monochrome and bokeh, although the quality of the images is not great. + In general, everything is good for toys, but you need to set the settings to medium or minimum, so as not to reduce the percentage (100,000 antutu points - pure marketing and tricks of the evil Chinese). + FHD IGZO screen manufactured by Sharp. The screen is super, there are no words. (just like in the Elephone P9000 the screen is space, everything else is such a basement....)

- Throttling - if you play toys at maximum, there is overheating and a drop in power. — The quality of the pictures, I did not find a change in the quality of the video/photo. — Updates that most likely will not happen. — UMI UMIDIGI — I know, I know your dislike for this manufacturer. - All the troubles are because of the software. Namely, optimization and camera quality, since the hardware is top-end and we have already seen how it works on real flagships.

+- Type-C. For me this is a minus, not so much the connector itself, but then constantly carrying the cable with you. +- Pure Android. I was directly opposed to all kinds of shells, but after MIUI I will never get off it again

Conclusion.

In general, I really liked the smartphone. Would you buy it for your own? for 240 no, of course, for 170 I would probably take it only if I tested everything myself) The quality of the case and appearance are simply gorgeous. The filling is also top. But here's the software part... “The mice cried, injected themselves, but continued to gnaw the cactus.” Although, compared to the same Elephone P9000, heaven and earth (UMIDIGI is no longer quite a basement, but the quality of Xiaomi is still far away). They will learn to cut normal software and there will be success. That's all, welcome to the comments. Bye everyone.

Video material.

Detailed review.

Thank you all for your attention!

Design

The front is tempered Gorilla Glass 4 with 2.5D edges. On the back there is a plastic cover that looks like brushed metal. The metal base of the case runs along the edges. Everything is standard.

It is significant that one of my comrades, who is familiar with Chinese gadgets first-hand, could not understand at first glance that I was not holding an iPhone 7 Plus. I looked closely, squinted and concluded: “No, this is definitely not an iPhone.”

And our hero is very similar to HTC U11. I don’t think that UMIDIGI copied this particular flagship, but what happened was what happened.

HTC U11

The smartphone fits in your hand like a regular 5.5-inch smartphone. Those who like something smaller will not like it, but those who need a larger screen will like it. I can’t call the Z1 fluffy, but I can’t call it a brick either. Average.

I have already said that the standard Z1 is slightly different from the Pro version in size.

But then one strange thing happened - the thickness of my copy turned out to be 8.8 millimeters. And on the official website of the manufacturer it is stated that the smartphone has a body with a thickness of 8.2 mm.

In general, either the manufacturer is disingenuous, or I got some kind of miracle. Although, looking ahead, I will say that I did not notice any more such nuances.

Oh yes! The Pro version has a thickness of 6.95 mm. At least that's what it says.

There is a fingerprint scanner located under the screen. It is hard, has a touch surface, therefore, a simple touch and the device will immediately unlock. There are practically no errors (9 out of 10).

It’s interesting that on the sides we have touch keys and they are not marked at all. There is no backlight either. The principle of operation is this: click somewhere here.

UMIDIGI Z Pro review - what besides two cameras?

UMIDIGI Z Pro is the manufacturer’s flagship smartphone and a new model, sales of which have already started under the updated brand. UMIDIGI tried to make the device as interesting as possible for potential buyers, which is why the smartphone has an updated dual camera. What else is interesting or not interesting about Z Pro? Let’s figure it out together.

Video review of UMIDIGI Z Pro

The matte black metal packaging of the smartphone hides the device, cable and charger with support for PE+ fast charging. The paper clip and documents are also in place.

Characteristics:

• Operating system - Android 6.0 (Android 7.0 OTA)
• Communication - SIM x 2; LTE FDD 2100(B1)/1800(B3)/2600(B7)/800(B20); WCDMA 900(B8)/2100(B1); GSM 850(B5)/900(B8)/1800(B3)/1900(B2)
• Screen – 5.5″ IGZO (2.5D), 1920 x 1080
• Processor – MTK Helio X27, Deca-core, Cortex-A72 2.6GHz
• Video accelerator - Mali-T880 MP4 875MHz
• RAM – 4 GB
• Memory – 32 GB + MicroSD up to 256 GB (hybrid slot – 2 SIM or SIM+MicroSD)
• Main camera: 13MP (SONY IMX 258) + 13MP (SONY IMX 258)
• Front: 13MP (SAMSUNG S5K3L8) + flash
• Wireless – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4/5G, Bluetooth 4.1
• Connectors – USB Type-C, 3.5 mm Jack
• Navigation - GPS, GLONASS
• Battery – 3780 mAh/4.35V, support PE+Quick Charge
• Additionally - fingerprint scanner, FM radio, HiFi chip NXP-TFA9890
• Dimensions – 154 x 76 x 8.2 mm
• Weight - 175 g

The smartphone looks very good and fits in the palm of your hand. But it’s a little difficult to use when it comes to working with one hand.

The 5.5″ diagonal screen with FHD resolution, along with the entire front panel, is covered with protective glass with rounded edges from Dragontrail.

A multifunctional fingerprint sensor is located under the screen. Conveniently, it works on the locked screen without requiring its activation.

The user is also given the choice of controlling the smartphone using individual sensors under the screen or software buttons. The first method frees up more space for content. The touch buttons are minimally customizable - they can be swapped. On-screen controls have noticeably more flexible settings.

Returning to the screen, I would like to note that it has a fairly high display quality.

There was no desire to use fine-tuning the color temperature or palette, although such settings are in the menu.

Another option in the settings was to improve the smoothness of motion rendering on the screen.

The display backlight, which is typical for many Chinese, suffers from an overestimated minimum value, but the upper threshold copes with its task perfectly in bright sunlight.

Viewing angles are maximum at horizontal and vertical deviations. In the horizontal plane, color distortion and a drop in contrast are noticeable, which is quite standard for the declared IGZO matrix from SHARP.

And finally about the display - in the lower part along the matrix, in dark pictures a strip of light is clearly visible.

Multitouch test:

The back of the smartphone is made of brushed metal with neat antenna dividers at the top and bottom, as well as the new company logo.

On top there is a dual camera and a dual-tone LED flash. The island with glass covering the cameras protrudes greatly above the surface of the body and will obviously require additional protection or at least care when using the device.

A small groove separates the frame around the perimeter and the metal backdrop. The frame itself has a rounded shape and a pleasant matte texture.

The smartphone buttons are located on the right side, the card tray is on the left. Z Pro offers the owner the choice of installing two SIM cards or a memory card plus a SIM, while both cards support 4G and 3G, and the memory card can expand the built-in storage capacity of 32 GB with an additional 256 GB.

The flagship UMIDIGI is equipped with a reversible Type-C at the bottom and a 3.5mm jack at the top.

To improve the sound in your headphones, you can dive into the settings, there is something to play with there.

The speaker sound is quite average, although the volume is decent.

How many cores do you need to be happy? Here UMIDIGI Z Pro found its mark at 10 - that’s exactly how many cores are in the Helio X27 processor from MediaTek. Its maximum frequency is 2.6GHz.

Performance tests:

For balanced operation of a very powerful solution, three clusters of cores with different frequencies and architecture are used.

In practice, the smartphone easily copes with everyday routine; you can open many tabs and quickly jump from application to application (here, of course, not without the help of four gigabytes of RAM).

Thanks to the use of the Mali-T880 MP4 Z Pro accelerator, you can play almost any hit game at high settings, but with tanks at maximum after a while problems begin - FPS will definitely drop sooner or later. So you have to go into the settings and reduce the graphics quality.

Graphics test:

Drive test:

Does the case get hot? Of course it gets hot! This happens in the upper area of ​​the back side, the smart doesn’t “boil”, but you definitely can’t call it cold after a gaming session.

Perhaps, almost the most interesting thing that the new UMIDIGI was awarded with is its dual cameras with 13 MP IMX 258 modules from Sony.

The cameras can simulate bokeh, and in the camera application you can find software adjustment of the aperture opening up to F 0.8.

When I started testing the photo capabilities of the device, I discovered that the working values ​​of this parameter are 3 and higher. If you open the imaginary lens aperture as wide as possible, the results are often quite disastrous.

An example is an unsuccessful photo with simulated bokeh:

Example - a normal photo with bokeh simulation:

In other cases, you can get decent bokeh and keep the clarity of the subject within the required limits.

In addition to bokeh, the camera can zoom an object without losing quality if we are talking about a two-fold zoom.

Monochrome photos will also help expand your creative horizons.

But that's not all - the Z Pro camera can take an analogue of Apple's live photos and photos with a 3D effect. I found the latter to be a very interesting dabble, but if the subject is close, the digital processing is too noticeable and its edges can be stretched when the screen is rotated.

It is important that for all photos taken with the main camera, post-processing is available with the ability to change parameters, as well as apply interesting effects. It's like a mini-studio for creating comics.

The front camera of the smartphone is also far from simple - it has a module from Samsung and a resolution of 13MP. The shooting result is quite decent, in addition, the camera records video in Full HD resolution.

There is a slight tendency to over-sharp pictures, so my mustache is especially easy to read in the picture. The edges of the frame suffer from slight blurriness - it is advisable to place the subject exclusively in the center.

Summarizing my impressions of the smartphone cameras, I will also mention support for shooting video in 4K resolution and the ability to record video in background blur mode. But the result is not always predictable and controllable.

Examples of photos of the main camera:

Examples of photos of the main camera (with and without bokeh):

Example photo of the main camera (monochrome):

Example photo of the front camera:

The smartphone received a battery that matches the format of the device with a capacity of 3780 mAh. The battery behaves very predictably - it lasts for a day and a half with moderate use. But under load, keep the charger handy. The device does not charge as quickly as we would like - a full charge from scratch takes a little over two hours.

Battery test:

The smartphone runs Android 6.0 in almost its original form, and most of the modifications affected the choice of software or physical buttons and access to setting power saving modes.

The most annoying flaw was discovered in the UMIDIGI Z Pro right out of the box - automatic screen rotation refused to work when changing orientation. After a reboot, and later a complete reset, the “sore” receded, but did not go away completely - when switching from horizontal orientation, the smartphone thinks for a long time from time to time, up to 5-6 seconds. In my opinion, for a device that costs almost $250, this is simply unacceptable.

Conclusion:

After getting acquainted with the UMIDIGI Z Pro, a somewhat philosophical mood remains in the aftertaste. Still, it’s good that there are alternative brands to the top brands on the market. After all, they will help drive progress and force higher echelon manufacturers to find ways to create affordable products of decent quality. Z Pro is an interesting model, it pleases with a dual camera, albeit not too fast, but convenient fingerprint scanner, and fairly high performance. But for maximum and unconditional success, in addition to changing the brand, the manufacturer should still pay a little more attention to such important details as control of output products.

Display

The most boring point in the UMIDIGI Z1 review , because the screen here is not remarkable at all. And this is by no means a bad thing, it’s just that smartphone displays have recently reached a plateau in their development and now it’s either natural IPS or bright and contrasting AMOLED - whoever you like.

• manufacturer Sharp
• diagonal 5.5 inches
• resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels
• pixel density 401 dpi

There is a high-quality oleophobic coating, the brightness adjustment sensor works tolerably, there are no distortions in color rendering or contrast. In general, we have a typical IPS matrix.

It's so typical that there's no point in taking screenshots in the dark. There is practically no inversion - a barely noticeable fog appears only at an extreme inclination, at which no one in their right mind would look at a smartphone.

The screen remains readable in the sun

Specifications of UMIDIGI Z1/Z1 Pro

• MediaTek Helio P20 processor (MT6757) with 8 Cortex A53 cores and a frequency of 2.3 GHz (64-bit, 16 nm)
• graphics Mali-T880 MP2 900 MHz
• RAM 6 GB (4.5 GB free after reboot) LPDDR4X
• 64 GB data storage (approximately 53 GB actually available) eMMC 5.1
• Micro SD memory card support available (up to 256 GB)
• IPS display with a diagonal of 5.5 inches and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels (density 401 ppi), protective glass Gorilla Glass 4 / the Pro model received an AMOLED matrix
• front camera 5 MP (f/2.4)
• main cameras 13 + 5 MP (f/2.2, PDAF focusing, 4K video recording, four-section flash)
• 4,000 mAh battery (MediaTek Pump Express+ fast charging)
• OS Android 7.0
• sensors: accelerometer, light and distance sensor, gyroscope, digital compass, Hall sensor, fingerprint scanner, LED indicator
• Connectors: USB Type-C (OTG works), 3.5 mm audio output
• dedicated audio chip Smart PA AW8738
• Dimensions: 154 x 76 x 8.2 (actually 8.8) mm / Pro: 154.4 x 75.1 x 6.95 mm
• weight 175 / 148 grams
• colors: black and red (Pro model) / gold or dark gray (regular version)

Wireless capabilities:

• 2G, 3G, 4G (LTE bands: 1, 3, 7, 20)
• support for two Nano SIM cards
• Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n; 2.4 and 5 GHz), Bluetooth 4.1
• Navigation: GPS, Glonass

The first and most important thing that is impressive is the amount of RAM. After a reboot, 4.5 gigabytes are free and that's a lot.

However, the question is different: is such a volume really needed? I’ll answer right away - no.

The easiest way to test the RAM is to see if tabs in the browser reload. I opened 5 medium-sized websites in Chrome and started switching between windows. It’s interesting that with completely free RAM (the same 4.5 GB), one tab was consistently reloaded.

Next, I decided to open all applications installed on the smartphone, including benchmarks, YouTube and other software. I returned to the browser, and everything was the same - four tabs hung in the same form, one reloaded.

However, after launching World of Tanks Blitz, I opened Chrome again and... all the tabs reloaded. And this despite the fact that CPU-Z showed 3.9 GB of RAM free.

Another confirmation that in Android, no matter how many gigabytes of frame you put into it, there was no normal optimization.

The type of memory, by the way, is very cool - LPDDR4X. The permanent one has eMMC 5.1, which is also quite good. Read more about the types of memory in our separate material here.

Review of the Umidigi Z1 Pro smartphone: stylish “Chinese” in a thin all-metal case

Content

• Specifications
• Equipment
• Appearance and ease of use
• Screen
• Camera
• Telephone and communications
• Software and multimedia
• Performance
• Thermal photographs
• Playing video
• Battery life
• Bottom line

Umidigi (formerly Umi) is not the first-largest manufacturer in China and not the most famous Chinese manufacturer in our country.
The company is trying, however, to move in the right direction, trying to please the tastes of modern users. So, it was decided to release top-end new products in two modifications at once: one for everyone, and the second in an exclusively limited edition. While everyone is waiting for the flagship S2 and S2 Pro, we will look at the previous, slightly simpler in terms of characteristics, model, which was released earlier (but is still not available in retail in Russia). The Umidigi Z1 and Z1 Pro were also released with the hint that if you pay a little extra for the Pro version, you can join a limited number of lucky people who enjoy all the benefits of an exclusive version released in a limited edition. Perhaps these are just marketing ploys, and the difference between two modifications of the same model is small, but we still decided to test the maximum version of the Z1 Pro to see what the “second echelon” of Chinese manufacturers are now capable of in their attempt to “break out.” into people."

Main characteristics of Umidigi Z1 Pro

• SoC MediaTek Helio P20 (MT6757), 8 cores ARM Cortex A-53 @1.6/2.3 GHz
• GPU Mali-T880
• Operating system Android 7.0
• Touch display AMOLED 5.5″, 1920×1080, 401 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 6 GB, internal memory 64 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• MicroSD support up to 256 GB
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• WCDMA/HSPA+ networks (900/2100 MHz)
• LTE Cat.4 FDD networks (B1/3/7/20)
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n (2.4 and 5 GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.1
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
• USB Type-C, USB OTG
• Camera 13 MP, f/2.2, autofocus, 4K video
• Additional 5 MP camera
• Front camera 5 MP, f/2.4, fixed. focus
• Proximity sensor, light sensor, pressure sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, compass, fingerprint scanner
• Audio DAC: Smart PA AW8738
• Battery 4000 mAh
• Dimensions 154×75×7.0 mm
• Weight 148 g

Contents of delivery

The Umidigi Z1 Pro comes in one of the most stylish and unusual packaging ever seen in a smartphone. The first Yotaphone went on sale in approximately the same box folding out into several compartments. Cardboard boxes are revealed as the “roll” unwinds; each of them is equipped with its own lid. In general, just seeing such luxurious packaging puts you in the most positive mood.

The kit consists of a brightly colored USB cable, a powerful AC adapter with an output current of 1.67/1.25 A and a voltage of 5/7/9/12 V. In addition, the kit includes a screen protector with wet wipes, a tool for SIM card removal and even a protective case.

The case is flexible and transparent, it does not spoil the appearance of the device at all, although the matte metal of the case itself is still more pleasant to feel in your hand.

Appearance and ease of use

Umidigi Z1 Pro looks not only decent, but even, perhaps, more expensive than its level. If it were not for the logo on the back panel, it could be confused with the iPhone 7 Plus, because in appearance it is almost a copy of it.

The device has a very thin, stylish all-metal body without any plastic inserts at the ends. A one-piece boat made of brushed aluminum completely covers the entire frame, and for the antennas of the radio modules, grooves are customarily cut, covered with a composite material.

The matte surfaces make the smartphone look neat, but can be quite slippery in dry palms. It is saved by the fact that the device does not have a very large mass. If it were heavier, the danger of dropping it from one's hands would be greater. In any case, you can always put on the protective case, which is included as a complete accessory.

SIM cards are inserted into a single side hybrid slot. You can install two Nano-SIM cards in it or replace one of them with a microSD memory card. Hot swap supported.

The camera module with a flash of two multi-colored LEDs does not protrude beyond the rear wall of the case. The device lies stable on a hard surface and does not wobble when you touch the screen.

The front panel is covered with protective 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4 with sloping edges. Above the screen there are sensors, a front camera peephole without its own flash, and an LED event indicator.

Below the screen there are three touch buttons, one of which is equipped with a fingerprint sensor. It not only functions as a fingerprint scanner, but also returns to the home screen. A long touch opens a menu of running applications. The two buttons on the sides are used to return to the previous screen and to customize desktops. Touch buttons can be disabled, replacing them with on-screen ones, or their functions can be reassigned in the system settings.

The side keys have a soft, pliable stroke, are easy to feel blindly, and are pleasant to use.

A USB Type-C connector was installed at the bottom end, supporting the connection of external devices in USB OTG mode. There are two rows of holes cut on the sides of it, but, as usual, only one of them hides the speaker (behind the other, perhaps, is a conversational microphone).

The top end is completely devoted to a 3.5 mm headphone output jack. The auxiliary microphone for the noise reduction system is installed not at the end, but a little lower, it is located next to the flash, already on the back side of the body.

The Umidigi Z1 Pro smartphone comes in two color options: Matte Black and Passion Red. The developers wisely differentiated the Z1 and Z1 Pro models using color, giving premium color options to the more expensive Pro version and leaving the simple gray and gold colors of the regular Z1 model. Red and black options are not available for the lower modification of the smartphone.

Screen

Umidigi Z1 Pro is equipped with an AMOLED display with physical dimensions of 68x121 mm with a diagonal of 5.5 inches, combined with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 4. The resolution is 1920x1080, the pixel density is about 401 ppi. The frame around the screen is quite narrow: no more than 3 mm on the sides, 16 mm on the bottom and top.

You can adjust the display brightness manually or use automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multi-touch touches.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev

. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (below, simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Umidigi Z1 Pro, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Umidigi Z1 Pro is still lighter (its brightness in the photograph is 128 versus 118 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Umidigi Z1 Pro screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. The outer surface of the screen has a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (effective, much like the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are removed much more easily and appear at a lower speed than with regular glass.

With manual brightness control and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was approximately 390 cd/m². Minimum brightness - 26 cd/m². The maximum brightness is low, but you need to take into account the good anti-glare properties of the screen. As a result, readability during the day in the sun is at a fairly good level (which was tested in practice), and the reduced brightness allows you to use the device even in complete darkness without any problems. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front camera eye). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 250 cd/m² (very bright), in an office illuminated by artificial light (about 550 lux) it sets it to 340 cd/m² (also a lot), in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) brightness increases to 390 cd/m² (to the maximum, as needed); if the adjustment is approximately 50%, then the values ​​are as follows: 90, 250 and 390 cd/m² (the first value is too large); if the slider is at 0% - 7, 90 and 390 cd/m² (the first two values ​​are underestimated, which is logical). We were more satisfied with the option with a slider of about 20% of the scale: 12, 150 and 390 cd/m². It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements.

At any brightness level there is significant modulation with a frequency of 221 Hz. The figure below shows the dependence of brightness (vertical axis) on time (horizontal axis) for several brightness values:

It can be seen that at maximum brightness the modulation amplitude is not very large, and the fill factor is high, so there is no visible flicker. However, as the brightness decreases, modulation appears with a relative amplitude of 100%, and the presence of flicker can already be seen in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect or simply with rapid eye movement. Depending on individual sensitivity, this flickering may cause increased fatigue.

This screen uses an AMOLED matrix - active matrix organic light-emitting diodes. A full-color image is created using subpixels of three colors - red (R), green (G) and blue (B) in equal numbers. This is confirmed by a fragment of a microphotograph (landscape orientation):

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

In the fragment above you can count 8 subpixels of green, red and blue colors, and by repeating this fragment, you can lay out the entire screen without tears or overlap. However, it may be noted that the fragment has an aspect ratio of 4:3, not 1:1. Let's try to clarify the point with real resolution using a fragment of the world with horizontal and vertical stripes every pixel when displaying a 1920 by 1080 pixel image on the screen without scaling:

If you count the dark and light stripes (and each has a width or height of 1 pixel), then the fragment dimensions are 16 pixels wide and 12 pixels high, while the triad of subpixels is only 8 wide and 8 high. That is, the actual resolution is two times lower on the long side of the screen and 1.5 times lower on the short side. This is not the first time this has happened and is found on the screens of mobile devices even from very famous manufacturers. In this particular case, the situation is aggravated by visible artifacts: the contrasting boundaries of objects are very uneven, sometimes a wide colored border appears on them.

The screen has excellent viewing angles. Black remains just black from any angle. It is so black that the contrast setting is simply not applicable in this case. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of the Umidigi Z1 Pro and the second comparison participant, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture ( Standard

):

According to visual assessment, the colors of the tested screen are more or less natural, and the color balance of the screens varies greatly. Let us remind you that photography cannot

serve as a reliable source of information about color rendering quality and are provided for illustrative purposes only.
The photo above was taken after selecting the Standard
in the screen settings, there are three in total.
When you select the Vivid
or
User Mode
, the colors become very oversaturated and unnatural:

But in the profile User Mode

You can adjust the color temperature and some other parameters.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen (let’s leave the Standard

).

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens and the brightness of the Umidigi Z1 Pro at an angle is noticeably higher.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle for both screens has noticeably decreased (to avoid strong darkening, the shutter speed has been increased compared to the previous two photographs), but in the case of the Umidigi Z1 Pro the drop in brightness is much less pronounced. As a result, with formally the same brightness, the Umidigi Z1 Pro screen visually looks much brighter (compared to LCD screens), since you often have to look at the screen of a mobile device from at least a slight angle.

Switching the state of the matrix elements is performed almost instantly, but at the turn-on (and less often off) edge there may be a step approximately 18 ms wide (which corresponds to the screen refresh rate). For example, this is what the dependence of brightness on time looks like when moving from black to white and back:

In some conditions, the presence of such a step can lead to plumes trailing moving objects, but in normal use these artifacts are difficult to see. Quite the contrary - dynamic scenes in films on OLED screens are distinguished by high clarity and even some “jerky” movements.

The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage either in the shadows or in the highlights. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.24, which is slightly higher than the standard value of 2.2, while the actual gamma curve deviates slightly from the power law:

Color gamut in case of profile User mode

(and
Vivid
) very wide (close to Adobe RGB):

When selecting the Standard

the coverage is compressed to the sRGB boundaries:

Without correction (profile User mode

) the spectra of the components (that is, the spectra of pure red, green and blue colors) are very well separated:

In the case of the Standard

the color components are already mixed with each other:

In the case of the Standard

The grayscale balance is poor because the color temperature is too high.
However, by selecting the User Mode
, the color temperature can be adjusted (as in the picture below), and then select the
Standard
.

This sequence allows you to maintain color temperature correction and obtain a color gamut close to sRGB. The graphs below show the Default

correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves
Corr.
— data obtained after moving the slider to the specified position.

It can be seen that at least on a white field it was possible to set almost 6500 K, but the deviation from the spectrum of an absolutely black body (ΔE) increased, and the increase in color temperature towards dark shades remained. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can in most cases be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

Let's summarize. The screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. It is acceptable to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating and closeness to sRGB coverage after selecting the desired profile. At the same time, let us recall the general advantages of OLED screens: true black color (if nothing is reflected in the screen), good uniformity of the white field, noticeably less than that of LCDs, and a drop in image brightness when viewed at an angle. Disadvantages include screen flickering, which appears at medium and low brightness, color balance that is far from ideal, and visible artifacts at contrast edges. However, overall the screen quality cannot be called low.

Camera

The front camera of the Umidigi Z1 Pro has the familiar 5-megapixel GalaxyCore GC5005 sensor, which the manufacturer now installs in many of its devices, as well as a lens with an f/2.4 aperture with a fixed focus. Naturally, there is a portrait decoration function, there is even an HDR mode. However, in terms of detail, the quality of the photographs is modest.

The main camera of the Umidigi Z1 Pro uses a Samsung module with a 13-megapixel matrix and an f/2.2 aperture lens. Autofocus is quite fast, the flash is of medium brightness, and there is no stabilization. The second 5-megapixel module is used to analyze the depth of the scene. This was done to make it possible to blur the background when using the “wide aperture mode”. There is a 3x digital zoom.

The settings menu is quite convenient and clear, all functions are simultaneously displayed on the screen in the form of a matrix of squares, everything can be reached in a couple of touches. There is a manual settings mode with a choice of photosensitivity values ​​(up to ISO 1600), exposure compensation, white balance, as well as saturation, brightness and contrast. There is an HDR mode, face detection and auto-detection of scene modes.

The Umidigi Z1 Pro camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 4K, but it doesn’t do it very well. There is no electronic stabilization function, the picture is not only not of very high quality, somewhat loose, but also jerky, the video sequence is not smooth. The sound is recorded well, but it still doesn’t make much sense to shoot in 4K resolution with such a camera; this video only looks good on the screen of the smartphone itself.

• Video #1 (35 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 2 (36 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

Below are examples of photographs with our comments on quality. Our specialist Anton Soloviev

.

There is always a large area of ​​out of focus on the left side of the frame, probably due to lens skew. At the same time, the sharpness and detail in the middle part of the frame are quite good, even in medium plans. As a result, if not for the mentioned defect, the camera could be called good, and in this form it is suitable only for undemanding documentary shooting.

Telephone and communications

The communication capabilities of the Umidigi Z1 Pro include support for LTE Cat.4 (up to 150 Mbps), only 4 LTE FDD frequency bands are supported, but they include all 3 FDD LTE bands of interest to us (band 3, 7, 20). In the city limits, in the wireless networks of Moscow operators, the smartphone does not behave very confidently; it was not possible to achieve maximum speeds in familiar test places.

In addition, Umidigi Z1 Pro supports both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz); you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth 4.1 channels as standard. But there is no NFC module here, so the smartphone is not suitable for working with travel cards or contactless payments. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), as well as with the domestic Glonass. During a cold start, the first GPS satellites are detected within the first tens of seconds, Glonass satellites are identified a little later, the positioning accuracy is good. There is also a built-in magnetic field sensor for compass operation in navigation programs.

The phone application supports Smart Dial; settings for sorting and displaying contacts in the phone book are standard for Android. In the conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor is recognizable, but the sound unexpectedly turned out to be faded and quiet. The vibration alert is even a little stronger than the average level, it is quite noticeable.

Umidigi Z1 Pro does not support both SIM cards in 3G/4G mode at the same time. That is, when one card is assigned to transmit data in 4G, the second one can only work in 2G. The interface allows you to select a specific SIM card for voice calls and SMS in advance. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem.

Software and multimedia

As a software platform, Umidigi Z1 Pro uses a relatively recent version of Google Android 7.0 without its own shell. Only minor improvements have been added to the settings, such as options for controlling the LED indicator, reassigning hardware and on-screen buttons, as well as DuraSpeed, popular among manufacturers, for regulating permissions for running applications in the background. Naturally, additional sections have not been translated into Russian.

There was also a file manager and a music player standard for the MediaTek platform. There are practically no other third-party programs; everything needed here is achieved using Google Apps. The only problem that emerged during testing was the inability to search for firmware updates due to the constant lack of communication with the server (timeout). It is also worth mentioning that the popular comprehensive utility AIDA64 does not run on this smartphone under any circumstances.

To listen to music, instead of the standard Google Music player, an audio player familiar from Chinese smartphones on MediaTek is used with BesLoudness settings for the loudspeaker and standard equalizer presets. Thanks to the dedicated Smart PA AW8738 audio chip, the sound has a very high maximum volume, the sound is bright, but at the maximum level the speaker begins to wheeze and noise appears. With headphones the quality is even better, the sound is bright, rich and also very loud. This is the case when it is not necessary to move the volume slider to the maximum under any circumstances.

There is also an FM radio with the ability to record broadcast programs; the built-in voice recorder has medium sensitivity.

Performance

The Umidigi Z1 Pro hardware platform is based on a MediaTek MT6757 (Helio P20) single-chip system made using 16-nanometer technology. This SoC includes eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores in two clusters with a frequency of 1.6 and 2.3 GHz. The dual-core Mali-T880 GPU is responsible for graphics processing. The RAM capacity is 6 GB (LPDDR4x), and the built-in flash memory is 64 GB (eMMC 5.1). Initially, 50 GB of storage space and 3.7 GB of RAM are free.

It is possible to expand the memory by installing a microSD card, but to do this you will have to remove one of the SIM cards. You can install applications on the memory card. Also, the amount of built-in memory can be expanded by connecting flash drives to the USB Type-C port in USB OTG mode via an adapter.

MediaTek MT6757 (Helio P20) is a relatively recent solution, released in 2016, designed for mid-range smartphones and tablets. In terms of performance, this SoC is roughly equivalent to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, and it is noticeably more powerful than its predecessor, the MediaTek MT6755 (Helio P10). In the AnTuTu test, the hero of the review demonstrates more than 60K points, this is a confident average level.

This SoC provides the system with reliable performance and in real scenarios allows the smartphone to cope with any modern tasks. There are no problems with games either; all the games we tested, including Modern Combat 5, Mortal Kombat X and others, run without the slightest slowdown.

Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image of the rear

surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery testing in the GFXBenchmark program:

Heating is higher at the top of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 35 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is relatively little.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

Further testing of video playback was performed by Alexey Kudryavtsev

.

We were unable to check support for adapters for outputting images to an external device due to the lack of an adapter option that connects to the USB Type-C port. We had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 frames/ With). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns have Uniformity

and
Skips
are given green ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since if we limit ourselves to frame rates typical for cinema, frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. Note that in the case of 60 fps files, at least 5 frames per second are skipped, but more often – more, and several in a row. The reason is the unusually low screen refresh rate. equal to 55 Hz. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one along the mythical

pixels, that is, conditionally in the original resolution. However, on test worlds there is no real 1080p resolution even for black and white images, and only with 720p files can it be a stretch to say that their clarity is equal to the original one. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the actual range, so that all gradations in the shadows and highlights are displayed.

Battery life

The non-removable battery installed in the Umidigi Z1 Pro has a decent capacity of 4000 mAh. And we must admit that the developers approached the issue with full responsibility, because the Chinese device on the MediaTek platform demonstrated decent battery life results - no worse than the HTC One X10 with the same battery. However, the more economical AMOLED display installed here probably played some role.

Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted 17 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality (720p) with At the same brightness level via a Wi-Fi network, the device operates for about 12 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work for almost 5 hours.

At the same time, the smartphone charges quite quickly from the included network adapter, within 2.5 hours: the adapter produces a current of up to 0.7 A at a voltage of 12 V, that is, fast charging is supported. With such current power, it is necessary to use not only the included network adapter, but also the original connecting cable that comes with the smartphone, and carefully choose the cable if you have to buy a new one.

Bottom line

The Umidigi Z1 Pro smartphone is priced at $299 by the manufacturer, and it is claimed that this exclusive model is released in a limited edition of only 1000 copies. Naturally, online stores already offer noticeable discounts, taking into account which you can purchase a smartphone for another 40 dollars cheaper - at a price of about 15 thousand rubles with delivery. But even in this case, the older model turns out to be more expensive than the usual Z1 modification, which can be ordered in the same stores at a price of around 11 thousand.

Is it worth paying a few thousand extra for the Pro model or can you be satisfied with the regular Z1 version? The differences between the two versions, apart from the type of screen used, lie mainly in the area of ​​design. Not only does the Z1 Pro have a much thinner body, but it's also all metal, while the plain Z1 has a plastic back and a thicker body. The exclusive model is also available in color options that are not offered on the regular Z1. There are no differences in the main technical characteristics of these two modifications. Not bad for its level, bright and loud sound, a confident average level of performance and a satisfactory set of communication modules, decent battery life and traditionally weak cameras - this is the standard set of a modern mid-level “Chinese”, the category of which can rightfully include both the Umidigi Z1 and and Z1 Pro.

Performance

When you use the device in normal mode, there are no problems. Applications do not open at lightning speed, but quite quickly. There are no lags or brakes.

As soon as you start opening everything, not unloading previously running utilities from the background, and downloading something from the Play Store at the same time, your smartphone starts to stutter. Barely noticeable brakes appear. They are not annoying, but they are still present.

The smartphone feels comfortable in toys.

At maximum graphics settings in WoT Blitz, the device produces a stable 35 FPS. Very active scenes bring down performance to 20 frames per second, and in minutes of rest the frequency reaches 50 FPS. On the middle “graph” everything generally flies.

There are no problems with 4K video playback. This is understandable, because the device itself can record videos in this resolution.

In “synthetics” we have average results. Quite expected from the Helio P20 processor.

As a conclusion: the smartphone’s safety margin will last for another year. Then there are no guarantees. Although, it depends on how and for what purposes you use the device.

Photo and video capabilities

The manufacturer focuses on two rear cameras. This is a general trend in the market this year, and not only among Chinese companies. Let's see how it works in real life, but let's start with the front module.

Front-camera

On the front we have a 5 megapixel sensor with an f/2.4 lens aperture. There is no autofocus, detail is poor, all selfies are blurry. However, on the smartphone screen everything looks fine, but that’s all.

No HDR

With HDR

I liked that the front camera has its own HDR mode and it really works - on a bright sunny day it helps to correct exposure errors (overexposure or, conversely, dark areas of frames).

Main cameras

Our main camera is made by Samsung (unspecified), the resolution is 13 megapixels. The aperture number is f/2.2. There is nothing to be particularly proud of here, which is why, apparently, this figure does not appear on the official website.

In general, the quality of the pictures is normal, but only if you look at the photo on a smartphone screen.

On the computer, everything doesn’t look so rosy. Photos are noisy, with poor detail, with blur at the edges of the frame and frequent exposure errors.

Yes, sometimes the HDR mode helps, but it just brightens the picture too much and makes it flat, not as saturated as we would like.

It’s good at least that autofocus works adequately. There are practically no accidental mistakes, and the focusing speed is not annoying.

Overall, the camera performs below average for this price range.

Now about the dual module and background blur. Of course, this is a fiction and the algorithms work poorly.

There is also a zoom function. At first I was happy, because there are two cameras, which means the magnification will occur without loss - the viewfinder will simply switch between the main and additional modules, for example, with a telephoto lens.

Of course, in reality everything turned out to be wrong. Here we have a simple digital increase with a loss in quality. But an inexperienced user may not understand what’s what, and will be happy with the zoom like the flagships.

By the way, all original photographs can be collected in one archive from here.

Video shooting

The smartphone can shoot 4K video, but it doesn’t do it at all in the way you expect. The picture is shaking, not clear, with some wild digital artifacts.

Switch to Full HD and everything becomes more or less smooth. More or less...

Of course, there is no stabilization here. Even in software, so let’s hold our breath, grab the smartphone tightly and don’t twitch too much.

UMIDIGI Z1 Pro as a photo and video camera

The main camera is double. But I still don’t understand what the auxiliary camera is used for. Whether it is open or closed, the quality of the images remains, it seems, within the rounding error. Bokeh? No, the blurring is clearly done programmatically.

I can't even call it a camera that sucks. Flagship too. Something so typical average. Sometimes, even in difficult conditions, reasonable shots are obtained. And often in excellent lighting - some kind of creepy soap. But, let’s say, we’re definitely not talking about tastefully clicking the city at night.

Examples of pictures are in front of you. For my taste - somewhere around a C plus.

More photos

And more photos

A couple of shots with a blur effect

The camera can shoot 4K video. But what's the point?..

Video examples

Frontal. Quite good quality, in my opinion. But also nothing special.

Software

The device runs on Android 7.0 OS. During my test, two wireless system updates have already arrived on the smartphone. It's nice that the manufacturer continues to optimize their product.

The system here is bare, there are no stupid shells or anything. We use the “green robot” in the form in which Google intended it. This is cool.

During my week-long testing, only one strange thing happened - the AIDA64 utility completely refused to start. All other applications worked adequately, not a single crash, reboot or other crime.

Sound

We have one speaker, located on the bottom end, to the right of the USB C port. The volume is above average, so it’s difficult to miss a call. It's the same story with notifications. Usually I set everything to maximum, but here I had to lower the volume by a quarter, because after these sudden “ding-ding-ding” you won’t get enough valerian.

The quality of the speaker is average. At maximum there are slight wheezes, they only disappear if you move the slider to 2/3.

The headphones sound great. The sound is smooth, pleasant, there is a volume reserve, but not as much as is sometimes found in other devices.

Some standard player is used as a player. There is all the basic functionality, nothing more. In any case, it's better than the Google Play Music app with their obsessive subscription.

UMIDIGI Z1 Pro as a GPS navigator

The smartphone knows about the existence of GPS and GLONASS satellites. But for some reason I don’t know about BeiDou. Satellites are caught quickly, the evenness of the tracks is acceptable.

Considering the excellent battery and bright screen, the Z1 Pro is just right as a navigator.

Test tracks

Autonomy

A 4,000 mAh battery was placed inside the device. Taking into account our Helio P20 processor, which is not the most demanding in terms of energy, we had every hope of autonomous operation for two days. Were…

In fact, the smartphone works for one day, but it is full: from morning to evening. However, the manufacturer himself speaks about this in the official specifications. With two SIM cards inserted, constant notifications, and surfing the Internet, the screen only has time to stay on for 4 hours. Not a failure, but not a record either - an average, adequate result.