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Nubia Music Pro Review—Loud and Proud

Smartphone brand nubia is known for its affordable smartphones that cater to specific user types. For example, the nubia Neo 2 5G, which we reviewed last year, launched for only ₱9,999, targeting mobile gamers. Earlier this month, the nubia Music Pro launched at a lower price of ₱4,299 with a focus on a broader market segment—the music lovers. Certainly, the affordable pricing is music to the ears, but how about its actual performance, features, and other aspects? Let us find out in this review.

Like the nubia Neo 2 5G, the nubia Music Pro has a funky back cover. But this time, the new nubia phone reflects its inclination toward music. The eye-catching circular metallic orange speaker grille draws inspiration from the classic vinyl record player. The right side of the grille is occupied by LEDs (AI Melody Breathing Light) that light up whenever a song or video is played, following its rhythm. Meanwhile, the rest of the back cover in our model is colorful, reminiscent of any young pop artist that comes to mind.

On the front, the nubia Music Pro brandishes a 6.7-inch HD+ (1600 × 720p) touchscreen display. With a 120Hz refresh rate, the phone promises to deliver better responsiveness and smoother motion when navigating, playing games, or watching videos. The phone features rounded corners and flat sides, which promote convenient maneuverability. The dual SIM slot is located on the left side, which doubles as a microSD slot. Meanwhile, the power button and sound volume adjustment buttons are on the right. The 3.5mm audio jack and USB Type-C connector both occupy the bottom.

As its name suggests, the nubia Music Pro is a smartphone that comes with music-centric features. On the homepage, the nubia Music Pro home page features the Music box panel, which contains apps for audio and music playback settings. While the phone’s audio setting is 2.1-channel by default, there is an option to choose 2.0-channel mode. This allows users to discern between 2.1-channel and 2.0-channel modes. The former is louder and deeper than the latter because three full-range speakers are activated. The nubia Music Pro also supports DTS X: Ultra technology to maximize its 2.1-channel speaker system.

The Bluetooth speaker app enables BT Loudspeaker mode. In this mode, the nubia Music Pro can be used as a Bluetooth speaker when connected to another smartphone or media source device. Apart from Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, the nubia Music Pro also supports NFC for wireless music sharing.

Outside the Music box, the nubia Music Pro comes with an FM Radio app that enables FM Loudspeaker Playback and scans available FM radio channels. While other phones require connecting to the Internet or wired earphones or headphones as an antenna to make FM radio work, the nubia Music Pro does not. Ensure that there are no nearby devices or infrastructure that can cause interference to achieve clear reception. The Melody Lights app does not affect audio quality, but it provides an onscreen lighting effect that follows the sound rhythm. Through the app, users can choose the lighting effect, color set, duration, and the app where the lighting effects should appear (Music, Spotify, YouTube, and YouTube Music).  

With the 2.1-channel speaker system, the nubia Music Pro produces loud, clear audio. While it cannot be expected to be as powerful as a 2.1-channel desktop speaker with a subwoofer, the nubia Music Pro can beat most typical smartphones in the sound department. Using Spotify on the nubia Music Pro, the details in Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” and Bonnie Bailey’s “Ever After” sounded brilliant, and they went well with the pulsating lights on the back of the phone. SB19’s “DAM” and “DUNGKA!” blasted with power on the nubia Music Pro. For songs that focus more on vocal quality, Lea Salonga’s “Reflection” and Kavana’s “Will You Wait for Me” were clear as crystal.    

On the imaging front, the nubia Music Pro carries a 50MP AI rear camera with an f/1.8 aperture and a 5MP front camera. The images we captured using the nubia Music Pro have decent quality with subtle softness in color saturation. The smartphone is equipped with some photo editing tools to help users enhance their shots. Blur allows users to pinpoint an object in a photo, making it the main subject and blurring the surroundings, somehow applying a bokeh effect. AI Magic Eraser enables users to remove unwanted elements from a photo. Users can also tap an object and move it around in the photo.  

Powered by a Unisoc T7200 octa-core processor at 1.6GHz, the nubia Music Pro is also equipped with up to 8GB dynamic RAM (4GB + 4GB) and 128GB onboard storage. Running on MyOS 14 based on Android 14, the nubia Music Pro scored 238446 on AnTuTu Benchmark. We were able to play Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on the nubia Music Pro at 60 FPS with an average CPU temperature of 45°C and an average battery temperature of 35°C. The nubia Music Pro also carries a 5000mAh battery that supports 10W charging.  

Knowing Filipinos as music lovers, the nubia Music Pro has the potential to become a hitmaker. The nubia Music Pro is a music-centric offering with an affordable price of ₱4,299 as the icing on the cake. The funky, youthful design, decent camera performance, and optimized hardware-software set further make it a worthy buy without breaking the bank.