Almost iPhone, but still UMI. Productive and cheap.
The Chinese brand UMIDIGI has released a new, albeit long-announced, flagship - UMIDIGI Z2.
The company's devices fell in love with Russian buyers back in the days of the unique X1 smartphone, which became an ultra-cheap answer to the first Samsung and HTC smartphones based on Android 4.0.
UMIDIGI Z2 is a full-screen flagship with a nice price and a now fashionable unibrow. Let's see what it can offer as opposed to other Chinese in a similar price range
Appearance
The smartphone has a modern design with minimal frames around the screen and an unusual body color.
The UMIDIGI Z2 screen is a 6.2-inch IPS matrix with the popular 19:9 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2246x1080 pixels. The same format is used in Xiaomi Mi8, OnePlus 6 and other flagship smartphones of 2018.
Thin bezels around the display, with a front-to-screen ratio of about 90%. Oddly enough, this is significantly higher than the same ratio for Xiaomi, Vivo and OPPO smartphones, which became the most “frameless” devices of the year.
Like other fashionable devices, UMIDIGI Z2 received a unibrow - a cutout for the earpiece, front camera and various sensors. There are no infrared or three-dimensional cameras, but they are not needed: Chinese brands have not yet developed analogues Face ID is from Apple, so such moves only extract money from the buyer, increasing the cost smartphone.
All other elements are in their usual place. The body is made of glass, fixed to a metal frame. The back panel is decorated with a dual full-length camera, under which there is a fingerprint scanner.
By the way, the panel is curved at 4 corners. An interesting design is achieved due to the molded rear panel. Smooth, shimmering in the light.
The bottom edge has a universal USB Type C connector and a speaker grille. The top one is absolutely clean.
All control elements (power button and volume rocker) are located on the right side of the smartphone.
UMIDIGI Z2 received several color schemes in interesting formats: classic glossy black and an unusual “midnight” scheme. This is what marketers called 2 gradient color options with a transition from purple to green or black, respectively.
Ease of use
Thanks to the elegant shape of the back cover, UMIDIGI Z2 can be called one of the most convenient Chinese flagships of 2018. And the most convenient smartphones in general are practically the iPhone X, but with a regular fingerprint scanner and a more streamlined shape.
What could be more convenient than an Apple smartphone? Only its modification with more thoughtful ergonomics. Like UMIDIGI Z2.
Due to its larger dimensions, the device fits tighter in the palm of your hand, but is categorically not recommended for children - it will be too large. Perhaps, for owners of graceful hands it is worth looking at a 6-inch device, whereas even with minimal frames and a thickness of 6.8 millimeters, UMIDIGI Z2 became a kind of prototype of the 5.5-inch smartphone.
Hardware configuration
The UMIDIGI Z2 processor is the fairly popular energy-efficient 8-core Mediatek Helio P23 processor. Not the most powerful, but quite a productive solution, significantly inferior to most Quallcomm in terms of performance and other parameters.
On the other hand, Helio P23 is equipped with a good Mali G72 MP3 video accelerator and is built using a modern technical process. Therefore, UMIDIGI Z2, equipped with 6 GB of RAM, shows results comparable to sub-flagships of the year, second only to devices with Snapdragon 660 and higher.
The internal memory capacity is 64 GB. However, this is not an iPhone - if you want, install a flash drive instead of a second SIM card and enjoy almost endless capacity.
The smartphone is equipped with a built-in non-removable 3,850 mAh battery. The Mediatek processor made it possible to equip the Z2 with proprietary Pump Express 2+ fast charging technology, with which the battery is charged from 0 to 100% in 80 minutes. To do this, the developer needed to supplement the package with an 18 W (9 V/3A) power supply.
Due to the energy-efficient processor, UMIDIGI Z2 can work for up to 2 days without interruption - with wireless networks and Wi-Fi turned on. The pure screen operating time is about 10 hours. For example, at medium brightness, a user can watch YouTube videos via Wi-Fi for up to 12 hours. In reading mode (without networks) - at least 16 hours.
In the standard mode of use, UMIDIGI Z2 consistently survived until the evening of the second day.
Network and wireless interfaces
For more advanced users, there is support for all communication bands used in the CIS. This means there is always the Internet and cloud services.
Unfortunately, the smartphone does not support VoLTE and LTE Cat.10. On the other hand, there is support for Band 3, 7 and 10, which is usually a rarity for Chinese devices.
It's good that Wi-Fi is dual-band. Here UMIDIGI did not save money, equipping the smartphone with an honest chip and high-quality antennas. There are no problems with speed.
Navigation capabilities include the popular GPS/GLONASS. There is no support for Beidu as the Z2 is intended for the European market.
It is worth mentioning the fingerprint scanner: UMIDIGI Z2 has one of the fastest modules among Chinese smartphones. Incredible, but true - the operation is error-free and almost instantaneous.
Cameras and sound
The main camera uses a dual module with 16 MP (F/2.0 aperture) and 8 MP sensors. Samsung was responsible for the development of the matrix and lenses, so the camera is equipped with laser autofocus (PDAF), dual LED flash and can record 4K video.
Daytime photographs turn out impeccable: clear, bright, full color. Popular flagship cameras like Xiaomi Mi3, A1 and Meizu Pro 7 shoot in much the same way.
Autofocus works instantly, without any complaints. The Z2 is not suitable for reportage photography due to the lack of optical stabilization.
But all static objects are saved as pictures with perfect clarity across the entire frame.
An additional module is needed to simulate the bokeh effect and improve picture quality. There is also an interesting function of studio lighting for correcting shadows: they become more accurate, simpler, while the subject of the photo stands out as much as possible.
Photos taken in difficult lighting or at night also turn out consistently good. It's all about high-quality optics, sensitive sensors, and, surprisingly, well-designed drivers.
The front camera is also dual, and consists of 16 MP + 8 MP modules. But it only shoots FullHD video, and the sensor manufacturer is Sony. It turns out like this:
Advantages and disadvantages
UMIDIGI Z2 turned out to be one of the most interesting sub-flagships of this summer due to its combination of stylish appearance, comfortable shape and good hardware. The smartphone's performance reserve will last for several years - 6 GB of memory is no joke, and pre-installed Android 8.1 will allow you to work comfortably with it even with a major system update.
Unfortunately, the smartphone is not equipped with an NFC interface that is quite relevant today. Its UMIDIGI was left for the flagship modification of the smartphone, which, in addition, uses the Helio P60 processor.
One of the advantages of the Z2 is the quality of photo and video shooting. There is not enough stabilization, but the device shoots static objects well. Portrait mode and studio lighting are a separate, big plus.
conclusions
Main advantage UMIDIGI Z2 Against the backdrop of all its features is the price. Upon pre-order, the collaboration between UMIDIGI and Gearbest offers a smartphone for only $249 - a ridiculous price for an advanced gadget of this level. You can put Xiaomi Redmi 5 Note, Xiaomi S2 and a number of Ulefone devices on a par with it.
All of them lose both in appearance and in the quality of photographs.
Find out more about UMIDIGI Z2.
