nubia Philippines recently held its product launch event for its latest affordable gaming phones, the nubia Neo 3 Series. The event unveiled three new models with the nubia Neo 3 4G, nubia Neo 3 5G, and nubia Neo 3 GT 5G. All of the new phones offers impressive features targeting game enthusiasts that focus the design to essential gaming capabilities, all at an affordable price point.
For our review, we will be checking it’s mid-variant the nubia Neo 3 5G.
Price and Availability
The nubia Neo 3 5G is priced at PHP 9,999, while its other model variants, the nubia Neo 3 4G and nubia Neo 3 GT 5G, are priced at PHP 7,999 and PHP 12,999, respectively.
The nubia Neo 3 Series is now available at all local nubia kiosks and concept stores nationwide. If you prefer a hands-on experience, you can visit any of these stores to try out the phone. You can also visit their official e-commerce online partners on Lazada, Shopee, or TikTok Shop.
Unboxing
The first thing you’ll notice about the packaging of the new nubia Neo 3 5G is the top cover design. It features an eye-catching mecha-inspired graphics printed on a bright yellow-orange and black box with a glossy finish. The box itself is made of durable thick cardboard material for a sturdy feel.
Along the sides, the design remains minimal, showcasing only the brand logo and the model name in a matte finish.
Upon opening the box, you’re immediately greeted by the nubia Neo 3 5G unit with the accessories neatly tucked just underneath it.
Taking out all the contents of the box you’ll get the following items.
- nubia Neo 3 5G Unit
- SIM Ejector Tool
- Protective Case
- USB-C to USB-C Cable
- 33W Power Adapter
- Quick Start Guide
- Warranty Card
The phone comes with a regular screen protector already pre-applied instead of tempered glass, which most customers will appreciate since it eliminates the need to buy one separately, and allowing them to use the phone out of the box.
Design and Build Quality
The nubia Neo 3 5G will be available in three color variants in Cyber Silver, Shadow Black, and the brand’s hero color and our review unit which comes is Titanium Gold.
The nubia Neo 3 5G has a slim profile, although the weight is not disclosed, it feels lighter than its predecessor. We like the smooth rounded corners that offer great comfort and a natural grip, especially during long hours of mobile gaming sessions.
The back panel has a flat design, highlighted by one of its most prominent and eye-catching features. You’ll immediately notice the intricate design elements on the back cover. It incorporates the brand’s Futuristic Mecha aesthetic, with detailed lines, shapes, carbon fiber patterns, and textures which are all meticulously crafted into the panel for a unique and striking appearance.
It is covered by a glossy glasstic type material that easily attracts fingerprint smudges, however the Mecha design can slightly conceal them, they are still noticeable. They included a protective case that may help eliminate the fingerprint marks, but it has a matte frost finish which reduces the visibility of the Futuristic Mecha design.
Debuting on the new nubia Neo 3 5G and enhancing its gaming-centric design. There’s now a RGB lighting feature added to the Hero Eye area. Users can customize the LED lights with various effects, including Lamp with Sound, Steady Lighting, Breathe, Flashing, and Cycle Flashing. You can also choose from five LED colors either in red, green, blue, yellow, or violet.
The RGB lighting can be enabled during gameplay, media playback, notifications, charging the phone, and even when the alarm clock goes off. It can also flash during incoming calls, which is convenient when your phone is on silent mode and placed face down.
Turning off the RGB Lighting, the Hero Eye can still produce a nice pleasing 3D effect when tilted sideways.
The frame surrounding the device is made of aluminum with a matte gold finish that matches the colorway of the rear panel.
As for the ports and buttons, the bottom edge holds the USB-C port, speakers, and microphone.
The top edge has a secondary microphone.
The SIM card tray and volume buttons are found on the left side edge.
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, the new nubia Neo 3 5G still retains its essential gaming features, aside from its futuristic mecha design on the rear panel. Located on the right side edge are a red-colored power/sleep button that also doubles as a fingerprint scanner and built-in dual gaming shoulder triggers.
These gaming triggers have an etched left and right markings and provide haptic feedback. When you tap any left or right triggers, it will emit blue and red lights just below the triggers on the display.
You can customize the triggers by assigning them to specific buttons in the game that you want to activate when pressed. Options include single tap, long press, rapid fire, motion sensing, or dual operation. Additionally, the touch sensitivity of the dual triggers can be adjusted to suit your preferences.
On the front, instead of a flat display, the nubia Neo 3 5G offers a nicely contoured edge or a slight curvature at the edge of the glass display for enhanced ergonomics, a more comfortable grip, and a visually appealing design.
The bezels are slightly thick, especially at the bottom, which is slightly raised. The front camera has a centered punch-hole design, and just above it near the top bezels are the speakers, which help provide well-balanced stereo sound.
Display
The display of the nubia Neo 3 5G offers a larger screen real estate, increasing from 6.72 inches to 6.8 inches, while still supporting a Full HD+ resolution using an IPS panel.
With a resolution of 900×2030 pixels and a pixel density of 328 dpi, users can expect clear and detailed visuals. The phone’s wide screen-to-body and aspect ratio allow more content to be viewed at once, making it ideal for mobile gaming and video streaming.
It has an Adaptive Refresh Rate feature, which automatically adjusts the best refresh rate based on the content being displayed and helps conserve battery. When browsing a website, it opens at a lower refresh rate, but when you play a game, it switches to 120Hz for a smoother experience. You can also select a default refresh rate you want from 60Hz, 90Hz or 120Hz. With the maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, we enjoyed a buttery-smooth gameplay on the phone.
With a maximum peak brightness of 1000nits, the screen remains a bit readable even when you’re using the phone outdoors in direct sunlight.
We love the new large-sized display of the Nubia Neo 3 5G as it looks sharp, vibrant, and offers a good color reproduction from all viewing angles while using an IPS panel.
Hardware and Biometrics
Inside its core, the nubia Neo 3 5G has upgraded its processor from the Unisoc T820 to the more advanced 6-nanometer UNISOC T8300 octa-core processor that’s capable of clock speeds up to 2.2GHz. This is paired with an integrated ARM Mali-G57 graphics card for smoother visuals and better performance.
As for the storage, you get a large 256GB and 8GB of RAM, which can be increased through the extended RAM feature up to a maximum of 12GB. This brings the total memory to 20GB RAM and can significantly improve the gaming experience by allowing it to run more smoothly.
In case you need extra space especially for your photos or mobile games, it has a microSD card slot allowing expansion up to 1TB.
Here’s the benchmark scores we got for the nubia Neo 3 5G.
- AnTuTu Benchmark: 480069
- GeekBench 6 CPU: 888 Single Core / 2074 Multi-Core
- GeekBench 6 GPU: 1540 OpenCL Score
- CPDT: 311.56 MB/s Write, 479.94 MB/s Read
- 3DMark: 1244 Wild Life (7.45 fps)
- Work 3.0 Performance: 14832
The Nubia Neo 2 5G has pretty standard biometrics with a fingerprint scanner and face unlock. For added security, you can also add a screen lock option by choosing from three options: Pattern + Fingerprint + Face, PIN + Fingerprint + Face, or Complex Password + Fingerprint + Face. So far, the fingerprint scanner is much faster than the face recognition, with a slight delay.
Sound Quality
The audio on the nubia Neo 3 5G boasts of dual stereo speakers with support for DTS:X Ultra technology which is almost the same to its counterpart the Dolby Atmos. Plug in your headphones, earbuds, car audio or external speaker to experience a great spatial sound with the DTS:X.
So far, the stereo speakers has good sound quality, they’re loud and vocals are clear but the bass side still needs improvement. From playing games to watching videos on the phone, so far we are still pleased as it sounded decently good.
The nubia Neo 3 5G doesn’t include a 3.5mm audio jack for wired headphones, but Bluetooth connectivity works flawlessly with earbuds, offering a seamless experience. If you prefer using wired audio, you can always opt for a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.
Gaming Performance
Let’s begin with Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. The game ran impressively well on Medium graphics quality with the frame rate set to High, with smooth visuals without any lag and maintaining a steady 60fps. Even when bumped up to Ultra graphics and Super frame rate, the gameplay remained fluidly with a frame rate of around 90fps. The only noticeable difference was a slight warmth on the back panel during extended play. Thanks to the heat dissipation system it tries to cool the device while playing. Thanks to its heat dissipation system, the device helps to keep it cool even during our gaming sessions.
For Call of Duty Mobile, the frame rates remain stable at 60fps when set to Medium graphics and frame rate at High. Even after playing for two to three rounds, the phone continues to deliver smooth performance, with no noticeable rise in temperature and the image quality also stays consistently good throughout the game.
Playing PUBG Mobile with graphics set to HD and frame rate on High, the game runs at a consistent frame rate ranging between 29 to 32 fps. It delivers decent visuals and smooth enough gameplay for casual sessions.
Lastly, moving on to Genshin Impact, we noticed the phone started to warm up even at the default settings, with occasional lag during battles while maintaining a frame rate of around 30fps. While we were still able to complete some tasks in the game, the overall gameplay experience felt a bit mixed due to the performance limitations. Still, we already anticipated this kind of performance, so it didn’t come as a surprise.
Camera and Photo Samples
In the camera department, the nubia Neo 3 5G retains the same dual-camera setup on the rear, consisting of a 50MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture, autofocus sensor, and face recognition for capturing clear facial details. The second lens is a 2MP depth sensor with an f/2.4 aperture. On the front, it continues to feature a 16MP lens for selfies.
For video recording, both the front and rear cameras support 1080p and 720p resolutions at a frame rate of 30fps.
The camera app has a simple user interface with the functions are easy to find and properly arranged to take your photos.
By default you get six shooting modes ready to use with Pro, Sport, AI Cam, Video, Night and Portrait. If you go further to the Camera Family option you’ll get eight additional shooting modes including Time Lapse, Full Size, Document, Panorama, Multi-Exposure, Dual Capture, Monocolor, and VLOG.
On top of the viewfinder, users can access the other camera functions such as flash, HDR, Smart AI, color filters, and camera settings. Within the settings, you’ll find controls for aspect ratio, timer, grid, and a clinometer, which is positioned at the shutter.
Just above the shooting modes, you get easy access to two zoom switch options at 27mm and 81mm. Tapping the 27mm option cycles through focal lengths of 35mm and 50mm before returning to 27mm. If you slide the zoom switch options, it opens a zoom switch dial that allows you to extend the zoom range up to 10x.
The new nubia Neo 3 5G is now equipped with the Neovision AI photography system. It’s a smart camera technology that helps improve the quality of your photos and videos using artificial intelligence to automatically adjust settings like brightness, contrast, and color balance based on what you’re shooting.
Check out these sample photos we took using the nubia Neo 3 5G.
27mm Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
27mm Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
81mm Photo mode, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
27mm Night mode, Outdoor, Low Lighting
Selfie, Outdoor, Sunny Weather
Selfie, Outdoor, Ambient Lighting
Software and Connectivity
The nubia Neo 3 5G runs on the latest Android 15 with its very own software with MyOS 15 on its user interface. It has a few bloatware but users can easily uninstall or delete them if you dno’t want it on your phone.
You’ll surely love the phone’s personalization settings from the available array of wallpapers (Overwind Zone, Retro Arcade Bliss, Game Warrior etc.) and themes (Glassy Rhythm, FutureTech, Hyper Futurism and more) for that gamer-ish appeal.
For a more fun and dynamic interface, the nubia Super Wallpaper feature is an interactive wallpaper that incorporate gameplay into the home screen. Users can choose from a variety of mini-game wallpapers that animate on the home screen and are even playable.
Same as its previous model, I’m curious as to why this phone doesn’t come with its own dedicated app for photos or the typical photo gallery to view your photos and videos. For now, I’ve been relying on the Google Photos app, which is still a good option as of the moment.
The nubia Neo 3 5G still features the AI-powered Game Space which is now upgraded to version 3.0. Upon launching the app, users can conveniently access all their installed games, along with a dashboard displaying game-related data such as achievement summaries, RGB lighting controls, screen brightness, network optimization, system anti-mistouch settings, and more.
New to this version are intelligent AI features designed to elevate your gaming experience, including AI Trigger for enhanced touch precision, AI Behavioral Learning that adapts to your playing style over time, and the introduction of an AI gaming companion named Demi. Demi, who looks an anime, acts as a smart assistant within Game Space.
You can also choose from three performance modes with Eco, Balance, and Rise should you need to save power or go full throttle on your game.
The nubia Neo 3 5G has several AI capabilities for photo editing, and I found the AI Magic Editor to be the most useful. The AI Magic Editor includes AI features such as the Magic Eraser, Unblur, Dynamic, Portrait, Color Pop, B&W Portrait, and Enhance. Depending on the photo you’re editing, the AI will suggest which tool is best suited for the task. However, there are times when I want to use the Magic Eraser for editing, but it’s not available for the photo.
Personally, I prefer the Magic Eraser, which removes unwanted objects or people, and Unblur, which enhances images with blurry areas. Color enhancements also work well using the Dynamic and Color Pop options.
Aside from the AI Magic Editor, you also get AI HDR, AI Sport Snapshot, and AI Super Night features.
With an advanced AI-driven translation app, AI Translate feature is designed to enhance multilingual communication beneficial for users who frequently travel, interact with international clients, or make cross-cultural conversations.
The app’s interface is user-friendly with the ability to change the screen orientation to portrait mode. In this setup, the top microphone is positioned for the person you’re speaking with, while the bottom microphone is used for your own voice. It can handle a wide range of 22 languages including Filipino, Korean, Japanese, Russian etc.
As for connectivity, the phone is already 5G network and supports dual SIM for added flexibility. There’s also WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth, and USB-C port for data transfers aside from charging the phone.
Other convenient features include Z-SmartCast, which allows you to cast your phone display onto a larger screen device, and Z-Pop, which places a floating function icon on the screen. Z-Pop acts as a shortcut for quick access to specific functions you may need instantly, such as lock screen, screenshot, sound mode, and more.
Battery
The battery capacity and fast charging speed of the new nubia Neo 3 5G remain the same as its predecessor which features a 6,000mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging. In our test, a 15-minute charge gave us 18%, which increased to 53% after 30 minutes. It took 1 hour and 41 minutes to fully charge the phone from 0 to 100%.
Battery Charging Timestamp
- 02:45 – 03:00 : 18% 15 minutes
- 03:00 – 03:15 : 36% 15 minutes
- 03:15 – 03:30 : 53% 15 minutes
- 03:30 – 03:50 : 74% 20 minutes
- 03:50 – 04:10 : 93% 20 minutes
- 04:10 – 04:20 : 98% 10 minutes
- 04:20 – 04:26 : 100% 6minutes
- Total: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
The nubia Neo 3 5G now features a Bypass Charging feature that allows the phone to draw power directly from the charger, just simply bypassing the battery. This method reduces heat generation and minimizes battery wear that also helps in extending the battery’s lifespan. Users can activate this feature through the device’s battery settings or swiping down from the top of the screen, choosing the Charge SEP option to enable it.
With the battery at 95%, playing Mobile Legends: Bang Bang for 1 hour at 100% brightness and 75% volume only consumed around 15%, leaving us with 80% battery remaining. It just proves that the phone can be a reliable companion for long hours of gaming.
There are also Battery Protection features to prevent overcharging and preserve the battery’s health. If you need to extend battery life when you’re running low, you can opt for Power Saver or Ultra Power Saver mode.
The nubia Neo 3 5G’s battery is sufficient to last a full day with moderate, mixed usage. Its standby time is excellent even when not actively in use but still connected to the network.
What We Like
- Futuristic Mecha Design
- RGB Lighting
- Available Color Variants
- Dual Gaming Shoulder Triggers
- Large Display
- 120Hz Refresh Rate
- Reliable Cameras
- Storage Expansion Up To 1TB
- Extended RAM Up To 12GB
- 6,000mAh Battery
- 33W Fast Charging
- Bypass Charging
- Game Space App
- AI Editor
- AI Translate
- Gemini
- 5G Ready
- Price
What We Want
- 5mm Audio Port
- AMOLED Display
- Better Processor
- 1080p at 60fps
Conclusion
The new nubia Neo 3 5G stands out as a solid entry level gaming smartphone that nicely balances performance, aesthetics, and affordability. With its stylish and modern game features such as the eye-catching Mecha design, customizable RGB lighting, and dedicated gaming triggers, it’s clear that the brand continues to make this phone with gamers in mind.
Even with the Nubia Neo 2 5G positioning it as a gaming phone, it is supported with reliable camera specs which you can shoot decent photos as expected under this price range.
The new improvements fron its UNISOC T8300 octa-core processor, large 6.8-inch 120Hz display, thermal management, and a generous 6000mAh battery. This attributes also contribute to a smooth and uninterrupted mobile gaming experience, even during extended sessions.
However, we hope that nubia could add some convenient features on its next model such as a dedicated photo gallery app, less bloatware, ultrawide lens and a 3.5mm headphone port.
Overall, if you’re a mobile gamer or someone who enjoys a stylish phone with gamer-centric features, the nubia Neo 3 5G is definitely worth considering with a good price point at PHP9,999.
Full Specifications – nubia Neo 3 5G
- Price: PHP9,999
- Color Variants: Cyber Silver, Shadow Black, Titanium Gold
- Display Size: 6.8-inch
- Display Panel: IPS LCD
- Resolution: 900 x 2030 pixels
- Refresh Rate: 120Hz
- Peak Brightness: 800nits (Typ) 1000nits (Max)
- Pixel Density: 328dpi
- Processor: UNISOC T8300 2.2Ghz Octa-core (6nm)
- GPU: ARM Mali-G57 MP2
- RAM: 8GB + 12GB Dynamic RAM
- Storage: 256GB
- Rear Camera: 50MP Main Camera, 2MP Depth Camera
- Front Camera: 16MP
- Video: 1080p / 720p at 30fps
- Software: MyOS 15 (Android 15)
- Network: Dual-SIM, 5G
- Connectivity: NFC, USB-C Port, Bluetooth, WiFi
- Sound: Stereo Dual Speakers with DTS:X Ultra
- Battery: 6000mAh
- Fast Charging: 33W
- Charging Technology: Bypass Charging
- Biometrics: Face Unlock, Fingerprint Sensor (Side-Mounted)
