Hands-on with the nubia Music Pro smartphone.
3.5 stars out of 5
The nubia Music Pro is worth considering for users who simply want a fun, affordable phone with loud speakers. It's not made for gamers or aspiring mobile photographers though.
The nubia Music Pro isn’t your typical budget smartphone. It has a large speaker at the back and a bold, music-themed design. It’s built to play your favorite tunes as loud as possible.
I tested the device for three weeks including its design, display, sound quality, cameras, battery life and overall performance. Here’s my full review.
Good: Unique music-inspired design
Bad: Too wide for easy one-hand use and no water resistance
At 76 mm (about 3 inches) wide, the nubia Music Pro is a large phone. Using it with one hand is a bit tricky for me.
Its standout feature is the huge back speaker styled like a vinyl record. Beside it are two LED strips that mimic a tonearm and pulsate in sync with music. Interestingly, the speaker also doubles as a natural grip, making the phone comfortable to hold for long gaming or video sessions.
The back design has bright colors and music-related graphics for both the Pop Art and Melody Wave color variants. These details are eye-catching and definitely unique. I usually prefer minimal designs but the nubia Music Pro has a certain playful charm.
Its build quality is decent although I can’t shake the plasticky feeling because of the glossy back cover material. There’s no official IP rating or water resistance either.
Good: Large 6.7-inch display
Bad: No auto-brightness, washed-out colors
The nubia Music Pro has a 6.7-inch HD+ LCD with 120Hz refresh rate. It’s large and uses a punch-hole for the selfie camera.
However, it doesn’t have automatic brightness so you’ll have to manually set the brightness. It’s bright enough for indoor use but struggles a bit when used under bright sunlight even with the brightness set to maximum.
Colors are a bit washed out and there’s noticeable pixelation in text and graphics. Take note that I’m used to seeing smartphones with high-end screens so flaws of budget models stand out.
The 120Hz refresh rate is real and there are times that animations feel smooth. However, the phone’s processor doesn’t have enough power to sustain a high refresh rate. It immediately drops to 60Hz or lower resulting in a laggy experience.
Good: Louder than most phones with clear vocals and some bass
Bad: Slight distortion at high volumes and still weaker than small Bluetooth speakers
Since the nubia Music Pro boasts about its speakers, it deserves a dedicated look at sound quality.
The phone uses a 2.1-channel setup with a total of three speakers. There’s a large back speaker with vinyl-like design, the usual bottom-firing loudspeaker, and the earpiece speaker.
It sounds noticeably louder than most smartphones especially when the Volume Booster is enabled. Press the volume-up button twice after reaching 100% to activate the highest boost level. It achieved 81.5 dB loudness measured using the Sound Meter app.
Sound quality is good with clear vocals and hints of bass. It’s not as good as a dedicated portable Bluetooth speaker though, even the small ones. There is some distortion at high volumes.
When listening to podcasts or radio programs like Gising Pilipinas or Papa Dudut’s Brgy. Love Stories, I set the volume to the maximum. For music listening, I use the first level of volume booster.
For the best sound quality, make sure none of the speakers get covered. I usually put it face down on my table with the top part laying on something so the front speaker doesn’t get covered.
Overall, the nubia Music Pro works well for users who rely on loudspeaker calls or want to play music and podcasts without needing an external speaker.
Good: Decent storage with microSD expansion
Bad: Laggy performance even in light gaming and multitasking
The nubia Music Pro is powered by a UNISOC T7200 chipset, 4GB of physical RAM and up to 4GB of virtual RAM. It scored 229,881 points on the Antutu benchmark which is an entry-level score.
Opening apps takes a few seconds while scrolling through social media feeds like TikTok is decent. Switching to another app or performing slightly complex tasks make the phone laggy. I had to turn off animations in the developer options for a slightly better experience.
I played Mobile Legends with high graphics and it can run it smoothly when you’re still marching towards the first tower. Lags immediately appear when two or more enemies are around. Reducing the graphics quality to low makes it more enjoyable.
There’s plenty of storage space to install games and apps on the nubia Music Pro. It comes with 128GB of built-in storage and supports microSD cards for additional storage.
Good: Rear camera takes decent daytime shots
Bad: Selfies and low-light photos are grainy with washed out colors
Download original sample pictures here.
There’s a 50 Megapixel camera at the back of the nubia Music Pro and a 5 Megapixel selfie camera on the front. The second camera at the back is just a decorative lens.
The rear camera can capture decent shots in daytime but there’s noticeable oversharpening, muted colors and overall washed out look. Night time shots are grainy and barely usable.
Selfies look even more washed out with grainy quality even during daytime.
The same can be said for videos – low quality during the day and poor, grainy quality in low light. It captures 1080p video resolution for both the front and back cameras.
It’s a budget smartphone so this quality is to be expected. If you’re an aspiring photographer, this smartphone isn’t the best choice.
Good: Long-lasting 5000mAh battery
Bad: Slow 10W charging with a short cable
The nubia Music Pro is equipped with a 5000mAh battery. It can last a whole day on a single charge with my normal use.
It achieved 13 hours and 29 minutes in the PCMark battery life test (50% brightness slider, airplane mode). This is a good result, slightly better than some competitors.
Battery life is decent but its charging speed is slow. It only supports 10W of charging rate and takes 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach 100% battery capacity. The included charging cable is also shorter than usual, 2ft only instead of the usual 3ft cables.
Good: Simple software and decent connectivity
Bad: Fingerprint sensor is unreliable
The nubia Music Pro runs on the Android 14 operating system with the MyOS 14 software. Its user interface (UI) looks basic but not terribly outdated. There’s even a “dynamic island” feature for the selfie camera’s punch-hole.
It has some pre-installed apps including a large folder called Music Box for the different special functions of the speaker. There are also a few games, Google apps, WPS Office and Booking.com.
This is a dual SIM smartphone with 4G LTE connectivity. Mobile internet speed is decent when cellular networks are uncongested. There’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC file transfers too.
Its power button on the side has an embedded fingerprint sensor. It sometimes doesn’t recognize my fingerprint though.
Official Price: ₱4,299
Good: Budget friendly
Bad: Limited availability
The official price of the nubia Music Pro in the Philippines is ₱4,299 (4GB RAM + 128GB). It’s definitely affordable and there are usually discounts and promos.
It is mainly sold online through the nubia official stores on Shopee and TikTok. Some dealers might have it in physical stores such as Rulls and XUNDD.
There are several competitors priced similarly with the nubia Music Pro. There’s the TECNO Spark 40C, HONOR X5b, realme Note 60x and vivo Y03t. None of them have speakers as loud as the nubia Music Pro.
Pinoy Techno Guide’s Verdict: 3.5 stars out of 5
The nubia Music Pro is not for gamers or aspiring mobile photographers. It’s worth considering for users who simply want a fun, affordable phone with the loudest speakers in its class.
Paired with its large (though slightly washed out) display, scrolling on TikTok or watching YouTube videos can be enjoyable. You’ll just have to lower your expectations when it comes to performance and camera quality.
Overall, the nubia Music Pro is a unique budget phone with a playful charm. A higher-tier version with better performance, display and cameras might be something Filipinos will choose over generic phones from other brands.
