Nuu X1 Smartphone Review

Our Verdict

The Nuu X1 is an affordable unlocked Android smartphone with a sharp camera, just its overall performance and battery life don't measure out upward.

For

Affordable
NFC capability
Dual-SIM support
Stock Android (KitKat)

Against

Poor functioning
Dismal battery life

Tom's Guide Verdict

The Nuu X1 is an affordable unlocked Android smartphone with a sharp photographic camera, merely its overall performance and bombardment life don't measure upwards.

Pros

+
Affordable
+
NFC adequacy
+
Dual-SIM back up
+
Stock Android (KitKat)

Cons

-
Poor performance
-
Dismal battery life

Unlocked phones are all the rage lately, thanks to aggressive pricing and tempting no-contract plans. Nuu's X1 is an LTE smartphone that costs $200 unlocked and features a 5-inch display, stock Android (admitting the older KitKat) and NFC support. But that's where the fun stops and the "meh" begins. With an unexciting design, brusk battery life and underwhelming performance, the X1 isn't a adept deal.

Design

At get-go glance, you lot might mistake the Nuu X1 for the handsome HTC One, but you'll know the X1 is a telephone of a dissimilar breed when yous affect it. While it has the aforementioned curved top and bottom edges effectually a black, rectangular panel as you'll find on the One, the Nuu'southward white-plastic torso makes it look and feel banal.

On its white-plastic dorsum sits a thirteen-megapixel camera and an LED flash at the top, with the Nuu logo stamped on the lesser. A groove on the bottom left lets y'all pop open the back cover to access the micro SIM, SIM and microSD card slots, every bit well as the removable bombardment.

Credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide — (Image credit: Jeremy Lips / Tom's Guide)

The top edge of the phone houses its micro USB port and headphone jack, while a volume rocker and power push sit on the left and right sides, respectively.

At five.8 x 2.8 ten 0.38 inches, the X1 has a sleek contour merely is bigger than the 2015 Motorola Moto Eastward (5.ane 10 2.6 x 0.49 inches), which packs a smaller, 4.5-inch display. The X1 is smaller than the v.5-inch OnePlus One (half dozen.0 x ii.9 ten 0.35 inches).

The v.fifteen-ounce Nuu is also lighter than the One (5.vii ounces) and merely a feather heavier than the Moto E (both five.1 ounces).

Dual SIM Support

Nether the rear cover sit two SIM slots — ane for micro SIM and i for regular SIM. The cards support LTE and 2G separately, and so you lot'll need both cards for calls, text and data. The slots are numbered; SIM 1 (micro SIM) is for LTE, and SIM two (regular SIM) is for 2G.

Display

The Nuu X1's brandish didn't fare besides as its competitors on diverse screen benchmarks, merely I still enjoyed watching a 1080p trailer for Kingsman: The Secret Service on the X1's 5-inch, 720p affect screen. Colin Firth's lux carmine robe and Eggsy's gilt, patterned jacket looked vivid and colorful, while details such as pinstripes on Firth'southward suit and Samuel L. Jackson's eyebrows were clear. Viewing angles were generous, with colors staying true as I tilted the screen away from me.

Registering 314 nits on our effulgence meter, the X1 is dimmer than the average smartphone (371 nits), the 4.5-inch Moto E (341 nits) and the 5.five-inch OnePlus One (432 nits). The latter ii take sharper 1920 ten 1080p displays, while the Moto E has a lower-res 960 10 540p console.

The X1 too vicious short in color reproduction. Displaying 88.ii percent of the sRGB gamut, the X1 lost to the average smartphone (116.v per centum), the OnePlus One (92.7 percent) and the 2nd-gen Moto Due east (101.three percent). Closer to 100 percent is better, if not beyond.

Sound

Although the volume was on the quiet side, I was impressed with the X1's speakers, which delivered crisp audio. Taylor Swift's voice rang out clearly against the background instruments when I played "Fashion", while Ellie Goulding's haunting vox was distinct in "Love Me Like You lot Do."

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Measuring 78 dB on Laptop Mag's audio examination, the X1 is softer than the average smartphone (80.nine dB), the Moto E (second gen) and the OnePlus One (both 86 dB).

Performance

Powered by a 1.2-GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 CPU with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of ROM, the X1 delivered mostly shine performance. I played a few rounds of Spider-Homo Unlimited without significant lag, while apps such as Gallery and Play Store, and a video in Chrome ran in the groundwork. While going back and forth betwixt apps and the domicile screen felt zippy, the camera was often wearisome to start and snap a shot.

The X1 took a whopping 35 seconds to load the taxing kickoff-person shooter North.O.V.A. 3. That'south more than twice the time it took the OnePlus One (15 seconds) and the boilerplate smartphone (fifteen.5 seconds), and much longer than the 2015 Moto Eastward (19 seconds). The One has a ii.5-GHz Snapdragon 801 CPU and 3GB of RAM, while the Moto E (2d gen) sports a 1.two-GHz Snapdragon 410 CPU with 1GB of RAM.

In constructed tests, the X1 did non measure out upwardly to the competition. Its Geekbench 3 score of 1,108 was well beneath the smartphone category average (ii,070), the 2015 Moto E (one,282) and the OnePlus One (2,504).

On Laptop Magazine'due south video-editing exam, the X1 took 12 minutes and 39 seconds to transcode a 204MB video from 1080p to 480p. That'due south much slower than the average smartphone (7:25), the OnePlus One (5:58) and the 2015 Moto Due east (4:27).

The X1 also did poorly on graphics benchmarks. Notching four,575 on 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited, the X1 lost to the boilerplate smartphone (13,334) and the OnePlus One (18,399). Yet, it fared better than the 2015 Moto E, which scored a mere iv,492.

Camera Performance

The X1'south thirteen-megapixel Sony camera snapped abrupt, colorful pictures. My shots of Main Street buildings and parade floats in Disney Earth were vibrant and clear, equally I could make out individual low-cal bulbs on a store sign. Cherry flowers and buildings looked true. The camera had problem dealing with bright lite, though — some building edges were overexposed and lost in the sky.

Credit: Cherlynn Low — (Image credit: Cherlynn Low)

The X1's camera performed well in depression light, shooting vivid, clear pictures of the iconic Spaceship Earth golf game-ball-like structure in Epcot at night.

My total-Hard disk drive recording of the Disney parade looked smooth and had similarly vibrant colors and clear particular.

Up front, the 5-MP wide-angle camera performed inconsistently. Selfies were frequently blurry and often over- or underexposed. Even in a well-lit, nonshaky situation, they turned out somewhat dull. My brown pilus was accurately captured, just my white top appeared gray.

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Software and Apps

Running an almost-clean version of Android iv.iv KitKat, the Nuu X1 packs a few additional apps from Qualcomm, including File Explorer, Sound Recorder, Videos, World Clock and FM Radio. You'll likewise get your standard set of Android apps, such every bit Phone, Messaging, Google Drive, YouTube and Play shop.

Battery Life

The X1's 2,400-mAh bombardment is supposed to concluding upwardly to eleven hours of talk fourth dimension and 192 hours on standby. On Laptop Mag's battery test, which involves continuous Web surfing over LTE (on T-Mobile) at 150 nits, the Nuu lasted a mere 5 hours and 12 minutes. That's well below the boilerplate smartphone (8:08) and the 2015 Moto E (viii:32), and far shorter than the OnePlus I (13:xvi).

Bottom Line

Information technology's difficult to get excited virtually Nuu's X1. Sure, you get an unlocked LTE Android phone with a very capable 13-MP camera for an affordable $200. Only otherwise, information technology'southward an underwhelming 5-inch Android handset with middling performance and curt battery life. Even the supposedly cool dual-SIM feature works just in a limited manner. The older version of Android doesn't assistance, either.

We recommend the OnePlus One instead. For but $100 more, you get a sharper display, more powerful performance and a super-long-lasting battery. It also runs CyanogenMod, which is a more open up version of Android that offers better security and customization options. Shoppers on a upkeep will adopt the Moto E (second generation), which has a smaller display but zippier operation and longer endurance, for $100 less.

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Cherlynn Low is a Staff Writer at Tom'south Guide. When she's non writing about wearables, cameras and smartphones, she's devouring old episodes of Torchwood or The X-Files. Or taking selfies. Follow Cherlynn @cherlynnlow . Follow Tom's Guide at @tomsguide and on Facebook.

Cherlynn is Reviews Editor at Engadget and was previously a staff author at Tom's Guide, covering wearables, cameras and smartphones. In her spare time she enjoys devouring onetime episodes of Torchwood or The X-Files. Or taking selfies.