So here's a new one for you, a smartphone with two screens.
This is the Nubia X – an Android smartphone that comes with two built in screens, one
on the front, and one on the back.
You know we couldn't let this one slip by without a full on durability test.
Let's get started.
[Intro]
So supposedly if you want to work this contraption, there are two fingerprint readers on the sides
that when gripped allow whatever's displayed on the front screen to slip over onto the
back panel while retaining full functionality.
You can run the whole phone from back here.
When the rear screen is turned off, it looks just like a normal phone.
Let's see what happens when we scratch test both screens.
This Nubia X comes with a builtin screen protector which is nice.
I'll pull that off.
The interesting thing with this phone is that there's no notch, there's no front facing
cameras or sensors that need to be hidden, which allows the whole front of the phone
to light up edge to edge, as a display with pretty much no bezels.
As we see from the scratch test, the front is made with tempered glass, scratching at
a level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7.
We've got to be fair to both screens though.
I'll grip the sides and flip it around.
The rear screen has a much lower refresh rate than the front screen, and has kind of a yellow
tinge to it.
It's also covered with a screen protector.
I've found that the yellowness is just a blue light filter that can be removed.
I'll show you that in a second.
The blue backing on the phone is kind of like reflective film that acts as a 2-way mirror,
that hides the second screen when it's turned off.
And once again we get scratches at a level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7.
The rear screen is covered with the same glass.
Part of what makes the front screen so bezel-less is how small this earpiece is.
I almost missed it.
It's barely the thickness of my razor blade.
The sides of the phone sound and look like anodized aluminum.
You can see the silver color shining through under the blue coating, even here on the blue
power button.
One possible weak point in the frame is this flattened portion where the fingerprint scanner
resides.
It looks suspiciously like the design flaw we saw on the iPad Pro, and we know how that
one turned out.
This phone has 2 of them, one on either side.
I'm kind of nervous.
The top of the phone has more metal and what looks like an IR blaster up top for changing
the channels on your TV.
On the other side we have the SIM card tray, volume rocker, and another flattened fingerprint
reader...because why have just one fingerprint reader when you can have two?
Two is kind of the theme of this phone.
There are 2 SIM card slots as well, which pair nicely with the two screens.
Just one USB-C port down here at the bottom alongside the loudspeaker holes.
You might be thinking to yourself, 'Jerry, why in the world would anyone want two screens
on their phone?'
Well let me tell you.
There are no front facing cameras on the Nubia X, just these two dual rear cameras: a 16
megapixel and 24 megapixel.
One regular and the other one for that portrait mode stuff.
So when you want to take a selfie, you get to use the powerful rear facing cameras while
seeing your face at the same time.
It's an interesting solution to the notch problem, but also a solution that actually
works.
I'm impressed with the ingenuity – I genuinely did not see this one coming.
Like dual everything else on the phone, there are two fingerprint scanners.
You can use one or set up both for added security.
And even with the damage inflicted on the right side, the phone can still sense and
unlock my fingerprint.
Not too shabby, but at least there's a backup if one ever fails.
Now here's where things get interesting.
This front screen is a 6.2 inch 1080p IPS LCD, meaning that after about 10 seconds we
see the pixels getting hot, turning off and going black, until the heat is removed, and
then they slowly recover.
They do recover completely though.
Checking the back screen though, is where we see one of the brilliant parts of the Nubia
X design.
An LCD screen when turned on has light shining through every single pixel, even the black
ones.
So the whole display lights up.
An LED screen or an AMOLED screen does not have light shining through the black pixels,
so you really can't tell when the screen is on or off because the blacks are so black
and emit no light.
The Nubia X is using a 5.1 720p AMOLED screen on the back, an LCD on the front, and AMOLED
for the rear.
You can see the pixels going white and not recovering.
Both technologies on one single device – burn test justification.
Checkmate on the haters.
The rear screen can act like an always-on display without showing the actual edges of
the screen.
This provides the aesthetic illusion that there's no screen at all on the back panel.
Whether the screen is lit up or not, you can't really see the rectangular edges due to the
super black AMOLED pixels.
It's interesting how all these innovative smartphones keep popping up out of nowhere.
No complaints from me.
Here's a quick look at the rear display with the blue light filter turned off.
It looks completely normal and has as good of quality as the front screen.
I'm not sure why the Nubia X had that setting turned on right out of the box.
I think it looks pretty good.
All of these awesome gimmicks though mean nothing if the phone can't survive in your
pocket for a few years.
Here on my channel we put phones through years of abuse in just a few minutes.
It's time for the bend test.
The dual fingerprint design on both side rails might just be fatal.
With a solid flex from the front, we get minimal bend, but no catastrophic damage, creeks or
snaps.
The rear screen looks fine.
Even when bent from the front, the phone remains intact and fully functional.
No complaints here.
The Nubia X is a structurally solid device, even with all that fragile tech packed in,
and while having screens on both sides, this phone survives.
As a side note, if one screen does actually break, you can always just use the other as
a back up since it does come with two.
Do you think this phone is the future?
Is a dual screen phone a better solution than a motorized front facing camera?
Which one do you prefer?
Back to back screens are definitely fascinating.
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Thanks a ton for watching.
I'll see you around.