Nubia made a budget phone with 2.1-channel audio, and I want one

Nubia is best-known for the Z60 Ultra and the latest Z70 Ultra (which I’m reviewing), but the ZTE sub-brand also makes budget phones in select regions, and its latest device has a unique attraction. The Nubia Music 2 is a fairly standard entry-level phone; it has a 6.7-inch LCD panel that goes up to 120Hz, a Unisoc T7200 chipset with outdated Cortex A75 and A55 cores, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, 50MP camera, 5000mAh battery, and 10W charging.

Why am I interested in this device, you ask? Because of the built-in audio. The Music 2 includes three full-range speakers, and it produces sound up to 95dB. You get a speaker at the bottom and one up top, and a third driver located at the back. If that isn’t enough, you even get LED lights around the rear speaker, and there’s a 3.5mm jack as well as a MicroSD slot.

The ancient chipset coupled with limited memory means the Music 2 isn’t a particularly good phone by any measure, but it costs the equivalent of just $88 (MYR389) in Malaysia. I can see this device being a good digital audio player thanks to the built-in sound and inclusion of a 3.5mm jack, and you get Android 14 out of the box — most digital players I use still run Android 10 or Android 12, so this is an upgrade in that area.

The phone is now available in Malaysia and should be heading to select Asian markets. There are obviously much better options around if you need a new phone, but if you want something that doubles as a digital audio player, this looks like a decent enough choice, and I’ll see if I can get my hands on one — for testing, obviously.

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