In many ways, the $299 Nuu B30 Pro 5G exceeds our expectations for a budget-friendly Android phone. It looks stylish, delivers surprisingly smooth gaming performance, and does well on wireless networks. In other ways, however, it falls short: It runs an old version of Android, has a dim display, and offers middling quality camera quality. For the same price, the OnePlus Nord N30 5G has a brighter screen, longer battery life, takes better pictures, and supports faster charging, so it remains our Editors’ Choice winner in this price range.Better-Than-Budget LooksThe Nuu B30 Pro resembles the Motorola Edge and some Samsung devices thanks to its curved screen. Protective Dragontrail glass wraps around the front to meet the phone’s thin, shiny polycarbonate frame. The Gorilla Glass panel on the back mirrors the front’s curved shape.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
At 6.37 by 2.92 by 0.35 inches (HWD), the phone is smaller than the Nord N30 (6.52 by 2.99 by 0.33 inches) but weighs the same 6.88 ounces. Compared with the $199.99 Samsung Galaxy A15 (6.30 by 3.02 by 0.33 inches, 7.09 ounces), the Nuu B30 Pro is taller and thicker but lighter. The phone’s relatively narrow width makes it easy to hold, while its curved shape helps it feel thinner than its dimensions indicate.
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Minimal bezels around the display help give the B30 Pro a relatively modern look. The top bezel masks the earpiece speaker. A small cutout for selfie camera is visible at the top of the display, while the fingerprint sensor is hidden under the glass near the bottom. The latter is easy to reach but requires a forceful press to work reliably.
The volume rocker and power button on the right edge. Both are thin and feel a bit sharp against your thumb but otherwise work well. The bottom houses a SIM tray, a USB-C port, and a speaker grille. Neither a microSD card slot nor a headphone jack are here, which are features you get with the the Nord N30 and Galaxy A15.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
Three big camera lenses form a triangle on the back. The arrangement looks similar to that of the Apple iPhone 15 Pro, though without the raised square housing. I like how the finish combined with the rear glass creates an iridescent shine, but both the front and rear glass panels are fingerprint magnets. I also noticed that dust has a tendency to gather around the camera lenses, so keep a cleaning cloth handy if you want the B30 to look neat.The phone doesn’t have an IP rating, which isn’t surprising for a budget phone. The Nord N30 and Galaxy A15 also lack official protection against dust and water, though the $149.99 Moto G Play carries an IP52 rating that protects it against light splashing.Nuu only sells the B30 Pro in light green for now, but says more colors might be available in the future. A Big—But Dim—DisplayThe phone’s 6.7-inch AMOLED display has a resolution of 2,400 by 1,080 pixels, a refresh rate of either 60 or 120Hz (it selects one automatically depending on the app), and a peak brightness of 550 nits. I had trouble seeing the screen in daylight, so you might need to seek shade when outside. For comparison, the Nord N30 has a slightly larger 6.78-inch display with the same resolution, while the Galaxy A15’s 6.5-inch screen has a resolution of 2,340 by 1,080 pixels. More importantly, both have higher peak brightness levels: The Nord N30 reaches 680 nits and the A15 goes to 800 nits. This makes them easier to use outdoors.Surprisingly Snappy PerformanceThe Nuu B30 Pro is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 7050 system on a chip (SoC) and 12GB of RAM. That’s a healthy amount of memory when you consider the Nord N30 has 8GB of RAM and the Galaxy A15 comes with just 4GB. And though it doesn’t support expandable storage, the B30 Pro has 256GB of built-in storage, twice that of the Nord N30 and Galaxy A15.For light tasks like writing emails, browsing the web, scrolling social media, and watching videos, the B30 Pro feels quick. Apps launch swiftly and the phone multitasks smoothly. I rarely felt the need to close apps to improve responsiveness. I turned to benchmarks to further evaluate the phone’s performance. On Geekbench 6, a suite that quantifies raw computing power, the B30 Pro scored an impressive 1,084 on the single-core test and 2,576 on multi-core. The Nord N30, with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 chip, reached 888 and 2,076 on the same tests, for comparison. The Galaxy A15, which uses a MediaTek 6835 processor, managed just 704 and 1,855.
(Credit: Geekbench/PCMark/GFXBench)
On the PCMark 3.0 test, which evaluates general mobile tasks, the B30 Pro scored 13,904. It handily beat both the Nord N30 (10,245) and the Galaxy A15 (8,734).I also ran the GFXBench Aztec Ruins gaming test at a resolution of 2,192 by 1,080 pixels. The B30 managed 16.0 frames per second (fps). That result might not seem like much, but it’s better than the N30 (7.8fps) and the A15 (8.6fps) at similar resolutions. For comparison, a top-tier gaming phone like the Asus ROG Phone 8 Pro ($1,499) notched 108fps in the same test. In real-world gaming, the resource-intensive Genshin Impact played smoothly at low settings. When I enabled medium settings at 60fps, I experienced similar performance with only mild slowdowns. Gameplay initially stuttered when I tried the highest settings, but eventually ran without issue even with multiple opponents on screen. During a gaming session of around 20 minutes, the back of the phone became increasingly warm to the point I had to stop. Lighter games like Mario Kart Tour worked just fine and didn’t cause the device to heat up to an uncomfortable level.Battery Life Is Just OKIn my battery rundown test, in which I stream a 1080p video with the display at maximum brightness, the B30 Pro lasted 10 hours and 10 minutes. Both the Nord N30 (11 hours, 18 minutes) and Galaxy A15 (14 hours, 3 minutes) did better. All three handsets have 5,000mAh batteries.The phone supports 30W wired charging and comes with a 30W fast charger in the box. Getting the device from 0 to 100% with the included charger took a little over 1 hour and 20 minutes. A quick 15-minute charge brought the B30 Pro up to 26%, while a 30-minute session got the device to 50%. The Nord N30 supports faster (albeit proprietary) 50W wired charging; neither offers wireless charging.Fast Wireless, Muffled CallsFor connectivity, the B30 Pro supports C-band 5G but not mmWave. You can use the phone on T-Mobile and its MVNO partners’ networks at launch, though you must use a physical SIM card and not eSIM. The phone also supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC.On T-Mobile’s 5G UC network in New York City, the B30 Pro reached peak download speeds of 202Mbps and peak upload speeds of 120Mbps. I tested it against the Motorola Edge in the same location since it’s also compatible with T-Mobile’s network and supports Wi-Fi 6. The Motorola reached an impressive speed of 622Mbps down but got slower upload speeds of 68.5Mbps.
(Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
I then connected both phones to a Wi-Fi 6 access point. The B30 Pro managed 506Mbps down and 11.9Mbps up, while the Moto Edge reached 433Mbps down and 19.0Mbps up. (The slow upload speeds are more a function of my internet service provider.) When I took both phones as far away as possible from the access point in my apartment, the B30 hit download and upload speeds of 115Mbps and 10.9Mbps. The Edge was slower, with results of 86.3Mbps down and 5.45Mbps up. Call quality could be better. Over a test call, the B30 did a good job of suppressing the background music I had playing and made my voice audible to the caller. That said, my voice came across slightly muffled due to some digital noise that obscured it. The earpiece speaker reached a maximum volume of 76.3dB in testing, while the speakerphone topped out at a lower volume of 67.2dB. I find volumes above 70dB easy to hear even in the presence of moderate background noise, so the speakerphone is a bit quieter than I prefer.For music playback, the stereo speakers got surprisingly loud—they reached 94.4dB when I played Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” That said, the audio sounds thin overall. Deep bass frequencies like in The Knife’s “The Silent Shout” are hard to hear. For a fuller range of sound, I suggest using Bluetooth headphones. Underwhelming CamerasAlong with an embedded flash, the trio of cameras on the back of the B30 Pro includes a 108MP main shooter, an 8MP ultra-wide sensor, and a 2MP macro lens. Affordable phones rarely produce high-quality shots and the B30 Pro is no exception. The images it takes are fine for viewing on small screens and perhaps sharing across social media, but blowing them up quickly reveals their flaws.By default, the main camera snaps 12.2MP images via pixel binning. Colors look a bit undersaturated, but details in busy sections appear sharp. Upon close inspection, however, you notice the surreal, painterly quality of those details. Up to 2x digital zoom is available, but you’re better off cropping after the fact.
Main camera (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The 8MP ultra-wide camera produces photos similar to those from the main camera in terms of color, but details like those around tree branches or of a brick building tend to get lost.
Ultra-wide camera (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
The 2MP macro camera is accessible via the More menu in the camera app. Colors are decent, but details aren’t sharp. I don’t recommend relying on it for anything important.
Macro camera (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
As for selfies, the front-facing camera takes full 32MP images. Regular selfies appear crisp, but the portrait mode can be overly aggressive. As I’ve experienced with other devices, the camera sometimes blurs the lenses of my glasses and creates an unnatural bokeh effect. If you like to see yourself up close, the 2x digital zoom here lets you capture your face in sharp detail.
Left to right: Selfie, Portait (Credit: Iyaz Akhtar)
For video, the B30 Pro records at up to 4K at 30fps. It doesn’t use electronic image stabilization (EIS) by default, but you can turn it on in the camera settings. Video shows fairly accurate color and decent contrast, but the phone struggles to stabilize recordings. The EIS helps some, though it mainly replaces shake with a digital wobble.The Nord N30 and Galaxy A15 cameras both do better with color and detail.Android 13 Is Already a Step BehindWe’ve reached the point where we expect all new phones to ship with the current version of Android, which means build 14. The B30 Pro runs Android 13 at launch. The company says it plans to update the phone to Android 14 by the end of summer 2024 and will further support the phone with at least two years of OS and security updates. Samsung promises four years of OS updates and five years of security updates for the Galaxy A15, while OnePlus plans to bring only Android 14 to the Nord N30 (it launched with Android 13).Nuu’s user interface is called Quickstep and it isn’t too different from Google’s Android UI. The main change is that the navigation menu’s default home button looks a little different. Otherwise, the preinstalled Nuu Help app in the center of the screen offers help via online chat. You can remove Nuu Help from the home screen but not uninstall it completely.You’ll find an option for Intelligent Assistance in the Settings. Here, you can enable a bunch of optional features including Smart Answer (which lets you answer a call by placing the phone to your ear) and the Side Application Bar (a customizable app dock you can access with a gesture). I’m a big fan of opt-in customizations that allow you to interact with the phone in novel ways.A Basic Phone for GamersThe Nuu B30 Pro stands out for its gaming prowess, and we’re also fans of its modern design. However, the phone’s dim screen, mediocre cameras, and outdated software keep it from making a bigger splash. At $299, you’re better off with OnePlus Nord N30 thanks to its brighter display, better cameras, and faster wired charging. And if you want to spend less, the $199 Samsung Galaxy A15 is our top pick for its solid overall performance and long-term software support.
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