We know the thousand-yuan smartphone market is full of different models. This is the most attractive niche. So all manufacturers try to come in with their own models. On one hand, this is useful for customers, first. I mean, the higher competition is the better products we get. On the other hand, it becomes more and more difficult to choose from all the options. But there are some models standing out in the crowd. The lately announced Smartisan Nuts Pro catches eyes at first sight. It’s another thousand-yuan machine designed for those who want to get their hands on a great phone looking and acting like a 1500 or 2000 yuan device but priced twice less.

Read: Smartisan Nuts Pro Unboxing

Smartisan Nuts Pro Design

Unlike many other Smartisan models this one comes with less rounded corners and it slightly resembles the good old Smartisan T1. However, thanks to such a design the Smartisan Nuts Pro brings a feeling of a business class handset.

When Smartisan SEO, Luo Yonghao was introducing this handset (it lasted up to 3 hours), the first thing he said referred to the front panel. This phone comes with a flat design on front as well as back. So while many smartphone makers are trying to bring 2.5D arc glass technology to more models, Smartisan has decided to come in with a classic model. The glass material counts only at 80% on the back and front panels. The remaining 20% is made of metal.

The home button is made of plastic, but the phone has the highest build quality. Thus you won’t feel any inconvenience when holding this handset made of three materials, at least. Moreover, it looks very stylish. Many will say a glass is a 鈥榞reat material’for fingerprints and scratches, but I guess it is really worth it.

As for the screen, it comes at a resolution of 1080p and a TFT panel. The display is also protected with a Corning Gorilla Glass 3. Do not forget we are dealing with a handset that has been designed to destroy phones such as Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X , Huawei Enjoy 6S , and Meizu M5 Note . So the performance provided by it should be better or at least equal to what the aforementioned models come with. In this sense, the Smartisan Nuts Pro has no reason to worry about ’its screen has a few modes such as sun screen, eye mode, color temperature adjustment and so on.

Seems the Smartisan Nuts Pro has no defects when it comes to appearance. But many think a phone with a flat glass panel on front as well as a flat metal panel on back will make some discomfort when holding in hand. Apart of this, the phone is thought to be unprotected of scratches. But the manufacturer understands these issues as well. That’s why it put a film and a silicone sleeve in the box. Of course, both accessories will affect the phone’s look. But here is a dilemma ’either you have to care about its look or longevity.

Generally, the Smartisan Nuts Pro doesn’t look like other models. But there are many design elements identical to the T series devices.

Smartisan Nuts Pro Software

When we talk about the Smartisan Nuts Pro, the first thing coming to mind is the design. That’s it. But the second thing we should think of is Smartisan OS. Nowadays there are many Chinese smartphone makers. But only a few of them can boast of a good system. Among them we can mention Xiaomi (MIUI), Oppo (ColorOS), Huawei (Emotion UI), Meizu (Flyme OS), OnePlus (Oxygen OS) and so on. Now Smartisan with its OS enters the club. The newest version of it known as Smartisan OS 3.6 debuted on this phone. So many advantages of this phone are related with this software.

Those who are familiar with previous versions of this OS, should notice there are not many changes in terms of appearance. But the manufacturer has added a few useful apps/features such as SMS Unsubscribe, transparent theme, flash capsule, One Step 1.5, Big Bang 2.0 and many more.

Smartisan Nuts Pro Performance

We have already said the selling point of this device is considered to be the design. So it’s expected to see a bit 鈥榳eaker’hardware features. Anyway, the Smartisan Nuts Pro is packed with a Snapdragon 626 chip, which is mainly used in mid-range handsets. This is a slightly improved variant of the Snapdragon 625, but it still uses 14nm process technology. In comparison to the SND625, which is clocked at 2.0GHz, this one runs at 2.2GHz. Thus the performance has been increased by 10%. It’s already a step forward. The Snapdragon 626 chipset supports Qualcomm’s TruSignal antenna enhancement technology for better connectivity. Plus, this chip supports dual-camera.

As for memory options, the Smartisan Nuts Pro sports a 4GB LPDDR4 RAM paired with a 32/64/128GB internal memory storage. This is great for a thousand-yuan device, agree? That’s why the phone shows respectable scores at different benchmarks.

AnTuTu

GeekBench 4

3D Mark

However, as the last benchmark shows, the 3D test results are lower than the SND625 results. So we assume it’s related with system optimization.

Smartisan Nuts Pro Camera

This is the first dual-camera phone of Smartisan. So we should keep an open mind when saying this smartphone is a dual-camera device. Of course, it is capable of taking the way better photos than many handsets from the same niche. But there are too much work to be done. Anyway, the manufacturer decided to pack its phone with different camera lens depending on memory ’the 32GB variant sports an 8MP+2x13MP cameras, while the 64/128GB models come with 16MP+2x13MP camera modules. Though this is a dual-camera phone, its lens are not divided into 鈥榖lack and white + color’ones or 鈥榳ide-angle + telephoto’ones.

However, thanks to dual-camera the Smartisan Nuts Pro is capable of providing good shooting experience. Especially this statement refers to daytime photos as well as macro shoots.

Other than that, it is paired with a dual-LED flash, which means it should take acceptable photos in low light conditions. Fortunately, it does. But when we try to get zoomed photos, the quality of photos drops drastically.

Of course, Smartisan has experience in making handsets capable of providing great shooting performance. I am talking about the Smartisan M1 powered with a Sony IMX318 sensor at 23MP. But this is the first phone of the company, which is also packed with other sensors of IMX328 at 13MP. Therefore there are no sense to compare these handsets.

Smartisan Nuts Pro Battery

When we talk about a smartphone with a slim and attractive design, we always worry about its battery capacity and the lifetime it can provide. But as the company claims, there is no reason to worry about it. The Smartisan Nuts Pro features a 3500mAh battery. It’s smaller in comparison to 4000-5000mAh batteries found on some devices from the same niche, but if taking into account we are dealing with a smartphone at 6.98mm thickness, it’s quite acceptable.

As expected, the phone supports Quick Charge 3.0 fast charge technology, while the charge head comes with a 12V / 1.5A 18W support. Plus, the SMartisan Nuts Pro can be charged via other phones.

As for the charging test, the Smartisan Nuts Pro charged up to 35% in the first 30 minutes. But it reached the maximum of 14 ~ 15W at the 20%. The phone was fully charged in 1 hours 28 minutes. When it comes to discharging, the Nuts Pro shows good results as well. The test was held at 100% of power at 09:54AM. During the whole day we used the phone in a regular way. So in the next morning at 12:30AM it was still remaining power of 5%.

Pros

• Stunning Look
• Large memory options
• Dual-camera
• Battery sufficient for a daily use
• Conditionally Low Price

Cons

• SND626 but insufficient

Final Words

Undoubtedly, the company bet on the appearance. This is a phone no one can pass by. And though many will say the Smartisan Nuts Pro comes with less rounded corners, therefore it is not good in terms of ergonomics, this handset is actually able to grab huge attention.

Another feature we should talk about is the Snapdragon 626 chip. Though it’s been made especially for mid-range smartphones like this one, it is good in terms of power consumption only. So you shouldn’t be confused with the brand.

Thanks to this chip the Smartisan Nuts Pro doesn’t suffer of a poor battery life. Plus, it comes with QC3.0, which is one of the most important features of current smartphones.

鈥楧ual-camera’sounds good, but the manufacturer has to work hard to improve the shooting performance. This refers not only to this company but all Chinese brands trying enter this market as well. Among them we can mention Nubia , Ulefone , BlackView and others.

The 32GB variant costs 1499 yuan ($217); the 64GB version is available at 1799 yuan ($260); and the 128GB model costs 2299 yuan ($333).