With its price dropped to $139.99 the Nuu G3 must be the best value smartphone on the market, and it is no slouch!

You might not have heard of Nuu but they have been aggressively expanding out from their Chinese base to gain a footing in the mid and low priced smartphone market. Slow but steady growth has led them to release the G3, a phone that earns its place alongside budget offerings from the bigger more recognised names in the market. Importantly the G3 has just seen a huge price drop from $199.99 to $139.99! An incredible deal for what you get, making it a real contender for best sub $200 smartphone.

First impressions are great and the bright, colourful design looks like that of a higher-end handset and it is very comfortable in the hand due to its rounded back edges
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First impressions are great and the bright, colourful design looks like that of a higher-end handset and it is very comfortable in the hand due to its rounded back edges. Turn it on and the screen also boosts this impression that the Nuu G3 is not a sub $200 phone. Colours are bright but not overly bold and the screen brightness wows enabling outdoor use on sunny days without issue. The graphics chip also pushes the G3 along very well and I had no lag issues and a very smooth and pleasant time scrolling through screens, photos and options.

The Nuu G3 has just seen a huge price drop from $199.99 to $139.99! An incredible deal for what you get and making it a real contender for best sub $200 smartphone
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Since my initial testing, the Nuu G3 has received an update to Android 8.0 Oreo with the Jan 2019 security patch and feels much better for it
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One drawback was that it only ran Android 7.1 out of the box, a three-year-old version of this hugely successful Google OS, but since my initial testing the G3 has received an update to Android 8.0 Oreo with the Jan 2019 security patch and feels much better for it. The Nuu interface design was also updated slightly and is not too over-the-top (like some) feeling quite close to a pure Android experience, something I favour. After initial testing, I always install Nova Launcher on devices and once that was up and running the G3’s interface was super quick and responsive, a real pleasure to use. Do note that the screen glass is not hardened and it quickly scratched when left in my bag for a few days walking about. However, this is a sub $200 phone so some compromises are to be expected but whack on a cheap screen protector and you are good to go.

There is no headphone jack but headphone or speaker connectivity over Bluetooth was quick and produced a fun if unremarkable sound. Onboard speakers, however, are bottom firing and are not much fun to listen to. I had no issues with its connectivity generally and using 4G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC presented no problems at all, it was quick to connect and faster than its price tag might indicate. The G3 is also equipped with Android Beam, which allows you to send contacts and files, share photos and videos, and even beam webpage links to another Android device by simply bringing the two phones together.

The Nuu G3 is also equipped with Android Beam, allowing you to send contacts and files, share photos and videos to another Android device by simply bringing the two phones together
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With Android 8.0 installed power management would have improved so I restarted my battery testing and was very pleased to find the 3,000mAh G3 battery lasted a full day of general use, an improvement over 7.1 when it faded at about 9 hours. I ran into no battery drain problems when using the G3 for work, video, social or just messing about.

You can choose between fingerprint or face unlock but not both together. Hating face unlock I went with fingerprint and was pleased to find the rear mounted detector was as fast as pretty much any other phone I have used, it really is quick! Face unlock was very frustrating to set up and I gave up trying it out after ten minutes of fiddling so take that into account.

Hating face unlock I went with fingerprint and was pleased to find the rear mounted detector was as fast as pretty much any other phone I have used, it really is quick!
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The G3 has a very nice 64GB of built-in storage (around 55GB left after the OS & preinstalled apps) and a respectable 4GB of RAM explaining why it speeds along so nicely. You can add a second sim card or up to 128GB via microSD giving you dual sim set up or a huge amount of room for all your media and files.

Maybe most importantly for some, the camera is pretty good. Not great, but definitely not bad. The dual-rear cameras consist of a 13MP PureCel Plus main camera, and 5 MP depth-sensing camera built with phase detection autofocus. The front camera is also 13MP and produces grainy but pleasing selfies. Video from the rear camera is only 1080p and lacks image stabilisation which really is a downer with my videos wobbling and juddering all over the place, even when I used two hands.

The dual-rear cameras consist of a 13MP PureCel Plus main camera, and 5 MP depth-sensing camera built with phase detection autofocus
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All in all, the cameras on the Nuu G3 are good but just don't expect wonders, the real wonder of this phone from Nuu is the $139.99 price
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All in all, the cameras on the G3 are good but just don’t expect wonders, the real wonder of this new phone from Nuu is the price! I doubt you can get a better smartphone for $139.99 anywhere right now. Buy now and you also get $60 worth of 4G data via a free Mint Mobile sim card. This is really very unexpected at the price, check it out here.

Specs

Operating System
Android 8.0 Oreo

Processor
Helio P25 Octa-Core 2.39GHz

Display
5.7” HD+ 1440 x 720 (18:9)

Camera
Rear camera: 13MPx + 5MPx
Front camera: 13MPx

Video
HD Recording and Playback
Recording Resolution: 1080p
Playing Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Video Playing Format
– H.264/H.263, MPEG4/2, 3GPP

Battery
3,000 mAh

Storage
Built-in: 64 GB
RAM: 4GB
microSD (supports up to 128GB)

Networks
Dual SIM Dual Standby
LTE B2/4/5/7/12/17
WCDMA B1/2/4/5
GSM B2/3/5/8

Connectivity
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Dual-SIM
Bluetooth® 4.2
USB Type-C
NFC

Dimensions
153 x 70 x 9 (mm)

Included Items
G3 Smartphone
TPU Case
Type C to 3.5mm Audio Cable
USB Type-C charging cable
USB Power Adapter
Quick Start Guide

Tom Atkinson is Reviews & Dep. Editor at Tech Trends.

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