Is 3D making a comeback? China phone maker ZTE certainly thinks so because in Barcelona, its second edition 3D tablet, the nubia Pad 3D II, leads its line-up. ZTE says the tablet is “shaping the pinnacle of the eyewear-free 3D”.
The Pad 3D II is among a slew of devices with upgraded specs that ZTE launched at Mobile World Congress. Many cost under US$200 (A$305) albeit many ZTE devices are rebranded as Telstra in Australia.
There is history to the relationship between ZTE and Telstra. In 2018, the telco said it would immediately stop selling ZTE phones in Australia after the Chinese manufacturer was accused of selling its handsets to North Korea in violation of US trade agreements. This ban was short lived.
These days we can expect ZTE rebranded phones to be available through Telstra, Woolworths, Coles, Australia Post, Officeworks, Big W and K Mart as in-house cheapies. The good news is that the specs are continuing to improve despite the continued cheap prices.
ZTE sells devices under the ZTE, nubia and Redmagic brand names. Nubia was once a ZTE subsidiary but ZTE has only a minority stake in it currently; Redmagic is its gaming phone brand. Most of yesterday’s devices came out in the nubia name.
nubia Pad 3D II
3D was big in 2013 with the release of 80 3D movies but this shrunk to 19 in 2023, according to digitaltrends.com. The more immersive technologies of VR and AR could have sounded 3D’s death knell, but not so. Avatar 2 was in 3D and some 3D movies are still popular, along with 3D gaming.
The nubia Pad 3DII is eyewear-free; it doesn’t require 3D glasses. It supports real-time conversion of 2D content into 3D. That includes pictures, games, video and streaming media. ZTE claims an 80 percent increase in 3D resolution and a 100 percent increase in 3D brightness. It offers eye-tracking using eye-detection algorithms, and has an 86-degree ultra-wide viewing.
It supports AI 3D multi-screen so users can stream application interfaces to the tablet wirelessly using a ZTE smartphone. It has a 12.1-inch 2.5K large screen, supporting a 2560×1600 resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, quad speakers, and dual-mic noise reduction.
Nominal price: From US$149 (A$227)
Other new devices
Other notable new devices include the Nubia Flip 5G, a budget phone priced at US$599 that takes on existing flip phones by Samsung, Motorola and Alcatel; the Nubia Z60 Ultra smartphone (US$599), its premium phone, the Nubia Neo 2 5G gaming phone, a US$199 Focus series dedicated to photography, and the Nubia Music Phone ($149), which has the look of an Apple iPod nano and retains a 3.5mm audio port.
