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Masks out: I hate mobile games to death. And it is curious, of course, with the mobile phone being the best-selling console in the world. Unlike the PC, PlayStation, Xbox or Nintendo Switch, everyone has a cell phone in their pocket. In an ideal world, it would be the perfect platform to play on, but no. Instead, companies prefer "mobile versions" of their big IPs to fill them with microtransactions, gachapones and loot boxes with a single objective: to get the girl's pay.

Let them tell it to the mobile version of 'Age of Empires', without going any further. There was an opportunity there and it still hurts me how it was wasted.

Be that as it may, the thing is that they work. Mobile games work and generate an amount of money that borders on the absurd, so it is not surprising that brands like ZTE (through its Nubia and RedMagic brands) continue, to this day, creating dedicated hardware for the biggest gamers. The last to arrive was the Nubia neo 5 GT, which was announced at MWC.

Its proposal is simple: competent hardware, superior triggers, the most gaming aesthetic you can imagine, customizable RGB and a price of around 400 euros, not confirmed at the time of writing these lines. The last time I tried a gaming mobile was in 2020 with the Lenovo Legion Phone Duel and I didn't think the difference with a non-gaming mobile was notable. After having tried the Nubia, I must say that, being a most peculiar device, the problem remains the same: it is not the hardware, it is the software.

Technical data sheet of the Nubia neo 5 GT

Nubia neo 5 GT |

|---|---|

dimensions and weight |

163 x 7.6 x 8mm |

screen |

6.8-inch AMOLED Resolution 1.5K (2,720 x 1,224 pixels) 20:9 format 439 DPI Refresh rate: 144 Hz Touch sampling: 3,049 Hz Peak brightness: 4,500 nits |

processor |

MediaTek Dimensity 7400 |

ram memory |

12GB |

internal storage |

256GB |

rear camera |

50 MP Depth 2 MP |

front camera |

16MP |

battery |

6,210 mAh Quick charge 45W |

operating system |

Android 16 with MyOS 16 |

connectivity |

WiFi 6 5G NSA/SA Bluetooth 5.4 GPS NFC USB type C 360º Antenna |

others |

Upper triggers (550 Hz) Integrated rear RGB fan Horizontal cable IP64 resistance |

price |

8/256 GB: 399 euros 12/256 GB: 449 euros |

The typical mobile phone that you have never seen on the street

As is obvious, the cell phone has little or nothing to do with the cell phones we walk around the house or that we can see on the street. The rear part has a very aggressive finish with all kinds of filigrees, an aesthetic that we could describe as futuristic. Beyond the finish, which I, personally, must admit that I do not dislike, what is striking is in the upper part and in the edges.

First, let's look at the three black octagons in the upper area. The top one is the camera, the center one is a customizable RGB LED, and the bottom one is a decoration that simulates the processor. Spoiler: it is not. The RGB is also found in the eye and in the "GT" text. We can also turn it off if we wish.

Secondly, one thing that drove me totally crazy was the fan. Normally, cooling in mobile phones is based on a vapor chamber or, failing that, on passive dissipation through the chassis. On a mobile that, in theory, we are going to use to play, that may not be enough. One of the most demanding things we can do with our mobile phone, and therefore, which increases the temperature the most, is playing games. The same is true for consoles and PCs, but these devices are usually equipped with ventilation to extract heat.

Well, this mobile, too. On the left edge we have an air intake and on the right edge, the outlet. Inside the device we have a fan that sucks in (cold) air from one side, crosses it where the processor is located and removes it from the other side.

In the real world, the fan is appreciated more than in sustained performance (that too), by touch. Without it, the left hand tends to sweat a little more, while with it activated I notice that the back remains warmer. And in case you were wondering, yes, you can hear it. You hear a small constant hum in the background, although nothing like the sound of starting a car that activates as soon as you turn on the fan. Sound that, by the way, you can change in the settings.

The fan is quite nice. There are accessories that allow you to achieve something similar, but having it incorporated seems like a fairly successful curiosity to me. However, I can't help but think about how many hours you have to spend playing in front of your phone to really get the most out of it. I would like to put it to the test later, in summer, when the heat of Córdoba becomes more intense.

In any case, I must say that ZTE has done a phenomenal job with its cooling. In addition to the fan, inside this mobile we have a 29.5 square millimeter vapor chamber, quite large for what we are used to seeing, and even in long games, when the temperature rises, it does not rise as much as one might imagine.

Secondly, another of the great attractions of this mobile phone are the side triggers. On the right side there are two touch surfaces that function as triggers (I have a military friend who would say that a trigger is a small cat and that it is really called a trigger, but just so we understand each other) and, from the game hub, we can map them so that, when touched, they simulate a press in the area of the screen that we want.

What is this useful for? On paper, to save us from touching the screen to shoot or aim in shooters. I, however, have found them more interesting when mapping auto-attack to the nearest enemy and flashing in 'League of Legends: Wild Rift'. If you play car games, it can also be useful for accelerating or using nitro. And if you play in the cloud, then two less touch buttons and you can save if you want.

The triggers are extremely sensitive. You just need to touch them to activate them, hence there is a slight learning curve. It's hard at first, but then it becomes comfortable. Now, the reality is what it is: I do not consider that there is a real competitive advantage in the use of triggers. I don't feel like I shoot better, faster or more accurate. And that's not the fault of the mobile, it's the fault that mobile games are, as a general rule, very simple.

In 'Call of Duty' or 'Delta Force', for example, weapons have zero recoil units. They fire a laser beam regardless of accessories for a simple matter: the room for maneuver is what it is. With a mouse you can internalize the recoil of a weapon and compensate for it almost without thinking (anyone who has played 'Counter Strike' will know this), but on a mobile the sensitivity with the fingers is what it is. I have not seen an advantage of any kind when using the triggers instead of shooting by tapping on the screen, plain and simple.

Also, they have a small location problem. When holding the phone horizontally and using the triggers, it is inevitable to cover the main speaker located on the bottom edge. By doing so, there is a notable drop in sound quality. If you play with headphones, no problems, but if you are using the speaker... things change.

The third point, and I found this very interesting, is the bypass charge. Although it is not exactly a new function, it is very useful if we want to conserve battery. When we play games, as we said before, the phone gets hotter than watching TikTok or talking on WhatsApp. If, in addition, we are charging the mobile phone, things get worse because we have another source of heat: the battery charging process.

As a general rule, if we use the mobile phone while charging it, the battery provides energy to the components and, at the same time, it recharges. This generates an increase in temperature. With bypass charging, the components receive power directly from the external source (the plug in this case). The power process bypasses the battery, ultimately optimizing battery life.

I found this to be a real highlight and something that all brands should implement in their settings. In addition, Nubia, aware that many gamers will use the phone while charging it, has included a horizontal cable. Thus, when holding the mobile phone horizontally, the cable does not dig into your right hand, but rather comes out downwards, allowing for greater ergonomics. Mini point for ZTE in this regard.

The problem is not in the mobile, but in the games

The Nubia neo 5 GT is a correct mobile phone that can be interesting at that price. It has a good screen, good sound, good battery, more than adequate performance for almost all games and some functions that will undoubtedly appeal to those looking for a mobile phone that is at least different. The camera is not the best on the market by any means, the design of its interface is... different, let's put it that way; It has a tremendous amount of bloatware and some of the native apps, like the games space, have translation gaps.

Otherwise, it is a correct mobile. Perhaps it would be difficult for me to recommend it over other proposals from more popular brands to the average user, but if you have eyes on it, you like the aesthetics or you move in a competitive mobile scene, the answer is "go with it."

My problem not only with this terminal, but with gaming phones in general, is that they seem to me to be a solution to a problem that does not exist. Or at least, not as it might seem and certainly not outside of China, where mobile gaming is religion. If we were talking about a mobile phone for that market, the movie would be very different, go ahead.

Mobile phones have more than enough power to move heavy games. Without going any further, the original Nintendo Switch worked with an NVIDIA Tegra X1 chip from 2015 on which Android can run. In terms of raw power, almost any mid-range, let alone high-end, mobile phone is more powerful than a Nintendo Switch. Development and optimizations aside, obviously, but there are even PlayStation 3 and PC game emulators that offer quite reliable performance.

However, if we look at the list of the most popular games on Google Play we will see that it is populated with ultra-casual games, the typical terrible-looking minigames that appear in TikTok and YouTube ads, mobile versions of board games, shooters like 'Fortnite', the ubiquitous and controversial 'Roblox', and camouflaged slots. And if we look at the paid ones, three quarters of the same: casual games, 'Minecraft', 'Balatro', 'Stardew Valley', all of them with prices between three and five euros, although yes, of higher quality.

That the tenth best-selling Google Play game is a Game Boy Advance emulator already tells us something.

The underlying problem is that although the mobile phone is mature and powerful enough to move higher caliber games, the reality is that neither users nor developers are betting on it. And when they do, they do so through versions adapted to screens. In this situation, the question that should be asked is what need a gaming mobile solves.

- There are hardly any triple A games for mobile phones and those that exist barely sell. These, in addition, either have touch controls or require more buttons, not just two triggers.

- Games inspired by popular franchises have been adapted to screens to precisely avoid the use of peripherals.

- The most popular mobile games are hyper-casual and do not have complex controls.

Where do gaming phones fit in there? The most massive mobile games have not evolved at the pace at which mobile phones have. After all, mobile games are made for the majority, not the exception, and this mobile is precisely for the exception.

Yes, there are heavy games like 'Genshin Impact', 'Delta Force' or 'Wuthering Waves' that win big with good performance, but you can get the same on other smartphones that are not necessarily gaming that, although they sacrifice specific functions (triggers, fan, cooling), offer a mobile phone, overall, more complete for all types of uses, not just gaming.

Be careful, few phones in this price range offer a 1.5K AMOLED screen at 144 Hz like this one, a battery of this size and such good performance, we cannot lose sight of that. The thing is to weigh what we lose and what we gain and then decide. Personally, it would be difficult for me to sacrifice the benefits of a more conventional terminal in exchange for niche experiences in mobile games.

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This device has been provided for testing by ZTE. You can check how we do reviews on Xataka and our relations policy with companies.