Ninetology is a Malaysian Based Smartphone Manufacturer and famous for their low to mid tier smartphones in Malaysia. In 2013 their revenues were about MYR 180 million but they are targeting RM380 Million for 2014. While in other markets like Philippines, local brands like Cherry Mobile and MyPhone are insanely popular, local brands in Malaysia had a hard time so far fighting against Chinese Brands like Huawei and Xiaomi Lately.

This might be about to change. Ninetology just announced their First LTE smartphone for Malaysia the Ninetology U9Z1T phone. Lets check in this first review if Ninetology has a chance to compete against Huawei Honor 3C and Xiaomi Mi3 on the market.

Ninetology U9Z1T Review

Design

From the first experience with the phone on the launch event the Ninetology U9Z1T gives a good first expression. The phone is made from plastic, but it does not feel cheap, especially compared to other Ninetology phones like the U9.

The overall design reminds a lot for the Blackberry Z10 and Z30 series actually, which is not a bad sign. Ninetology gave their phone also a matte finish which lets it look slightly more premium.

Summing up its a fairly standard design and more comparable to other plastic Smartphones like Samsung S4 or Lg G2, not really with Design Highlights like the HTC ONE Series. The Ninetology phone weights 164 gramm and comes with height 145 mm, Width of depth of 8.4 mm.

Display:

The Ninetology U9Z1T sports a 5.0 inch HD display with IPS Technology (In Plane Switching). The resolution is 720 x 1280 and the pixel density on the display is 294ppi. This means that the display of the Ninetology U9Z1T is very similiar to the RM499 Huawei Honor 3C smartphone. The IPS Display is very bright and directly recognizable, especially because of Ninetology’s custom OS NQ Live Launcher.

Ninetology U9Z1T Hardware and Specs

Lets talk about the most important part for any new smartphone, the hardware and specs. The U9Z1T utilizes an older model of the Qualcomm Series the Quad Core Snapdragon 400 which is clocked at 1.2 GHZ and equipped with Adreno 305 GPU. That means that the XIAOMI MI3 with Snapdragon 800 2.3GHZ is clocked 90% higher – at the same Price.

Other then Processor the Ninetology phone comes with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The Storage is extendable via Micro SD up to 32GB.

Ninetology U9Z1T Specs

• Processor: Snapdragon 400 Quadcore
• RAM: 1GB
• Internal Memory: 8GB
• Camera: 13MP/1.6MP
• Display: 5.0 inch Full HD 720p IPS Technology

The Battery Life is 2000 mAH which should last a single day at full usage, considering the Snapdragon 400 processor.

Camera and Pictures

High Quality Cameras is where most Smartphone brands try to differentiate themselves. Ninetology built in an respectable 13 Megapixel Camera. For all fans of selfies the U9Z1T phone gets a 1.6MP Front Camera as well. Especially the 13 MP front camera is an improvement against competitors like the MOTO G 4G LTE, which sports only a 5MP Main Camera.

Software

Ninetology is not using Native Android UI. For their new smartphone they utilize NQ Mobile produced NQ Live Launcher on top of Android 4.3 OS. We spent just a limited time with the Unit, but the UI is definitely very colorful and has a fresh look to it.

The Usage was lag free and smooth. Even with the 1GB of Ram it doesnt seem to hurt the performance. But we need to wait till we can test one for a longer time.

Verdict:

The Ninetology U9Z1T is a proper medium Range smartphone with LTE technologt. It will sell immediately for RM899, and if you trade in your current smartphone you will get RM200 Rebate.

While the smartphone itself is an ok phone, we think it will have a hard time competing with the Huawei Honor 3C on the lower end, and the Xiaom MI3 on the higher end. The Huawei Honor 3C has comparable specs and is priced at RM499. The Xiaomi MI3 has significantly better specs and is priced only at RM769. So while this is one of the better Ninetology Smartphones, they are going to have a hard time to compete on the market.