I received Unihertz Luna.
Nothing but a shiny phone
The Unihertz Luna is a phone with a glowing back that you may have seen somewhere before.
It glows when notifications, incoming calls, or when taking pictures, so you won’t miss it, unlike discreet AODs.
However, it weighs about 300 grams, which is tough-as-nails smartphone class, and your arms will get a workout just holding it.
This review is based on build number Luna_20221215.
- Flashy glowing back
- Infrared night vision camera
- Function keys that can be set to your favorite functions
- Built-in earphone jack
- Too heavy
- Easy to get fingerprints on the sides
- 60Hz, display with large touch delay
| Unihertz Luna | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 12 |
| RAM | 8GB LPDDR4X |
| Storage | 256GB UFS 2.2 |
| SoC | MediaTek Helio G99 (MT6789) |
| Display | 6.81inch FHD+ 2340 × 1080 Aspect ratio 19.5:9 60Hz IPS |
| Size | 168 × 76.8 × 10.4mm |
| Weight | 298g |
| SIM | nano SIM + nano SIM |
| Rear Camera | 108MP (Samsung S5KHM2) + 20MP (Night vision Sony IMX350) + 2MP (Macro OmniVision OV2680) |
| Front Camera | 32MP (Samsung S5KGD1) |
| Battery | 5,000mAh |
| USB Port | USB Type-C (USB 2.0) |
| Bands | 4G FDD-LTE (Band 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/18/19/20/25/26/28A/28B/66) 4G TDD-LTE (Band 34/38/39/40/41) 3G WCDMA (Band 1/2/4/5/6/8) 3G CDMA2000 (Band BC0/BC1) 2G GSM (Band 2/3/5/8) |
Index
Included are a protective film, protective case, charger, USB Type-A to C cable, and instructions.
It has US plug for US and Japan market.
Displays with high touch latency
The Unihertz Luna has a 6.81″ 2340 x 1080 resolution display.
Unfortunately, it is a 60 Hz refresh rate display and Widevine L3.
Automatic brightness adjustment is supported.
It has a thicker lower bezel and a punch hole camera in the upper left corner.
The maximum brightness was 414 nits when measured with the LX-1336B when displaying an all-white image with automatic brightness adjustment on.
While this is sufficient indoors, it is difficult to see outdoors.
The total touch latency measured by the WALT Latency Timer was 87.9ms.
This is the worst I have measured so far as of 2023/04.
Glowing back with color settings
The most distinctive feature of Unihertz Luna is its glowing back.
You can set the widget on the home screen to light up when it receives an incoming call, when it receives a notification, when it flashes, and so on.
With such a flashy light, you will never miss a notification.
There is also a setting called “Always on” that keeps the light on all the time. It consumes a lot of battery power.
In addition to the preset colors, you can specify any color you like in RGB.
Perhaps due to the incorporation of LEDs, it weighs in at a hefty 300.2 grams.
It is a level that lightly exceeds the weight of the Xiaomi MIX Fold 2, an 8-inch foldable smartphone weighing 265g, and it is chunky and tiring to hold.
The battery capacity is a normal 5,000mAh, and I wonder why it weighs so much (and why they allowed it to go on sale).
Night vision camera for clear night vision
The Unihertz Luna features a 108MP triple camera.
It is difficult to focus, and there are missing details and strange black noise, as if the image composition has failed.
Aside from the main camera, what I found useful was the “infrared camera.
It can be used as a night vision camera because it captures images in total darkness using infrared light.
Of course, it is in black and white, but it is not possible to take such a clear image in the absence of light in normal night photography, so it may be useful when you want to check the surroundings at night but don’t want to turn on the light, or when you want to check the space between shelves.
Quick operation with two function keys
The left side of the Unihertz Luna has two function keys.
The sides are glossy and quite prone to fingerprints.
Each function key can be set to any action you like.
In addition to being used as a call button, it can be used for screenshots, light activation, screen off and application activation.
It can be assigned to three patterns: single press, long press, and double presses.
On the right side are the power and volume buttons.
Equipped with earphone jack
Unihertz Luna also has a 3.5mm earphone jack on top.
Measuring audio output latency with the WALT Latency Timer, it was 20.8ms.
Unlike touch, audio has a decent low latency.
VoLTE supported
Unihertz Luna is nano SIM + nano SIM dual SIM compatible.
VoLTE on some carriers, including Japan, is supported.
Sufficient performance for everyday use
Unihertz Luna is powered by a MediaTek Helio G99 (MT6789).
In Geekbench 6, the package name disguised version (i.e., not affected by the manufacturer’s illegal boosting) had single-core 719 and multi-core 2001, while the normal version had single-core 723 and multi-core 2008.
There is no significant change, and it seems that the performance is not controlled by the package name judgment.
Geekbench ML froze in the middle of measurement and could not be measured.
PCMark Work 3.0 (package name disguised version), which measures performance in everyday use such as document manipulation, gave a score of 9237.
Since the minimum line for comfortable operation is about 6000, this is a sufficient performance.
There was no stuttering or sluggishness when actually using it.
In the Wild Life Extreme Stress Test in 3DMark, which disguises the package name, the score was 344 to 342.
While it is impossible to comfortably play games with a heavy load such as Genshin, it can run games that are not too heavy, since its 3D performance is higher than that of Snapdragon 680 and others.
Random read/write is surprisingly fast, even beating some UFS 3.1 models.
This may be one of the reasons why application transitions and other operations feel relatively smooth.
Conclusion
- Flashy glowing back
- Infrared night vision camera
- Function keys that can be set to your favorite functions
- Built-in earphone jack
- Too heavy
- Easy to get fingerprints on the sides
- 60Hz, display with large touch delay
The Unihertz Luna has a brightly glowing back, which is good for those who want to avoid missing notifications or just want a flashy phone.
However, it weighs over 300 grams and is 10 mm thick, which is just as tough as a toughness smartphone in some unpleasant aspects, so I personally found it quite difficult to hold and would not want to use it on a daily basis.
It has the advantage of being able to grasp its surroundings even in total darkness thanks to its night vision camera, which is common in toughness smartphones, and it may be possible to use it as a sub device for outdoor use at night, such as when camping.
It is available on the official website for $299.99.