The Huawei Nova smartphone is one of the most beautiful mid-range smartphones from the Chinese manufacturer, which also offers a good screen, high performance, a fingerprint scanner, and most importantly, a long battery life. Today we invite you to watch a video review of Huawei Nova, the author of which fully reveals the main advantages and disadvantages of the mobile device.

Autonomous operation of Huawei Nova is ensured by a 3020 mAh battery. The battery can provide power for 7 hours and 6 minutes when playing video at maximum brightness, which is made possible thanks to the energy-efficient 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and 5-inch LPTS display. The performance of the chip paired with 3 GB of RAM is enough to perform any everyday tasks, including games. The screen has a large reserve of brightness, and also supports a large number of gestures, both with a finger and with a knuckle for quick access to the application. A 32 GB flash drive is allocated for data storage, of which 22.6 GB is available to the user.

Huawei Nova video review:

In addition, the smartphone has a main 12 MP camera with support for professional shooting mode, as well as a front 8 MP sensor. Both cameras support shooting in 4K resolution.

Examples of photos and videos on Huawei Nova (download originals):

I have long stopped being interested in the range of mobile devices on the market, keeping track of new products, and purposefully reading reviews. For two and a half years I used the stupid and annoying, but amazingly tenacious in its half-death, Highscreen Boost 2 SE.

What's wrong with Highscreen?

The slot for MicroSD cards did not last even a year, then the main battery swelled, the fastenings of the cover of the large battery all flew off, which is why this already terrible heavy bandurina has been running on double-sided tape for the second year and collecting dust inside. The phone periodically loses the network until you reboot, it can sit on charge all night and show 3% charge in the morning, and under normal conditions it takes a very long time to charge. The built-in 8 GB memory is divided into “internal memory”, which houses the OS and built-in applications, and an “SD card”, which, despite the fact that it is soldered on the board, also sometimes “falls off” and the applications installed in it become permanently stuck hang. But the hefty 6000 mAh battery still lasts a day of very active use ;-)

Image from the manufacturer's website. The price is the same everywhere now.

This whole thing runs on Android 6 with the proprietary EMUI 4.1 shell. The manufacturer promises to roll out an update to Android 7.0 early next year, and this is good news.

Packaging and equipment

Since the model is new, there is still a lack of traditional “unpacking” on the Internet. Well, at the same time, you can evaluate photos taken from your phone in low light conditions in automatic mode.

The Nova comes in a white cardboard box with "Huawei Design" written on it.

Here and below are resize photos taken from a Huawei Nova phone without additional light and color correction (except for photos of the phone itself, because I don’t have two of them))).

The box is retractable and sealed with two pieces of tape.

Recycled cardboard, soy ink. Fine.

The phone in a protective film is tightly sandwiched between two different-sized boxes, on which icons of the contents are applied. Thus, the risk of finding a mobile device damaged during delivery by Russian Post in the box is reduced to almost zero.

Reliable, nice and understandable.

In a small “compartment” there are two pieces of paper - a Quick Start Guide in English and Russian, and a blank warranty card, which has become a formality in our time.

I still don’t understand what the second pictogram on the box means.

The second “compartment” is larger and boasts the presence of a key to open a slot for two SIM cards or for a SIM card and a MicroSD memory card with a capacity of up to 128 GB. At the same time, it is almost impossible to remove the tool without opening the box and picking the hole.

Inside the second box there is a 2-amp charger (the phone does not support fast charging, but even without it it is fully charged in three hours), a USB cable - USB Type C, the mentioned key for opening the SIM card slot and in-ear headphones made in the same image Apple's EarPods.

The quality of accessories and components feels a little worse than the “reference” ones from Apple.
The sound of the included headphones compared to the EarPods on the same Huawei Nova differs in that the EarPods have noticeably more bass and are generally louder. Otherwise, these are good headphones.

The only thing I didn’t like about the “material applications” for the Nova was the insufficient length of the USB cable, which is barely long enough to charge the phone on the table by connecting to a surge protector lying on the floor.

You can't go wrong with such a cable.

Design, assembly, materials

Huawei Nova, according to reviewers, is a smaller copy of the Nexus 6P. While the front of these smartphones is noticeably different, their backsides are indeed very similar. The same insert under the glass with a camera in the upper part (although nothing sticks out on the Nova), approximately the same location of the fingerprint scanner, rounded edges.

Nexus 6P. Photo: Engadget.

The rest of the phones are different, but be that as it may, the external resemblance to the 6P is more of a plus than a minus. The design is successful: solid, pleasant, and still modern.

Front part: fashionable convex 2.5D glass and the controversial Huawei inscription at the bottom. The power button is highlighted with a red border. To this day, when I casually pick it up, I confuse where is up and where is down - for some reason I want to grab it upside down.

The screen is equipped with an oleophobic coating, but, nevertheless, it collects fingerprints properly. I’ve been using the “Novaya” for several days now, I’m not particularly worried about its safety and appearance, I haven’t purchased any covers or protective films and don’t plan to, I carry it in my pocket - there are no scratches yet.

This is roughly what it looks like with the dust.

Grease marks may also appear on the metal back cover. Keep your eyes open :-)

The “glass” insert is made of glossy plastic and also collects fingerprints. The manufacturer does not recommend removing the IMEI sticker for legal reasons, but if you remove it, they say, the coating of the back cover will not be damaged.

Huawei Nova is almost entirely made of metal, and the assembly is at a decent level. Nothing creaks or plays. Some buyers complain about a sharp edge at the bottom of the case, but on my copy the sharp edge was not found there, but on the left side, where the SIM card slot is inserted, which is literally a third of a millimeter deeper than necessary, buried in the bowels of the case.

The slot for SIM cards/SIM cards+memory cards is not flush with the case.

The case is really thin, only 7.1 mm, the phone is comfortable to hold in your hand, it does not slip out and weighs a pleasant standard - 146 grams.

Nova and Boost 2 in profile. What a relief.

Impressions from use

Due to the thin body, the Nova is a little inconvenient to pick up, for example, from a table, but in a trouser or jeans pocket this “disadvantage” is compensated by the fact that the phone does not stick out and does not interfere with movement, including when you are sitting behind the wheel.

The screen is bright, with wide viewing angles, with FullHD resolution, it meets all modern requirements for good screens. The response to touches is a little “sticky”, but this is a feature of the operating system that I have not used before (Highscreen already has the ancient Android version 4.3, if I’m not mistaken).

The set of lock screen screensavers is pleasing - 42 photos that change each time the screen is activated with the power button.

I didn’t like how the automatic screen brightness adjustment works - under average natural lighting conditions and the battery is fully charged, the screen can “go dark” to a minimum, which makes using the device uncomfortable. Manual adjustment helps.

The standard EMUI design, as well as the set of wallpapers, is not very good. The user is offered a large selection of themes to choose from, but they are very amateurish and clumsy. Maybe with the seventh Android a better shell will come?

The phone does not slow down at all and is perfect for my tasks (communication, surfing, photo and video shooting). In numerous comments to the first reviews of the smartphone, mobile gamers swear at the relatively weak processor, which produces “only” 50 or 60 thousand points in the AnTuTu benchmark, but I don’t care, I hardly play on the phone. For fun, I installed Asphalt 8 - it flies with all the visual effects.

A little strange-looking EMUI is also not a problem - the main thing is that the system is balanced, optimized and properly adjusted: (for now) everything works, does not crash, does not freeze. The structure of the settings menu is surprising, but this is also a matter of habit.

I liked the good features (I don’t know, though, and I don’t want to find out - these are the capabilities of the sixth Android or the features of EMUI): for example, you can answer a call by touching the fingerprint scanner or simply raising the handset to your ear. Using the same scanner, you can open and close the notification curtain, take a photo or start recording a video, scroll through photos, and turn off the alarm clock. Not to mention, you can make your phone go quiet or completely silent by picking it up and turning it over.

It’s a pity that there is no activation of the screen by tapping on it, but this is a feature of another manufacturer... By the way, the control of “drawings on the screen” and knuckles, which was accidentally found in the Nova settings, was not mastered - please write in the comments if you know how to do it correctly.

The fingerprint scanner is fast. There are practically no recognition errors. You can register up to five fingerprints: for example, index and middle fingers and big toe.

The autonomy of working with such a screen is quite expected - the phone will easily last day and night. Maybe more. Still new.

More than a day of work and the balance is 21%: 6-7 hours of listening to music, a couple of calls, instant messengers, a browser, a dozen photos, a little YouTube and social networking applications.

Camera Features

I haven’t really tested the video yet, I just tried the slow motion mode and filmed it in the dark. When I have something to show, I’ll update the post, but for now here are examples of photographs during the day, early morning, evening and indoors (which, by the way, are posted above).

Shooting on a winter day. No questions at all.

The photos went through Google Photos and were then downsized (the post is already huge), so the photos here are for general purposes only. The Internet is full of reviews of the photo and video capabilities of the device (for example, on w3bsit3-dns.com), and almost all of them are laudatory. The camera is really not bad.

Late afternoon on a cloudy winter day. A little soapy, but OK.

One of the main features of the Huawei Nova camera module is called the flagship 6-element lens with an aperture of F/2.2, which allows you to even shoot stars in the dark (and in the camera settings there is a special mode that allows you to manually set the shutter speed and ISO values, but, of course, it’s unlikely It will turn out to be good to shoot something without a tripod).

Morning twilight and glowing windows. In my opinion, it looks good - the tree has not been darkened, and you can see something in the windows. I didn’t turn on HDR, everything was on automatic.
Another twilight photo. Here the sensor failed: the edges of the snow and sky were covered with artifacts.
Shooting subjects indoors with natural daylight. Normal

Can the camera compete with amateur DSLRs? In skillful hands in “professional” mode it is possible, but in automatic mode, objectively, no. Probably, in the future I will learn to take something better than just photos from my phone, but for now the difference between pictures on a DSLR and Huawei Nova are visible to the naked eye.

Summary

The phone is high quality, ready to use out of the box, quite productive, with a good camera by the standards of mobile devices, an excellent screen and good battery life. A little foppish. By modern standards, it’s compact, even small, well, definitely not a 5.5-inch shovel like many of its competitors. Well worth the money. I recommend.

It’s always interesting to be one of the first to receive a new product on the Android smartphone market, and this time it’s a model from Huawei with the nova index. On board the 5-inch device is an eight-core processor from Qualcomm, 3 gigabytes of RAM and 32 flash memory, which can be expanded with microSD cards. In addition, the arsenal includes 8 and 12 megapixel cameras, a hybrid slot and 3D fingerprint, and all this is enclosed in an attractive metal case. Interesting? Very.

Huawei nova smartphone review. At the junction of segments

Huawei nova is the first gadget in the manufacturer’s new line, announced at the Berlin IFA 2016 exhibition. The model balances on the border of the mid-range and premium segment, which will allow the user to get a number of advanced options at an attractive price. Let’s look at who he will compete with and who else is playing in this segment in the comparative table.

	Huawei nova	Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)	Xiaomi Mi5S
operating system	Android 6.0 + EMUI 4.1	Android 5.1.1	Android 6.0 + MIUI
Display	1920 x 1080 pixels	1920 x 1080 pixels	1920 x 1080 pixels
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, 820	8 cores, up to 1.6 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 821
RAM	3 GB	2 GB	3 GB
Flash	MicroSD up to 128 GB	MicroSD up to 128 GB	64 GB
Camera	Front: 8 MP	Rear: 13 MP, autofocus, flash; Front: 5 MP	Rear: 12 MP, autofocus, flash; Front: 4 MP
Communications	2G 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, 3G HSPA+ up to 42 Mbps 4G LTE Cat6, FDD: Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20; NFC 802.11 b/g/n; Bluetooth 4.1; GPS/A-GPS/GLONASS/BDS	2G 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, 3G UMTS LTE Cat6, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n 2.4 GHz/5 GHz GPS/GLONASS, NFC	2G 900/1800/1900, 4G LTE-A Cat. 12, VoLTE 802.11 b/g/n/ac; GPS/GLONASS/BDS
Peculiarities	3D fingerprint,	Hybrid slot fingerprint	fingerprint
Battery	3020 mAh	2900 mAh	3200 mAh
Dimensions	141.2 x 69.1 x 7.1 mm,	144.8 x 71 x 7.3 mm,	145.6 x 70.3 x 8.25 mm,
Price	i 22 900	i 22 000	i 22 000

Source: ZOOM.CNews

Appearance

The monoblock and monolithic body of Huawei nova made of magnesium and aluminum alloy is one of the competitive advantages of the new product. If the model resembles in detail, then in general the design of the smartphone is unusual and attractive: it has a certain charm and personality. Trendy colors - gray, silver and gold.

The dimensions of the case match the diagonal of the screen, which, remember, is 5 inches, while the weight is slightly above average, but this is a price to pay for autonomy.

The nova feels good in the hand: the smoothed lines of the rear panel and the chamfered body-shaping tray border on rounded ends and smooth corners, and the picture is complemented by a slightly curved display at the edges. The assembly of the case is traditionally at its best: the elements are tightly fitted to each other, no play or creaking was noticed even when squeezed.

Filling the case without frills: the front panel is almost completely occupied by the screen. Along with it, the manufacturer's logo was placed under the protective glass at the bottom, and the front camera, horizontal slot for the earpiece and the operation indicator were at the top. It is likely that there are also position/proximity sensors on top, but the blackening surrounding the screen hides them. The control keys are also invisible, but their role is played by virtual elements.

On the left end of the case there is only a hybrid nano-SIM/MicroSD slot, and the right is given over to a combined volume rocker and a lock key with a red border.

The bottom end is occupied by a USB Type-C connector, vertical slots for call speakers and, probably, a microphone, and on top there is a 3.5 mm audio jack and a noise-canceling microphone.

The rear panel is memorable with two plastic inserts: in the color of the body - on the bottom and gloss black - on the top, into which the rear camera and flash tab are inscribed. Also on the “back” is the vendor’s logo, service information and a fingerprint sensor made using 3D technology.

The Huawei nova case, as you understand, is not collapsible and the user does not have access to the battery.

Screen

The 5-inch LTPS screen of the new product has sufficient resolution for such a diagonal and the picture on it is displayed bright and juicy. Viewing angles are close to maximum, and the backlight brightness is comfortable in most usage scenarios, plus auto-adjustment works correctly.

The sensor is capacitive, capable of receiving up to 10 simultaneous touches and correctly processes the input of commands and text. One of the interesting features is the adjustment of color temperature to the user’s wishes, a kind of Huawei calling card.

Software and interface

The device runs Android version 6.0 and comes with Huawei's proprietary shell, EMUI version 4.1. The main trend of the shell is the abandonment of the main menu in favor of desktops, but these are not the only changes.

The idle lock screen will display the pre-selected wallpaper, status bar, date/time, and camera launch icon. In addition, here you can enter arbitrary text, and also, by swiping from below, open the curtain for launching the player, settings and other “quick functions”.

Desktops are selected and filled according to the user’s wishes: there are wallpapers, widgets, and shortcuts to folders. In addition, you can personalize the flipping animation, not to mention activating circular scrolling and selecting the grid size.

The layout of the tables is standard: in addition to the starting main field, there is a changeable “dock” of frequently used functions at the bottom, as well as a status bar at the top. By swiping from top to bottom of the screen, we will open the notification area, and the tab next to it is the matrix for launching wireless modules and the brightness slider.

An interesting, though not new, option is a simplified menu with large application and launch icons. This view is useful for people with low vision and elderly users.

The settings menu, unlike the main one, is present and does not shine with originality: we have a vertical lined and grouped list of available options.

Managing the Dual-SIM service is not entirely familiar: if we select and name cards traditionally, then for settings there is an advanced item with “smart” actions based on the last choice or manual defaults. The indication is clear, so no problems should arise here.

In the basic package, in addition to the standard operating system applications and Google services, the user has access to: WPS office, phone manager, weather informer, file manager, notes, flashlight, mirror, backups, compass, as well as applications from such popular services as TripAdvisor and Booking. Quite a lot, but not for everyone, although the Google Play store is available.

Hardware and Performance

As already mentioned in the preface, the heart of the nova is an 8-core processor from Qualcomm, and the brains are 3 gigabytes of RAM and 32 gigabytes of flash memory.

Such assistants are more than enough for a smartphone to smoothly scroll the interface and launch standard applications.

With peak loads, everything is a little more complicated: if the device plays HD video with virtually no delays, then with heavy games the jerks are still slightly noticeable.

Geekbench 3 (Single core/Multi core)	756/2724
AnTuTu Benchmark	60795
3D Mark (Ice Strom Unlimited)	13738
3D Mark (Ice Storm Extreme)	7656
Epic Citadel (Ultra High Quality)	41.1 FPS
Epic Citadel (High Quality)	62.1 FPS

A mid-priced smartphone is always a compromise: with the camera, design, performance or something else. The recently announced Huawei Nova, the review of which we have prepared especially for you, is designed to challenge this established statement.

According to the characteristics on paper, this is an ideally balanced device for those who are not chasing flagships, but is everything really so rosy? You can compare it with others or read our review.
Content

Price and main characteristics

Smartphones of the Nova line (the hero of our review and the Plus model with a screen enlarged to 5.5”) are already officially sold in Russia; you can purchase the device from official resellers for 23 thousand rubles.

Huawei Nova is available in one version, which has the following technical characteristics:

• display: 5”, IPS FHD 1920*1080 px;
• processor: Snapdragon 625 (2 GHz) + Cortex A53 video accelerator;
• RAM: 3 GB;
• internal memory: 32 GB + micro SDXC flash cards up to 128 GB;
• camera: main – 12 MP, front – 8 MP;
• communication: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, LTE;
• battery: 3020 mAh.

Smartphone size – 141*69*7.1 mm, weight – 145 grams. There are 3 color options on sale - gold, silver and gray.

Equipment and appearance

The smartphone is delivered in a stylish square box made of matte black cardboard. The manufacturer's approach to design is immediately visible - each accessory has a separate package, everything is laid out extremely neatly.

The device comes with:

• USB-C cable;
• charging adapter;
• wired headset;
• a paperclip for removing the card tray.

The presence of headphones in the kit is pleasing - most brands save on this accessory.

Externally, Nova strongly resembles its older brother P9 and Nexus 6p, which was also produced by Huawei. The back cover and side ends of Huawei Nova are made of aircraft-grade aluminum; the body is monolithic, with a pleasant polished texture and neat bevels that shine in the light. The device looks really cool.

The front part is covered with protective 2.5D glass, under the screen there is the manufacturer’s logo, on top there are sensors, a front camera and a speaker hole. The lack of touch control keys, especially in combination with the large height of the sub-screen frame, is somewhat frustrating - but this is a matter of taste.

The fingerprint scanner is located on the back side, there is also a glass insert that ensures normal operation of the antenna. The camera module does not protrude beyond the body, so the optics will not be scratched or worn out.

There is only one hole for the main speaker in Huawei Nova, next to it is a USB-C port.

A 3.5 mm headphone jack is located on the top edge of the case, on the left is a hybrid tray for cards, on the right is a volume rocker and a power key. The assembly is good, there are no backlashes or creaks.

We liked the ergonomics of the smartphone; it can be easily used with one hand, and the device fits easily into trouser or jeans pockets. The light-colored case does not collect fingerprints, and due to the slight roughness of the metal, it does not constantly try to slip out of your hands.

Screen

With FHD resolution, the five-inch screen has a pixel density of 443 ppi, which ensures excellent image sharpness. The color rendition is natural - the black color is well-developed, the white does not turn yellow.

The only thing we can complain about is that the viewing angles are not the highest - when tilted, the picture is inverted and loses brightness, but in practice this does not interfere at all.

We also add a good brightness range, high contrast and an effective oleophobic coating to the Huawei Nova screen. Overall, this is an excellent display in its class.

Performance

Nova is based on the latest mid-range chipset from Qualcomm - Snapdragon 625, which is quite unusual for Huawei, which puts in-house processors in most of its smartphones. The performance of the 625th dragon is sufficient for any everyday tasks: the interface flies, the browser works without the slightest freezes, demanding 3D games run at 30-35 FPS at maximum graphics settings.

The built-in memory of 32 GB can be expanded with memory cards, the smartphone supports flash drives up to 128 GB. When playing games and watching 4K video, the device practically does not heat up, so there is no throttling and no drop in performance.

Camera

We liked the photographic capabilities of the Huawei Nova. The 12 MP main module produces images with good detail and a wide dynamic range; even in the middle of the day, the frames do not have overexposed areas.

The situation is similar in poor lighting, as well as when shooting with artificial light. The noise level in the images is low, while image clarity is practically not lost. Autofocus always works quickly and correctly.

At the Huawei Nova presentation, a lot of attention was paid to the front camera. Indeed, the quality of selfies can be obtained very decent, and the built-in camera application allows you to use many filters and effects to improve your selfies.

Speaker, sound quality

The main speaker of the smartphone cannot boast of a large volume reserve, but it sounds quite high quality. Music is played clearly, without a squeaky tint, but the low frequencies are still lacking. Excellent for watching video content.

The sound in the headphones is not bad, traditionally for all smartphones with Snapdragon processors. There are many pre-installed sound enhancers, but we do not recommend using them, the situation is not changing for the better.

Battery

The battery capacity of Huawei Nova is 3020 mAh. In active use mode, the smartphone lives for an honest day; an hour of playing at maximum settings consumes about 27% of the battery. In terms of autonomy, this is a confident average, the only disappointment is the lack of fast charging. When using a standard adapter, full charging occurs in 2.5-3 hours.

Communication and Internet

Huawei Nova is equipped with a hybrid card slot, which allows you to use two SIM cards or a SIM card + flash drive, respectively. Only one SIM supports operation in LTE networks. There are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 interfaces, and there is also an NFC module, which allows you to make contactless payments.

There are no problems with geolocation systems - GPS and GLONASS; during testing we observed both operational connection to satellites and accurate positioning. Synchronization with external peripherals using the USB-C standard is also supported.

Video review of Huawei Nova

Conclusion

We can say that the new smartphone from Huawei turned out to be successful. For 23 thousand we get a premium design with the highest build quality and excellent hardware.

Everything about the device is balanced – the camera, performance, screen quality, sleek and lightning-fast interface. If you don't want to overpay for flagship devices and aren't looking for record-breaking specs on paper, the Huawei Nova is a great choice.

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Huawei Nova is a stylish and high-quality smartphone that looks more expensive than its price. However, it is still a bit heavy for a 5-inch diagonal.

Dimensions of Huawei Nova: 141.2x69.1x8 mm, weight - 150 grams. So, it is more compact and comparable to the designer one, but the larger 5.5-inch one is lighter. The phone body fits comfortably in the palm of your hand thanks to its not very large diagonal and smoothed ends. This is one of the rare modern devices that can be conveniently operated with one hand.

Huawei Nova looks quite distinctive, but there is nothing fundamentally new about it. At first glance, the smartphone reminded us of both a smaller copy and a mixture of . From the flagship P-series it got the typical insert on the back, and from the Honor line it got the rounded shape of the case. From the front, the new product looks like half of modern smartphones and is more reminiscent, but with the Huawei logo under the screen instead of Touch ID. Separately, we note the frames around the display - medium thickness on the sides, but quite large above and below it. There are touch control buttons at the bottom of the display. Like half of the smartphones introduced in 2016, the device uses 2.5D glass (slightly curved at the edges). The side ends have a textured and convex shape. They are heavily sanded around the edges, making them look beveled and slightly reflective in the sun.

The back panel of Huawei Nova is memorable with an oval plastic insert covered with glass. I'm glad that the camera lens does not protrude from the body, as it did on the Honor 5C. The round fingerprint scanner also caught our attention - it seems too small, but during tests the sensor responded clearly and quickly. The picture is completed by an insert of an original shape on the lower part of the case; it repeats the shape of the bend of the lower corners.

The build quality of the smartphone is excellent, with such design and execution it seems that this is the most top-end flagship of the Google Pixel level, no less. The main material is metal, so the phone is non-separable, which means the battery cannot be quickly replaced. The smartphone turned out to be quite durable and did not lose its presentation after two weeks of careless use. However, keep in mind that the screen does not have protective glass, so it can be easily scratched.

Huawei Nova can be purchased in three colors - gray, gold and silver.

Screen - 4.8

Based on the test results, the Huawei Nova screen can be called high-quality, although it is inferior to the flagship in brightness and contrast. We also note that it does not have protective glass.

The display resolution is Full HD (1920×1080 pixels), which is even excessive for a 5-inch diagonal. The pixel density with these parameters is 441 per inch, which is very clear, even too sharp. It would be better if instead they installed some kind of protective glass against scratches (such as Gorilla Glass), which is not here. In addition, the screen does not have the best oleophobic coating - fingerprints do not collect quickly on it, but they can be wiped off with some effort.

Huawei Nova has wide viewing angles by the standards of IPS matrices, except that when tilted to the side, the display appears a slight blue tint. The measured brightness range is quite large - from 3 to 454 cd/m2, slightly better than that of Huawei Honor 7. On a sunny day, information from the screen is readable with some difficulty, but at night it will be comfortable for the eyes. The screen has an auto-brightness function. In general, it works adequately, but as often happens - quickly in the direction of increasing brightness, but slowly when you need to turn it down. The image contrast is 830:1, better than that of, but with such a price tag it can be higher. The color gamut is expanded, covering 100% of sRGB and 87% of Adobe RGB. Color deviations are very low, color rendition can be called very accurate. If you don't like bluish tints, you can adjust the color temperature in the display settings. In addition, we note the eye protection function, with which the screen begins to turn yellow, so that it is convenient to read anything from the phone for a long time. In fact, this feature resembles a sort of budget version of Night Shift from. Let's also highlight the mode of operation with gloves - with it the screen becomes very sensitive, you can even type a word while wearing gloves, even if only the second or third time.

Camera

Huawei Nova has high-quality, almost top-end cameras of 12 and 8 MP, inferior to flagship cameras only when shooting in the dark. They are suitable for selfies and can replace a budget camera.

The main camera has relatively large pixels (1.25 microns, most likely the sensor size is 1/2.9"), phase focusing and a typical size f/2.2 aperture, which can no longer be called wide. It’s a pity that only the older Huawei Nova Plus got optical stabilization. In our opinion, the camera shoots almost at the flagship level. Daytime shooting is easy and relaxed for Huawei Nova - the frames are clear, contrasty, with correct color rendition. Focus is fast, the dynamic range of the image is wide, and noise is only visible when zoomed in very closely. It only fails when shooting in poor lighting - the camera is noticeably noisy, apparently due to the not very wide aperture, which does not allow it to capture more light. If in the case of a black and white camera came to the rescue, then here it is no longer there.

In terms of functions and interface, everything is simple and clear, like most phones. In manual mode, the following parameters can be adjusted:

• metering type (spot, center-weighted, matrix)
• ISO (100 to 3200)
• shutter speed (1/4000 to 8 s)
• exposure (−12 to +12)
• focus (from macro to infinity)
• color temperature (from 2000 K to 8000K).

A good set for those who like to play around or get what they want out of the camera. One of the features of the smartphone is the shooting of 4K video (3840×2160 pixels) and slow-motion video in HD (1280×720 pixels) at a speed of 120 frames per second.

The 8 MP front camera takes quite decent selfies by the standards of its resolution. Its level of detail could be higher, but the dynamic range is good - during tests it was enough to clearly see a light rabbit and a dark gorilla next door in the frame. As is always the case with the company's phones, the front camera is equipped with filters to beautify the face. But this time Huawei went a little further, highlighting a separate mode with different types of makeup. This means that now you don’t have to put on makeup before going out to look beautiful in a selfie (for women) or very provocative (for men). For this, Huawei Nova can be called the smartphone makeup artist of the year - all this, of course, is a joke. The mode, although useless, is very funny.

Photos from Huawei Nova camera - 4.1

Photos from the front camera of Huawei Nova - 4.1

Working with text - 5.0

Huawei Nova allows you to conveniently work with text. You can choose either a standard keyboard from Google or your own (Huawei Swype).

There’s not much to say about the first one; it’s usually pre-installed on almost every Android smartphone. The only things we can highlight are convenient switching between languages ​​with one keystroke and support for continuous word input (Swype). In the proprietary keyboard you will see the marking of additional characters and a wide range of settings - from gesture control to height adjustment and displaying the trajectory of the finger. What we didn’t like was switching between languages, which occurs not with one click, but in two actions: hold down the spacebar and “swipe” up. In addition, the size of the keyboard icons may seem inconvenient - after 5.5-inch phablets, they seem too small.

Internet - 5.0

Initially, Huawei Nova has two browsers - Chrome and Opera. The first one comes pre-installed on Android smartphones, works quickly and is able to synchronize with the desktop version of the browser. Opera has convenient features such as reading mode and auto-fitting text to the width of the screen.

Communications - 3.8

The communications set of Huawei Nova can be called typical for its price tag, but not outstanding:

• Wi-Fi b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct support
• Bluetooth 4.1 with A2DP profile support
• A-GPS with GLONASS support
• NFC chip
• FM radio (only works with headphones).

The inexpensive Honor 5C had exactly the same set, that is, there is nothing special to praise here. You can complain about “simple” Wi-Fi without a second 5 Hz band and the absence of an infrared port. But Huawei Nova has a new USB type C connector and FM radio. The latter is often ignored in metal models; for example, flagships such as and do not have it. You can insert two nanoSIM cards into your smartphone, but it only works with them one at a time. In addition, the slot for the second of them... yes, yes, a combined one - you can insert either a SIM card or a memory card into it.

Multimedia - 4.4

Huawei Nova supports the most popular audio and video formats, and is also capable of producing high-quality sound, but only with good headphones.

The phone can be called almost omnivorous. During tests, it easily coped with music in FLAC, but, like almost all mobile devices, it did not want to have anything to do with tracks in AC-3. The smartphone did not play RMVB and some WMV videos from videos.

Huawei Nova comes pre-installed with a simple audio player with a nice design. Its functionality is not wide: there are only display options, a timer and playlist settings.

The built-in video player is also not very capable. You can adjust the playback speed, image locking (accidental clicks will be ignored), as well as a viewing mode in a small window on top of other applications. Also, using “swipe” up and down in different parts of the screen, you can adjust the volume and brightness, and using horizontal ones, you can rewind the video.

Battery - 3.2

Based on the test results, we rated the autonomy of Huawei Nova as average. The smartphone does not have a long operating time, but it will last for a day or a little more - a quite typical result.

The phone worked for 7 hours when watching videos in HD resolution with maximum screen brightness, this is an average time. For comparison, the small one lasted half an hour longer, and the budget Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) lasted more than two hours longer. The test in player mode is about the same story - the result can be called average (68 hours). The Asus Zenfone 3 Max had the same amount of time, but it was already one and a half times longer. But in games, Huawei Nova performed well, losing 27% of charge in an hour, which is slightly better than the typical value. Shooting a 30-minute Full HD video drained the battery of 18% of its charge, average results. In daily use, the phone lasted us for a day or even a little more, but you still have to charge it daily.

In the battery manager, you can optimize power consumption or enable battery saving mode, in which the phone becomes just a “dialer” with SMS messages.

Performance - 3.8

Huawei Nova received a modern eight-core chipset. It is positioned as a mid-level solution, but it is enough for the interface to work smoothly and solve most problems, including even heavy games.

The phone has an eight-core Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 processor (2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 cores), 3 GB of RAM and an Adreno 506 graphics accelerator. The smartphone runs smoothly in daily use, including when working with applications and multitasking. Even if you simultaneously watch a video in a small window and sit in the browser, the phone does not slow down. The same can be said about games - even heavy games like Asphalt Extreme are quite playable at maximum settings. The frame rate may not always be ideal, but this is already excellent for a chipset that is considered “average”. Of course, ported games will slow down on the Huawei Nova, but they pose a problem even for flagships.

We tested the temperament of the smartphone in games - it does not overheat. In half an hour, the body became only warm - up to 35 degrees on the back and 38 on the display, which cannot be called particularly uncomfortable.

As for the various synthetic tests, the Huawei Nova scores slightly above average:

• in GeekBench 4 - 3010 points (comparable to Samsung Galaxy Note 4)
• in AnTuTu 6.2 - 64016 (10 thousand higher)
• in 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited - up to 13849 (much higher than the Lenovo Vibe Shot).

Memory - 4.5

The internal memory of Huawei Nova is 32 GB, of which 23.9 GB will be available to you. This is not bad and is quite enough for storing photos, music and installing applications. Although if you get involved in shooting 4K video, then this volume will no longer be enough. In this case, a slot for memory cards up to 128 GB will come to the rescue. At the same time, you can remove only some of the pre-installed applications from your phone, such as WPS Office, Opera browser, ivi.ru cinema and some others. At the same time, it’s confusing that you can’t transfer software to the card, but you can select it as the main storage.

Peculiarities

Huawei Nova is a stylish metal smartphone running Android 6.0 OS and a well-designed EMUI 4.1 interface. It is expected that over time the new product will be updated to Android 7 Nougat, but it is unknown when this will happen.

The phone doesn't really have many features other than its attractive design. Features like a metal case, curved glass at the edges, and a fingerprint scanner can no longer be called unusual today. One could note the features of the proprietary interface in the form of “swipe” control using a fingerprint sensor, various gestures, image settings and glove mode, but all this is already found in many Huawei devices.