GadgetByte Nepal

The Huawei Nova 3 and Nova 3i are both getting a good response from the market. Both these phones feature a FullView display and four cameras. While the Nova 3i is the successor to last year’s Nova 2i, the Nova 3 is Huawei’s take on the premium mid-rangers. By this time, you might already be familiar with what they offer. But let us dive down to the depths and find out if the Nova 3 is really worth the money.

Specs Overview:

• 6.3-inch (1080 x 2340 pixels) 18:9 FullView 2.5D curved glass display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• Octa-Core HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor with Mali G72 MP12 GPU
• 6 GB RAM with 64 GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
• EMUI 8.2 based on Android 8.1 (Oreo)
• Dual SIM (nano + Hybrid SIM)
• 16 MP primary camera and secondary 24 MP monochrome camera with f/1.8 aperture, PDAF and AI capabilities
• 24 MP front-facing camera and 2 MP depth sensor with f/2.0 aperture with HD Pro
• Fingerprint Sensor and IR Face Unlock
• Dimensions: (157×73.7×7.3) mm; Weight: 166 grams
• Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, NFC (PAR-LX1 model)
• 3750 mAh Li-Po battery
• Price in Nepal: Rs. 59,999 (US$520)

Design

The glass back feels very nice on the hands. It is slippery, but the 3D curved design with the metal frame counters the slipperiness, making it easy to hold. However, I’ve had my fair share of the phone falling on my face, so, as much as I didn’t want to, I had to put a case on it. Also, the back, being glass, will attract a lot of finger smudges, and hence, you won’t go wrong with a case here too.

Also, this phone still has the headphone jack, which is a very good thing, as the P20 Pro didn’t have one.

Overall, the Nova 3 has a small form factor and is aesthetically as well as visually pleasing. I’m sure you will agree that the design really is one of the best things about this phone.

Display

On the display front, the 6.3” FullView Display with minimum bezels looks pretty good. Yes, there is the infamous notch, but considering it houses two cameras, an IR sensor and speaker, it’s actually pretty small, unlike those of the Xiaomi Mi 8! Still, apps aren’t optimized to embrace the notch, so, that kind of gets in the way of your viewing experience.

Like most other phones, you can turn it off, too. However, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. The notch is small, but, due to that very reason, the LED notification rests behind the speaker grill. And at most times, it is not even visible when you get notifications. It totally defeats the purpose of those LED lights!

The IPS LCD display with Full HD+ resolution portrays vivid and sharp colors – for both texts and pictures. With an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and pixel density of 409 PPI, everything on the screen appears pleasing to the eye. Brightness levels are good enough to allow good sunlight legibility too.

I would’ve liked the phone to have the Always-On display feature, as the Face ID can be quite annoying at times when you only want to look at the time. It is really fast, and if you just want to glance at the time, it will unlock immediately, and you have to go that “extra mile” of having to lock it before putting back in your pocket.

Overall, the Nova 3 features a great display. Sure, it cannot outshine the flagships of 2018, but it gets pretty close!

Cameras

The Nova series is known for the quad camera setup. The dual camera setup at the back consists of a 16 MP primary sensor with Phase-Detection Auto Focus and a 24 MP monochrome sensor, both with f/1.8 aperture.

 

And yes, it lacks a depth sensor on the back, but the bokeh effects on this phone come out quite good. You can tell by just look at the images – sharp edges and good amount of blur on the background. However, in low lighting conditions, it’s edge detection seems to be a bit off, and you get quite the amount of noise. Also, auto-focus is a bit slow in low light, and gets some motion blur.

But, if you are taking pictures of low-lit places, the HDR effect comes into play, and tries very hard to get a good picture. However, considering all factors, it’s safe to say that most low-light images won’t be very appealing.

The Nova 3 also flaunts the AI camera, which you can turn on or off, that can distinguish between various elements, and change the picture accordingly. It can distinguish between over 20 different things, and while it does help out in certain scenarios, amping up color levels and HDRs; it’s more of a hit and miss. Mostly, it over-saturates greens, yellows and reds, so, sceneries come out unnatural, with more brighter colors than there really is. However, food photography will look very appealing for the same reason. But again, if you’re taking overlay shots, for example, the weather or sky or clouds, they will come out very pleasing to look at. It actually comes down to preference whether you prefer natural colors or ones that please you visually.

The 24 MP + 2 MP front camera takes outstanding selfies. The 2 MP depth sensor helps produce quite good portrait selfies, and the HDR Pro feature will also allow you to take good pictures even with bright/sunny backgrounds.

There’s also a beauty mode on it, and it does a good job of hiding the blemishes and lightening your face if you use it with the right levels.

The rear camera can record 4K videos @60fps while the front can record 1080p videos at the same frame rate. Videos are decent in daylight with good audio recording as well. You can also shoot short bursts of 480 fps Slo-Mo videos, but the quality is strictly average.

However, the lack of any kind of Image Stabilization in these cameras is a downer. And this is more annoying in videos! They shake quite a bit and the slightest bit of movement can spoil your video moments. At this price, Huawei could at least have implemented EIS, but it didn’t, which is a shame!

And there’s the AR Lens as well, with various effects for your photos and videos. You can definitely have some fun with it when you’re bored, but other than that…there’s not much to it. It’s there for entertainment purposes, and that’s it, a gimmick I’d say.

Overall, cameras on the Huawei Nova 3 are great, but the major factor that holds it back is the lack of Image Stabilization in them.

Check out all the high-resolution camera samples here

Performance

The Nova 3 features Huawei’s own Kirin 970 chipset, which you get on Huawei’s flagship, the P20 Pro. Couple that with 6 GB of RAM, and you get a speedy device with zero lags and stutters! Everything works like a breeze. Multi-tasking goes on without a hitch, and I experienced no lags while gaming. I played a lot of Asphalt 9, which seemed to run without a single stutter! Heavy games like Injustice 2 runs smooth as well.

The phone does heat up fairly quick, though. In my experience, the temperature maxed out at 38.7 centigrade during some PUBG session in HD graphics and High frame rates. While there can be some thermal throttling, I think that’s actually normal with many phones.And since the Nova series have also received the GPU Turbo update, the gaming experience is a very good one.

The phone runs on Android 8.1 with EMUI 8.2. Like all other skins, it comes with some bloatware and pre-installed apps too. while the pre-installed apps can be rid of, bloatware stays. The EMUI skin will also need some getting used to. And there are also some customization options for you to choose from.

Storage and Battery

The Nova 3 has 128 GB internal storage. While there’s also a microSD card slot which uses the SIM 2 slot, 128 GB of memory should be more than enough for everything you want to store in it.

Just like other phones in this price bracket, the Nova 3 has a large battery of 3750 mAh, with Fast Charge feature. The battery lasts the whole day easily with sessions of gaming, videos, casual web-surfing and everything. The fast charge helps fully charge your phone in under 2 hours, but it is not as fast as OnePlus’ Dash Charge.

Conclusion and Verdict

I have no complaints on the Nova 3 in terms of design, performance, and battery. Both the fingerprint sensor and Facial Recognition is very fast. However, the display needs to be optimized for the notch and cameras would have been better if they could’ve added Image Stabilization. The AI still needs work, too, but it is a good camera, though.

The Huawei Nova 3, overall, seems to be a good phone. Since there aren’t many phones in the 50000 – 60000 price bracket, you might not exactly know what to expect. If you want something better, you have to add quite a lot of cash, for instance, the OnePlus 6. The phone costs Rs.59900, which is fair enough, considering it costs Rs.35000 in India. So, for that price, I think Huawei Nova 3 justifies its worth.

All in all, the Nova 3 has its share of shortcomings, but there are things that make it a worthy purchase. In the end, I would say that it is pretty close to a Home Run!

Pros:

• Stunning design
• Good cameras
• Powerful processor
• Good display with small notch

Cons:

• Apps not optimized for notch
• No Image Stabilization
• Quickly heating up during gaming

If you go looking for phones in the mid-range segment, you will have a hard time selecting one because there are just too many choices. Amid all this, Huawei has added another one to the competition, the Huawei Nova 3i. With this device, you get a very impressive spec sheet but does the device follow similar performance? Let’s find out in our Huawei Nova 3i review.

• 6.3-inch (2340 x 1080 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display
• Octa-Core Kirin 710 (4×2.2GHz Cortex-A73 + 4×1.7GHz Cortex-A53) CPU
• Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
• 4GB RAM with 128GB storage, expandable memory up to 256GB with microSD
• Android 8.1 (Oreo) with EMUI 8.2
• Hybrid Dual SIM (nano + nano / microSD)
• 16MP rear camera with LED flash, secondary 2MP rear camera
• 24MP front-facing camera with f/2.0 aperture, secondary 2MP camera
• Dimensions: 157.6×75.2×7.6mm; Weight: 169g
• Fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
• Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2 LE, GPS + GLONASS
• 3340mAh battery
• Price: Rs. 38990 (in Nepal)

Design

At sight, you get a premium look all over. If you look at it, there’s the shiny glass back, the rounded edges all of which look stunning. Adding to the pros is that the phone is quite slim and lightweight. Not only that, the metal frame around the edges help you have a good grip on the device. You get the vertical camera placement like the P20 pro and the fingerprint sensor at the back which is easy to reach and indeed is very swift. There is also Facial Unlock that uses the front camera and does a good job.

Downwards, you get a single speaker and micro USB ports and yes, the headphone jack. Well, high-end phones have started removing the headphone jack and it’s a relief to see that midranges are not following the trend.

On hands, the phone is a bit slippery but not to the point of frustration, so no issues. Meanwhile, you’ve got to do something about the smudges. Likewise, I already have a few scratches on the edges at the back so, you will definitely want to case it up.

Display

Talking about the disply, you get a 6.3-inch FHD+ screen with even taller 19.5:9 aspect ratio. The IPS display is sharp and the colors are vibrant. The sunlight visibility is average though. It’s a big screen and for those multimedia-hungry users, you have your device here.

But, as there is no display protection available on the phone, for careless people like me, we need to borrow some help from tempered glasses.

Cameras

Now moving on to the cameras! Like most of the Huawei devices, this too has a quad camera setup, two at the front and two at the back. The back houses dual 16+2 MP cameras and the notch in front carries 24+2 MP sensors.

Pictures from the rear camera are vibrant in terms of colors and they pack in good details. However, the edge detection in the portrait mode needs improvement.

What’s nice to see is, AI does well-recognizing sky and enhancing it. The AI seems to have improved because other than greenery, other things seem to have been enhanced quite properly. Similarly, buildings seem nicer with AI on. But even without AI, the Colors are punchy and vibrant. However, I cannot quite say good things about the night time shots as they were grainy and disappointing. There is 3D Qmoji feature which is entertaining, but it needs a little reworking.

Sadly, the videos lack any kind of stabilization, so you will experience native shakiness in videos. Likewise, there is no option for 4K video recording. So, if you are into mobile vlogging, with this device, you will certainly need steady hands. However, you can shoot 1080p videos at 60 fps which is good news.

Talking about the quality of selfies, you get quite nice ones. Detail- wise, color-wise, the pictures seem quite good. There is an HDR Pro mode that enhances colors. We also have the AI that helps enhance the pictures alongside the beauty mode that smoothens your skin and makes you look fairer.

Just a small note, please avoid using the level 10 beauty option, it makes you look like some supernatural being. Well, that’s again your choice. Like the rear camera, the dual cameras at the front do not detect edges properly. All in all, these samples are proof that the selfie cameras function very well. But all in all, I have liked the cameras in this device.

Check out all the high-resolution camera samples here

Performance

Now let’s get going with the performance side of things. This device is the first to feature the Kirin 710 processor which in real life is comparable with the SD 660. We have witnessed how good the SD 66O performs in the Mi A2, and now we have a similar hero with the 710 in the Nova 3i.

On use, I got lag-free performance every time, whether it be for multitasking or app opening; everything ran smoothly as expected. Memory wise, you get the usual 4 GB RAM but with a very impressive 128 GB onboard storage which can further be expanded through the hybrid SIM slot. With the hybrid SIM slot, you can expand your phone’s memory up to 256 GB but I guess 128 GB will be enough for most.

Now, let’s hear about gaming. Well, with the Nova 2i, we had an average performance in the gaming department. Now, with its successor, I have no room for complaints in this regard. I have played plenty of games in the process of testing this device, namely the Modern Combat 5, my current favorite Asphalt Legends and everybody’s favorite, PUBG along with some others. PUBG ran with slight lags in medium settings while Modern Combat 5 and Asphalt Legends ran smoothly. So, on a whole, I have had a very interesting and impressive gaming experience on this phone.

Software and UI

Software-wise, we get the Android Oreo 8.1 and EMUI 8.2 on top of it. For me, EMUI works just fine except for the onboard bloatware. As I said in the hands-on video, the unnecessary apps and games can be deleted, well most of them can be deleted. Apart from that Huawei gives a lot of customization options in the UI, like changing notch preferences, having an app drawer if you want, changing where the battery percentage shows, power saving options, well there are tons of it. The fact that all these features don’t make the phone slow is a really good thing.

Battery

The 3,340 mAh battery capacity on this device is the same as the Nova 2i but this one has a longer lasting battery. This somewhat is also a result of the energy efficient Kirin 710 processor.

Despite not have fast charging, the phone surprised me by getting charged in 2 hours and some time. Likewise, talking about backup, the 3i lasted more than one day on my use. On a regular basis, my activities include, a bit of gaming, a lot of social media and work stuff and the Nova 3i has helped me get through all that without having to worry. Only, I felt a little disappointed on the device not having USB type C, I mean, it’s become sort of 2018ish having Type C on your phones.

Connectivity

I used this device as a daily driver and call quality on NTC and Ncell both is good. However, it lacks WiFi a/c so connecting to a 5GHz WiFi connection will not be possible. Also, there is a single speaker and the output from it is just average.

Conclusion

So, does the Nova 3i fare for the price being asked? I would say yes!  I mean there are little aspects that may not look good but overall the phone does well. It’s got this really nice design and a good display, good set of cameras, a very good battery backup and excellent performance with the new Kirin 710. The Nova 2i and 3e were considered weak in the performance front but the 3i seems to have got it covered. The Nova 3i, in my opinion, is a worthy purchase.