Nova Plus Huawei

[Riley Dyen]

HUAWEIrecently announced two new mid-range Android smartphones: the nova and the nova plus. The nova is a 5.0 inch device with 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor. The nova plus is a 5.5 inch variant with the same basic internals. Following our hands-on first look at these two device, here is our full review.

Both smartphones feature full metal unibody constructions, which makes them very sturdy, and allows for a nice and solid feel in the hand. The chamfered edges and the rounded corners give both phones a premium feel. Beyond that, the Nova looks a lot like a mini Nexus 6P, while the Nova Plus borrows its design language from the HUAWEI Mate series.

Although the design language is different on each device, the overall layout is the same on both. On the front is the 5.0/5.5 inch display along with the front facing camera and HUAWEI logo. Neither have capacitive keys as the navigation controls are on screen. On the left is the dual SIM tray which also doubles as the micro SD card tray (replacing one of the SIM cards). On the right is the volume rocker and then power button. On the top is the 3.5mm headphone jack along with a microphone. On the bottom is the USB Type-C port and the speaker grill. The nova plus has two grills, but there is only one speaker on each handset. Flip the phone over and you find the rear-facing camera, the fingerprint reader, a LED flash and another HUAWEI logo.

It is from the back that the two phones look most different. The fingerprint reader is round on the nova but more square on the nova plus. The camera is central (with a bump) on the plus, but flush and more to one side on the nova.

On paper the displays for the phones are very similar (except the size). They are both IPS LCD panels and both have a Full HD resolution (i.e. 1920 x 1080). Both displays can be configured in the settings to alter the color temperature and both displays have the same level of brightness (450 nits). Obviously the screen on the nova plus is bigger (at 5.5 inches compared to 5.0 inches) and that means it has a lower pixel density (401 ppi compared to 443 ppi). When placed side-by-side the displays look very similar, however it I had to choose I would say that the nova plus has the better screen, but not by much.

In terms of every day use you will find the Snapdragon 625 more than capable. The UI response was good, apps open and close quickly and with 3GB of RAM the multi-tasking capabilities are more than sufficient. If you are a power user then you will struggle with the Snapdragon 625, but for most users will handle just about everything you ask of it. Plus there is the added bonus that the Cortex-A53 core is one of the most power efficient 64-bit cores from ARM, which helps with battery life!

Since the internals of both phones are very similar, both score the same in the popular benchmarks. For AnTuTu you can expect scores of 64969, while for GeekBench 4 the devices scored an average of 840 for the single core tests and 3112 for the multi-core tests. As for Epic Citadel you will get around 60 frames per second in High Quality mode, which is great. However when you bump the details up to Ultra High Quality mode then the GPU starts to struggle a little, scoring just 50 fps.

The nova has a 3020 mAh battery, which is impressive when you consider that the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5 both have smaller battery capacities. I ran a 3D test to measure the battery life while playing 3D games. According to my calculations you will be able to play 3D games for over 5 hours from a single charge. As for simpler tasks like browsing the web and watching video you should be able to get about 11 hours.

The nova plus has a 3340 mAh battery, even bigger than the nova, mainly to compensate for the larger 5.5 inch display. I ran the same 3D test to measure the battery life while playing 3D games. According to my calculations you will be able to play 3D games for over 5 hours from a single charge. As for simpler tasks like browsing the web and watching video you should be able to get 11 hours.

Overall you will easily be able to get through a full day on either phone, maybe even two. My tests show that you should be able to get around 7 to 9 hours of screen-on time for both devices during a 24 hour period, of course depending on your usage.

If you lack the EMUI launcher then it is also possible to replace it with an alternative like the Google Now Launcher. The trick is to make the Google Now Launcher the default under Settings -> Apps -> Advanced -> Default app settings -> Launcher.

Under motion gestures you can enable motions like flip to mute, raise to ear to answer calls, and a tilt motion to move icons and widgets. The tilt motion feature works from the home screen editing mode. If you touch and hold an icon or widget you can move it to another screen by tilting the phone to the left or right. There is also the Knuckle gestures which allow you to take a screenshot by double tapping the screen with your knuckle, or drawing a letter to open an app. Both types of knuckle gesture can be disabled if you find they misfire.

Since the nova and nova plus both use on-screen keys, HUAWEI as added the ability to customize the order of the navigation buttons. By default the recent apps is on the right and the back button is on the left. However this can be reversed. It is also possible to add a fourth button for opening the notification panel. Tapping the icon is the equivalent to dragging the notification shade down from the top.

HUAWEI has included a battery manager which gives you a high level of control over battery related features. For example you can set a power plan which will tweak the CPU according to your usage (and so save battery when possible). Other battery related options include a whitelist function to ensure that certain apps keep running after the screen is turned off and a power usage firewall which warns you about power hungry apps.

There is also an ultra power saving mode which will disable everything except calls and messages plus activate a simply monochrome UI. When running low on battery power this mode can add several more hours of usage.

The camera is one area where the nova and nova plus differ significantly. The nova comes with a 12MP rear facing camera that can record video at 4K, plus an 8MP front facing camera. The nova plus has the better setup with a 16MP rear facing camera that includes OIS and 4K video, plus the same 8MP front facing camera.

The camera app is quite nice and includes some interesting features. As well HDR, panorama and the seemingly obligatory beauty mode, there is also a light painting mode, for long exposure shots. The built-in filters include car light trails, for capturing the trails of lights made by moving cars at night; light graffiti, for capturing trails of light in a dark environment; silky water, for silky smooth effects from running water; and star track, to capture the trails of stars and galaxies in the night! However you will need a very steady hand (or better still a tripod) to get the best results.

There is also a super night mode, with a long exposure time for night time photos, a slow-motion mode, plus a special Good Food mode for taking close-up shots of your food! Two other interesting modes are the All-focus mode and the full manual (professional mode). The former allows you to refocus pictures post capture and change which object is in focus. The latter gives you control over the metering mode, the ISO speed, the shutter speed, plus the white balance. It also gives you full manual focusing control.

While the camera app is very capable, the actual pictures produced by these devices leave a lot to be desired. Pictures taken in ideal conditions come out quite nice, meaning the cameras are good for outdoor use in good light. However once you move indoors and the lighting is artificial then lots of noise creeps into the pictures.

With its Huawei nova series, Huawei continues to defy expectations following its successful smartphones launches earlier this year, including the powerful Mate 8 and Huawei P9 which redefined the standard in smartphone photography.

The Huawei nova, with 32GB ROM and 3GB RAM, will be available in October in over 50 countries and regions, including Germany, Austria, France and Spain before being offered in additional markets. The Huawei nova plus , with 32GB ROM and 3GB RAM, will initially be available in October in over 50 markets including Spain, Italy and Canada, before being offered in additional markets. In China, the Huawei nova series can be purchased online at JD.com and Tmall.com, in addition to the Huawei store.

The IFA electronics trade show in Berlin didn't see too many flagship smartphone launches this year. Some companies, such as LG, opted for separate events weeks before or after the show, and most of the new phones we've seen, like Huawei's nova and nova plus, were mid-rangers.

But a mid-range phone these days is an odd beast. Once, the loosely defined category mostly meant a phone that's slightly weaker than top-of-the-line devices in nearly every department. Recently, however, these devices have been catching up with flagships in terms of features, while keeping prices down, with Chinese companies such as Xiaomi launching powerful flagships that cost less than most mid-rangers.

Huawei tackled this conundrum with a sane approach: its Huawei nova and nova plus smartphones -- both of which I've had a chance to try out over the last 10 days -- are beautifully designed and have pretty much everything an average user needs. The only thing that keeps them in the 'mid-range' category is a slightly weaker processor and lack of neat-but-unnecessary features, such as a curved screen or a dual camera.

Quick rundown: the Huawei nova and nova plus are both Android smartphones with a metal body, a Full HD IPS screen, an octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of storage memory and a fingerprint sensor.

There are three major differences between the two: the nova has a 5-inch screen, while the nova plus is larger, with a 5.5-inch display. The nova has a 12-megapixel rear camera, while the nova plus has 16 megapixels; both phones have an 8-megapixel selfie cam. Finally, the nova plus has a bigger, 3,340mAh battery versus the nova's 3,020mAh cell.

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