As of June 2018, Huawei ranked first in Russia and second in the world in terms of the number of smartphones sold. And this is not surprising, given the rapid pace of development of the Chinese giant concern, focused not only on the mobile segment of the market, but also on the entire range of multimedia products and services. We invite you to take a look at the 10 best models in 2019.
The annual profit of Huawei Technologies exceeds $5 billion, which allows the company to actively develop its own research and development complex, stimulate the full cycle of production of parts and components, and also absorb smaller competitive firms. The result of such vigorous activity was the release of many smartphone models of different prices and classes with excellent hardware and original, often innovative solutions. Therefore, choosing Huawei products is a smart decision when choosing a smartphone.
Despite the modest price, the functionality of the 2018 “six” is high enough for any everyday tasks. The hardware is based on a powerful quad-core processor, the volumes of RAM and permanent memory are 2 and 16 GB, respectively - not little, but not much either. The design is modest and laconic, without any frills. The matte plastic of the case is durable and non-slippery.
The display of Huawei Y6 pleases with wide viewing angles and pleasant color rendering, the resolution is slightly higher than classic HD. The gadget cannot be called frameless, but the front panel area is used effectively. Under the display there is a thin strip of plastic with the brand name, at the top there is a speaker slot, windows for a 5-megapixel selfie camera and a light sensor. The main camera is equipped with a far from top-end 13 megapixel matrix. In short, an inexpensive but good smartphone for undemanding users.
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Huawei Y9 is suitable for those who are looking for a budget gadget with a good camera. Or rather, with four cameras at once. Both front and rear have the same modules – a 13-megapixel main one and a 2-megapixel secondary one. This combination allows you to experiment with bokeh, and wide apertures make it possible to shoot in low light with low digital noise. Compared to younger models, the size and resolution of the display have increased, its edges have become rounded, and the aspect ratio, instead of the usual 16:9, is 2:1. This makes it easier to operate your smartphone with one hand.
The body of the gadget is durable and comfortable, made of brushed metal. The latest generation fingerprint scanner, located in the center of the rear panel, is responsible for user identification. The “heart” of the Huawei Y9 was the eight-core Kirin 659 CPU, which scored about 65 thousand points in AnTuTu - a good result for a mid-class smartphone. The model comes with a powerful 4000 mAh battery, so the autonomy of the “nine” will pleasantly surprise you.
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As the name suggests, the Nova line is focused on new, unusual solutions. It belongs to the upper-mid price segment of the company and provides customers with functions that were previously available only in luxury flagships. Thus, the 3i model is equipped with a large frameless LTPS display. This screen is in no way inferior to classic IPS technology and even has superior response time and power consumption.
The new product is equipped with a powerful Kirin 710 processor, and 4 GB of RAM runs at an incredible speed of 6700 MB/s. The overall rating of Antutu experts was 140 thousand points - great news for connoisseurs of performance in heavy applications and games. The cameras are also good. The main one consists of a 24-megapixel module and a 2-megapixel auxiliary sensor; 16 and 2 megapixels are offered for selfies. There are known cases of photographers using the Nova 3i as a compact addition to their main equipment. But the battery let us down; its capacity of 3.3 Ah is not enough for such performance.
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The P Smart line needs no introduction. It has long been known to fans of the brand for the best price-quality ratio among Huawei smartphones. The hardware of the 2019 model is almost identical to the hardware of the Nova 3i, except that the RAM capacity is slightly reduced. The display is completely frameless, only in the upper part there is a tiny window for the 8-megapixel front camera. The rear camera could be better - only 13 megapixels for the main sensor and 2 megapixels for the auxiliary one, that is, the same characteristics as in inexpensive models.
The design of the gadget deserves special mention. In addition to the strictly black body with slightly rounded corners, users are offered a gradient Aurora Blue color scheme, bright, colorful and unique, distinguishing the smartphone from the white-sulphur-black world of modern electronics.
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The lightweight version of the top-end “twentieth” model offers users a high-frequency Kirin 659 CPU with eight cores, 4 GB of RAM and 16 times more permanent memory. Owner reviews note the stable and fast operation of all programs. A frameless display with a relatively small diagonal made the gadget light and compact; a wonderful dual camera was offered for photo and video shooting, and selfies can be taken with a 16-megapixel front-facing camera.
Glossy metal cases in black, cream or blue look expensive and elegant, but they slip in your hands and quickly accumulate stains. The battery capacity also leaves much to be desired.
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The “big brother” of the Nova 3i model already reviewed in our Top 10 received one of the most powerful processors of the HiSilicon sub-brand – the eight-core Kirin 970. The amount of RAM has increased to 6 GB, and the permanent memory varies depending on the modification: 64 or 128 GB.
The design is the same, with signature gradient colors, but the cameras have been improved. The main one remains a 24-megapixel matrix, it is complemented by a 16-megapixel monochrome sensor. There are 24 and 2 megapixel modules installed in front. User face identification technology is available, although the smartphone also has a fingerprint scanner. The display has not changed, but the battery capacity has increased slightly - from 3.3 to 3.75 Ah. The role of the operating system, as in 3i, is played by Android Oreo 8.1.
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The 2018 bestseller is equipped with powerful hardware based on the Kirin 970 and comes with a good 4000 mAh battery. We would hardly be wrong in saying that it has the best potential for photo and video shooting among the brand's smartphones priced below $1000. The front camera has a 24-megapixel sensor and 2.0 aperture. The rear camera includes three modules: a color one with an incredible resolution of 40 megapixels and an aperture of 1.8, a monochrome one with 20 megapixels, and an 8-megapixel one equipped with a telephoto lens. The optics for the smartphone were developed by the iconic German company Leica.
The gadget is equipped with a six-inch display using energy-saving LED technology. The screen is bright, with rich colors and very wide viewing angles. The case is ergonomic and does not stain; it looks most impressive in the two-color Twilight coloring.
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The ranking of the best Huawei smartphones would be incomplete without the most affordable of the flagship models of 2019 – Mate 20 6. Six here means the amount of RAM, with 128 GB available at all times. The operation of the gadget is coordinated by the innovative Kirin 980 processor, and a very good Mali-G76 MP10 video chip is responsible for graphics processing. Android 9.0 is already available out of the box.
Never before have display bezels been so thin. A small semicircular groove for a 24-megapixel front camera is the only thing on the front panel other than the 6.5-inch LED display. The manufacturer saved only on the resolution of the three rear cameras, it was 16, 12 and 8 megapixels. Moreover, the widest aperture of a 12-megapixel sensor is 1.8.
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This device is one of those launched into mass production, with expanded functionality compared to the basic Mate 20. The processor is borrowed from the younger Mate, and the cameras have been “migrated” from the P20 Pro, however, now they are not arranged in a row, but are grouped on a square area in center of the rear panel. The amount of RAM has reached the maximum value for modern smartphones of 8 GB, 256 “gigs” are allocated for data.
The LED screen covers almost 90% of the front panel. True, the cutout for the selfie camera and sensors is still too big. Glass and high-strength aluminum were chosen as body materials. I was pleasantly surprised by the battery capacity – 4.2 Ah.
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The best model is made of glass, metal and leather; the world's leading designers have had a hand in its appearance. Provides protection from dust, water and accidental impacts. The display delivers incredibly sharp images thanks to AMOLED technology and a pixel density of approximately 540 ppi. The camera layout and features are similar to the Mate 20 Pro.
But, of course, the main advantages of the RS version are hidden inside its body. In addition to the most powerful Kirin 980 CPU, there is 8 GB of RAM, and the maximum amount of permanent storage at the moment is as much as 0.5 TB. In the Antutu test, Huawei Mate 20 RS scored 313,561 points - the best result in the world. Submit Rating
A Chinese brand that can afford to openly troll Samsung and Apple deserves attention in itself. And Huawei, which has taken leaps and bounds to capture not only the budget niche with its Honor subsidiaries, but also consistently produces strong flagships, deserves it threefold. It is all the more interesting to see whether the brand will remain among the market leaders in 2018, or whether the production of its own chipsets will reach a dead end, and whether the most loyal price tag will alienate fans.
The debut of the flagship pair Mate 10 and Mare 10 Pro took place in Munich, Germany – the new products of the Mate series received the brand’s most powerful chipset instead of the usual P. “Intelligent” machines have become a unique but convincing answer to the iPhone X. The Mate X, still awaiting release, should strengthen its position.
Many people are guilty of copying Apple's design, from Xiaomi to Meizu, who managed to create their own style based on the concept of the seventh Apple. I’m glad that the Mate 10 Pro avoided this fate; the smartphone turned out to be original. To get by without the dubious island, the frame above the display had to be made a little thicker than the rest, but the camera, speaker and LED indicator were located comfortably and without compromising aesthetics.
The design accents are balanced: the minimalistic front panel is set off by a spectacular back cover. A textured mirror backing under the glass, metal camera rims and a stripe a tone darker - all the trends of the end of 2017, plus a signature twist.
Huawei didn’t skimp on “matches” this time, and the rounded Gorilla Glass 5.0 on the front panel was covered with high-quality oleophobic material, while the back easily collects fingerprints, but is just as easy to deal with them. The only downside of the glossy glass is that it is not the most reliable grip, which is not improved even by the side edges made of brushed metal.The appearance of the gadget was benefited by the 18:9 threaded form factor with an “unlimited display”, for which 81% of the front panel area was allocated. There was no place for touch buttons; there are only on-screen control keys in the arsenal. Alas, there was not enough space for the fingerprint sensor, which now lives under the rear camera.
The Mate 10 Pro's display fell short of the "ideal OLED" category. The high-quality matrix on organic diodes was not spoiled by poor calibration; on the contrary, in addition to ideal blacks and maximum viewing angles, the Mate 10 was taught to accurately reproduce colors without “falling” into the cold range like the predecessor Mate 9. Support for HDR 10 with a super-high contrast of 70 also leaves a pleasant impression 000:1.
Huawei unexpectedly presented an unpleasant surprise - on a 6-inch diagonal, the picture resolution was limited to FHD+, hence the low density of 402 ppi. OLED displays require much higher resolution due to the nature of the technology, so the flight of engineering looks strange, and the image is not as clear as it could be.
The company presented the world's first chipset with a dedicated NPU module even before the release of the Mate series, so the choice was a foregone conclusion: all flagships have a “neural” 8-core Kirin 970, made using 10 nm technology.
The Mate 10 Pro will learn gradually by memorizing the scenario of the owner’s actions, and out of the box neural algorithms:
The same NPU also facilitates access to the computer mode - recognition occurs instantly, while the functions of the smartphone connected to the PC remain fully autonomous. In addition, the gadget itself can become a pocket PC; just connect a mouse and keyboard.
The productive chipset is complemented by 4 or 6 GB of RAM and a 12-core Mali-G72 MP12 graphics accelerator - with such a set, the performance in games and applications simply cannot but delight.
Nokia is luring photographers with Carl Zeiss optics, and Huawei was involved in creating a camera phone from the legendary Leica; for those who doubt it, there is even a nameplate next to the dual rear camera. The photo giant had a hand in the development of the camera application: color “films” and modes with a wide aperture remained among the proprietary finds. There is something to reveal - the aperture of the main camera has increased to an almost record value of f/1.6.
The dual rear module combines a 20 MP monochrome sensor and a 12 MP color sensor. This difference in resolution allows for optical zoom, but the main function of the secondary lens is to expand the dynamic range. Monochrome gives noticeably more detail both in the shadows and in the light, so the Mate 10 Pro does not take shots in the spirit of “white sky and green grass” or “blue sky and black grass”.
For error-free focus, we combined all available methods: standard contrast CAF, phase detection PDAF, laser range meter and depth of field measurement, which allows for accurate bokeh. Both lenses come with optical stabilization.
A more modest selfie camera uses a single sensor with a resolution of 8 megapixels and an f/2.0 aperture. Self-portraits are objectively good, the shots are sharp and rich in detail. Despite the moderate aperture, the sensor copes both with a lack of light and with bright backlighting.
Excellent cameras that are not inferior to the giants Galaxy Note 8 and IPhone X, strong hardware, a body with IP 67 water protection, and even a non-flagship capacious 4000 mAh battery - it seems that the Mate 10 Pro managed to pack all the best at once.
And it continues to seem exactly right until the fashionable economy on the holes catches your eye. The Mate 10 Pro supports the simultaneous operation of two SIM cards, an NFC module and even got an infrared port, but they forgot about mundane things like a mini-jack for headphones and a slot for a memory card. The first problem is easy to fix; an adapter for Type-C is included, but trading in gigabytes is puzzling.
All other things being equal, the advanced version of the flagship will have to compete not only with the much more successful “ten”. Hot on the heels is the flagship Honor View 10 with the same Kirin 970 and an impeccable OLED screen.
| Huawei Mate 10 Pro | |
|---|---|
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 970 |
| Number of Cores | 8 |
| OS type | Android 8.0 |
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
64 / 4 128 / 6 |
| Weight, g | 178 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 74.5×154.2×7.9 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 6 |
| Screen resolution, px | 2160×1080, 18:9, 402 PPI |
| Main camera | 20+12 MP, F/1.6 |
| Front-camera | 8 MP |
| Battery, mA⋅h | 4000 |
| Interfaces | |
| Other | Waterproof: IP67 |
For the Mate 10 Pro in the 6/128 GB version they are asking about 49 thousand, and the standard Mate 10 in the maximum modification 4/64 GB will cost 29 thousand rubles. The price gap is huge, but is it worth paying more?
Comparison of Huawei Mate 10 and Huawei Mate 10 Pro The older brother Mate 10 shares exactly the same cameras, chipset and battery with support for Huawei SuperCharge fast charging. There is less RAM in the classic version; only a 4 GB option is available. But the built-in memory of the smartphone can be expanded up to 256 GB, the micro-SD slot is combined with a SIM card tray. There is also a 3.55 mm headphone jack, and an excellent headset is included in the package.
The design has also undergone minimal changes. With similar case materials, the Mate 10 is 2 mm wider than the Pro and 10 grams heavier, and waterproofing is limited to IP 53. One of the obvious “pluses” is a fingerprint sensor on the front panel.
The difference in screens looks paradoxical: the 5.9″ display of the Mate 10 is made in a standard 16:9 form factor and is built on an IPS matrix. At the same time, the resolution of the junior flagship is higher than that of Pro - 2K versus FullHD+, and the pixel density of 498 ppi is much more consistent with the upper segment.
| Huawei Mate 10 | |
|---|---|
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 970 |
| Number of Cores | 8 |
| OS type | Android 8.0 |
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
64 / 4 |
| Weight, g | 186 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 77.8×150.5×8.2 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 5.9 |
| Screen resolution, px | 2560×1440, 16:9, 498 PPI |
| Main camera | 20+12 MP, F/1.6 |
| Front-camera | 8 MP |
| Battery, mA⋅h | 4000 |
| Interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.2, IRDA, USB, NFC |
| Other | Sensors: light, proximity, Hall, gyroscope, compass, barometer, fingerprint reading Waterproof: IP53 Fast charging: Huawei SuperCharge |
The most democratic of the three, Mate 10 Lite, has found the key to the hearts of photographers. Yes, there are no neural networks or top-end Kirin here, but four cameras are working on photography at once.
The creative smartphone reeks of the philosophy of youth Honors. A super-thin 7.5 mm case (with the mini-jack remaining), a win-win combination of glass and metal - the trends are collected in full. The external gloss does not harm the ergonomics; smooth lines and anodizing on the back cover prevent the gadget from slipping out of your hands.
The screen of the light version, alas, is inferior to the standard Mate 10. The same 5.9″ with a resolution of 2160×1080 pixels gives a smooth and rich picture with an indistinguishable “grain”, but the IPS matrix is less calibrated. With a gamma close to ideal, the smartphone lacks brightness; under direct sun, the display “blinds” and the text becomes difficult to read.
Savings on hardware are much less noticeable; on board is the proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 659 with 8 cores, 4 GB of RAM and Mali-T830 MP2 graphics. Lags in the operation of the interface and applications are difficult to achieve, due to the perfectly optimized EMUI8.0 shell. There are enough reserves for heavy games with medium-high settings.
But who needs games when you have four lenses at your disposal? The 16/2MP rear module with f/2.2 aperture has acquired a second sensor solely for blurring the background.
Unlike software implementation of bokeh, this approach produces much more accurate blur and is more sensitive to contours. Alas, a modest aperture imposes its limitations - bright daylight is needed, in the twilight the photographs lose detail and begin to “make noise”. But for night shooting from a tripod, there is a “Light” mode, which will help you create freezelights.
The front camera is functionally the same as the rear one: 13+2 megapixels with depth of field metering and f/2.0 aperture. A photo with a bokeh effect can be dramatically altered in post-processing by blending the focal point or replacing the background with a monochrome image.
The maximum video resolution from the main module is Full HD with a frequency of 30 frames per second. The Mate 10 Lite flagships get a generous “professional” (aka manual) mode and tracking focus, which makes shooting moving objects much easier.
Perhaps, the “light” smartphone lacks only an NFC module, modern USB-C and a slightly more capacious battery - in other respects, the mid-budget Mate 10 lite is definitely a success.
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
|---|---|
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 659 |
| Number of Cores | 8 |
| OS type | Android 7.0 |
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
64 / 4 |
| Weight, g | 164 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 75.2×156.2×7.5 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 5.9 |
| Screen resolution, px | 2160×1080, 18:9, 409 PPI |
| Main camera | 16+2 MP, F/2.2 |
| Front-camera | 13 MP |
| Battery, mA⋅h | 3340 |
| Interfaces | |
| Other | Sensors: |
The main novelties of the series are the new Huawei P20 smartphones with Plus and Pro modifications. The series received a phenomenal set of triple main cameras with a resolution of 40+20+8 megapixels, with one of the sensors operating in monochrome mode. Apart from just the flagship filling with the 970 Kirin on board and the frameless design with a bang and a physical fingerprint button at the bottom... but who cares about that? The three cameras shoot impressively, to put it mildly – and this is evidenced by the figures from the independent resource DxOMark. Experts conducted testing and awarded the Huawei P20 smartphone the highest score in the overall rating. And then they tested the P20 Pro and confidently placed the newly leading P20 in second place.
Based on testing results, Huawei P20 Pro scored a record 114 points for photos and 98 points for video. The average score was 109. For comparison, the regular Huawei P20 received 107 points for photos, 94 for video, and a final average of 102 points.
| Huawei P20 | Huawei P20 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Kirin 970 | |
| Number of Cores | 8 | |
| OS type | Android 8.1 | |
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
128 / 4 | 128 / 6 |
| Weight, g | 165 | 180 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 71×149×7.65 | 73.9×155×7.8 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 5,8 | 6,1 |
| Screen resolution, px | 2240×1080, 19:9, 534 PPI | 2240×1080, 19:9, 534 PPI |
| Main camera | 20+12 MP F/1.8 + F/1.6 (monochrome + color modules) Get up to 2x zoom without loss of quality thanks to a combination of optical and digital zoom |
40 (regular sensor) + 20 (monochrome) + 8 (telephoto) MP F/1.8, F/1.6, F/2.4 respectively Get up to 5x zoom without loss of quality thanks to a combination of optical and digital zoom |
| Front-camera | 24 MP F/2.0 | |
| Battery, mA⋅h | 3400 | 4000 |
| Interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.2, USB Type-C 3.1, ANT+, NFC | |
| Sensors: | Light, Proximity, Hall, Gyroscope, Compass, Barometer, Fingerprint Reading Fast charging: SuperCharge |
|
| Waterproof | IP53 | IP67 |
But the P20 Lite, also known as Nova 3e, has already made its debut. The main highlight of the long-screen with an unusual 19:9 form factor was its eye-catching design and multimedia capabilities.
The “limitless” IPS display with a diagonal of 5.84” was spoiled this time by a cutout for the event indicator and a 24-megapixel selfie camera, but the disappointment is quickly broken by the camera’s characteristics. The front module is based on the new Sony IMX578 sensor, which promises one-third better performance in the dark and noise suppression. The hardware part of the update has passed, the new product contains the already familiar Kirin 659.
The same chipset powers the elegant P Smart, a mid-budget frameless smartphone that is an adaptation of the Chinese Enjoy 7e model. The “move” of the Chinese phone to the European market turned out to be unexpectedly successful; there are two modifications with 3/32 and 4/64 GB of memory.
In addition to the proven Kirin with Mali-T830 graphics, there is an updated to version 8 of Android and the EMUI 8.0 shell on board. The advantages of the model also include a 5.65″ display with FHD+ resolution and a high pixel density of 427 ppi, NFC support, a memory card slot and an untouched mini-jack.
The photo capabilities are the icing on the cake: a dual rear module of 13/2 megapixels and a single front camera with a resolution of 8 megapixels show almost the best result in the category up to 15 thousand rubles.
There are additions to the “heavy” weight, the premium P10 Plus will cost at least 30 thousand rubles for the minimum 4/64 GB kit, and 40 thousand for the version with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. The gadget justifies its price with a 5.5-inch AMOLED screen with a 2K resolution and a “pre-top” Kirin 960 chipset, which is not much behind the current version. There is no neural coprocessor in the P10, but AI algorithms allow the smartphone to remember the user’s action scenario and streamline the operation - the longer the owner uses the smartphone, the better it adapts and produces maximum power in the most demanding tasks.
Despite the impressive diagonal, the P10 Plus turned out to be one of the most compact phablets on the market: the weight is only 165 grams, and the thickness was reduced to 7 mm. With a battery capacity of 3750 mAh, a intact mini-jack and a slot for micro-SD, the ultra-thin case looks like a real breakthrough. The smooth lines of the glass-metal body, a fingerprint sensor on the front panel and scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass 5.0 make the “older” P10 not only impressive in a flagship way, but also ergonomic - there are no cutting edges here, and you won’t have to grab the smartphone when operating it with one hand .
The noble origin is emphasized by cameras with Leica optics. Particularly notable is the 20/12 megapixel dual-lens rear module with an f/1.8 aperture and the ability to record video in 4K. It’s hard not to appreciate the contribution of the German photo giant: the sensors cope with work in low light, take stunning monochrome pictures and are “friendly” with HDR. In addition, access to the bokeh mode is implemented in the camera application interface.
| Huawei P Smart | Huawei P10 Plus | Huawei P20 Lite | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 659 | HiSilicon Kirin 960 | HiSilicon Kirin 659 |
| Number of Cores | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| OS type | Android 8.0 | Android 8.0 | Android 8.0 |
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
32 / 3 64 / 4 |
64 / 4 64 / 6 128 / 6 |
64 / 5 128 / 4 |
| Weight, g | 143 | 165 | 145 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 72.05×150.1×7.45 | 74.2×153.5×6.98 | 71.2×148.6×7.4 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 5,65 | 5,5 | 5,84 |
| Screen resolution, px | 2160×1080 px, 18:9, 427 PPI | 2560×1440 px, 16:9, 534 PPI | 2280×1080 px, 19:9 |
| Main camera, MP | 13+2 F/2.2 | 20+12 F/1.8 | 16+2 |
| Front camera, MP | 8 | 8 | 24 |
| Interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB, NFC | Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, IRDA, USB, NFC | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB, NFC |
| Sensors | lighting, proximity, fingerprint reading | Light, proximity, Hall, gyroscope, compass, fingerprint reading | lighting, proximity, fingerprint reading |
| Battery | 3000 | 3750 | 3000 |
Thin, youthful and confusingly similar, Huawei Nova claims to be the brand's most popular smartphone. The tone is set, oddly enough, by the Mate 10 Lite, familiar to customers in a number of countries under the name Nova 2i.
In addition to the four-eyed camera phone, the updated series includes the classic 5-inch Nova 2 and the Nova 2 Plus, which has grown to 5.5 inches. Both smartphones are presented in elegant all-metal cases with a thickness of 6.9 mm and differ only in screen diagonal. At the same time, the picture resolution in the classic and enlarged versions is the same - Full HD, so the younger Nova 2 shows a noticeably denser picture.
Both devices are aimed at lovers of mobile photography: they have a selfie camera with a resolution of 20 megapixels and a dual-lens rear module of 12+8 megapixels. The highlight of the rear camera is the combination of a standard and wide-angle lens with f/1.8 aperture. “Not only fans of manual mode will be able to get the most out of the camera; Nova 2 has intelligent algorithms that automatically set the optimal settings. Another “plus” of three-eyed camera phones is the presence of optical image stabilization and fast phase focus PDAF. The emphasis on multimedia capabilities is confirmed by 3D sound; in the sub-$300 category, Huawei’s find looks at least unusual.
Confusion with model names in the Asian and European markets also affected the budget new product Nova Lite - a smartphone with the same name and characteristics identical to the P8 Lite was sold in Japan. The current metal state employee is in the entry-level price segment of up to 10 thousand rubles and has nothing in common with its predecessor.
Among its competitors, the “lightweight” Nova is distinguished by the Snapdragon 425 chipset with the Adreno 308 graphics core, which is rare for budget models. But you shouldn’t expect cosmic performance in games from the new product; the average performance quad-core SoC works in conjunction with 2 GB of RAM. But the autonomy indicators are excellent - a 3020 mAh battery was installed in a thin 8 mm case. With an energy-efficient “dragon” and a small 5-inch HD screen, Nova Lite can live without feeding for 2 days.
| Huawei Nova 2 | Huawei Nova 2 Plus | Huawei Nova Lite | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 659 | HiSilicon Kirin 659 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 MSM8917 |
| Number of Cores | 8 | 8 | 4 |
| OS type | Android 7.0 | ||
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
64 / 4 | 64 / 4 | 16 / 2 |
| Weight, g | 143 | 169 | 145 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 68.9×142.2×6.9 | 74.9×153.9×6.9 | 71×145×8.05 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 5 | 5.5 | 5 |
| Screen resolution, px | 1920×1080 px, 16:9, 441 PPI | 1920×1080 px, 16:9, 401 PPI | 1280×720 px, 16:9, 294 PPI |
| Main camera, MP | 12+8 F/1.8 | 12+8 F/1.8 | 13 |
| Front camera, MP | 20 | 20 | 5 |
| Interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB | Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB | |
| Sensors | lighting, proximity, gyroscope, compass, fingerprint reading | lighting, proximity, fingerprint reading | |
| Battery | 2950 | 3340 | 3020 |
Huawei's flagships are finally appreciated, which cannot be said about models in the entry-level segment. There are few new products among state employees - the updates are limited to Y3, Y5 and Y7.
The younger model is lost against the background of Chinese competitors; for $60, Huawei offers a frankly weak device with a 5-inch display and a resolution of 854x480 pixels. With a not very responsive sensor, the “troika” looks like a hello from the era of resistive screens. The retro feel of the smartphone is enhanced by the 1 GB of RAM and the not-so-fast chipset from MT.
The middle and older models are more pleasing, if only because the Y7 got a Snapdragon 435 and 2 GB of RAM, which prevent the smartphone from thinking about routine tasks. The “pros” include a stylish metal body and an 8 megapixel camera, which is good for a budget employee, but whether the device is worth the purchase is an open question.
| Huawei Y3 | Huawei Y5 | Huawei Y7 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | MediaTek MT6580M | MediaTek MT6580 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 MSM8940 |
| Number of Cores | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| OS type | Android 6.0 | Android 6.0 | Android 7.0 |
| Memory, GB (built-in/operational) |
8 / 1 | 16 / 2 | 16 / 2 |
| Weight, g | 170 | 150 | 165 |
| Dimensions (W×H×D), mm | 73.7×145.1×9.45 | 72×143.8×8.35 | 76.4×153.6×8.35 |
| Screen diagonal, inches | 5 | 5 | 5.5 |
| Screen resolution, px | 854×480 px, 16:9, 196 PPI | 1280×720 px, 16:9, 294 PPI | 1280×720 px, 16:9, 267 PPI |
| Main camera, MP | 8, F/2.0 | 8, F/2.0 | 12 |
| Front camera, MP | 2 | 5 | 8 |
| Interfaces | Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.0, USB | Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.1, USB | |
| Sensors | illumination, proximity | illumination, proximity | lighting, proximity, compass |
| Battery | 2200 | 3000 | 4000 |
Huawei almost managed to do the impossible - to raise the prestige and quality of flagships and the Middle Kingdom to a level close to A-brands. It’s a pity that the imitation of the upper echelon was not limited to polishing the cameras and their own chipsets; the price tag also grew noticeably, causing a storm of discontent. Still, Kirins are updated much less frequently than MT and Qualcomm chipsets purchased externally, and even ideological fans are not always willing to pay more for a gadget with not the most up-to-date hardware.
A small device in an elegant metal case and with rich technical capabilities
During the autumn IFA 2016 exhibition in Berlin, Huawei presented a pair of smartphones of a completely new series, which received the laconic and self-explanatory name Nova. The first representatives of this line were the Huawei Nova and Nova Plus devices, and during their presentation, company representatives made it clear that Huawei is now most determined to seriously compete in the mid-price range.
It so happened that the older model, Huawei Nova Plus, was the first to come to our review, as the most technically interesting. However, it later became clear that it would not be officially present on the Russian market. But the main model, the regular Huawei Nova, has already been delivered to us, and now it’s time to examine it in detail.
If we talk about the positioning of the new product, then, according to the company representatives themselves, this is “the first gadget in the nova series of devices, located at the junction of the middle and premium price segments. The main objective of this series is to provide the buyer with a number of advanced functions and technical advantages at an attractive price.”
Huawei chose different images for the design of the two smartphones in its new Nova line, so the Nova and Nova Plus models are not similar to each other. Although, of course, there are parallels with other models ever produced by the company. And if Huawei Nova Plus looks almost like the spitting image, then for today’s hero the Nexus 6P was chosen as a prototype, released a year ago, but still very powerful, a top-end device produced by a Chinese company for the Google Nexus series.
Huawei Nova is almost identical in design to Nexus 6P - of course, adjusted for size. If that device was the personification of a real tablet phone, possessing a huge 5.7-inch display, here, on the contrary, the smartphone turned out to be almost miniature. And miniature things, as we know, are much more elegant, so all the elements that are proportionally reduced here look even more attractive.
This small five-inch smartphone in an all-metal, streamlined matte body with beautiful, nobly shining side bevels not only looks very attractive, stylish and expensive, but also feels and is held in the hand with great comfort. The case is not easily soiled or slippery, not large or heavy. The device turned out, without exaggeration, to be very interesting in appearance.
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Naturally, there are no complaints about the assembly or the quality of materials - the body is monolithic, almost entirely made of metal, with the exception of a pair of dielectric inserts on the back side, made of plastic.
The top panel on the back side contains the main camera module and a flash, which consists of only a single LED, but is extremely bright. Just below there is a platform for a fingerprint sensor, which traditionally for Huawei smartphones not only implements the fingerprint authorization function, but also acts as an additional control element.
By placing your finger on the scanner pad, you can take pictures with the selfie camera, answer incoming calls, turn off the alarm, display and hide the notification panel, and even scroll through photos in the gallery. The scanner is recessed a little deeper to make it easier to feel it blindly with your finger. Although if the device is lying on a table or standing in a car holder, then you won’t be able to feel anything there.
The front panel is completely covered with protective 2.5D glass with sloping edges. On a small body, its beveled edges are more noticeable than on the huge areas of large tablet phones, so the device really looks and feels streamlined thanks to such glass; here 2.5D glass is used very usefully.
In the upper part above the screen there is a full set of necessary elements: proximity and lighting sensors, a front camera peephole, a speaker, and a useful LED event indicator.
There are no touch hardware buttons at the bottom under the screen; the buttons here are virtual, on the screen, and in the settings you can change the order of their arrangement at your discretion.
The side card slot is universal: one of the slots is for Nano-SIM cards, the second for Nano-SIM or microSD memory cards. Hot swapping of cards is supported.
The side buttons are located on the right side, they are made of metal, are quite large and have, perhaps, a little more rigid movement than we would like. But they are easy to find blindly, and they are visually different, since one of them has a red chamfer.
A USB Type-C connector is installed at the bottom end; connecting flash drives in USB OTG mode is supported. Next to this connector is a grille that covers the speaker. The smartphone sounds very loud, the sound is pleasant to the ear, rich, thick and clear. With its help, you can not only clearly hear the call signal, but you can also listen to music, and such high-quality sound is more than enough for video games.
The top end is usually given over to a 3.5 mm headphone jack, and here you can also find a hole for a second, auxiliary microphone.
The smartphone is available in three colors: light silver, dark gray and gold. The light version has a white front panel under the glass, while the other two have a black one.
Huawei Nova is equipped with an IPS display and is covered with 2.5D glass with sloping edges. Its physical dimensions are 62x110 mm with a diagonal of 5 inches. The resolution is 1920×1080, the pixel density reaches 443 ppi. The frame around the screen is not thick; it is 3 mm wide on the sides and 15 mm wide at the top and bottom.
You can adjust the display brightness manually or rely on automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor. The AnTuTu test diagnoses support for 10 simultaneous multi-touch touches. Glove operation mode is supported. It is possible to manually adjust the color temperature; you can also separately use the “blue filter” mode, in which the colors fade into warm yellowish shades.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Huawei Nova, then they can be distinguished by size):
The screen of the Huawei Nova is noticeably darker (brightness according to photographs is 110 versus 118 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Huawei Nova screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen, there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which is better in efficiency than that of the Nexus 7. Therefore, fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.
With manual brightness control and when the white field was displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 490 cd/m², the minimum was 4 cd/m². The maximum brightness is high, and given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment, with which the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. We adjusted the brightness to the desired level in complete darkness and in an office environment and found that in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 17 cd/m², in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 150-160 cd/m², in a very bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) increases to 520 cd/m². We were quite pleased with the result. It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. Only at very low brightness levels does significant backlight modulation appear, but its frequency is high, about 2.4 kHz, so there is no visible flicker of the screen (but perhaps it can be detected in a test for the presence of a stroboscopic effect - we, however, did not succeed) .
This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.
The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Huawei Nova and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forced to switch to 6500 K.
There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:
Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.
And a test picture:
The colors on the Huawei Nova's screen are a bit oversaturated (note the bananas, tomatoes, napkin and skin tone) and the color balance is slightly off.
Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Huawei Nova the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong brightening of black.
And a white field:
The brightness of the screens at an angle decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but in the case of Huawei Nova the drop in brightness is greater. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a slight reddish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):
And from another angle:
When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is excellent:
The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1400:1. The black-white-black response time is 27 ms (13 ms on + 14 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 52 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.17, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve only in the light part significantly deviates from the power-law dependence:
We did not detect the presence of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image, which is very good.
Color gamut is slightly wider than sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:
As a result, visually the colors on this screen are somewhat different from natural ones, since almost all images are designed for display on display devices with sRGB coverage. The balance of shades on the gray scale is average, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, ΔE changes little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.
The curves in the graphs above Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr.— data obtained after shifting the point to the position indicated in the image above. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature has approached the standard value and ΔE has decreased on average. However, it doesn’t make much sense to make the correction. Note that this function is implemented more for show, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction, there is no field for measuring color balance, and the adjustment range is insufficient, since even at the edge of the circle you have to find a compromise between a color temperature close to 6500 K and the minimum value ΔE.
To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of air gaps in the layers of the screen and flickering, as well as high contrast and excellent uniformity of the black field. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane and excessive color saturation. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.
The front module here has an 8 megapixel sensor and optics with a maximum aperture of f/2.0, with a fixed focus and without its own flash. At the presentation of new smartphones, a specially invited female blogger spoke at length about the key advantages of the selfie camera, about the many software processing algorithms that should appeal to lovers of self-portraits, especially girls. The program can smooth out uneven skin, apply automatic makeup and correct the shape of the face in real time. There are no complaints about the quality of shooting; it is more than enough for selfie level.
The main camera uses a 12 megapixel module with a physical matrix size of 1/2.8 inches and a pixel size of 1.25 nm and optics with an f/2.2 aperture and a dual autofocus system - phase and contrast. There is no stabilization for photography, the flash is bright.
The camera control menu in all Huawei smartphones is generally almost the same; the differences mainly lie in the number of additional specialized modes. There are, of course, fewer of them here than in the flagships, but the main ones are there: panoramic, night, HDR, and a separate mode for photographing food has not been forgotten. The modes for decoration and shooting light trails with long exposures from a tripod are also available separately for quick access. Naturally, there is also a manual mode in which you can independently control the settings for light sensitivity (up to ISO 3200), shutter speed, white balance, and select the focus point. Using the Camera2 API, you cannot transfer camera control to third-party applications without restrictions, and there is no way to save pictures in RAW.
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The camera can shoot video at a maximum resolution of 4K, but there is no shooting mode at 60 fps. There is a stabilization function for video, but it is not enabled in all modes, but only below 4K. In general, the camera copes well with video shooting at any of the top resolutions: sharpness, color rendition and detail are normal. Sound recording is also quite high quality, however, the noise reduction system does not always cope with sharp gusts of wind.
The camera turned out good. One immediately notices the very good sharpness and detail in the field of the frame and in the plans. Sometimes there are problems with focusing, but this does not happen often. The program works neatly and does not leave too noticeable artifacts. We still won’t recommend the camera for artistic photography, but it will do an excellent job with documentary photography.
The communication capabilities of the hero of the review are decent, since the fresh Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 platform provided the smartphone with a Qualcomm X9 modem with support for LTE Cat.6 (up to 300 Mbps), and the manufacturer took care of supporting all the main frequency ranges FDD LTE band 3, 7, 20, as well as TD LTE band 38, used by Russian operators. In the city limits of the Moscow region, the device behaved more than confidently. The quality of reception does not cause the slightest criticism; connection to a Wi-Fi access point, as well as to LTE networks in the usual testing places, occurs at maximum speed.
Bluetooth 4.1 is supported and, for some reason, only one Wi-Fi band (2.4 GHz). As usual, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels; there is NFC support. Smart Wi-Fi+ lets you automatically switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data networks. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.
The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), and with the domestic Glonass, and the Chinese Beidou. During a cold start, the first satellites are detected within the first tens of seconds. The smartphone is equipped with a magnetic field sensor, on the basis of which the digital compass of navigation programs usually operates.
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The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. You can search your contact book by name or email components, but not by other fields such as date of birth and address. There is a built-in blacklist for unwanted contacts. The standard keyboard supports Swype-type stroke input by default. As always, the proprietary method of all Huawei virtual keyboards for switching language layouts is inconvenient. You need to press and hold the spacebar and then slide your finger to select a language from the pop-up context menu. Why there was such a trick when everywhere you can just press the button with the image of a globe once is completely incomprehensible.
In the conversational dynamics, the sound is thick and pleasant to the ear, clear, and there is enough volume reserve. The voice of a familiar interlocutor remains recognizable, there is no extraneous noise, the sound is natural. It is possible to record telephone conversations from the line by pressing one button. The main speaker has a good volume, the sound is of average quality, but quite clear. The volume will be sufficient for any environment. The vibration alert is not very powerful.
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Thanks to its new platform, the smartphone supports working with two SIM cards 3G and 4G simultaneously. Thus, SIM cards from operators like Tele2 will work in 3G for voice communications, even when a card from a different slot is selected for 4G data transfer. Usually in this case, SIM cards of operators that do not support the 2G standard (like Tele2) simply stop working. The special mode is designed to assign certain functions to each of the cards in advance. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, that is, there is only one radio modem.
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The software platform is 64-bit Android OS version 6.0 with its own proprietary shell, Emotion UI 4.1. This shell from Huawei developers is so universal that they use it in almost the same form in all their smartphones, including the new Nova line. In the notification shade there is a scale with time stamps; by swiping from the bottom up, an additional pop-up menu is called up, where you can find a flashlight, calculator, voice recorder, etc. It is possible to change design themes and arrange virtual control buttons on the screen in your own way. There is support for gestures and a one-handed mode, and a smart virtual semicircular button for quickly jumping to main functions is not forgotten. There are very few third-party applications, everything is spoiled, as usual, by the mass of free services Yandex and Mail.ru, which everyone could install for themselves if they so desired.
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To listen to music, you use your own player with a familiar interface, where there is even karaoke with running text, but there are no additional manual settings - you can only turn on or off the virtual DTS system. Huawei Nova does not have a dedicated audio chip, but it does have DTS Headphone:X software technology that creates a surround sound effect. In addition, the smartphone is equipped with a loud main speaker, and it sounds quite good both in headphones and in speakers. The sound is clear, without impurities, the volume reserve is more than enough. There is an FM radio in the smartphone - however, for some reason Huawei never allows you to record broadcasts. The recorder demonstrates satisfactory sensitivity, records sound with high quality, and the noise reduction system copes with its duties adequately.
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The Huawei Nova hardware platform is based on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 single-chip system made using 14 nm technology. This SoC includes eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2.0 GHz; the Adreno 506 video accelerator with a core frequency of up to 650 MHz is responsible for graphics processing. The RAM capacity is 3 GB and the internal memory is 32 GB. About 24 GB of this is free in a new smartphone, and after clearing the memory and closing all applications, there is usually 1.9 GB of RAM free.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is a fresh chip designed for smartphones in the lower mid-price category, since there is also the Snapdragon 652, which is much more powerful, but also not top-end, but mid-level. However, the Snapdragon 625, if you do not rely only on the performance of synthetic tests, in real life is a very interesting platform, which, thanks to the new 14 nm process technology, has very good performance with low power consumption.
In complex tests, the SoC Snapdragon 625 does not show very high results; they are comparable to the capabilities of the HiSilicon Kirin 650 and noticeably lower than those of the Snapdragon 652. Of course, the Snapdragon 625 is far from the flagship platforms, but the overall performance should be more than enough to perform basic tasks. tasks and even for current games, with which Huawei Nova did not experience any problems in practice.
Testing in comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:
For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.
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Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:
When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).
| Huawei Nova (Qualcomm Snapdragon 625) |
Asus Zenfone 3 Ultra (Qualcomm Snapdragon 652) |
Asus Zenfone 3 Max (MediaTek MT6737) |
Huawei P9 lite (HiSilicon Kirin 650) |
Umi Plus (MediaTek Helio P10) |
|
| 3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot (more is better) |
459 | 880 | 174 | 367 | 415 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps) | 7 | 10 | — | 5 | 5 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 6 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps) | 22 | 34 | 19 | 19 | 17 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 23 | 33 | 11 | 19 | 17 |
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Browser cross-platform tests:
As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.
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AndroBench memory speed test results:
Below is a thermal image rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery testing in the GFXBenchmark program:
It can be seen that the heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was only 34 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is very little.
To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.
According to the test results, the test subject, as most often happens, was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network, in this case, audio files. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.
| Format | Container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Standard video player |
| 1080p H.264 | MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24fps, AAC | plays normally | plays normally |
| 1080p H.264 | MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24fps, AC3 | The video plays fine, there is no sound | |
| 1080p H.265 | MKV, H.265 1920×1080, 24fps, AAC | plays normally | plays normally |
| 1080p H.265 | MKV, H.265 1920×1080, 24fps, AC3 | The video plays fine, there is no sound | The video plays fine, there is no sound |
Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.
We were unable to check the theoretically possible support for adapters for outputting images to an external device due to the lack of an adapter option that connects to the USB Type-C port, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files to the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) Skips are given green ratings, this means that, most likely, When watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems associated with the playback of the corresponding files.
According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. The screen refresh rate is 62 Hz, but for some reason, in the case of 60 fps files, a couple or a little more frames per second are usually missed, which is compensated by the increase in the duration of several other frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: all gradations of shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.
The non-removable battery installed in Huawei Nova has a capacity of 3020 mAh. By modern standards, the capacity is far from record-breaking, but the smartphone showed battery life results that are not just decent, but better than many of its competitors with more capacious batteries.
In real use scenarios, this is all, of course, leveled out, and even the most durable smartphone may not last until an evening charge, but under normal, average operating conditions, the hero of the review is quite capable of quietly holding out for a day or more without recharging. Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.
Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted almost 14.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality ( 720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device operates for up to 11 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work for up to 6 hours.
Apparently, the platform should support QuickCharge fast charging, however, the test unit arrived to us without a complete network adapter, and from a regular charger with an output current of 2 A, the smartphone is charged in about 2 hours with a current of 2 A at a voltage of 5 V. Wireless charging of the smartphone do not support.
Unlike the older Nova Plus model, the regular Huawei Nova is officially presented in Russian retail, its retail price is 23 thousand rubles (there are offers for 19-20 thousand). This miniature beauty in a solid metal case with a fingerprint scanner, good cameras, a good screen, very impressive sound and excellent communication capabilities, as well as very decent battery life and quite acceptable hardware performance is definitely worthy of that kind of money. As a competitor from the alternative Apple ecosystem, the equally miniature but technically richly equipped iPhone 5S/SE smartphone may well act as a competitor for it, and from the side of Android devices, Huawei is certainly considering junior Samsung smartphones from the mid-range Galaxy A line for Nova in this capacity .
Articles and Lifehacks
The Chinese company Huawei pleased its fans with a whole galaxy of new flagship models in 2017.
In addition, the developers did not skimp on RAM and battery capacity. Add to this a fingerprint scanner and a metal case - and the impression of the smartphone will be the most favorable.
Pros of the model:
A gadget with an interesting design, good cameras and quite powerful hardware.
As in the main model, there is a two-module 20-megapixel main camera with anti-glare coating. And all this splendor costs around 45 thousand rubles.
Even in relatively inexpensive devices, there are no mistakes made by many consumer goods manufacturers: an abnormally low battery capacity, an operating system that is a year or even two out of date, or a stupidly tiny amount of RAM.
Everything is proportional and worth the money. At the same time, Huawei smartphones lack a zest that makes the entire mobile community eagerly await the release of the model and break spears on forums over scraps of insider information.
The company is not prone to expensive experiments that can bring either success or failure. Therefore, one cannot expect any breakthroughs from its products.
Nowadays it is impossible to imagine a world without smartphones. They help us with everything. With their help, you can find any information on the World Wide Web, take high-quality photos, make a call, and even do some work. A smartphone combines many different gadgets, which together greatly simplify modern life. This thing fits in your pocket, but it radically changes the whole world.
Huawei is an outstanding Chinese company that has made significant contributions to the electronics industry. Engineers from China have presented the market with many high-quality budget phones and flagships and continue to do so successfully. The company should release the Huawei P11 X smartphone. According to rumors, this smartphone will be truly revolutionary, since it will have the top-end hardware, a very clear screen, which not every monitor has, and many other advantages, which we will talk about a little later.
True, you will have to pay a lot for such pleasure. But the expected characteristics are really worth the money. Of course, everything may change by the time of release, but let's talk about what is known about the phone at the moment.
It is very relevant to ask when the new P11 will be released. It is impossible to name the exact date or month, since there is no information about this. For Huawei P11 X, the release date is planned for the first half of 2018. Most likely, the smartphone will be sold in the summer. By this time, the developers should have time to finalize the device and, perhaps, solve some problems, for example, with autonomous operation or optimization of the new processor. We will talk about this in detail, but a little later. For now, let's look at what the new product will look like.
There is something to be said about the design of the new model. The smartphone will look very elegant. Thin frames, large screen and minimal thickness. The device will have an 18:9 aspect ratio, which makes it very convenient to use. The frames will be unnoticeable, which adds elegance to the smartphone.
It is important that the device has a 3.5 mm jack. Many users pay attention to this fact, since with an audio jack you can simultaneously listen to music through wired headphones and charge your smartphone. The charging connector will be type-c, which is quite expected.
The fingerprint scanner will be integrated into the button "Home". It is very difficult to say whether it is convenient or not, since this is a very subjective thing: some people find it much more convenient when the scanner is at the back, while others like it better if it is in the front. In any case, we are confident that it will be very fast.
According to first information, the design will be very beautiful, truly worthy of the title of flagship.
According to rumors, the device will be equipped with Kirin 980. This new product has 2 pairs of 4 cores. The first pair operates at 2.8 GHz, and the second at 2.0 GHz. This is a very powerful processor that will allow the Huawei P11 to easily outperform all the flagship models on the market.
High processor power will allow you not to think about performance at all; for the next couple of years, the device will handle absolutely everything without the slightest difficulty.
It is noteworthy that manufacturers promise a reduction in energy consumption by 35%. This is very good, because with a 5.8-inch display with a 3K resolution this is really needed.
Considering 6 GB of RAM, we can say that the smartphone will indeed be very powerful. Let's hope that the new hardware is properly optimized, because it can lag terribly, even despite its powerful characteristics.
The camera is a very important aspect of a smartphone. Most users pay attention to it when choosing a mobile device. After all, it allows you to capture the necessary and important moments in life without lugging around a professional camera.
The main camera will have two modules of 19 and 16 megapixels. The first 19 megapixel camera will allow you to take very high-quality photographs. The second 16 megapixel module will be monochrome. The monochrome module is needed to improve the quality of colors, because monochrome perceives color much better. From this we can conclude that the picture in the photographs will be very bright and juicy. In addition, two cameras are needed for bokeh shots, the second module is used to make high-quality background blur. Although this depends not only on the module, but also on how everything is implemented at the software level. But in any case, you can expect very high-quality images from a pair of 19+16 megapixels.
The front camera will be 12 megapixels. It will allow you to take very high-quality portrait photographs and easily use video communication, because the quality will be really high.
It is worth highlighting the presence of optical and digital stabilization. As for the video, there will be no problems with it either. It will be possible to shoot video in 4K resolution at 60 frames per second.
The camera of this mobile phone can completely replace a digital SLR camera.
Due to the huge popularity of Face ID technology, there are rumors that a new smartphone from Huawei will receive this technology. This rumor greatly fuels interest in the issue of the release date of the Huawei P11 X. It is difficult to say whether this device needs this, but it obviously will not be superfluous, because sometimes facial recognition will be much more convenient than a fingerprint scanner. But it all depends on your preferences.
There is also a rumor about Google Daydream. Since previous smartphones did not work with virtual reality, users are hoping for this feature to appear in the P11 X.
There is a possibility that the smartphone will have low battery life, which is associated with its screen, because it is very difficult to feed a screen with 3K resolution with energy. Even a 4000 mAh battery may not be enough.
In any case, the release date of Huawei 10 is approaching, and very soon we will find out what the Chinese craftsmen have prepared for us.
Price is always a very important question, because it depends on the price tag whether you buy this smartphone or not. The price of the released Huawei P series reaches $600. This is quite a lot for the average user, but considering all the advantages of this device and the general situation on the market, we can safely say that this is a very reasonable cost.
Huawei P11 X may have a much higher cost, presumably $700, because it has:
The screen and camera deserve special attention, because they are truly high quality and justify the high price tag of the device. The price of $700 is not great for such features.
The release date of Huawei P11 X is coming soon, and the market will be replenished with an excellent model that is worth every ruble spent on this device.
