Smart Android And Trik-Commenting on Andorid indeed never endless, because smart devices this one is often updated every certain amount of time. So that the market can always be garapnya menerinya with pleasure. And it is not denied if this device has become the lifestyle of each society. To not wonder if the 6th business information and many are turning to mobail smartphone. With Android which thoroughly dominated the mobile industry, choosing the best Android smartphone is almost identical to choose the best smartphone, period. But while Android phones have few real opponents on other platforms, internal competition is intense.
Introduction
2018 has been a busy year for Huawei so far with several new launches across both, the main and the Honor sub-brand. Some of them, such as the P20 Pro and the Honor 10 have been very well received, with the P20 Pro being called the new smartphone camera king by some.
Among the company's more prolific series is the Nova series of phones, a decidedly mid-range series of devices that not many people know of. This year we have two new phones in that series, Nova 3 and Nova 3i, which like the previous devices, sit neatly in the middle of the company's lineup.
The Nova 3 and the Nova 3i are now being launched in India, after their debut in China a few weeks back. With us today is the more expensive Nova 3, which competes head-on with the new OnePlus 6, with identical pricing in the Indian market and somewhat similar specs. Let's have a look at those.
Huawei Nova 3 specs
- Body: Aluminum frame, glass back
- Display: 6.3-inch, 2340x1080 19.5:9 IPS LCD, 409PPI
- Rear Camera: 16MP f1.8 + 24MP f1.8 monochrome, single LED flash, 4K30 video
- Front Camera: 24MP f2.0 + 2MP depth sensor, 1080p30 video
- OS: Android 8.1 Oreo, EMUI 8.2
- Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 970, 4+4 big.LITTLE CPU (4x Cortex-A73 at 2.36GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 at 1.84GHz), Mali-G72 MP12 GPU, TSMC 10nm FinFET+
- Memory: 6GB RAM, 128GB expandable storage
- Battery: 3750mAh, fast charge support
- Connectivity: Dual SIM (hybrid), VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2, A-GPS, USB-C 2.0, headphone jack
- Misc: Single loudspeaker, IR face unlock, fingerprint sensor
Unlike the OnePlus 6, the Nova 3 makes no claims of being a flagship device; that honor goes to the P20 Pro for the time being. However, if you pay close attention to their specifications, the Nova 3 and the P20 Pro are incredibly close in terms of hardware, with the only major differences being the display, the battery and that amazing camera system on the P20 Pro. For just that, you pay very nearly twice the money compared to the Nova 3. That makes it seem like a steal, at least compared to the P20 Pro. But do specifications tell the complete story and how does it compare against the OnePlus 6? Let's find out.
Design
The Nova 3 carries on the Huawei 2018 design language and bears a strong family resemblance to all the phones launched this year. Our review unit, decked out in the Purple color, has a two-tone finish reminiscent of the P20 Pro's Twilight color.
The front of the phone also looks very familiar now, not just for a Huawei phone but for practically every phone launched in 2018. We have the now-familiar notch at the top with thin bezels on the sides and a small but noticeable chin. The notch on the Nova 3 is actually bigger than the ones we saw on the P20 Pro or the Honor 10, since this phone has a dual camera system as well as a more sophisticated face unlock system consisting of an infrared emitter (more on that later). This means there's a bit less space now at the top for your icons.
The earpiece grille is made out of metal and hidden inside it is a notification LED. The LED feels a bit pointless at times due to its location. It's very dim and can't even be seen from some angles so it's not very useful most of the time.
Notch with the earpiece
The sides of the phone are made out of metal. It's coated with a glossy paint job and when you add to that the curvature it makes the phone extremely slippery, especially when you're trying to lift it with your fingertips from a hard surface. It's not too different from trying to pick up a wet soap and you wish there was something to grip onto here.
Right side
The buttons are all on the right side and within easy reach. The power button has a texture to it but that's only noticeable if you look at it and can't really be felt by your thumb. The buttons are made out of metal and have a good tactile feel to them with no wobble.
Along the bottom is a single loudspeaker, a microphone, a USB-C connector and a headphone jack.
Bottom side
On the back of the phone we see the dual camera system with a single LED flash. Like the P20 phones, the Huawei and other text is aligned sideways like on a camera. The back is completely devoid of any other marking, which lets you admire the finish on the back, with the two-tone color on the Purple variant and the way the light refracts and creates iridescent patterns. The only distraction is the fingerprint sensor, which is placed a bit too high up and is a stretch when holding the phone normally.
The general fit and finish of the phone are up to Huawei's usually high standards. The design, especially in the Purple color, is extremely eye-catching. Build quality is good too and the phone feels well put together in your hand with a nice premium finish. The lack of any kind of ingress protection is disappointing, however, and at this price point we start expecting a bit more than just shiny colors.
Display
The Nova 3 has a 6.3-inch, 2340x1080 resolution IPS LCD. The vertical resolution is a bit more than the Honor 10's 2280, which itself was a bit more than the P20 Pro's 2240, which is why the Nova 3 has an absurd 19.5:9 aspect ratio.
Display settings
The display on the Nova 3 is in no way special but it is still a good display, nonetheless. The phone ships with a saturated color profile with cool blue color temperature but you can set the display colors to what is simply labeled 'Normal' that looks close to standard sRGB color values and manually adjust the color temperature on the color wheel for a close approximation of the D65 white point.
Once set, the display looks quite satisfactory but still lacks the same level of color accuracy as Samsung's or OnePlus' color profiles. It may be too much to expect standard color profiles or even support for Android's native color management support from Huawei but the basic customization options provided are still better than nothing.
Being an LCD, it suffers the same pitfalls as other panels of its kind, with less than ideal contrast ratio being one of them. Simply put, blacks aren't perfectly black, which can occasionally be an issue for a phone with a notch. If the area surrounding the notch is to be pitch black in some app, then you still see a hint of grey if you happen to use the phone in the dark. While far from catastrophic, it still ruins the illusion of there not being any display at all that you'd get from an AMOLED.
Also, the area around the notch is noticeably darker when it is lit up, as the backlighting can't seem to reach the edges adequately. Indeed, if you're going to have a notch, the best course of action would be to have an AMOLED panel.
Strangely enough, the Nova 3 display misses out on one of the key advantages of having an LCD: peak brightness. The display is bright enough for indoor use but doesn't get too bright at its max setting. The display on the OnePlus 6 is brighter, despite being an AMOLED. And it's not that you can't raise the brightness manually; even in Auto brightness mode, the brightest point is about as high as manual brightness setting would go, so there's no hidden brightness there that comes out only when you need it.
Battery Life
The Nova 3 has a generous 3750mAh battery with support for Huawei's SuperCharge feature.
In our testing, the phone greatly impressed us with the battery life. Even after a long day of use, the phone would routinely have 30-40% left in the tank. We were getting upwards of 5 hours of screen time constantly.
Battery menu
All of this was without any battery saving features enabled except for whatever was running behind the scenes. Whatever it is, it works well as the phone merely sipped power instead of gulping it and we saw no adverse effects such as apps forcefully shutting in the background or refusing to start up. That is an issue you can get on the OnePlus 6 at times, which doesn't have a great battery life to begin with.
Where the OnePlus 6 gets a leg up is in charging speed. OnePlus' DASH charging is an industry benchmark and while Huawei's SuperCharge sounds promising, it's super disappointing.
Charging a phone from near zero to 100% takes two full hours. But it's not the final figure that's disappointing, it's how it gets there. Most phones push most of their juice in the first hour or so and then settle into a leisurely pace with trickle charging. The Nova 3 charges only 55% in the first hour and only about 25% in the first 30min. The charging speed seems very uniform across its two-hour charge time, which is very odd for a fast charging solution and not really ideal for quick top-up's.
Software
The Huawei Nova 3 ships with EMUI 8.2 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. Our review unit had the June security update and 8.2.0.102 firmware, but the final retail units may have a newer version of the OS.
EMUI 8 is the latest version of Huawei's Android skin. While far from stock Android, Huawei has made conscious efforts in the past few years to modernize its skin while making it cleaner and less aggressively stylized.
The homescreen in EMUI 8 is rather simple. By default, you get the iOS-style sliding panes of apps directly on the homescreen but you can optionally enable an app drawer like we have in our screenshots. The app drawer design is rather dated, however, and instead of the swipe up to open gesture that everyone else has adopted now, EMUI still makes you tap the app drawer button first.
EMUI launcher
We appreciate that Huawei no longer forces a frame around app icons as some other Chinese OEMs still do, and you can press and hold on the app icons to access app shortcuts.
The notification shade in EMUI collapses entirely by a single swipe, unlike the two swipes required on phones from other brands. It's white in the default theme but is dark in some of the others. The layout here is customizable as you'd expect.
One problem is that you cannot swipe down on the homescreen to bring down the notification shade, the way you can in OxygenOS or MIUI. Huawei does, however, give you the option to either swipe down on the fingerprint scanner or add a button to the navigation bar at the bottom to bring down the notification shade from any screen.
Notifications
The default apps in EMUI aren't many and generally well-designed. In some cases, Huawei has chosen to use Google's alternatives, such as the Google Messages app for messaging and Chrome for browsing but it also has a lot of its own apps, such as a Gallery app, a video player, a file manager, an email app, a music player, etc. that sit alongside Google's apps. We hope over time Huawei will phase out its own apps, as we don't see Google allowing OEMs to not have its own apps any time soon and having two apps do the same thing just makes things worse for the user.
Add to that, there is a fair bit of junk apps and games that come pre-installed on the phone. Fortunately, all of them can be removed, which is not always the case with all phones.
In terms of features, there is a lot of them. Problem is, they are often buried deep in the somewhat unconventional Settings app. That is one of the issues with EMUI; you can customize a lot of things and most things can be changed or disabled but most people will never know how because of how deep everything is hidden inside the Settings app. It's so bad at times that even if you have changed a setting once, the next time you have to change it again you need to think real long and hard as to where exactly you found that option last time before spelunking into the depths of the Settings app. And the search function is rarely useful in these cases.
The notch setting is an interesting example of this. You can choose which apps can and can't have the notch enabled but if you were to try and remember where that exactly is from the top of your head, you might need a minute.
Notch setting
To make things further confusing, there is a more easily accessible option to make apps full screen, which is not the same thing. And this setting doesn't list all the installed apps, for some reason, so there could be an app that you don't want to be full screen that isn't listed here at all and no way for you to change.
Also, the option to change the on-screen navigation keys isn't under Display settings, as one would expect, but rather in the System settings, which is the last option in the app.
Similarly, the option to change Autofill service is under Default apps menu as opposed to Languages & Input on every other Android phone.
It's things like these that make customizing stuff in EMUI difficult and a bit infuriating at times. You need to take out a day or two to really get to know your way around everything in there because there's quite a bit going on and some of it is not where you'd expect to find it.
Overall, though, EMUI has come a long way from its previous iterations. It looks more refined and modern, and although the use of white everywhere is overbearing (the option to use a dark mode is only available on phones with an AMOLED display, such as the P20 Pro), it still looks decent overall. We do wish that Huawei continues to refine and improve it further and make it more user-friendly.
Also, in terms of updates, Huawei isn't exactly leading the charge here. While it's nice that the phones come with the latest version of Android out of the box, there is no guarantee of regular software updates, and mid-range phones from one-off series are often the first ones to get forgotten.
Performance
In terms of performance, the Nova 3 is predictable. We say predictable because it's rocking the same HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset that we have seen several times before on Huawei phones. Nearly a year since we first saw it, it's still the flagship chipset in Huawei's lineup. Seeing it here on the mid-range Nova 3, however, isn't nearly as disappointing as it was on the P20 Pro.
It seems Huawei may be a bit worried about the performance of this chipset in context to its closest rival, the OnePlus 6. Our review unit came with an unlocked bootloader and prevented us from installing any major software benchmark, either from the Play Store or by sideloading. Confirming with our colleagues from other publications revealed their devices were similarly hampered.
Due to this restriction, we have decided to reuse our benchmarking scores from previous Huawei devices running the Kirin 970. Had our Nova 3 been capable of running these tests, we are confident the results would have been the same.
Expectedly, the Nova 3 is thrashed soundly by the OnePlus 6 in every test. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 inside the OnePlus 6 is a more recent flagship SoC and the Kirin 970 simply cannot compete.
Benchmarking aside, the Nova 3 does perform reasonably well in every day usage. There is, however, some hitching while scrolling in apps, so it's not a completely smooth experience. In comparison, the OnePlus 6 does feel noticeably smoother and faster.
Gaming performance is decent as well. Most mobile games don't hit the hardware that hard and the Nova
Performance in other areas was good too. The phone ships with a fast fingerprint sensor that quickly and reliably unlocked the phone every time. The Nova 3 also includes a new IR based face unlock feature. Similar to FaceID on the iPhone X, the Nova 3 uses infrared light to map your facial data and then to verify it every time. This has the advantage of being more secure than using just the front facing camera and it also works in complete darkness. While IR is known to trip up in extremely bright sunlight, bad weather ensured we didn't encounter any problems.
Fingerprint sensor and face unlock settings
The IR based face unlock was fast but not as fast as something like the simple camera based unlock on the OnePlus 6. Unfortunately, it's also not quite at the same level of robustness as Apple's FaceID, which means it cannot be used instead of the fingerprint sensor (not that Android has any provision for such arrangement at present). It would be nice to have the option to use face unlock for things like purchasing apps, making payments and opening apps like password managers that typically work with fingerprint sensors presently. Not necessarily as a replacement for fingerprint sensors but at least as an option.
Camera
The Huawei Nova 3 has a dual camera system on the front as well as on the back. On the back we have a 16MP f1.8 primary camera with 24MP f1.8 monochrome secondary camera. On the front is a 24MP f2.0 primary camera and 2MP depth sensor. If that sounds familiar, that's because it is the exact same camera system as on the Honor 10, save for the addition of the depth sensor on the front.
Before we get to the image quality, let's talk about the camera app. The stock camera app has its ups and down but is quite functional overall.
The app has multiple camera modes, with the main ones being spread across the bottom and a swipe away, similar to the iOS camera app. We have the main options like photo mode, video mode, portrait mode, but also options for aperture mode and the new AR lens feature, which we'll get to in a minute.
Lastly, there is a more option in the end which hides all the remaining options, some of which include the far more useful HDR mode, Pro mode and the monochrome mode that lets you shoot exclusively with the 24MP monochrome sensor. There's also panorama mode here, slow motion video, time lapse and more. You can download some more modes if you like or remove them.
Camera UI
The problem here is that all the useful stuff is hidden inside the more button, which requires at least a swipe and a tap to access. Meanwhile, things like Aperture mode and AR lens get prime spot, despite their dubious usefulness. Also, we are not sure why HDR is a mode and not just a setting at the top of the screen alongside the flash and other toggles.
The AI mode button sits at the top and is on by default, but you can disable it, fortunately.
Coming back to the AR lenses, these are iOS Memoji style lenses that use your facial data from the fancy new IR sensor on the front to move the 3D AR objects on screen in real time. It can detect the shape of your mouth, your eyes, eyebrow positioning and even cheeks. This gives a fair amount of likeness as it tries to mimic back all your movements.
AR Lenses
We wouldn't really call it fun unless you're really into this sort of thing. Besides, it's not as sophisticated or well animated as Apple's much superior equivalent nor can they match Apple's character choices and design superiority, so they just come across as cheap knock-offs. For this to have its own shortcut on the mode dial and not something like the Pro mode is a really shortsighted decision on Huawei's part.
The Pro mode itself needs some work. While you get all the adjustments ranging from metering options, ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, focusing and white balance, the design of the UI isn't very easy to see at times and the small and fiddly dials don't feel precise to use.
Pro mode
In terms of image quality, we are looking at a typical Huawei camera, which means loads of over processed images. The AI mode is on by default, which is the first problem. The intelligence in this AI basically comes from over saturating colors at every opportunity it gets. It is supposed to detect the scene, which it does in some cases and does not in others, but when it does its only real solution is to oversaturate the colors almost to the breaking point and further sharpen the images. Occasionally, it will also do some dynamic range adjustments but that's really all about it.
AI mode off • AI mode on
We wish we could say that it works and you can just leave it on and expect great results but that's just not true. Even if you like punchy colors, the images here are just borderline garish with really poor taste in terms of color saturation and other adjustments. Turning it off is the best thing you can do to your images.
With the AI mode turned off, we get much more predictable results. There is still some excessive sharpening going on but it's not overbearing. There is good amount of detail in the images, the white balance is a bit on the cooler side but close enough and the colors and contrast generally look good. At first glance, the images actually look pretty good and are definitely good enough to share.
Image quality
While the dynamic range in standard mode is generally quite good, the HDR mode does help boost the shadows in some cases. The HDR mode images look natural without looking overly tone-mapped. However, it does apply shadow corrections to specific parts of the image, which can be seen sometimes in the form of a glowing halo around the darker objects when they overlap more brighter objects.
HDR Off • HDR On
Taking a look at the RAW files, we noticed some good sharpness and detail but unfortunately the dynamic range is really poor, the noise is too high even at lowest value (50) and there is very obvious vignetting. Still, in good lighting conditions and some patience, you can get better results out of the RAW files than with the JPEGs.
JPEG • RAW processed to taste
One aspect of the camera we quite like is the monochrome mode. This uses the separate 24MP sensor, which lacks a typical Bayer filter for colors. This means it can capture more light in the same conditions. The images out of this camera are almost always way better than from the main 16MP sensor. There is very little noise, typical for a monochrome camera and the dynamic range is also a bit better.
Monochrome mode
But what we love is that for some reason, Huawei chooses not to mess with the output of this camera, so there is no over sharpening or overbearing noise reduction, giving the images a smooth, sharp and detailed look that really looks remarkably good. It's a shame that you can't use this camera in every situation because it really is the best camera out of the four.
The video recording performance is a mixed bag. While the quality of the video itself is good, especially in 4K (dynamic range is weak, however) the complete lack of any stabilization makes the videos very shaky, even when the phone is held stationary while standing still. It was something we noticed on the Honor 10 as well and it's a shame Huawei hasn't implemented some sort of software-based stabilization yet.
Competition
The biggest rival to the Huawei Nova 3 is the one that has cropped up several times in this review, the OnePlus 6.
In some ways, the phones are quite close. Both have premium glass and metal designs, good quality displays and reasonably cameras. In some ways, the Nova 3 is better, notably the battery life, which is far superior. The Nova 3 also looks a tad bit better, especially in the striking Purple color.
However, in almost every other category, the OnePlus 6 blows the Huawei out of the water. It doesn't fear rain or splashes. The software is more refined and generally more user friendly. The charging speed is significantly better. The display is more color accurate and brighter. The speaker is louder.
But by far the biggest difference is the chipset. The Snapdragon 845 on the OnePlus 6 is a very different beast compared to the Kirin 970 on the Nova 3. It's almost an unfair comparison, as the year old 970 is decidedly a middle-class citizen at this point while the 845 is an all-singing, all-dancing, top-of-the-line, mobile-god-tier chipset.
And the difference is noticeable. The OnePlus 6 feels noticeably smoother and faster than the Nova 3. The difference is going to be even more noticeable a couple of years down the line.
Aside from the OnePlus 6, there is also Huawei's own Honor 10, which, for all intents and purposes, is a smaller Nova 3. The fact that it costs a bit less and doesn't lose much of anything of importance makes the case for the Nova 3 a bit less airtight.
Verdict
The Huawei Nova 3, when seen in isolation, is the perfect mid-range smartphone. It offers some allures of the more expensive phones, such as a large display, premium design and fancy camera features but at a lower price. The performance is exactly where you'd expect it to be and the phone neither blew our minds nor disappointed us in any way.
Unfortunately for Huawei, the OnePlus 6 exists, which is just a giant spanner in the works for every other company. The fact that it is very similar to the Nova 3 in many ways and a lot better in others doesn't help its case. In the end, logic dictates that you should ideally go with the OnePlus 6 as it will serve you better.
Still, we enjoyed our time with the Huawei Nova 3 and it really is a good phone. It's just not the best in its price bracket.
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