This year Huawei has been focusing on releasing their the best smartphones possible – the Mate 8 first and then their flagship P9. But this year, at IFA, Huawei brings the attention towards their new mid-range smartphones too with their Nova and Nova Plus.
While neither device has any killer, standout feature to boast about, there aren’t any ugly blemishes jumping off the spec sheets. The Nova features a five-inch, 1080p display, beneath which hides an octa-core 2GHz Snapdragon 625 chip, 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage (up to 128GB microSD cards supported). You’re looking at a 12-megapixel primary camera with f/2.2 aperture and an 8MP, f/2.0 shooter up front for selfies and such. A decent-sized 3,020 mAh battery powers all that, with Huawei claiming it’s good for two days of consistent use.
Other notable elements include the Cat 6 LTE radio, fingerprint sensor, USB Type-C charging/data transfer port and dual-SIM support — though you’ll have to sacrifice the microSD expansion for a second SIM. Emotion UI (EMUI) 4.1, based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow, runs the show, bringing with it Huawei’s familiar gamut of camera tricks such as light painting, time-lapse and slow-motion modes, as well as the recent addition of a night display feature that filters blue light from the screen.
The Nova Plus doesn’t change many things but some subtle notable changes. The Nova Plus is the bigger of the pair and its 5.5-inch 1080p display is joined by a 16MP camera with optical image stabilization, and the larger form factor has also allowed Huawei to increase the size of the battery to 3,340 mAh.
In fact, the Nova is a pretty good-looking device – better designed, even, than Huawei’s flagship P9. It’s thin, light, easy on the hands and, all things considered, feels more polished and ‘premium’ in spite of it sitting below the P9 in Huawei’s smartphone hierarchy. The Nova and Nova Plus will be available from early October for €399 and €429, respectively.
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