Comparison of all parameters of Huawei Nova 3 and Huawei Honor 10 6/128Gb: advantages and disadvantages of the models. Which is better to choose: Huawei Nova 3 or Huawei Honor 10 6/128Gb
| Name | Huawei Nova 3 | Huawei Honor 10 6/128Gb |
| Antutu benchmark (performance) | 223225 | 213381 |
| CPU | Huawei Kirin 970 | Huawei Kirin 970 |
| Screen diagonal | 6.3 « | 5.84 « |
| Permission | 2340×1080 | 2280×1080 |
| Multitouch (number of touches) | 10 | 10 |
| Random access memory (RAM) | 6 GB | 6 GB |
| Frameless | Yes | Yes |
| Internal memory (ROM) | 128 GB | 128 GB |
| Expansion slots | MicroSD, support for cards up to 256GB | Absent |
| Rear camera | 16 MP | 24 MP |
| Camera | Dual camera | Dual camera |
| Matrix model (sensor) | ||
| dxomark mobile rating | ||
| dxomark (photo) | ||
| dxomark (video) | ||
| Front (selfie) camera | 24 MP | 24 MP |
| Battery | 3750 mAh | 3400 mAh |
| Wireless charger | No | |
| Network type | 4G | 4G |
| Number of SIM cards | ||
| WiFi | Eat | Eat |
| Bluetooth | Eat | Eat |
| NFC | Eat | Eat |
| Navigation | GPS, A-GPS, GLONAS | GPS, A-GPS, GLONAS |
| Event indicator | Eat | Eat |
| Fingerprint's scanner | Eat | Eat |
| operating system | Android 8.1 | Android 8.1 |
| Housing material | Metal frame, glass body | Metal frame, glass body |
| Weight | 166 g | 153 g |
| Dimensions (size) | 157.0 x 73.7 x 7.3 mm | 149.6 x 71.2 x 7.7 mm |
| Price | Temporarily out of stock. You can view all Huawei models here Analogues of Huawei Nova 3: Huawei Honor 30 Lite 5G 8/128GB - compare Huawei Nova 8 Pro 8/128Gb - compare Huawei Honor 30 8/128GB - compare | Temporarily out of stock. You can view all Huawei models here Analogues of Huawei Honor 10 6/128Gb: Huawei Mate 30E Pro 5G 8/128GB - compare Huawei P40 8/128GB - compare Huawei P40 8/256Gb - compare |
Design
Let's start the review and comparison of models with appearance. If you don't put them side by side, you may not notice much difference. Both models have glass back panels with solid or gradient colors. Dark colors remain monochromatic, the blue-pink range glitters and shimmers.
Huawei Nova 3 colors:
- Black
- Violet
- Red
Honor 10 case colors:
- Black
- Gray-blue
- Blue-green gradients
More models differ in size, although you can notice this if they are nearby. The size of Nova is 15.7x7.4 cm, Huawei 10 is smaller, 14.9x7.1 cm. The thickness differs by a fraction of a millimeter, 7.3 and 7.7, respectively. Weight 166 and 153 g.
There are dual cameras on the back panel. But in Huawei Nova 3 the block is located vertically, in Huawei 10 it is horizontal. LED flashes are installed in a row with them. Nearby is the inscription AI CAMERA.
The fingerprint scanner of the Nova 3 is located on the rear panel, under the camera block; in the Huawei 10 it is located on the front, under the display. This is not a mechanical button, like the Nova 3, but a pad indicated by dotted backlighting.
Display
The screens of both smartphones have displays with a width of 1080 pixels; in the Huawei Nova 3, the space freed up from the fingerprint sensor was used to increase the length and, accordingly, the diagonal of the display. Thus, the height became 2340 pixels versus 2280 for Honor 10. Display diagonals are 6.3" versus 5.84" for Honor 10.
The pixel density is slightly different: 409 ppi for Nova 3 versus 432 ppi for Honor 10.
Specifications
The parameters of both models are collected in the table:
| Huawei Honor 10 | Huawei Nova 3 | |
| CPU | Kirin 970 | |
| Number of Cores | 8 | |
| Clock speeds | 4 x 2.36 GHz + 4 x 1.8 GHz | |
| RAMs | 4GB/8GB | 4 GB |
| Built-in memory | 64 GB/ 128 GB | 128 GB |
The processors of both models are the same: modern and efficient. The tenth Honor model wins in terms of RAM capacity. The Nova 3 has only 128 GB of flash memory, but instead of one of the SIM cards you can install an additional memory card. Honor 10 does not have this feature, but you can choose a 64 or 128 GB version.
Similar smartphones to Honor 30
Are there similar analogues for Honor 30 in the Huawei line? Let's calculate the degree of similarity and present them in a table.
| Model | Similarity | Prices |
| Honor 30 Pro+ | 84.5% | from 43990 rub. |
| Mate 30 Pro | 75.4% | from 50490 rub. |
| Honor 30S | 68.2% | from 21090 rub. |
| P40 | 67.0% | from 35529 rub. |
| Honor 20 | 65.8% | from 22090 rub. |
Camera overview
If we compare the technical characteristics of the rear cameras, they are the same. They consist of 16 and 24 megapixel sensors, color and monochrome. The resulting images are further decorated with artificial intelligence. The autofocus is hybrid, there are a large number of filters, and the background is blurred when shooting portraits. Digital zoom is responsible for getting closer.
Both cameras do not have optical stabilization; all stages of operation are regulated by artificial intelligence. It recognizes shooting scenes and automatically sets shooting parameters.
The front camera of Nova 3 is also double (24 + 2 megapixels, it is possible to use emoji), while Honor 10 has a single one.
Both smartphones can shoot 4K video at 30 fps and 1080p at 60 fps. It is possible to shoot in RAW.
Models similar to Nova 5T
How similar is the Nova 5T smartphone to other Huawei models? We compared the main parameters and calculated them.
| Model | Similarity | Prices |
| Honor 20s | 74.0% | from 14910 rub. |
| Honor 20 | 72.9% | from 22090 rub. |
| Honor 20 Lite | 71.8% | from 14489 rub. |
| Honor 9X Premium | 69.0% | from 14890 rub. |
| P30 | 67.8% | from 30,000 rub. |
*All data in the tables is for reference. Please check with sellers for prices and specifications before purchasing.
Connection
Both smartphones support dual SIM cards in 3G/4G networks. Honor 10 has more communication ranges. Wi-Fi frequencies almost completely coincide, in any case, this difference does not affect the quality of communication.
Installed:
- Bluetooth 4.2, support aptX HD
- OTG
- There is an NFC module for contactless payment
- Devices navigate using GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, Beidou
Honor 10 has an infrared port, Nova 3 does not. The sound quality is high for both models. If you have headphones, you can turn on the 3D sound effect.
Review of the Huawei Nova 3 smartphone
The nova line of smartphones appeared in the Huawei portfolio later than others. The first representative of the new family was presented only three years ago during the MWC 2021 exhibition. By that time, not only did the Huawei P and Mate lines already exist, but the Honor brand had managed to spin off into a separate brand, successfully copying some of Huawei’s own products and offering them lower prices. Against the backdrop of this diversity, the very idea of releasing another line of Huawei smartphones seemed, to put it mildly, strange and redundant. However, the manufacturer continues to support it to this day, although it does so as slowly as possible. At least, this is how it looks against the backdrop of the rapid growth of other families.
As for positioning, nova stands somewhere between the middle and top segments, that is, in terms of characteristics, these smartphones are higher than models with the “Lite” prefix, but lower than “Pro”. The cost is appropriate, nova models in this regard cannot compete with most representatives of the Honor brand, and at a price of 30 thousand rubles they cannot be called “balanced in the middle,” but such smartphones are certainly of some interest. Today we will take a closer look at the latest addition to the series – the Huawei nova 3.
Main characteristics of Huawei nova 3 (model PAR-LX1)
- SoC HiSilicon Kirin 970, 8 cores: 4×Cortex-A73 @2.36 GHz + 4×Cortex-A53 @1.8 GHz
- GPU Mali-G72 (MP12)
- Operating system Android 8.1, EMUI 8.2
- Touch display IPS 6.3″, 2340×1080 (19.5:9), 409 ppi
- Random access memory (RAM) 4 GB, internal memory 128 GB
- MicroSD support up to 256 GB
- Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
- GSM/WCDMA/HSPA+ networks
- LTE Cat.12/13 FDD networks (B1/3/5/7/8/20)
- GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
- Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
- Bluetooth 4.2, BLE, aptX, aptX HD
- NFC
- USB 2.0 Type-C, USB OTG
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Main camera 16 MP (f/1.8) + 24 MP, 4K video
- Front camera 24 MP (f/2.0) + 2 MP
- Proximity and lighting sensors, magnetic field, accelerometer, gyroscope, step counter
- Fingerprint's scanner
- Battery 3750 mAh
- Dimensions 157×74×7.3 mm
- Weight 166 g
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Appearance and ease of use
Huawei nova 3 looks the same as most modern Huawei/Honor mobile devices. This is a catchy, shiny device that shimmers in the light with a gradient color, varnished slippery and easily soiled surfaces and streamlined shapes.
Some of these models have a more thoughtful shape of the side edges, by which you can hold the device more firmly, but here the situation is completely deplorable: the sloping edges of the rear glass smoothly merge with the same smooth, slippery and overly convex side frame. Because of this, the smartphone is extremely “fidgety” in the palm of your hand, spinning in your hands like a bar of soap.
The camera module on the back side protrudes outward, the smartphone sways when you touch the screen, and lies unsteadily on a hard surface. The camera on the back of the body is dual, but the flash is single, but quite bright.
The fingerprint scanner area is located on the back wall; it is tactilely clearly visible, since it is slightly recessed. There are no complaints about the scanner's performance.
The screen on top received a cutout in the form of a classic (rather large) “bang” (aka “unibrow”), there was a place in it for a dual camera and an LED event indicator, which is built right under the speaker grille. The corners of the screen are strongly rounded.
The side keys are installed on the same face, they are almost indistinguishable tactilely, although this was the idea, since the power button has a small corrugated pattern (in practice, it cannot be felt with your fingers).
The card slot is hybrid; you can install two Nano-SIM cards at the same time or replace one of them with a microSD memory card with a capacity of up to 256 GB. Hot swap supported.
At the top end there is nothing except an auxiliary microphone; the smartphone does not have the usual IR transmitter for emulating a remote control for Huawei devices.
The set of interface connectors at the bottom is as follows: the USB port is represented by a modern Type-C connector, while the usual 3.5 mm audio output for headphones is retained. The main speaker and conversational microphone are also located here, at the bottom end.
The choice of colors for the model was initially scarce: in addition to the gradient purple color shown in test photographs, only a completely black version could also be found on sale. However, a little later, Huawei released a model in red, the same thing it did earlier with nova 2. The device did not receive protection from dust and moisture.
Screen
Huawei nova 3 is equipped with an IPS display with 2.5D protective glass. The screen dimensions are approximately 67×146 mm, with a diagonal of 6.3″, and a resolution of 2340×1080 (aspect ratio 19.5:9, pixel density about 409 ppi). The width of the frame around the screen on the sides is about 3 mm, the indentation at the bottom is about 7 mm high, and at the top it is only 4 mm (not counting the “bangs”).
You can adjust the display brightness manually or use automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor.
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 better 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 in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Huawei nova 3, then they can be distinguished by size):
The screen of the Huawei nova 3 is slightly darker (brightness according to photographs is 121 versus 128 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Huawei nova 3 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, so 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 440 cd/m², the minimum was 1.3 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, therefore, given the excellent anti-glare properties, screen 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 left of the front speaker grille). 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 slider: with it the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. If you do not interfere and leave the default settings, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 10 cd/m² (normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 145 cd/m² (suitable), in very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 440 cd/m² (to the maximum, as needed). The backlight brightness level depends on the position of the slider in dark and average conditions, and in very bright environments it is always set to maximum. The default result suited us, but for the experiment we moved the slider a little to the right in complete darkness and for the three conditions indicated above, we got 20, 130 and 440 cd/m² (and this option is not bad). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.
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 3 and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched 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 3 screen are clearly oversaturated, and the color balance varies between screens.
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 3 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the greater highlighting of blacks.
And a white field:
The brightness of the screens at an angle has decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the Huawei nova 3 screen is still a little brighter. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a red-violet hue. 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 1300:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 20 ms (9 ms on + 11 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 35 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 2.00, which is lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve noticeably deviates from the power-law dependence:
This device has a dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness with a non-obvious dependence on time and on the nature of the displayed image. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. In general, such non-disabled brightness correction does nothing but harm, since constantly changing the screen brightness can at least cause some discomfort.
The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:
Let's look at the spectra:
The spectra of the components are quite well separated, which determines the wide color gamut. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant disadvantage, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photographs above.
However, not everything is so bad: when you select the Normal , the coverage is compressed to the sRGB boundaries.
Colors in images become less saturated (and color balance changes slightly):
The balance of shades on the scale is a compromise, since the color temperature is approximately 9000 K, which is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is about 7, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.
The graphs below show the data obtained after selecting the Normal and shifting the point on the circle to the position indicated in the image above. (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.)
It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature approached the standard value and ΔE decreased. There is some benefit from this correction - however, the maximum brightness has decreased to 400 cd/m². Note that this function is implemented more for show, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction and there is no special field for measuring color balance.
There is a fancy setting that allows you to reduce the intensity of the blue component.
Marketers tried to intimidate the user in order to show the level of care of the manufacturer. Of course, there is no harmful UV radiation (see spectrum above), and there is no eye fatigue caused specifically by blue light. In principle, bright light can lead to disruption of the circadian rhythm (see the article about the iPad Pro with a 9.7-inch display), but everything can be solved by adjusting the brightness to a comfortable level, and there is absolutely no way to distort the color balance, reducing the contribution of blue sense.
To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. 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. Also, the advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, excellent uniformity of the black field, sRGB color gamut (when choosing the right profile) and good (after a small correction) color balance. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. Taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.
Cameras
For the front camera, Huawei nova 3 uses a dual module. The main camera with a 24-megapixel matrix resolution and an f/2.0 aperture lens is complemented by a simple 2-megapixel module for measuring depth of field and creating a background blur effect in portrait mode.
When shooting self-portraits, the front camera of Huawei nova 3 recognizes more than 200 types of different scenes in eight categories, including “sky”, “greenery” and “beach”, and tries to select the optimal set of parameters, adjusting the frame based on the work of AI.
The shooting quality is decent: the pictures are bright and with good detail. True, there are often overexposures and there are spots of blur across the field of the frame, but when viewed on the screen of the smartphone itself, such a picture looks very good.
As for the main camera, everything here is also quite decent. This dual camera has sensors with a resolution of 16 and 24 megapixels, however, the functions of the modules are already atypical today: the 16-megapixel has an RGB sensor and a six-element lens with an f/1.8 aperture, and the 24-megapixel is monochrome, it is responsible for details . There is a single-color bright LED flash and fast, adequate hybrid autofocus. There is no optical image stabilization or optical zoom here.
While the main camera is working, artificial intelligence also analyzes the picture, identifying more than 500 different scenes in 22 categories. A special algorithm recognizes object contours, textures, gradients, lighting patterns and applies this information during image processing, also using data on the depth of objects and the scene. According to the developers, the AI even takes into account facial expression, the nature of clothing, pose and direction of lighting, independently correcting the images, but all this can be turned off.
There is an advanced manual mode in which you can manually select light sensitivity, shutter speed, focusing method and white balance. In this mode, it becomes possible to save pictures in RAW.
In general, the image quality is also quite decent, but nothing more, the camera is of average quality. With sufficient lighting, everything is fine with detail and sharpness, but with the slightest darkening of an area of the frame, traces of noise are immediately visible, the dynamic range is narrow, the camera is not always able to focus on close objects, tree branches merge into a mess. A good margin in resolution helps; as the resolution of the images decreases, the quality, as expected, increases. In general, not bad, but cannot be confused with flagship cameras.
The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 4K at 30 fps, as well as in 1080p at 60 fps. As standard, you can choose which codec to use: H.265 (HEVC) or H264. There is no optical stabilization. The video comes out with decent detail and color reproduction. Autofocus sometimes lags or adjusts on the fly. The sound is recorded clearly, the noise reduction system works adequately and does not introduce distortion.
Video examples:
- Video #1 (107 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
- Video No. 2 (107 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
- Video No. 3 (45 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
Telephone and communications
Huawei nova 3 supports all common frequencies of the LTE FDD Cat network. 12/13 (Band 3, 7, 20). In practice, within the city limits of the Moscow region, the device demonstrates reliable operation in wireless networks, does not lose connection, and quickly restores connection after a forced interruption.
The device also supports operation in both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), there are no complaints about the operation of the Wi-Fi module. There is an NFC module; it can work with Troika travel cards and the My Travel Card application. Everything is familiar to Huawei smartphones; communication capabilities are maximum and will please anyone.
The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), and with the domestic Glonass, and the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites, even during a cold start, are detected quickly, within the first seconds, and the positioning accuracy does not cause any complaints. The smartphone has a magnetic compass, necessary for navigation programs.
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. Methods for sorting and displaying contacts are standard for the Android interface.
In the conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor is clearly recognizable, the sound is loud and clear, there are no extraneous noises. The vibration alert is average in power. VoLTE supported.
The platform supports active standby of both SIM cards in 3G/4G simultaneously. That is, the SIM card can be in active standby on a 3G/4G network, and not just on 2G, even if another card is assigned to transmit data on 4G. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem.
Software and multimedia
As a software platform, Huawei nova 3 uses Google Android 8.1 with its own proprietary shell EMUI 8.2 with the ability to update over the air. Users familiar with Huawei mobile technology will not discover anything new here: both the design and capabilities have not changed radically.
The sound of the nova 3, frankly speaking, is rather weak in comparison with the top-end Huawei devices of the P and Mate series. Both in headphones and even through a loudspeaker, the sound is of average volume, inexpressive, dim and without a clear presence of low frequencies. Huawei Histen audio effects technologies are also implemented here, but they are not able to radically improve the sound. The voice recorder demonstrates good sensitivity; there is no FM radio in the device.
Performance
Huawei nova 3 uses the HiSilicon Kirin 970 single-chip system, manufactured using a 10-nanometer process technology, as its hardware platform. The SoC configuration includes two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A73 with a maximum frequency of up to 2.36 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz. The amount of RAM is 4 GB, the storage volume is 128 GB, of which about 114 GB of flash memory is free. The ability to expand memory by installing microSD cards is also provided.
HiSilicon Kirin 970 is not a flagship platform, but it is very powerful, it is a conditional lower top level, clearly above average. Of course, it does not outperform the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, but it is superior to the same Snapdragon 710 in everything. In real use scenarios, there are still no obstacles for this SoC. She confidently copes with any tasks assigned to her, including the most demanding games. True, our test unit experienced overheating in almost every benchmark, but its performance level still remains high.
All the games we tested, including Injustice 2 and PUBG, run confidently at high settings without the slightest slowdown. Huawei nova 3 is a powerful smartphone, it has a performance reserve for future updates.
Testing in complex tests:
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.
| Huawei nova 3 (HiSilicon Kirin 970) | Oppo RX17 Pro (Qualcomm Snapdragon 710) | Meizu 16th (Qualcomm Snapdragon 845) | Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (Samsung Exynos 9810) | |
| AnTuTu (v7.x) (bigger is better) | 200677 | 169866 | 279909 | 243281 |
| GeekBench (v4.x) (bigger is better) | 1884/6504 | 1847/5962 | 2389/8862 | 3708/9117 |
Testing the graphics subsystem in game tests:
| Huawei nova 3 (HiSilicon Kirin 970) | Oppo RX17 Pro (Qualcomm Snapdragon 710) | Meizu 16th (Qualcomm Snapdragon 845) | Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (Samsung Exynos 9810) | |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot ES 3.1 (bigger is better) | 2887 | 1851 | 4129 | 3348 |
| 3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot Ex Vulkan (bigger is better) | 3449 | — | 3286 | 2840 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen, fps) | 36 | 20 | 46 | 25 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 39 | 23 | 48 | 45 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen, fps) | 60 | 55 | 60 | 60 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 109 | 65 | 127 | 146 |
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.
| Huawei nova 3 (HiSilicon Kirin 970) | Oppo RX17 Pro (Qualcomm Snapdragon 710) | Meizu 16th (Qualcomm Snapdragon 845) | Samsung Galaxy Note 9 (Samsung Exynos 9810) | |
| Mozilla Kraken (ms, less is better) | 6543 | 3837 | 2286 | 2687 |
| Google Octane 2 (bigger is better) | 7348 | 10127 | 16885 | 15042 |
| JetStream (bigger is better) | 34 | 50 | 88 | 65 |
AndroBench memory speed test results:
Heat
Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 15 minutes of fighting with a gorilla in the game Injustice 2 (this test is also used to determine autonomy in 3D games):
The heating is localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 43 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is slightly higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.
Playing video
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.
| Format | Container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Standard video player |
| 1080p H.264 | MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24 fps, AAC | plays normally | plays normally |
| 1080p H.264 | MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24 fps, AC3 | plays normally | no sound |
| 1080p H.265 | MKV, H.265 1920×1080, 24 fps, AAC | plays normally | plays normally |
| 1080p H.265 | MKV, H.265 1920×1080, 24 fps, AC3 | plays normally | no sound |
Further testing of video playback was performed by Alexey Kudryavtsev .
This unit does not appear to support DisplayPort Alt Mode for USB Type-C—outputting image and sound to an external device when connected to a USB port—which was discovered using USB Type-C → HDMI adapters from Choetech and Tronsmart CTHA1. Therefore, we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on 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 “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:
| File | Uniformity | Passes |
| 4K/60p (H.265) | Great | No |
| 4K/50p (H.265) | Great | No |
| 4K/30p (H.265) | Great | No |
| 4K/25p (H.265) | Great | No |
| 4K/24p (H.265) | Great | No |
| 4K/30p | Great | No |
| 4K/25p | Great | No |
| 4K/24p | Great | No |
| 1080/60p | Great | No |
| 1080/50p | Great | No |
| 1080/30p | Great | No |
| 1080/25p | Great | No |
| 1080/24p | Great | No |
| 720/60p | Great | No |
| 720/50p | Great | No |
| 720/30p | Great | No |
| 720/25p | Great | No |
| 720/24p | Great | No |
Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips have green ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect comfort viewing. Red marks indicate possible problems with 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 very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping 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 at the height of the screen (in landscape orientation), 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 shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights, which is required for correct playback of typical video files. Note that this smartphone has support for hardware decoding of H.265 files with a color depth of 10 bits per color, while the output of gradients on the screen is carried out with slightly better quality than in the case of 8-bit files (however, this is not proof of true 10-bit resolution). bit output). HDR files play back, but colors appear too pale.
Battery life
The non-removable battery installed in the Huawei nova 3 has a high capacity of 3750 mAh, but the hero of the review does not demonstrate such an outstanding level of autonomy; it barely surpasses the same Honor 10 with its 3400 mAh battery in this indicator. Obviously, the whole point is in the not very economical hardware platform on which both devices operate.
In real life, the device behaves the same as everyone else: it survives until evening charging, it can last a day, but you can’t count on more.
Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.
| Battery capacity | Reading mode | Video mode | 3D Game Mode | |
| Huawei Nova 3 | 3750 mAh | 15:40 | 11:00 am | 6:00 am |
| Oppo RX17 Pro | 3700 mAh | 19:30 | 15:00 | 5 h. 30 m. |
| Meizu 16th | 3010 mAh | 12:30 pm | 10:00 am | 5 h. 30 m. |
| Samsung Galaxy Note 9 | 4000 mAh | 18:00 | 13:00 | 3 hours 45 minutes |
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 about 15.5 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 up to 6 hours, depending on the specific game.
The smartphone supports SuperCharge fast charging; it charges from its own AC adapter in about 2 hours with an initial current of 1.8 A 9 V; towards the end of charging, these values naturally drop.
Bottom line
The official price for Huawei nova 3 in Russian retail was 30 thousand rubles, and although after the New Year it dropped to 27 thousand, it is obvious: Huawei has stopped pleasing Russians with affordable prices, believing that “they will buy it anyway.” Honor, in the same price niche, has the Honor 10, which is as similar in characteristics as possible, so there is nothing unique about the Huawei nova 3. Appearance, filling, cost - everything is at the level that has already become familiar to Huawei/Honor. The smartphone is not bad in its own way, but we couldn’t find any “zest” in it. We expected increased autonomy with such a battery, but these expectations were not met, and the camera doublets were not impressive. Nova 3 is a good smartphone, higher and more expensive than the average, but it is interesting to purchase only in promotions and with bonuses.
Autonomy
The Honor 10 smartphone is powered by a 3400 mAh battery, while the Nova has a 3750 mAh battery. The difference is insignificant, a full charge will be enough for a full day of work. In the evening you will need to set it up to recharge.
Smartphones support fast charging. You can replenish the charge to 50% in half an hour. There is no wireless charging.
