Huawei Nova (CAN-L11) review: Chinese mid-range smartphone

In the era of sanctions, Huawei continues to release new smartphones. Huawei nova 5T appeared strictly on schedule, although it took quite a long time to reach stores: it was announced back in August, and went on sale only towards the end of November.

In essence - and in terms of characteristics - Huawei nova 5T repeats the spring hit Honor 20: a quad camera with three focal lengths, last year's flagship Kirin 980 platform, a 6.26-inch screen with a hole for the front camera, a relatively compact body with a fingerprint scanner on the side edges. A beautiful and well-designed gadget - is it capable of impressing this fall?

⇡#Technical characteristics

Huawei nova phone: screen characteristics and picture quality

The characteristics of the Huawei nova screen can be found on the website of any IM, so we won’t dwell on them for long.
All display characteristics are in the table, but we will focus on real screen performance indicators - brightness, contrast, black depth, color accuracy and readability in the sun. Huawei nova screen: characteristics

The Huawei nova screen produces deep black color - 0.25 cd/m2 . The brightness is at an average level ( 385 nits ), but due to the good black depth, an excellent contrast is obtained - 1540:1 . Readability in the sun leaves much to be desired, which is explained by the low brightness.

The correctness of the color gamut is assessed using the color accuracy coefficient, DeltaE, which shows the degree of deviation from the standard. The Huawei nova screen reproduces colors well, but not perfectly. Average DeltaE 6.7 (the lower the better).
Using calibration, you can improve color accuracy and reduce DeltaE to 4.8, reducing the proportion of the blue part of the spectrum and increasing the saturation of warm tones. Huawei nova screen test results in the table: Huawei nova: screen tests at 100% brightness

Huawei nova: chipset characteristics and benchmark comparison

The Huawei nova processor is Snapdragon 625 , one of the coolest and most economical chipsets at the moment, and not only in the “budget” and “middle class” categories. The chipset is manufactured using 14 nm , which guarantees modest power consumption with virtually no heating, even under heavy load.
And where there is no heating, there is no throttling - a drop in clock frequency due to overheating. Huawei nova phone: chipset specifications

The downside to these savings is modest computing power. All eight S625 cores are built on the Cortex A53 . The reference architecture is optimized for solving simple tasks with minimal battery consumption. There are no cores with maximum processing power (Cortex A72 or A73) in the chipset, and this is reflected in the results in benchmarks. (Read more about Snapdragon 625).

In tests that test the power of a single core, the Snapdragon 625 consistently loses to competitors with faster chipsets, and loses a lot. We see a similar picture in complex synthetic tests that evaluate the overall performance of the phone. The Adreno 506 graphics adapter cannot be called the fastest either.

To evaluate the performance of Huawei nova, let's compare it with its competitors.
For these purposes, we selected 8 smartphones: 3 Huawei models on HiSilicon Kirin chipsets, two Xiaomi Redmi Notes on Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets, and one each from Meizu, Sony and Galaxy on Helio X20, Snapdragon 650 and Exynos 7420, respectively. Technical characteristics of competitors selected for comparison with Huawei nova are in the table: Huawei nova processor: comparison with competitors

And now the test results with short comments from the Five-Inches editors. GeekBench 3 evaluates the processing power of the central processing unit (CPU). Testing is carried out in two modes - Single-Core (one core is used) and Multi-Core (multitasking mode, all cores are working). In Single-Core mode, phones powered by Snapdragon 625 take last place - not surprising, since there are no “fast” cores in the chipset. Note. Charts are not displayed correctly in the Samsung Internet browser and some built-in browsers on mobile platforms. We recommend opening the publication in Google Chrome, Opera or Firefox.

Comparison of Huawei nova in GeekBench 3 (single-core)

In the GeekBench 3 Multi-Core benchmark, smartphones based on the S625, including the hero of our review, Huawei nova, are ahead of phones based on the 650 Dragon, since it simply has fewer cores (six versus eight), but they naturally lose to devices on more powerful chipsets with the same or a large number of cores (Helio X20, Exynos 7420, Kirin 950 and Kirin 955).

Comparison of Huawei nova in GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Comparing Huawei nova in comprehensive synthetic tests AnTuTu 6 and BaseMark OS 2.0 gives an idea of ​​​​the overall speed of the phone. We see a familiar picture - smartphones on chips with fast cores are ahead, even if there are fewer cores than the Huawei nova. The number of cores does not always reflect the potential of the phone; the processor architecture is still more important.

Comparison of Huawei nova in AnTuTu 6

Huawei nova comparison in BaseMark OS 2.0

A comparison of the capabilities of the graphics adapter has finally confirmed the balance of power - Huawei nova is inferior to competitors on powerful chips and is ahead (or is on equal terms) with phones on comparable platforms.

Comparison of Huawei nova in GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Huawei nova comparison in BaseMark X

As you can see, Huawei nova on S625 is not the fastest device. However, there is enough potential for comfortable work in any mode. Games will run at medium settings, while the phone will remain cool and will not slow down due to overheating. If you need absolute leaders in speed, it is better to look for them among smartphones with other chipsets.

⇡#Design, ergonomics and software

Huawei nova 5T picks up the general fashion for glass smartphones with iridescent backs. Today you won’t surprise anyone with them, but it always looks impressive if the manufacturer is not shy about painting gadgets in bright colors. Huawei isn't shy. Nova 5T also exists in black, but it is not sold in Russia. Our “novas” are available only in purple (“summer purple”) and blue (“deep blue”) colors, and, as usual, the words “blue” or “purple” do not fully describe the real impression of the gradient color. But they differ quite radically from each other - in the purple version, a design consisting of the letters n, o, v and a is placed on the body, while the blue one, which we received for testing, is devoid of it and looks more traditional.

Huawei nova 5T color options

The frame of Huawei nova 5T is made of metal, painted to match the back, with plastic antenna veins and a flat power key, which is combined with a fingerprint scanner. The edges are rounded, but the back is not curved - the smartphone is comfortable to hold in your hand, and at the same time you are not particularly afraid of dropping it, even despite the fact that it has a slippery body. The relatively small dimensions also have an effect: 154.3 × 74 × 7.9 mm.

Huawei nova 5T, front panel: in the upper left corner is the front camera, in the center above the screen is a speaker with a status indicator

The combination of a moderate diagonal screen (6.26 inches) and an almost complete absence of frames made it possible to make the gadget compact. The nova 5T does not set records for the percentage of the front surface covered by the screen, such as, for example, the flagship Mate 30 Pro - at least there is a rather prominent “chin” here, but this is quite enough to make the smartphone seem literally “baby”, easily falling into a pocket and convenient to use.

Huawei nova 5T, rear panel: in the upper left corner there is a block of three cameras and a single LED flash, a little to the right there is an additional camera for macro photography

The camera block, despite the large number of modules, fits into the back panel quite neatly - it is a vertical plate protruding above the body, to which is added a miniature camera lens for macro photography. And the inscription AI Camera instead of Leica - it signals two things at once: artificial intelligence is used here and this is not a flagship. The license to mention the German brand applies only to the most expensive Huawei smartphones.

Huawei nova 5T, left side: slot for two nano-SIM cards

Huawei nova 5T, right side: lock key combined with a fingerprint scanner, as well as a volume key

The front camera is not hidden in the notch, but is placed in the corner of the screen. This solution annoys me a little less than the cutout that is already familiar to many, but when watching full-screen videos, this hole will certainly get in the way.

Huawei nova 5T, top edge: microphone and IR sensor

Huawei nova 5T, bottom edge: microphone, USB Type-C port and main speaker

The set and location of functional elements are not surprising: the volume key is on the right side, the SIM card slot is on the left, and the USB Type-C port is on the bottom. There is not enough mini-jack - and this is a pure tribute to fashion: there is no moisture protection here either.

The fingerprint scanner is located, I repeat, on the side, in the power/lock key of the smartphone, slightly recessed into the body. Such a design is always fraught with problems due to the small coverage area, which Sony failed several times when it used scanners of this type in Xperia smartphones. I did not notice any problems with the operation of the scanner on the Huawei nova 5T - it recognizes fingerprints quickly and stably, and during two weeks of testing there was no need to rewrite fingerprints. But there is a small problem with the sensitivity of the sensor. More precisely, hypersensitivity - several times, putting the smartphone in my pocket, I accidentally touched the sensor on the key with my hand and thereby unlocked the device - then in my pocket it began to live its own life: taking pictures, trying to call somewhere, typing messages in the messenger. Nothing irreparable happened, but you need to be careful with him.

In addition to the fingerprint scanner, Huawei nova 5T also supports facial recognition. No frills, only due to the front camera - this method cannot boast of particular reliability, but everything is stable and fast.

Screenshot gallery

Huawei nova 5T runs a full-fledged Andrid 9.1 Pie - with Google Services and all the familiar experience of interacting with a smartphone. Another thing is that the latest EMUI 10 shell, which is friendly with Android 10, has not reached it either. That is, for example, there is no dark theme here (in EMUI 9.1). Whether the nova 5T will be updated to the latest Android with the latest EMUI is not known.

Appearance

The first impression of a gadget is very important, and, to some extent, it is the appearance that determines whether a smartphone will be recognizable among thousands or will be lost among many nondescript models. The last option is definitely not a threat to the new product. Just look at the back cover! In the light it shimmers with all the colors of the rainbow, highlighting the glossy brand inscription from certain angles. The designers made a knight's move, making the smartphone both catchy and very discreet, because the matte surface in the absence of light turns into a solid gray texture with barely noticeable tints. I would not dare to call this color any one color, having settled on a chameleon, but the manufacturer calls this color “Powdery pink”.

The design of the camera block is reminiscent of the renders of the recently shown Huawei P50, only in real life it looks more compact and not as massive as the upcoming flagship.

The new product also adopted the sloping edges of the display from Huawei’s flagship models. They're not so strong that they cause accidental clicks or severe white distortion, but still provide a great edge-to-edge experience when consuming content.

There are almost equal indentations at the top and bottom, but it seems to me that the chin at the bottom protrudes a little more than the frame at the top. But the hole for the front camera could be smaller.

Among the shortcomings - there is no DC Dimming to eliminate flickering, which is why screenshots can be

watch the stripes

I have no complaints about the quality of the screen; the clear and bright OLED matrix with a high resolution of 2340×1080 and a pixel density of 392 ppi performs well in bright light. Separately, I would like to note the correctly calibrated display out of the box and correctly working auto-brightness.

The physical controls are laid out concisely: on the right side there is a power button and a volume rocker, on the bottom there is a Type-C connector, a microphone and a multimedia speaker, on the top there is a slot for two SIM cards (with support for proprietary memory cards from Huawei) and a microphone for noise reduction .

The flagship attribute is the lack of a 3.5 mm headphone jack, the mid-budget attribute is the lack of stereo sound

The included transparent silicone case, although quite simple and thin, does not cover the unusual appearance of the smartphone and has a protective edge near the camera block and small bulges on the screen.

⇡#Display and sound

Huawei nova 5T has a 6.26-inch LCD display with an IPS matrix with a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels (19.5:9 format). At a time when OLED panels are actively spreading not only among flagships, but also in middle-class smartphones, it looks like one of the weak links of the model. The matrix itself is not bad, with a sufficient pixel density (412 ppi) and free viewing angles: neither contrast nor color rendition is greatly distorted.

The touch coating responds to 10 simultaneous touches. The oleophobic coating is not bad, a protective film is glued to the screen by default, it is not necessary to remove it right away - it will gradually get scratched, but this will happen in a month or two.

The problem with any LCD display is the contrast level, which prevents you from getting perfect blacks when viewing videos and images. By IPS standards, the nova 5T's screen is doing well - 1186:1, but it's not worth talking about truly deep blacks.

The measured maximum brightness level is 434 cd/m2 - a low figure for an LCD matrix. Combined with the relatively low contrast ratio, this can create some discomfort when using the phone in bright sunlight. In fact, you can use the nova 5T in bright lighting conditions. Reading and texting is generally no problem, but the colors fade somewhat and the pictures don’t look as impressive.

In the screen settings, you can turn on eye protection (mode with the warmest colors), adjust the resolution (HD or Full HD) or font size, and change the color rendering - choose between two profiles (“normal” and “bright”) or set the desired one you color temperature. I measured color rendering in exactly two preset profiles without individual temperature adjustment.

Huawei nova 5T, gamma curves and color temperature in Vivid color mode. Blue line – nova 5T indicators, dotted line – reference temperature

Huawei nova 5T, color gamut in vivid color mode. Gray triangle – sRGB coverage, white triangle – nova 5T coverage

By default, the Huawei nova 5T screen operates in bright mode. The color range in it is expanded and is very close to the DCI-P3 standard. The average gamma level is more or less within normal limits (2.10), but the curves deviate too much from the truth in light colors and generally behave unstable. The color temperature is very high and varies in the range from 8,000 to 10,700 K. The average deviation for the extended Color Checker palette (shades of gray + a wide range of color shades) is 6.78, with the upper limit of the norm being 3.00. The picture is bright, rich and very cold.

Huawei nova 5T, gamma in normal color mode. Yellow line – nova 5T indicators, dotted line – reference range

Huawei nova 5T, color temperature in normal color mode. Blue line – nova 5T indicators, dotted line – reference temperature

Huawei nova 5T, color gamut in normal color mode. Gray triangle – sRGB coverage, white triangle – nova 5T coverage

For those who like high-quality color reproduction, there is a regular color mode. In it, however, the gamma is even worse - 1.94 with similar behavior of the curves. But the color temperature curve is much more stable and stays around 7,000 K, sometimes dropping to the reference 6,500 K. The average DeltaE deviation for the Color Checker palette is 3.76. This is just a little short of the norm. In general, the quality of the display settings is slightly above average.

Huawei nova 5T does not have an analog audio jack, but the kit includes an adapter from USB Type-C to a 3.5 mm port. The sound quality when transmitted over a wire is quite ordinary. For wireless signal transmission, all necessary Bluetooth profiles are supported - aptX, aptX HD, LDAC. The external speaker is monophonic, located on the lower edge - it is not very loud, the sound quality is average.

Huawei nova smartphone: battery and autonomy rating

The Huawei nova battery with a capacity of 3020 mAh may seem weak to some, but here you need to take into account other factors that determine the autonomy of the smartphone. The 5-inch Huawei nova screen will not consume too much energy. The Snapdragon 625 chipset, manufactured according to the 14 nm process technology, also helps to increase the phone's operating time on a single charge.

Snapdragon 625 is one of the most economical chipsets, which is confirmed by the test results of various smartphones.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 on S625 beats battery life ratings for phones with a 5.5-inch display. Huawei nova shows a not so outstanding, but very good result: with the screen active, the phone is discharged in 10-11 hours. Operating time of a Huawei nova smartphone on a single charge.

84-hour battery life rating means that if you talk on the phone for 1 hour, watch videos for 1 hour, and surf the Internet for 1 hour in a day, the Huawei nova will last more than three days. Please note that the battery tests were performed in Performance mode, which is optimized for maximum performance. By turning on Standard mode, we get a couple more hours. In Ultra Power Saving mode, the Huawei nova smartphone should last much longer.

⇡#Hardware and performance

Huawei nova 5T is based on last year's main platform of the company, HiSilicon Kirin 980. It consists of eight cores: two ARM Cortex-A76 clocked at 2.6 GHz + two ARM Cortex-A76 clocked at 1.92 GHz + four ARM Cortex -A55 with a clock speed of 1.8 GHz. Graphics subsystem – ARM Mali-G76 MP10 with a clock frequency of 720 MHz. Technological process – 7 nm.

In terms of performance, Huawei nova 5T cannot compete with the flagships of 2021, but the available reserve is quite enough to not worry about running any games on the smartphone - albeit not always with the maximum frame rate. Yes, of course, a special gaming mode with the GPU Turbo 3.0 add-on helps - I would not call the nova 5T an ideal gaming smartphone, but in its price category it looks very decent. There is also enough RAM for a smartphone with a Full HD screen - 6 GB LPDDR4X.

The cooling system is the weak point of the Huawei nova 5T. In the CPU Throttling Test, operating frequencies are reduced to 60% within 8-10 minutes after the start of testing, and the average performance level is 116 GIPS. This is why we can talk about possible drops in frame rate in demanding games at a distance.

Kirin traditionally copes well with applications that work with neural network computing, and the Ludashi AI Mark synthetic test demonstrates this. In fact, Huawei nova 5T is second only to devices powered by Snapdragon 865 and remains at the same level as last year’s flagships. You can evaluate the speed of operations using machine learning and “by eye” - the smartphone processes photos with the participation of AI very quickly, the delay is almost unnoticeable.

Huawei nova 5T comes with one storage option - 128 GB (UFS 2.1). Acceptable, but you will have to monitor the memory; there is no expansion slot using a microSD card in the smartphone. It won’t be possible to install all the games at once and not upload photos and videos to the cloud at all.

Huawei Nova 3 and Honor 10: comparison of design and size

You can visually identify the manufacturer’s creations by their size: Huawei Nova 3 is a real giant, 157 x 73.7 mm, while number 10 is almost a centimeter shorter and a little slimmer, 149.6 x 71.2 mm. The differences in thickness are minimal, 7.3 mm from 7.7 is impossible to notice by touch, the weight is similar (166 and 153 g, respectively), the battery is comparable (3750 and 3400 mAh).

If we compare the body of Huawei Nova 3 and Honor 10, we will see the same approach: take glass and decorate it with signature shimmers. Nova is available in black, red and purple.

The 10 comes in black, ice grey, and two shimmer options. In the latter, green and blue shades flow into one another.

It’s difficult to say which is better “from the face” - both Huawei Nova 3 and Honor 10 have acquired a unibrow, which not everyone likes.

⇡#Communications and wireless communications

Huawei nova 5T has a dual SIM card slot - both work with nano-SIM and support LTE. In this case, of course, there is only one radio module - simultaneous actions from two SIM cards are not possible. The manufacturer does not indicate the speed of the LTE modem, but most likely we are talking about the 4th category with a maximum download speed of 150 Mbit/s - at least this was the case with the Honor 20, which was almost identical in hardware. Subjective impressions indicate the same - The smartphone keeps a stable connection, but it really cannot boast of exorbitant speed.

Huawei nova 5T, slot for two nano-SIM cards

The rest of the wireless connections are in order: there is dual-band Wi-Fi (802.11a/b/g/n/ac, works well), Bluetooth 5.0, NFC with Google Pay support, an IR sensor for working with household appliances, as well as dual-band GPS , which allows you to record a perfectly accurate track of your movements. The navigation module also works with GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, QZSS systems.

Review

In the review, I did not once again touch upon the topic of the lack of Google Service, since at the moment there are a large number of analogues of application stores. Moreover, the same AppGallery, in the absence of an application, automatically transfers to the browser version of the ApkPure store. Most of the applications I tested and used worked stably, except that a couple of benchmarks did not want to be installed. However, I'm sure workarounds can always be found. There are also no problems with prompt software updates. New versions are always displayed with a notification in the form of numbers above the Huawei branded store icon.

The overall impression of Huawei Nova 8 was extremely controversial. There are no complaints in the area of ​​tactile feedback, smooth operation and autonomy. And the smooth OLED display with high Hertz, bright and contrasting picture with correct color rendering added a plus to the collection of pleasant impressions from the operating experience. But the lack of stereo and such poor performance of the cameras caused me not even disappointment, but surprise. Huawei smartphones have always been famous for their outstanding photography capabilities, and the test sample showed a weak result, losing its main trump card.

The price of 40,000 rubles, in my opinion, is too high for a new product. For 30,000 rubles, Huawei Nova 8 would be a very attractive smartphone, but compared to competitors in a similar price segment, there are many analogues no worse.

Pros:

• recognizable design and beautiful appearance;
• bright frameless display with 90 Hz;
• quick unlocking using a fingerprint scanner under the screen;
• good performance and no throttling;
• good battery life and fast charging;
• front camera with clear images and good dynamic range.

Minuses:

• lack of stereo;
• poor performance of the main camera with a lot of noise;
• no DC Dimming;
• wide-angle module with a small viewing angle and incorrect color rendering.

Controversial points:

• no 3.5mm headphone jack;
• high price.

⇡#Camera

Huawei nova 5T received a module consisting of four cameras, but only two of them are responsible for zoom (we are talking about the wide-angle and main module), the other two are used for macro photography and assistance in portrait mode (the so-called depth sensor, which helps to qualitatively blur the background with software way, “draw bokeh”). So you shouldn’t be fascinated by quantity ahead of time - but there are no questions about quality either.

The main camera has long been familiar - it is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 module of the Quad Bayer system; this year we have already seen a lot of smartphones that received exactly this, and these were devices of very different levels (examples:, ,). The sensor dimensions are 1/2'', the size of an individual pixel is 0.8 microns. The lens aperture is ƒ/1.8, the equivalent focal length is 26 mm. There is no optical stabilizer, autofocus is phase detection. And this is the only camera of the four that has autofocus. The default image is displayed with a resolution of 12 megapixels, but you can also activate shooting using all 48 million subpixels.

The second camera is a 16-megapixel wide-angle module with a 1/3.1'' sensor and ƒ/2.2 aperture optics. Focal length – 13 mm. In this mode, the smartphone demonstrates a very good viewing angle and is capable of producing a picture of very decent quality - primarily in daylight. In the dark, the wide-angle module does not have enough aperture. Spatial distortions, inevitable for wide-angle optics, are compensated by software. The Huawei nova 5T has a 2x zoom available - but exclusively “digital”, due to cropping from a photo taken with the maximum (48 megapixel) resolution. It works well, but it’s not that difficult to notice a decrease in detail, especially when looking at the image on a computer monitor or TV. The quality drops even more noticeably when shooting in low light. And even the main camera does not show outstanding results - this is due to the lack of an optical stabilizer that would allow “pulling out” details by lengthening the shutter speed rather than increasing the ISO. The detail will be at an average level, but you can take an unblurred photo.

Of course, the proprietary night mode comes to the rescue, in which the smartphone takes several pictures with different exposures, then combining them into one frame. In this case, the dynamic range expands greatly, details appear in both light and dark areas of the frame. Nevertheless, taking pictures at night and then posting them on social networks is a completely accessible scenario for the owner of a nova 5T.

The third camera is responsible exclusively for macro photography. This is a two-megapixel module with an aperture of ƒ/2.4, allowing you to shoot from a distance of 4 cm from the subject. But no further - the focus is fixed exactly at this distance, it is impossible to change. Finding the right distance is not so easy; macro photography on the Huawei nova 5T requires a fair amount of patience. The resolution of pictures taken with the macro module is 1600 × 1200 pixels.

The fourth camera is another two-megapixel module. This is not a TOF camera, and there is no dot projector. It’s difficult to say how it affects the result when shooting portraits or other scenes with software background blur (this option is available), but the result is not bad - the separation of the object and the background is done correctly, there are artifacts, but not very significant. In portrait mode, you can adjust the beauty and choose one of three available focal lengths - the latter seems very useful.

We have talked about the work of “artificial intelligence” in Huawei smartphone cameras many times. And they talked a lot about the constant progress of the Chinese in this area. After the first experiments, which rather caused bewilderment and a desire to immediately disable the add-on, we came to a point where AI works relatively accurately - not so much as not to notice the difference between frames using neural networks and without machine learning, but already facing a difficult choice: naturalness with faded colors or selectively increased saturation and sharpness. I have not encountered any artifacts from the use of AI in the case of nova 5T - in all situations the system works quite correctly.

The camera application is common for smartphones with EMUI version nine. There is an augmented reality mode with the ability to display Animoji on the screen instead of yourself, and to apply various masks to your face. A “professional” mode with manual settings is available, but without the ability to shoot in RAW. There is HDR (which must be enabled separately; in the basic format it is disabled; instead, an AI assistant works, whose arsenal of techniques includes shooting with multiple exposures) and panorama stitching.

Gallery of pictures

Huawei nova 5T can shoot 4K video at up to 30 frames per second and Full HD at up to 60 frames per second, digital stabilization is available even when shooting at maximum resolution. You can also zoom the image while shooting. There are recording modes with intelligent color highlighting and background blur, slow motion is available at up to 960 fps with a resolution of 720p and 120 fps with Full HD resolution.

Example of video recording in Full HD resolution (concert)

Example of video shooting in 4K resolution

The front camera has a 32-megapixel sensor with an ƒ/2.0 aperture lens, without autofocus and flash. The shooting quality is very good in normal lighting and satisfactory in dim artificial light. Fixed focus is set correctly, spatial distortion from wide-angle optics is at an acceptable level.

Camera

I want to dwell on the photographic capabilities of the new product in more detail, since they are often the main trump card of Huawei smartphones in comparison with competitors in the same price category. The main 64 MP sensor takes detailed photos, but I have a few complaints about it. Firstly, strong oversharpening makes the picture “loose” and artificially adding sharpness does not always benefit the photograph. Secondly, the white balance is not determined correctly, and the white color comes out with an admixture of magenta. And thirdly, HDR can work perfectly, and sometimes the pictures will come out with obvious darkened areas. Moreover, the algorithm always works in automatic mode, and there is no manual activation option in the camera menu.

Night photography works great. If in automatic mode the frame is too noisy with a strong contrast of dark and light areas, then the long shutter speed algorithms used remove noise and significantly improve the picture as a whole.

The second and last working sensor of the new product is wide-angle with a resolution of 8 megapixels. Its problem with oversharpening is even more pronounced than that of the main module. Moreover, the colors are sometimes very different from the main module, as shown in the example below at the very end of the gallery.

In the last two photos you can evaluate the difference in color rendering and capture angle between the main and wide-angle modules

But the selfie camera with a resolution of 32 megapixels pleased with good detail, dynamic range and color rendition. Even in low light, it does not produce a noisy picture.

The other two sensors are a depth sensor for portraits and a macro lens, both 2MP. The lack of a good telephoto lens could be compensated for by the rather greater functionality that the stock camera offers. There is also slow motion with a frame rate of 240 FPS, a “live photo” (analogous to Live Photo on the iPhone), and most importantly, a professional mode with the ability to shoot in 16-bit uncompressed RAW format. True, the output is dng files that are far from the original in color rendition. To “reveal” them, you will definitely need a third-party program and a lot of work with color. Such problems will discourage many from using this mode.

⇡#Autonomous work

Huawei nova 5T received a battery with a capacity of 14.25 Wh (3750 mAh, 3.8 V). It seems to be not bad, taking into account the relatively small screen by modern standards, but the device does not shine with autonomy. With active use, the charge is barely enough to last during daylight hours—the nova 5T will have to be charged once every 9-10 hours. In case of extreme load in non-stop mode, the battery will run out in 6-7 hours - keep an external battery ready.

In our traditional test with HD video playback, at maximum brightness, with Wi-Fi turned on and auto-update, the smartphone lasted just over 10 hours - normal for a device with an LCD display.

For charging, the current USB Type-C port (USB 2.0 standard) is used and the proprietary Huawei Super Charge fast charging system (4.5V/4A) works, which allows you to fill the battery by 50% in half an hour. It takes approximately an hour and a half to fully charge the device. Wireless charging is not supported.

Our review of Huawei Nova

Huawei Nova left a positive impression during the review. The smartphone is quite balanced and interesting in many ways. The camera, screen, sound in headphones, thickness of the case are the strengths of the device. Although the hardware is not top-end, its capabilities are sufficient for modern tasks.

A direct competitor to Huawei Nova, Samsung Galaxy A5 2021 looks more interesting in terms of camera, is made of glass, but has slower hardware. Due to the fact that the A5 2021 has dropped slightly in price (due to the imminent announcement of a more advanced version) and is now more affordable than the Nova, it looks more attractive in some respects. However, it’s up to you to decide, because a smartphone is a very personal thing.

For a little more money than the hero of the review costs, you can look for the Meizu Pro 6S, equipped with a similar camera, more powerful hardware, but its chipset is not as energy efficient. Roughly the same applies to Xiaomi Mi5/Mi5S: a top-end processor is good, but it does not have the best effect on battery life.

Communication and Internet

Huawei Nova is equipped with a hybrid card slot, which allows you to use two SIM cards or a SIM card + flash drive, respectively. Only one SIM supports operation in LTE networks. There are Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 interfaces, and there is also an NFC module, which allows you to make contactless payments.

There are no problems with geolocation systems - GPS and GLONASS; during testing we observed both operational connection to satellites and accurate positioning. Synchronization with external peripherals using the USB-C standard is also supported.

Screen

With FHD resolution, the five-inch screen has a pixel density of 443 ppi, which ensures excellent image sharpness. The color rendition is natural - the black color is well-developed, the white does not turn yellow.

The only thing we can complain about is that the viewing angles are not the highest - when tilted, the picture is inverted and loses brightness, but in practice this does not interfere at all.

We also add a good brightness range, high contrast and an effective oleophobic coating to the Huawei Nova screen. Overall, this is an excellent display in its class.

Speaker, sound quality

The main speaker of the smartphone cannot boast of a large volume reserve, but it sounds quite high quality. Music is played clearly, without a squeaky tint, but the low frequencies are still lacking. Excellent for watching video content.

The sound in the headphones is not bad, traditionally for all smartphones with Snapdragon processors. There are many pre-installed sound enhancers, but we do not recommend using them, the situation is not changing for the better.

Price and main characteristics

Smartphones of the Nova line (the hero of our review and the Plus model with a screen enlarged to 5.5”) are already officially sold in Russia; you can purchase the device from official resellers for 23 thousand rubles.

Huawei Nova is available in one version, which has the following technical characteristics:

• display: 5”, IPS FHD 1920*1080 px;
• processor: Snapdragon 625 (2 GHz) + Cortex A53 video accelerator;
• RAM: 3 GB;
• internal memory: 32 GB + micro SDXC flash cards up to 128 GB;
• camera: main – 12 MP, front – 8 MP;
• communication: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, LTE;
• battery: 3020 mAh.

Smartphone size – 141*69*7.1 mm, weight – 145 grams. There are 3 color options on sale - gold, silver and gray.

Smartphone performance

The Huawei Nova platform is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, which has 14 nm manufacturing technology. Its structure includes 8 cores with a total power of 2.0 GHz. To process the image, an Adreno 506 graphics video accelerator is used, which has an operating frequency of 650 MHz.

3 gigabytes of RAM are available for working with programs, and 32 gigabytes of internal memory are available for storing them, but this is not the limit. The main memory can be increased by installing an additional memory card. Upon purchase, the user has access to about 24 gigabytes of memory. The rest is occupied by the system and standard programs. When free, the RAM capacity is 1.9 GB.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 platform belongs to the technical equipment of the mid-price segment, but this does not affect the performance of the smartphone. There is enough power to operate the phone and support modern games. It is worth noting that Huawei models have never had problems with games. Smartphones have always been in line with modern trends.

The Huawei Nova review proves that this is an excellent smartphone model with a unique appearance and extensive technical capabilities. Performance allows you to work with powerful programs and games. All this can be obtained if you buy a phone for a relatively low price.