At the end of July, Huawei Consumer Business Group presented to the Russian market new smartphones of its Nova series, which appeared just a year ago: they were the Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus models. Smartphones received three body color options and a rich set additional opportunities including a unique front-facing camera and a new audio system. The dual main camera of both models, assembled from 12-megapixel and 8-megapixel modules, has a professional portrait mode, while the 20-megapixel front camera provides high quality self-portraits, expanding the creative possibilities of users. Today we present detailed review the simplest and at the same time the most balanced of these two models is the Huawei Nova 2.
Main characteristics of Huawei Nova 2 (model PIC-LX9)
- SoC HiSilicon Kirin 659, 8 cores Cortex-A53 ( [email protected], 4 GHz + [email protected], 7 GHz)
- GPU Mali-T830 (MP2)
- Operating system Android 7.0, EMUI 5.1
- 5 ″ IPS touchscreen display, 1920 × 1080, 443 ppi
- Random access memory (RAM) 4 GB, internal memory 64 GB
- Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
- MicroSD support up to 128GB
- GSM / GPRS / EDGE networks (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
- WCDMA / HSPA + networks (850/900/1900/2100 MHz)
- LTE Cat.6 FDD (B1 / 3/4/7/8/20), TD (B38)
- Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n (2.4 GHz)
- Bluetooth 4.2
- GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
- USB Type-C, USB OTG
- 12MP main camera, f / 1.8 wide-angle lens, autofocus, 1080p video
- Additional camera 8 MP, f / 2.4 telephoto lens
- Front-camera 20 MP, f / 2.0, fixed focus
- Proximity sensor, lighting, magnetic field, fingerprint, accelerometer, gyroscope, step counter
- Battery 2950 mAh
- Dimensions 142 x 69 x 6.9 mm
- Weight 142 g
Appearance and usability
The design of the latest Huawei smartphones does not differ much from each other: they all have the same iPhone-like slick style of an all-metal body streamlined on all sides with strongly rounded corners in plan. The developers do not hide the fact that the entire line of small, but technically well-equipped Nova smartphones is designed primarily for a female audience.
Huawei Nova 2 has an aluminum-magnesium body that is durable, thin and light enough. There are no plastic inserts in the metal case, external antennas are customarily laid in outer grooves covered with composite material. The surface of the anodized aluminum is matte, slightly rough, with practically no fingerprints left on it.
The smartphone is not large in size, it fits comfortably in the hand, does not slip out, does not drag out pockets. Such a device can be called elegant by modern standards.
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The rear panel houses a dual camera module with flash. The flash is single, consists of one LED, but it shines quite brightly.
The fingerprint sensor is only slightly recessed (only 0.1 mm deep). The fingerprint scanner is protected from dirt and dust and fits well with the overall look of the device. There are no complaints about the work of the scanner, you can bring your finger at any angle.
The front panel is completely covered with 2.5D glass with angled edges. In the upper part above the screen, sensors, a peephole of the front camera, and an LED event indicator are habitually located. Its small, barely perceptible dot shines almost in the middle above the speaker grille.
There are no hardware control buttons under the screen, but you can customize a set of buttons in the panel on the screen.
The side keys are larger than you might expect and are quite stiff. The buttons got different surfaces in texture, but they are the same to the touch.
The side slot for cards is hybrid: a Nano-SIM card is inserted into one of the slots, a microSD memory card or, in the case of a Dual SIM modification, a second Nano-SIM format SIM card, into the other. The sled is not metal, but plastic, in which the cards are held and do not fall out.
The bottom end is given for a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a spoken microphone hole, a main speaker output and a USB Type-C connector. Thus, there is nothing on the top but the auxiliary microphone hole. There is also no infrared transmitter familiar to smartphones from this manufacturer for emulating the remote control.
The Huawei Nova 2 is available in Black (Graphite Black), Gold (Prestige Gold) and Blue. Unlike many manufacturers, Huawei designers decided not to paint the front panel of the Nova 2 to match the overall color of the case - it can only be black or white.
Screen
Huawei Nova 2 is equipped with an IPS display with 2.5D protective glass. The dimensions of the screen are approximately 62 × 110 mm with a diagonal of 5 inches. The resolution is 1920 × 1080, the density of the pixels is about 443 ppi.
Display brightness can be manually adjusted or used automatic settings based on the operation of the ambient light sensor. Multi-touch tests diagnose support for 6-9 simultaneous touches, but none of the tests showed all 10. The screen supports working with gloves, but this mode should be looked for not in the section about the screen, but in the button control settings.
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A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the "Monitors" and "Projectors and TV" sections Alexey Kudryavtsev... Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.
The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface, resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than that of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Huawei Nova 2, then they can be distinguished by their size):
The screen of Huawei Nova 2 is noticeably darker (brightness in photographs is 104 versus 118 for Nexus 7). The doubling of reflected objects in the screen of Huawei Nova 2 is very weak, which 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-type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense ambient light, but their repair in the case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen, there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which is better in efficiency than that of Nexus 7. Therefore, fingerprints are removed here much easier, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.
At manual control brightness and when displaying the white field on the whole screen, the maximum brightness value was about 500 cd / m², the minimum - 2 cd / m². The maximum brightness is high, and given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider, with which the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. We increased the brightness to the desired level in complete darkness and found that in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 12 cd / m2, in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 550 lux) it sets to 180 cd / m2, in a very bright environment (corresponds to outdoor lighting on a clear day, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more) increases to 500 cd / m². The result was quite satisfactory for us. It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to adjust their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.
V this smartphone the matrix of the IPS type is used. The micrographs show the typical IPS subpixel structure:
For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.
The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Huawei Nova 2 and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m2, and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K.
White field perpendicular to screens:
Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.
And the test picture:
The colors on the screen of the Huawei Nova 2 are a little oversaturated (note the bananas, tomatoes, napkin and skin tone) and the color balance is slightly different.
Now at an angle of about 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:
It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the Huawei Nova 2, the contrast decreased to a large extent due to the strong black highlighting.
And a white box:
The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but in the case of Huawei Nova 2, the brightness drop is slightly larger. When deviated diagonally, the black field is strongly lightened and acquires a slight reddish tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):
And from a different angle:
When viewed from a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is excellent:
The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1100: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 24 ms (13 ms on + 11 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 46 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points with equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.42, which is higher than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve deviates little from the power-law dependence:
This device has some kind of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image. As a result, the obtained dependence of brightness on the hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output of gray shades almost on the entire screen. For this reason, a number of tests - determining the contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - we carried out (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not single-color fields across the entire screen. It should be noted that in this case the brightness correction is poorly expressed and does not have an obvious dependence on the image, but it would be better if it did not exist at all.
The color gamut is slightly wider than sRGB:
The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components together:
As a result, visually, the colors on this screen are somewhat different from natural ones, since almost all images are designed to be displayed on display devices with sRGB coverage. The balance of shades on the gray scale is medium, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature changes little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)
This device has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.
In the graphs above, the curves Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr.- data obtained after shifting the point to the position indicated in the picture above. 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 on average. However, it doesn't make much sense to perform the correction. Note that this function is implemented in a variant rather for a show, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction, there is no field for measuring the color balance and the adjustment range is insufficient, since even at the edge of the circle you have to look for a compromise between a color temperature close to 6500 K and a minimum value of ΔE ...
To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and excellent anti-reflective properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is also acceptable to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, no air gap in the layers of the screen and no flicker, as well as high contrast and excellent uniformity of the black field. The disadvantages are low stability of black to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen, overestimated saturation of colors, as well as non-switchable dynamic adjustment of the brightness of the backlight. Nevertheless, given the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high.
Camera
The front camera module is one of the main pride of the creators of Huawei Nova 2. The fact is that the smartphone has a sensor with a very high resolution for a selfie camera of 20 megapixels, as well as a lens with an f / 2.0 aperture - albeit without its own flash and autofocus. The camera is equipped with 3D technology for accurate face recognition. The quality of the images is not bad: the image sensor has good light sensitivity, the color rendition is normal. Photos look very good on a smartphone screen, but when viewed on a computer, the level of detail is not overwhelming.
By default, this camera has a background blur mode enabled, although selfies are probably more often taken to capture a certain background and then show it to viewers. Of course, this effect can be turned off in the settings, and by default it is turned on, apparently in order to immediately impress new users with technologies.
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As the main camera, the already familiar set of two modules is used, one of which has a wide-angle lens with an f / 1.8 aperture and a 12 megapixel sensor, and the second is equipped with a telephoto lens with an f / 2.4 aperture and an 8 megapixel sensor. This allows the camera to provide 2x optical zoom and background blur with bokeh.
The menu has manual settings for photo and video shooting: shutter speed (from 1/4000 to 30 s), light sensitivity (up to ISO 3200), exposure compensation, white balance, and focusing options. They can be reached by pulling out the panel from the bottom, that is manual mode there is always at hand. There is also an opportunity to save images in RAW. The camera offers a large number of scene modes (from HDR to shooting light or food), some of which you can download yourself.
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The camera can shoot video in maximum Full HD resolution (1920 × 1080) at 30 fps, there are no 4K and 60 fps modes. The camera copes well with video shooting, but not perfect: sharpness and color rendition are in order, but the detail is not maximum, the greenery sometimes merges into a mess. The brightness is also not always enough. There are no complaints about sound recording: the sensitivity of the microphones is high, the sound is clear, loud, the noise reduction system adequately copes with the wind noise without adding noticeable distortions in the form of echoes.
- Movie # 1 (20 MB, 1920 × [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
- Movie # 2 (28 MB, 1920 × [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
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Good detail in the distant shots. |
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The camera copes well with macro photography. |
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The camera also works well for macro photography in low light. |
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Excellent edge-to-edge sharpness. |
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Quite good detail in the distant shots. |
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Good sharpness across the field and across plans. |
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The camera copes well with shooting in room lighting. |
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The text has been worked out well. |
RAW detail will not allow to increase, but expanding the dynamic range is easy.
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The camera turned out to be quite interesting. She works well, without noticeable flaws, working out details in the field of the frame and in plans. The noise is almost invisible, but the noise reduction works very moderately. Shooting in RAW, of course, does not open up many possibilities, but it cannot be called useless either: if you wish, you can tighten the exposure and highlights / shadows in the photographs taken, and this will be much more effective than when working with JPEG. As a result, the Huawei Nova 2 camera will perfectly cope with many scenarios for documentary or art shooting.
Telephone part and communications
Communication capabilities of Huawei Nova 2 include support for data transfer at speeds up to 300 Mbps in LTE networks Cat.6. In the city limits of the Moscow region, the device behaves confidently, does not lose connection in places of poor reception, and quickly re-establishes the connection. The rest of the possibilities are not so rich: Bluetooth has version 4.2, only one Wi-Fi range (2.4 GHz) is supported, there is no NFC module at all.
The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), with the domestic Glonass and with the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites during a cold start are detected within tens of seconds, the positioning accuracy is high. There is a built-in magnetic field sensor for compass operation.
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The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing phone number the search is immediately carried out by the first letters in the contacts. The methods for sorting and displaying contacts are standard for the Android interface.
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The platform does not support active waiting for both SIM cards in 3G / 4G at the same time. That is, if one card is assigned for data transmission in 3G / 4G, the other can be actively waiting in the network only in 2G. The interface in Huawei smartphones traditionally does not offer to pre-select a specific card for sending SMS, this can only be done for voice calls and data transfer. The cards work in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem here.
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Software and multimedia
As software platform the Android OS is not the most recent version 7.0 and its own shell of the latest version EMUI 5.1 - everything is the same as in other modern devices of the manufacturer. Naturally, there is the possibility of over-the-air update (OTA).
The interface is designed in its own well-recognized corporate style. It is possible to turn on the standard Android version of the launcher, which is more familiar to Europeans, with a separate program menu. Pre-installed applications many, including Sberbank's mobile bank, new Yandex programs, and several of Huawei's own utilities. There is a comprehensive Phone Manager responsible for monitoring the system, cleaning memory, scanning and protecting against viruses, blocking spam, etc.
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To listen to music, instead of the standard Google Music player, we use our own audio player with a familiar interface. All settings become available only with headphones connected, including equalizer presets. Thanks to the dedicated AK4376A audio chip, the sound has a very high maximum volume, the sound is bright, thick and rich, even at the maximum level, the speaker does not begin to wheeze. In headphones, the quality is even better, the sound is bright, rich and also very loud. 3D surround sound effect available for headphones - proprietary features Huawei Histen.
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Performance
The hardware platform of Huawei Nova 2 is based on the HiSilicon Kirin 659 SoC. The chip configuration includes eight ARM Cortex-A53 processor cores in two clusters with a maximum frequency of 2.36 and 1.7 GHz. In fact, this is an overclocked version of the SoC Kirin 655. The Kirin 659 is also made using a 16-nanometer process technology. Responsible for graphics processing is the ARM Mali-T830 (MP2) video accelerator with support for the OpenGL ES 3.2 graphics API. Volume random access memory is 4 GB, built-in flash memory - 64 GB. Of these, 1.9 GB of RAM is free and about 51.4 GB of the total memory.
The HiSilicon Kirin 659 SoC is a relatively fresh solution for mid-range smartphones and tablets. The SoC is quite productive, the level of Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, in the AnTuTu test the hero of the review demonstrates quite decent 60K-plus points, this is a confident average level.
Kirin 659 provides the system with confident performance and in real-life scenarios allows the smartphone to cope with any modern tasks. There are no problems with games either, all games we tested, including Modern Combat 5 and Mortal Kombat X, run smoothly.
Benchmarking AnTuTu and GeekBench:
All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the most recent versions of popular benchmarks, we have summarized in tables for convenience. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the resulting dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions benchmarks, so many worthy and current models- due to the fact that they once passed the "obstacle course" on the previous versions of the test programs.
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Testing the graphics subsystem in game tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:
When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).
| Huawei Nova 2 (HiSilicon Kirin 659) |
Sony Xperia XA1 (MediaTek MT 6757) |
Htc one X10 (MediaTek MT6755) |
Asus Zenfone 3 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 625) |
Nokia 5 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 430) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot ES 3.1 (more is better) | 413 | 671 | 421 | 466 | 299 |
| (Onscreen, fps) | 5,2 | 15 | 5 | 6 | 10 |
| GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 4,7 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4,6 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex(Onscreen, fps) | 20 | 32 | 17 | 22 | 20 |
| GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen, fps) | 18 | 21 | 17 | 23 | 16 |
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Browser cross-platform tests:
As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.
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AndroBench memory speed test results:
Thermal imagery
Below is a thermal image back surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:
Heating is more localized in the upper part of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 37 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is not very much.
Video playback
For testing "omnivorous" when playing video (including support for various codecs, containers and special features subtitles) We used the most common formats that make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern options at the expense of processor cores alone. Also, do not 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 tabulated.
| Format | Container, video, sound | MX Video Player | Native video player |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1080p H.264 | MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080, 24 fps, AAC | reproduced normally | reproduced normally |
| 1080p H.264 | MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080, 24 fps, AC3 | reproduced normally | |
| 1080p H.265 | MKV, H.265 1920 × 1080, 24 fps, AAC | reproduced normally | reproduced normally |
| 1080p H.265 | MKV, H.265 1920 × 1080, 24 fps, AC3 | reproduced normally | plays normally, no sound |
Further video playback testing was done by Alexey Kudryavtsev.
We could not check theoretically possible support for adapters for outputting to an external device, due to the lack of an adapter option that is connected to USB port Type C, so I had to confine myself to testing the display 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 "Testing technique for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In our tests we used the MX Player video player in the "Hardware" mode. The test results are summarized in the table:
720 / 50pNote: If both columns Uniformity and Skips green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the respective files.
According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video files playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is good, since in most cases frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. The screen refresh rate is 59 Hz, so for files with 60 fps, one frame per second is skipped. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen, one to one pixel by pixel, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: all shades are displayed in shadows and highlights.
Battery life
The non-removable battery installed in Huawei Nova 2 has a capacity of 2950 mAh - this is the average figure for today. With such a battery, the hero of the review also demonstrates average results in autonomy tests. The smartphone surprisingly did not last long in game mode, but when playing YouTube videos, the result, on the contrary, is quite satisfactory.
In real life, the device behaves in the same way as most modern smartphones: it confidently lives up to the evening charge, but you can't count on more.
Testing has traditionally been conducted at typical power consumption levels without using power saving features.
Continuous reading in the Moon + Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at the minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness was set to 100 cd / m2) with auto-scrolling lasted 13 hours until the battery was fully discharged, and with continuous viewing of high quality video (720p) with the same brightness level through the home Wi-Fi network the device operates for about 10.5 hours. In 3D games mode, the smartphone can work no more than 4 hours.
Huawei Nova 2 supports fast charging, but the test sample arrived to us without its own charging, and from a regular mains adapter (2 A 5 V) the smartphone was charged for 2 hours with a current of 1 A at a voltage of 5 V. Wireless charging the smartphone does not support.
Outcome
The model has already entered the official sale in Russia, in the Huawei branded online store for Nova 2 they ask 24 thousand rubles. This is not the most low price for a mid-range smartphone, but it still does not cause shock, it looks acceptable for a balanced solution with a neat and attractive all-metal body, good cameras, good sound and screen. With regard to communication opportunities, the lack of a second Wi-Fi range(5 GHz) and the NFC module can only be regretted - support for LTE Cat.6 does not seem to be an equivalent compensation. But in any case, this model has clearly more advantages than disadvantages, and the opportunity to get a well-equipped device in a small case can attract the attention of those who do not like large handheld devices - Huawei Nova 2 was created especially for them.
Medium smartphone market price category remains the most overpopulated segment so far. Chinese manufacturers are already breathing in the back of the head of world brands, which offer analogs that are almost identical in characteristics and design at a more favorable price.
They have a fairly large market share, the previous generations of the company's smartphones have already received hundreds of rave reviews. Next in line is the last device in the Nova line. What's behind the $ 425 price tag? Read our Huawei review Nova 2.
Price and main characteristics
Huawei Nova 2 hit the shelves of Chinese stores back in May this year. The price at the start of sales is $ 425.
Display: 5 ", LTPS 1920х1080 px (443 ppi);
processor: Kirin 659 (2.36 GHz) + Mali-T830 MP2 video accelerator;
RAM: 4 GB;
internal memory: 64 GB + micro SDXC flash cards up to 256 GB;
camera: main - dual module 12 + 8 MP, front - 20 MP;
communication: Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11b, g, n, GPS, GLONASS;
battery: 2950 mAh;
dimensions: 142.2 x 68.9 x 6.9 mm;
weight: 143 g.
Except for the lack of NFC, the device received a standard set of characteristics, taking into account its price.
Completion and appearance
The smartphone is sold in a compact white box similar to the original Huawei P8 packaging. The device is placed vertically inside, saving space for a rich set of additional accessories. The device comes with: a charging unit, USB cable Type-C, SIM card unlock clip, branded headset, plastic bumper and documentation.
The design of Nova 2 has incorporated all the best that the iPhone 7 Plus and Xiaomi Mi6 can boast of. The developers managed to achieve the most simple, but presentable appearance... In addition, it is quite similar to most of Huawei's gadgets in the same price segment. At the same time, Nova 2 lacks thick frames around the screen, the display flows smoothly into slightly rounded ends.
On closer inspection, you will notice that different surfaces of the case have different textures. The back cover has a more matte finish and slips slightly in the hands. Perfectionists will be a little disappointed - the surface collects fingerprints quickly. Especially for such cases, a simple plastic case was carefully placed in the box. The side ends are visually glossy and stick well to the fingers. Nova 2 also decided on the characteristic angularity of its predecessor, now the smartphone is even more comfortable to hold in hands.
After the presentation of the Huawei P10, many hoped to see a fingerprint scanner on the front of the Nova 2. However, the white Huawei logo still took the insert under the display. Slightly above the 5-inch screen is a 20-megapixel front camera, earpiece, missed alert indicator and light / proximity sensor.
On the right side there are buttons for activating the screen and adjusting the volume.
On the left is a combined slot for two SIM cards or one microSD with a SIM card.
Thanks to the USB Type-C connector, which is located on the bottom edge, the Nova 2 has fast charging capabilities. To the right and left of it you can see a multimedia speaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
A small hole for the noise canceling microphone is located on the upper end of the device.
In the upper left corner of the back cover there are two lenses and a small LED flash. A fingerprint scanner is groped just below in the middle.
Nova 2 is one of those cases when you just don't want to let go of your smartphone. The device is compact, slim and very pleasant to the touch. It is easy to operate with one hand, and the high-quality fingerprint scanner on the back instantly recognizes even wet fingerprints. The assembly of the metal case is also excellent, no squeaks were noticed during the test.
Screen
The device received a 5-inch IPS display with FullHD resolution with a pixel density of 443 units per inch. The maximum brightness level reaches 385 cd / m², the minimum is fixed at 2 cd / m². It is convenient to read information from the screen in almost any lighting conditions. The contrast of the display is 1 to 887. At the factory settings, the screen may have excessively cold shades, this can be corrected by correcting the color temperature, which is provided in the basic software.
The Nova 2 is very pleasant to work with, the 5-inch display does not glare at all viewing angles. The touchscreen responds instantly to pressing. Additionally, you can set up a special control mode with gloves, which will be very useful in winter.
Performance
If the predecessor of the device was based on a solution from Snapdragon, then the Nova 2 has a chipset of its own production HiSilicon Kirin 659. When comparing the benchmark results of both models, you can notice a slight difference. latest smartphone added about 10% points in AnTuTu. Approximately the same changes, only for the worse, are observed in the video accelerator - the Mali-T830 MP2 replaced the Adreno 506.
The stock of RAM and built-in memory has also been added, Nova 2 is available in one 4/64 GB version. Game tests showed not very satisfactory results. Games with modern 3D graphics will run at medium settings, but a significant load on the processor makes the smartphone noticeably warm.
Camera
The main camera can be considered a significant breakthrough in the Nova 2. Two color photomodules with a resolution of 12 and 8 megapixels are used here at once. In this case, the aperture of the first lens is f / 1.8, the second - f / .2.4. The new product implements the possibility of 2x optical zoom, portrait photography with background blur and software "face enhancement".
The shooting quality of the Nova 2 can be compared to the flagship Huawei P10. Daytime shots come out very high quality, with accurate reproduction of small details and colors. At night, the level of clarity drops, only using the HDR mode helps. Portrait mode sometimes gives errors, blurring the boundaries of the object in the foreground. The smartphone can also record FullHD video at 30 frames per second.
Sample video:
Improvements have also not been spared by the front camera. A 20-megapixel photomodule with an f / 2.0 aperture was installed above the display. For selfies, the background blur mode, face "enhancement" and gesture control are available.
Speaker, sound quality
The manufacturer relied on Hi-Fi sound, since the AK4376A DAC is installed inside the Nova 2. The smartphone clearly stands out from other devices in terms of the sound quality in headphones, this is especially noticeable when playing tracks in FLAC format.
The multimedia speaker also sounds good, although it does not have such a large volume headroom.
Battery
The battery capacity of the Nova 2 is 2950 mAh, its predecessor was equipped with a battery with similar indicators. However, due to the transition to a proprietary processor, the energy efficiency of the system has significantly decreased. Now the device needs to be recharged almost every day, even if it is used normally.
If things are really bad, you can use the fast charging function (up to 9V / 2A). The approximate duration of the process is one and a half hours.
Communication and Internet
Nova 2 works stably in all wireless standards communication, during the test there were no breaks during the conversation with the interlocutor. Confused by the lack of NFC, given the cost of the smartphone, many fans of the brand hoped to see this technology in a smartphone.
Finding satellites in GPS takes only a few seconds. A cold start lasts no longer than half a minute.
Video review Huawei Nova 2
Competitors, conclusion
- Good build, nice design;
- Dual camera;
- Rich equipment;
- Great headphone sound.
- No NFC;
- Weak autonomy;
- Overcharge.
Huawei Nova 2 did not completely copy the previous generation of the line. The smartphone switched to a proprietary processor, got a dual camera and a lot of other technical changes. On the one hand, this is good, on the other, not everything is so simple. The refusal from Snapdragon resulted in a significant decrease in autonomy, and for some reason NFC was not put in the turn of changes. And the price of the device bites, as for its technical characteristics.
The Huawei Nova 2 Plus needs more than good looks to stand out from the crowd.
New Huawei Nova 2 Plus - Reviews
Huawei launched the Nova series at the end of 2016 and marketed it for people who want a slim smartphone with a great camera that fits in the pocket of skinny jeans.
Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus were unveiled in China, but no wider international launch was made. I was able to test the 2 Plus in China and compared it to the first Nova phones.
You will definitely like the design of Huawei Nova 2 Plus. The smartphone has metal case and comes in beautiful black, green or blue colors. The style of the 2 Plus is reminiscent of the Huawei P10. A housing with minimal branding and antenna stripes that merge with the body of the smartphone, with a dual camera positioned at the top. It resembles Apple's iPhone in style.
The fingerprint sensor is on the back of the phone, not the home button. The Nova 2 Plus weighs only 169 grams and is very lightweight. The thickness is only 6.9 mm, it is one of the most thin smartphones that you can buy today.
Huawei Nova 2 Plus is a mid-range phone. It received a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1,920 × 1080 pixels, covered with 2.5D curved glass. Powered by Huawei's Kirin 659 processor with 4GB of RAM. Thus, there was a departure from the Qualcomm Snapdragon processors used in the first Nova. The Nova 2 had a 5-inch screen, was lighter, weighed 143 grams, but had a smaller 2,950 mAh battery compared to the 3,340 mAh in the 2 Plus.
The Nova 2 Plus comes with 128GB of internal storage.
Phone performance and OS
The performance of the smartphone, in this short period that I have used it, has been excellent. As you'd expect, it glided across menus and apps without issue. I doubt anyone will be upset by the lack of a Snapdragon processor, especially since the faster Kirin 960 has already performed well in the P10 and Mate 9.
On Android 7.0 Nougat is installed user interface Huawei EMUI 5.1. I liked it, but the Chinese version I tried was infected with a virus. Nevertheless, the shell is stable, there are algorithms that help you work faster with the software, and it is much more convenient than previous versions.
Camera Huawei Nova 2 Plus
The dual lens camera from Huawei was the Nova 2 and is on the 2 Plus. I tried out the camera, with 12MP and 8MP lenses. The result was not impressive, but software easy to use, all operations are performed quickly.
There is an additional mode that was not available before, called Moving Picture, which is similar to Apple's Live Photos mode. In mode, when you press the shutter, a short video is recorded, which is saved as a GIF. When you select it in the gallery, the image comes to life. The Moving Picture feature is a fun option that opens interesting opportunities for creativity.
Huawei Nova 2 Plus has a 20-megapixel selfie camera that captures images excellent quality... But, the small sensor does not cope with difficult lighting conditions, despite the many megapixels, you should not expect amazing results from the selfie camera.
Outcome
When you pick up the Huawei Nova 2 Plus, it becomes clear why the manufacturer is in no hurry to sell it internationally. This is due to the Honor brand making great phones that are not very expensive. The 5.5-inch Nova 2 Plus costs roughly $ 425 (£ 25,700), far more than the Honor 6X, which offers similar specs. The smartphone has a visual resemblance to the Honor 8 Pro, which received a more powerful filling, but does not cost much more.
This is the same problem Huawei faced when launching the first Nova. The market for smartphones from $ 300 to $ 500 is overflowing with powerful gadgets, and there is a lot of competition here. In China, it is even tougher considering such a competitor as Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, which costs half the price.
The Nova 2 Plus looks and performs well, but there is nothing about it that makes it stand out from the competition.
Advantages
- Slim, stylish design
- Dual Lens Moving Picture Camera
- Big battery
- Plenty of storage space
disadvantages
- No outstanding features
- Fierce competition with Honor and other brands
- Sold only for China
Smartphone Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus - video trailer
Huawei has unveiled two new mid-range smartphones - Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus. The design of the first Nova inherited the same lines as Honor. In the second generation models, the company has brought the design of the Nova 2 closer to the premium P-series. In addition to the external similarity with the line of flagships, the new smartphones also received a dual camera.
Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus case
Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus received an all-metal body. The main difference between smartphones is the size of the display.
Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus are quite thin - only 6.9mm. Smartphones are available in 5 colors: Rose Gold, Streamer Gold, Green, Aurora Blue and Obsidian Black.
Camera Huawei Nova 2
The camera is represented by two modules:
- 12MP sensor with a pixel size of 1.25 microns and f / 1.8
- 8MP sensor responsible for optical zoom and portrait photography
Huawei camera Nova 2 will be the most notable smartphone improvement. Present optical stabilization, Intelligently optimizes the setting for different shooting conditions (detecting the type of scene in the viewfinder).
The manufacturer also replaced the standard front-facing 8MP camera with a 20MP module. For comparison, the flagship Huawei P10 is equipped with a conventional 8MP front camera. But we know that it’s not a matter of quantity!
The front camera has received new functions: a timer, gesture recognition, an algorithm for improving selfies, and an advanced flash.
Display
Smartphone displays are made using LPTS LCD technology with FullHD resolution (1080 x 1920). Protects the display of Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus 2.5D glass (protection class and type of glass are not reported).
- Display diagonal Nova 2- 5.0 inches, 69.7% screen-to-body ratio, 443PPI pixel density.
- Display diagonal Nova 2 Plus- 5.5 inches, 72.3% screen-to-body ratio, 401PPI pixel density.
Iron Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus
The Kirin 659 processor is responsible for the performance of the smartphone, the Mali-T830 MP2 is responsible for the graphics. The 8-core chipset received 4 Cortex-A53 cores with a clock speed of 2.53 GHz and 4 Cortex-A53 cores with a clock speed of 1.7 GHz. The processor is an improved version of the Kirin 655,. Both smartphones are equipped with the same chipsets.
The amount of RAM in both models is 4GB, but the size of the built-in memory can be chosen - 64GB and 128GB. The maximum size will be available for each model.
Battery Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus
Huawei Nova 2 will receive a 2950mAh battery, and Nova 2 Plus - 3340mAh. Both smartphones support fast charging. Battery, non-removable as standard. The second generation of Nova received a USB Type-C connector. The battery capacity of the Nova 2 is disappointing. equipped with a 3020mAh battery, and its autonomy was not impressive:
| Huawei Nova | |
|---|---|
| Battery | 3020 mAh (non-removable) |
| Autonomy rating | 84 hours |
| 3G calls | 28:03 |
| Internet | 11:05 |
| Video | 09:41 |
Although the Nova 2 Plus received a battery with a larger capacity, it is not worth hoping for a significant increase in autonomy. The large diagonal of the display "compensates" for this margin.
Other characteristics, release date and cost of Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus
| Huawei Nova 2 | Huawei Nova 2 plus | Huawei Nova | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Battery | 2950 mAh (non-removable) | 3340 mAh (non-removable) | 3020 mAh (non-removable) |
| Dimensions (edit) | 142.2 x 68.9 x 6.9 mm | 153.9 x 74.9 x 6.9 mm | 141.2 x 69.1 x 7.1 mm |
| The weight | 143 g | 169 g | 146 g |
| Frame | aviation aluminum | aviation aluminum | aviation aluminum |
| Operating system | Android 7.1 Marshmallow | Android 7.1 Marshmallow | Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow |
| Firmware | EMUI 5.1 | EMUI 5.1 | EMUI 4.1 |
| Interface | USB Type-C | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| Audio out | 3.5 mm | 3.5 mm | 3.5 mm |
| Audio chip | AK4376 | AK4376 | ? |
| Fingerprint scanner | behind | behind | behind |
Separately, we note that the company did not succumb to the general trend and retained the standard 3.5mm headphone jack, and, to the delight of music lovers, equipped new smartphones with a dedicated AK4376 audio chip.
Huawei Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus are already available for pre-order, although the official sales start is scheduled for June 16, 2017. According to preliminary data, the Huawei Nova 2 model with 64GB of internal memory will cost $ 364, and the Nova 2 Plus in the maximum configuration will cost $ 424.
Conclusions:
Analyzing technical specifications without the results of real tests and live reviews, it is impossible to draw conclusions about the improvements of the smartphone. The performance and autonomy are largely influenced by software and optimization. So far, the presented models Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus look decent for their price range.
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General characteristics
Type of
Determining the type of device (phone or smartphone?) Is pretty simple. If you need a simple and inexpensive device for calls and SMS, it is recommended to opt for a telephone. A smartphone is more expensive, but it offers a wide variety of options: games, video, internet, thousands of programs for all occasions. However, its battery life is significantly shorter than that of a simple phone.
smartphone OS version Android 7.0 Body type classic Body material metal SIM type nano SIM Number of SIM-cards 2 Mode of operation of multiple SIM-cards variable Weight 143 g Dimensions (WxHxT) 68.9x142.2x6.9 mmScreen
Screen type color, 16.78 million colors, touch Type of touch screen multitouch, capacitive Diagonal 5 inches. Image size 1920x1080 Pixels Per Inch (PPI) 441 Automatic screen rotation there isMultimedia capabilities
Rear camera dual 12/8 MP Flash rear, LED Rear camera functions autofocus Rear Camera Aperture F / 1.8 Video recording there is Front-camera yes, 20 million pixels. Audio MP3, AAC, WAV, WMA Headphone jack 3.5 mmConnection
Standard
There are several basic standards cellular that are supported by modern phones. On the territory of Russia, the GSM standard is used almost everywhere. For high-speed data transmission, the 3G and 4G LTE standards are used - the highest speed of the existing standards. Glossary of Terms by Category Mobile Phones
GSM 900/1800/1900, 3G, 4G LTE Interfaces
Almost all modern smartphones have Wi-Fi and USB interfaces. Bluetooth and IRDA are less common. Wi-Fi is used to connect to the internet. USB is used to connect the phone to a computer. Many phones also have Bluetooth. It is used to connect wireless headphone, to connect the phone to wireless speakers as well as for file transfer. A smartphone equipped with an IRDA interface can be used as universal remote control Remote Control Glossary of Terms by Category Mobile Phones
Wi-Fi 802.11n, Bluetooth 4.2, USB Satellite navigation
Built-in GPS and GLONASS modules allow you to determine the coordinates of the phone using signals from satellites. In the absence of GPS modern smartphone can determine its own location based on signals from base stations cellular operator... However, finding coordinates based on signals from satellites is usually much more accurate.
GPS / GLONASS / BeiDou A-GPS system isMemory and processor
CPU
V modern telephones and smartphones usually use special processors - SoC (System on Chip, system on a chip), which, in addition to the processor itself, accommodate the graphics core, memory controller, I / O controller, etc. Therefore, the processor largely determines the set of functions and device performance . Glossary of terms by category Mobile phones
HiSilicon Kirin 659 Number of processor cores 8 Video processor Mali-T830 MP2 Built-in memory
Built-in memory is used to store programs, music, photos, movies. The amount of built-in memory largely determines the cost of the device. If your phone does not have a memory card slot, it is recommended that you select the model with more internal memory.
64 GB RAM size 4 GB Memory card slot
