Dubai: Huawei’s new addition to the nova series — nova 3e — is a mid-tier device with a premium look and packing most of the latest features.
The 5.84-inch device is powered by 2.36GHz Kirin 659 chip set with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage capacity.
The Huawei Nova e3 is an mid-tier device at an affordable price.
The hybrid style SIM card supports dual SIM cards or one nano-SIM and a microSD card which supports up to 256GB.
The disadvantage is that out of the dual SIMs, only one supports 4G while the other supports only 2G.
The bezel-less IPS display with a 19:9 display ratio has a resolution of 2280 x 1080 pixels and has 432 pixels per inch density. The screen is vibrant with excellent colour reproduction and details.
It is the first device from Huawei to mimic iPhone X’s design, that is the notch. Many other vendors are following suit. Personally, I am not a fan of the notch as it obstructs the full view.
For nova 3e, the notch is smaller than iPhone X and when viewing photos, videos or surfing the net, the sides of the notch turns black and does not obstruct the experience, whether in landscape or portrait modes. But if you are in the setting mode, the notch will obstruct you in the portrait mode and not in landscape mode.
The Android Oreo version does not support for notches and it may support in Google’s next version — Android P.
Huawei has adopted the design language of the to-be-released P20 device for nova 3e and in some markets it is known as P20 Lite.
It is 7.4mm thick and weighs just 145 grams and easy to hold due to its 2.5D double-sided curved glass surface on the front and back.
It sports the new user interface — EMUI 8.0 — with smarter behaviour prediction and more intelligent resource allocation to understand the way you use your device and know what’s important to you.
For example, the navigation dock allows quick operations, such as returning to the main screen or switching the task through different gestures. Meanwhile, the Game assistant provides three modes for users to choose from — the game mode ensures the best game experience; smart mode balances game performance and power consumption, and the power-saving mode ensures long play time without powering off.
Huawei claims that it is designed to optimise speed and performance, even as your handset gets older.
Low-light conditions
The fingerprint sensor is at the back of the device and it also houses facial recognition technology. The facial recognition technology on this device is super-fast and opens the device in less than one second, much faster than iPhone X and Galaxy S9 and even in very lowlight conditions.
Huawei hasn’t dropped the 3.5mm headphone jack on this device and also sports USB Type-C port at the base of the device.
Coming to cameras, it sports the vertical dual camera system, similar to iPhone X. The cameras also protrude similar to iPhone X. It has a 16MP with f/2.2 aperture lens with PDAF and LED flash and a 2MP rear camera with a hybrid zoom for depth-sensing. The camera doesn’t have a built-in OIS.
The quality of the photos is good when taken in well-light conditions but it struggles in lowlight conditions as the aperture size is not big enough to allow more light to enter. Sometimes when shooting in bright sunlight, the snaps tend to be overexposed. In lowlight conditions, the camera takes few extra seconds to focus and the snaps are grainy too.
The bokeh effect, to blur the background artistically, worked quite well. Users can take a photo and then adjust the blur depth depending on individual taste.
The different modes for the back camera are pro photo, pro video, HDR, panorama, 3D panorama, AR lens, Night shot, light painting, time lapse, slow motion, document scan and watermark. There are nine different filters.
It can record Full HD videos at 30 frames per second. The front camera supports RAW format only in pro mode.
The 16MP front-facing camera with a f/2.0 sensor and a 78-degree wide angle lens takes excellent selfies as it applies a 3D retouching feature that uses intelligent recognition and facial mapping to adjust lighting and shadow. The drawback is that it does not the manual mode for professional use.
Beautification feature
The front camera performs better than the back camera. The new beauty algorithm uses 3D facial recognition technology to enhance your natural features, from skin smoothening to eye and lip brightening but the tone of your changes.
The front camera has the panorama, 3D panorama, AR lens, time-lapse and watermark. There are nine different filters. The beautification feature is available on both rear and front cameras.
The audio quality from the single speaker at the base of the device is good with the new Huawei Histen 4.0 system.
Regarding connectivity, it has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, 4G LTE and FM radio.
The 3,000mAh battery lasts more than a day of regular usage but when on 4G, it needs to be charged in less than a day. But the advantage is that Huawei houses Quick Charge 2.0 technology. With its 18W fast charge technology of 9V/2A, its battery can be charged in 30 per cent less time compared to 5V/2A. 30 minutes of charging provides 43 per cent battery capacity.
It comes in midnight black and Klein blue and priced at Dh1,199.
Pros
• Sturdy build and new design
• Good display
• Excellent front camera
• Fast charging technology
• Value for money
Cons
• Back camera struggles in low light
• The notch
• No dual 4G SIM support
• Not a gaming magnet
• Attracts fingerprints easily
