Huawei recently unveiled the Nova 3 in India, an affordable flagship priced at Rs. 34,999, adding a new contender to the likes of the OnePlus 6, the Asus ZenFone 5Z and the Honor 10. Much like the other affordable flagships in the market today, the new Huawei Nova 3 packs in top-of-the-line specifications at a relatively affordable price, making it a compelling competitor in the race to take the crown for the best affordable flagship. But does the flagship hardware included in the device actually live up to the company’s hype? Or is it just another wannabe flagship killer that’s trying to get a piece of OnePlus’ market in the country? If you’re been asking these questions yourself, then you’ve come to the right place, as here we’ll be taking an in-depth look at the Huawei Nova 3 to find out if Huawei’s claims have any substance or if it’s just marketing mumbo-jumbo to mislead the consumers.
Being an affordable flagship, the Huawei Nova 3 packs in top-of-the-line hardware to deliver the best performance, while cutting corners in a few areas which aren’t as essential to the average consumer. Let’s take a look at the hardware specifications of the Huawei Nova 3, before we move on to the review:
What’s In the Box
Design and Build Quality
Much like all other modern flagships the Huawei Nova 3 has a glass sandwich design, with the metal frame sandwiched between glass on both the front and back of the device. The front of the device looks like practically every other smartphone released in 2018, with an 19.5:9 bezel-less display and the familiar notch up top, which houses the earpiece, the dual front-facing cameras, an LED indicator neatly tucked within the earpiece and an IR emitter for improved face unlocking capabilities.
Up on top, the device just has a tiny hole for the secondary microphone, while the SIM card slot resides on the left edge of the device. The Nova 3 includes a hybrid dual-SIM tray which will allow users to either install two SIM cards or one SIM card and a micro-USB card for expansion.
The Huawei Nova 3 sports a 6.3-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2340×1080 pixels, giving it an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. At first, I was disappointed that the device didn’t include an OLED display, but upon using it for a couple of days I realized that it wasn’t all that bad. The display can get fairly bright, aiding in sunlight visibility, and it looks quite vibrant out of the box. In case you don’t like the default color profile, Huawei also gives you the option to customize it according to your personal preference through the color mode and temperature settings in the display menu.
One minor flaw that I found with the display is that the area around the notch is slightly darker than the rest of the display, possibly because the backlight can’t reach the edges properly. However, I got used to that in no time and it wasn’t a major hinderance in any way. While I wish Huawei would have included an OLED panel on the Nova 3, the included LCD isn’t all that bad and if you haven’t used a smartphone with an OLED display before, you won’t have any problems adjusting to the lower contrast ratio.
The single bottom firing speaker on the Nova 3 isn’t all that loud and it can get easily muffled while using the phone in the landscape mode. It’s not bad, per se, but it isn’t good either and I’ve definitely heard better smartphone speakers before. I wish Huawei had placed the speaker in a different location or included a better speaker unit, which would have greatly improved the phone’s overall sound output.
The cameras on the Huawei Nova 3 are probably its strongest suit, with both the rear and front dual camera setups performing incredibly well in our testing.
Rear Cameras
The Nova 3 packs in a 16MP f/1.8 primary sensor with phase detection auto-focus which is complemented by a 24MP f/1.8 monochrome sensor to enhance the image quality and assist in portrait mode photography. Images captured with the smartphone in ample amount of light turn out pretty great, with good detail, high dynamic range and vibrant colors. The camera is snappy and the AI assist feature really works wonders, allowing users to just point and shoot images without worrying about any settings. Take a look at some of the images clicked using the Nova 3 in decent lighting conditions:
Thanks to the monochrome sensor and the AI assist feature, the Nova 3 also performs quite well in low-lighting conditions, capturing a surprisingly good amount of light. Images captured in low-light conditions have surprising amounts of detail with great dynamic range and little to no noise. I was truly impressed with the camera’s low-light performance as it even manages to capture decent images when it’s almost pitch black. Just take a look at these camera samples and see for yourself:
As expected, the Nova 3 has a portrait mode as well which delivers great images time and time again. Portrait images captured using the rear camera setup have a great bokeh effect and decent edge detection, with the camera slightly faltering in low-light conditions. Portrait images captured using the camera are definitely usable and might even be better than those captured by its competitors. Just take a look at these samples:
Interestingly, the Nova 3’s secondary monochrome sensor can be used on its own to capture stunning black and white images. Photos captured by the monochrome sensor are arguably better than those captured by the primary sensor and have better dynamic range and significantly more details. Here are a few comparative samples captured using the monochrome and color sensors:
Front Cameras
Up front, the Huawei Nova 3 packs in a 24MP f/2.0 primary sensor along with a 2MP secondary sensor for depth perception. Unsurprisingly, images captured using the front facing cameras turn out great, with a good amount of detail and vibrant colors. The front camera setup also has a portrait mode option which is capable of capturing decent portrait shots with good edge detection and a pleasant bokeh effect, provided you tap on the subject before you take the image. In case you don’t tap on the subject before taking the shot, the image turns out blurred.
One front facing camera feature/trick which really stood out in my time with the device was its ability to automatically change the camera UI to a very bright white in cases where there wasn’t enough light falling on the subject, which is probably the best implementation of a screen flash as it allows the user to see the image being clicked in real time. Overall, I was quite satisfied with the results and I’m sure you will also be sure once you take a look at the following samples:
All-in-all, the Huawei Nova 3’s four cameras are actually worth the hype and I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the company on achieving such standards at this price range. On the downside, however, the company needs to take a hard look at the camera UI and consider decluttering it a bit to make it easier to use for the average consumer. I would also really appreciate it if Huawei gave more important settings, like the monochrome and PRO mode, the center stage rather than promoting its useless AR lens and Qmoji features which aren’t that great.
Performance wise, the Huawei Nova 3 stacks up well against the best smartphones in the market today as it packs in the company’s flagship Kirin 970 processor, which can also be found on the P20 Pro, a smartphone almost twice the price of the Nova 3. For some reason, the review unit shipped with an unlocked bootloader which prevented us from installing any major benchmarking software on the the device. It seems like the company is worried about the device’s performance and how its flagship chipset stacks up against the Snapdragon 845 which powers most popular flagship smartphones.
Benchmarks aside, the Huawei Nova 3 performed quite well in real world use, with the UI optimized well enough to deliver lag free performance at all times. The phone felt quite snappy, with apps taking minimal amount of time to load up and remaining in memory even when a number of demanding games were opened right after. The fingerprint sensor felt really snappy and the IR assisted face unlock feature also worked quite well, although it isn’t as fast as the face unlock feature on OnePlus devices which only makes use of the front facing camera.
On the software side of things, the Huawei Nova 3 runs the company’s EMUI 8.2.0 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. I’ll admit that I’m slightly biased against any skinned versions of Android and I prefer a stock or near-stock Android experience over anything else, but I had absolutely no issues with Huawei’s custom skin in my time with the device. Much like other skinned versions of Android, EMUI is chock full of customization options which give users a number of features that they’d not find in stock Android, so if you’re into that you might like the Nova 3’s UI much more than I did.
The Huawei Nova 3 packs in a respectable 3,750mAh battery which is easily capable of powering the device through a day with medium to heavy usage. The device’s standby times are pretty great and in my testing the device lasted just over two days when I used it sparingly, clicking some photos, playing a few games and browsing the internet over brief intervals.
Cons:
SEE ALSO: Asus ZenFone 5Z Review: Should You Buy Over OnePlus 6?
Huawei Nova 3 Review: Would Definitely Recommend!
In conclusion, the Huawei Nova 3 is a great affordable flagship which brings an amazing camera, good battery backup and decent performance to the table. Despite its poor benchmark scores, the Nova 3 might be the best affordable flagship in the market today and it stacks up quite well against other affordable flagships, like the OnePlus 6 and the Asus ZenFone 5Z. The smartphone really shines in the camera and battery life department, however, it does fall slightly behind in the performance and audio department. The OnePlus 6, with its OLED display and near stock Android UI, also delivers a better user experience.
