Huawei Nova Plus review: good, but too expensive. OS and software

Huawei first presented two new products from the Nova line at IFA 2016, and today I have the older model for review.

Characteristics

Specifications
Class	Phablet
Form factor	Monoblock
Housing materials	Aluminum
operating system	Android 6.0 + EMUI 4.1
Net	2G/3G/LTE (800/1800/2600), two SIM cards
Platform	Qualcomm Snapdragon 625
CPU	Octa-core, 2 GHz
Video accelerator	Adreno 506
Inner memory	32 GB
RAM	3 GB
Memory card slot	Yes, combined with a slot for a second SIM card
WiFi	Yes, a/b/g/n, dual-band
Bluetooth	Yes, 4.1 LE, A2DP
NFC	Eat
Screen diagonal	5.5 inches
Screen resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels
Matrix type	IPS
Protective covering	Glass
Oleophobic coating	Eat
Main camera	16 MP, f/2.0, OIS
Front-camera	8 MP, f/2.0
Navigation	GPS, A-GPS, Glonass
Sensors	Accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor
Battery	Non-removable, Li-Pol 3340 mAh
Dimensions	151.8 x 75.7 x 7.3 mm
Weight	160 grams
Price	430 euros

Equipment

Smartphone
Charger
PC cable (also part of the charger)
Wired headset
Clip

Pay attention to the headphones, they are very similar to Apple EarPods.

Appearance, materials, control elements, assembly

I can’t say that the Nova Plus uses any unique design, the smartphone looks ordinary, but at the same time Huawei added a few little things to diversify the appearance a little. For example, the areas above and below the screen have an unusual pattern that plays beautifully in the light.

The back panel and ends are made entirely of aluminum, except for two plastic inserts.

The device will be sold in three colors: white, gray and gold. We tested the gold version.

Let's move on to the control elements.

The area above the screen. Front camera, light and proximity sensors, earpiece, indicator light

Bottom end. USB Type C port, external speaker grill and microphone

Right end. Volume rocker and power button

Top end. Minijack and second microphone hole

Left end. Tray for nanoSIM card and microSD memory card

Back cover. Fingerprint scanner, main camera and flash

The fingerprint scanner can work together with third-party applications, so you can easily log in to Sberbank. By the way, the scanner works very quickly, unlocking occurs in less than a second.

As for the assembly, there are no complaints here - there are no creaks or play.

Dimensions

When talking about the sizes of the Nova Plus, I’m tempted to use the word “typical”. It has typical dimensions and weight for its diagonal, and in the hand it feels like most other 5.5-inch models. Not heavy and not light, not thin and not thick.

Compared to ZTE Nubia Z11 and Meizu M3 Note

Screen

The device has an excellent display with excellent characteristics. It has natural color rendition, a large margin of brightness and maximum viewing angles. The oleophobic coating is good, the finger glides easily, and fingerprints are wiped off quickly. Of course, the P9 has a better display, but for most users the screen quality in the Nova Plus is enough.

The smartphone has a separate “vision protection” mode; when it is turned on, the color scheme goes into warm colors. If you wish, you can completely customize the color rendering to suit your preferences.

operating system

The device runs Android 6.0 and EMUI shell.

I’ve been testing Huawei smartphones for a long time and I see that they are gradually improving their shell, for example, they have already gotten rid of stupid icons in circles, solved the problem with missed notifications, and added several new functions. I will definitely tell you about their shell separately someday.

Performance

Since this is a mid-segment smartphone, the chipset used is of the appropriate level. However, we should not forget that now the difference between mid-range and top-end processors is visible mainly in synthetic tests. According to my feelings, Nova Plus worked about as fast as the same P9 Plus.

Autonomous operation

The Nova Plus has very good battery life, both in our tests and in everyday use. For example, my iPhone 6 runs out of charge after about three hours of active use, but in the case of this smartphone you can safely count on five to six hours of screen time.

Camera

The smartphone takes excellent pictures during the day, but when lighting deteriorates, the quality of the photos decreases slightly. The device does very poorly at night photos. Video recording up to 4k is supported, do not forget to enable this mode in the settings.

At the presentation of Nova Plus, they talked a lot about the selfie camera, in particular, about the soft makeup function. It works great if a girl just wants to touch up her lips, but if you want to do a full makeup look with this camera, you'll end up looking like the photo below.

And here is an example of how the built-in beautifier works. In the first photo it is turned off, in the second it is turned on 50%, in the third it is 100%.

Wireless interfaces

Regarding wireless interfaces, it is worth noting the lack of dual-band Wi-Fi, as well as support for MiFare Classic for using the device as a travel card. Traditionally for Huawei, I will praise the excellent signal quality in the Nova Plus; the device catches the network much better than the iPhone 6.

Conclusion

There are no complaints about the quality of speech transmission; you and your interlocutor can hear each other perfectly.

At the presentation they said that Nova Plus will be sold for 429 euros, that is, approximately 31,000 rubles in Russia. At the moment it is unknown whether this device will be sold here; Huawei first decided to bring the junior Nova model to the market.

But if we imagine that the Russian office would sell this model for 25-27 thousand, then we would have an excellent successor to the popular Honor 7.

The first-born of a new mid-priced line

Last week at IFA 2016 in Berlin, Huawei unexpectedly unveiled a pair of smartphones that ushered in a completely new Nova lineup. They were the Huawei Nova and Nova Plus devices, and from the first glance at them it is clear that Huawei is determined to seriously fight in the mid-price range. This time, the company saw the 2016 Samsung Galaxy A line as competitors for its products, and the confrontation is serious. At least in terms of technical capabilities, the new products from the Chinese manufacturer are not inferior to the Korean ones, but as for the price, this question remains open for the Russian market...

Main characteristics of Huawei Nova Plus (model MLA-L11)

SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 625, 8 cores 2.0 GHz (ARM Cortex-A53)
GPU Adreno 506
Operating system Android 6.0, Emotion UI 4.1
Touch display IPS 5.5″, 1920×1080, 401 ppi
Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 32 GB
SIM cards: Nano-SIM (2 pcs.)
Supports microSD memory cards up to 128 GB
GSM networks 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
WCDMA 900/2100 MHz networks
LTE Cat.6 networks FDD Band 1/3/7/8/20, TDD Band 38
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.1, NFC
USB Type-C, OTG
GPS/A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
Direction, proximity, lighting sensors, magnetic compass, fingerprint scanner
Cameras 16 MP, f/2.0, autofocus, OIS, LED flash
Camera 8 MP, front, f/2.0
Battery 3340 mAh, Li-Pol
Dimensions 152×76×7.3 mm
Weight 164 g

Contents of delivery

Huawei Nova Plus goes on sale in a flat, laconicly designed rectangular box. The packaging is made of matte black cardboard with several golden inscriptions; this combination looks most advantageous in the case of a premium product.

The set of accessories consists of a mains charger (output current 2 A, voltage 5 V), a USB Type-C connecting cable and a stereo headset with lacquered plastic headphones that exactly copy Apple EarPods. Also in the box you can find a metal key for removing cards.

Appearance and ease of use

Huawei Nova Plus in appearance is practically the spitting image of Honor 5X, only here everything is a little more rounded: corners, side edges and convex 2.5D glass on the front panel. The body of the smartphone is entirely made of metal, with the exception of two small rear inserts that hide the antennas of the communication modules. Therefore, there are no grooves cut out from the outside; all elements are hidden inside the case.

The device looks quite nice - one might even say, more expensive than its level. The Chinese have done a good job of correcting the mistakes, now even their budget models look decent for any environment. True, they are now becoming more and more difficult to distinguish from each other by appearance. But a comparison can still be made: Nova Plus is more of a Mate-shaped design, this is what the very first Huawei Mate 7 (then Ascend) looked like, and this is what both Nova Plus and the aforementioned Honor 5X look like now.

If we talk about ergonomics, using the smartphone with one hand is not entirely comfortable: the Nova Plus is a bit heavy and quite wide. Although for a large hand all this may, of course, seem unimportant, but in comparison with such frameless solutions with narrower bodies such as Nubia Z11 or Sony XA, the hero of the review really does not fit in the palm of your hand due to its width.

There are no complaints about the assembly and quality of materials: due to the matte metal surfaces, the device is securely held in the hands, does not slip and does not collect fingerprints. By the way, the same cannot be said about the front glass: apparently, the oleophobic coating given to it is not of very high quality, since it becomes covered with fingerprints almost instantly.

As for the elements located on the case, everything is standard, there are no hardware buttons on the front panel, and there is an LED event indicator in the upper part among the sensors.

On the back side, the camera is framed by a convex rim that protrudes quite strongly beyond the surface. However, the protruding camera module does not interfere with working with the device lying down, since it has an almost square shape rather than a round one. Due to this, the smartphone does not wobble on a hard surface when you touch the screen. Next to the camera there is a flash and a fingerprint sensor pad.

The flash is double, multi-colored, but still not very bright. It can be used as a flashlight, to turn it on you need to pull out not the top curtain, like all Android smartphones, but the bottom one, like the iPhone.

The side card slot, as usual with Huawei, is hybrid. You can either insert two Nano-SIM format SIM cards into it, or replace one of them with a memory card; three cards cannot be used together. Hot swap supported.

The mechanical side buttons, again as usual for Huawei devices, are quite narrow and hard, but they are quite comfortable to operate, since they are easy to feel blindly. The location of the keys is good, there are no problems with this.

I am glad that the USB Type-C standard is coming even to the mid-price range; I would like to quickly complete this next transition and finally achieve unification. First of all, the manufacturer must think about the convenience of the user, although sometimes it seems that he is thinking about anything but that. As many years as smartphones have been produced, their connectors have been endlessly changing: first Mini-USB, then Micro-USB, now USB Type-C, and over the years, users have accumulated whole tangles of assorted wires, cables and accessories at home. Unlike Sony, for example, which in the new season half of its smartphones come out with a new connector, and half with the old one, Huawei, apparently, has decided to transfer all its devices to the new standard, which is good news.

The speaker is also located at the bottom end, next to the USB port, and the 3.5 mm audio output for headphones with a second auxiliary microphone is located at the top end. They didn’t provide an IR transmitter for emulating a remote control, which is a pity.

As for color options, the manufacturer did not experiment and released three standard colors: golden (Prestige Gold), light silver (Mystic Silver) and dark gray (Titanium Grey).

Screen

The smartphone is equipped with an IPS touch screen and is protected by glass with sloping edges (2.5D) Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The physical dimensions of the display are 68x121 mm, diagonal - 5.5 inches. The screen resolution is 1920×1080, the pixel density is 401 ppi. The frame around the screen is standard: approximately 3.5 mm on the sides and 15 mm on the top and bottom.

The display brightness is automatically adjusted based on the light sensor. There is also a proximity sensor that blocks the screen when you bring the smartphone to your ear. Multi-touch technology allows you to process 10 simultaneous touches. Glove operation is supported.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, Alexey Kudryavtsev. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected when the screens are turned off (on the left is Nexus 7, on the right is Huawei Nova Plus, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Huawei Nova Plus is slightly darker (brightness according to photographs is 106 versus 108 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Huawei Nova Plus screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which is noticeably better in efficiency than that of the Nexus 7. Therefore, fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

When manually controlling the brightness and displaying the white field in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 480 cd/m², the minimum was 4 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 reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the right of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment, with which the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. If you leave the brightness slider at half the scale (this is the default), then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 8 cd/m² (a little dark), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 160 cd/m² (normal ), in a very bright environment (corresponding to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 480 cd/m² (to the maximum, which is what is needed). We were a little unsatisfied with the result, so we moved the slider a little to the right in complete darkness. We got - 16, 140-170, 480 cd/m² (ideal combination). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and to some extent allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Huawei Nova Plus and Nexus 7, while the screen brightness is initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera is forced to switch to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The colors on the Huawei Nova Plus screen are a little oversaturated and the color balance is slightly different. As additional tests have shown, an increase in color saturation is achieved both through a slight increase in color contrast (a side effect is a decrease in shade gradations closer to pure colors) and through an expanded color gamut.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Huawei Nova Plus the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the strong highlighting of blacks.

And a white field:

The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), and decreased approximately equally. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a slight reddish tint. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is average, in one corner there is a noticeable flare:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1300:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 23 ms (12 ms on + 11 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 36 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.16, which is slightly lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve only in the light part significantly deviates 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 resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. It should be noted that in this case the brightness correction is weakly expressed, but it would be better not to have it at all.

Color gamut is slightly wider than sRGB:

The spectra show that the matrix filters moderately mix the components with each other:

As a result, visually the colors on this screen are somewhat different from natural ones, since almost all images are designed for display on display devices with sRGB coverage. The balance of shades on the gray scale is average, since the color temperature is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.

The curves in the graphs above 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 image above. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature has approached the standard value, although ΔE has also increased. However, it doesn’t make much sense to make the correction. Note that this function is implemented more for show, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction, there is no field for measuring color balance, and the adjustment range is insufficient, since even at the edge of the circle one has to find a compromise between a color temperature close to 6500 K and the minimum ΔE value .

To summarize: the screen has a high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems, even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. The advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of air gaps in the layers of the screen and flicker, as well as high contrast. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane and excessive color saturation. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Sound

The Huawei Nova Plus sounds about the same as the Honor 8, and it is, of course, a less interesting option than their more famous relatives from the Huawei P9 series. The sound can be described as quite loud, but not too expressive. In general, it is not bad, even low frequencies break through, but the sound is rather muffled, and at the maximum volume level there are barely noticeable noises. Moreover, in the headphones, oddly enough, there is even more noise at the maximum level than in the case of the main speaker. But all this is only when compared with flagships, and for its average level, the sound of the Huawei Nova Plus is quite adequate: the same average.

To play tunes, you use your own player, and as usual, there are no additional manual settings in it - you can only turn on or off the entire virtual DTS system.

There are no special complaints about the conversational speaker and microphone: the intonation and timbre of a familiar voice remain recognizable. There is an FM radio in the smartphone - however, for some reason Huawei never allows you to record broadcasts. The recorder demonstrates satisfactory sensitivity, records sound with high quality, and the noise reduction system copes with its duties adequately.

Camera

There are no longer dual cameras here, like the Honor 8 or the Huawei P9 line; it uses a regular single module with a resolution of 16 megapixels, but with OIS optical stabilization and fast hybrid autofocus.

The front camera is also decent; it has an 8-megapixel sensor and a fixed-focus lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0. The image quality is quite satisfactory for selfie level: sharpness and color rendition are normal, and there are no complaints about detail. At the presentation of Nova smartphones, a lot of time was spent describing the Beauty Skin 3.0 and Beauty Make-up 2.0 technologies, which allow you to decorate your own portrait and apply virtual makeup. You can take selfies by touching the fingerprint scanner on the back cover.

The main camera has a lens with a maximum aperture of f/2.0. Hybrid autofocus combines phase focusing and contrast focusing technologies. The camera control menu is almost the same as in Honor 8, it is a little simpler than the flagship, and some special modes are missing. The menu itself is arranged logically, there is an automatic mode and a “Pro” mode, in which, as usual, you can independently control the type of focus, shutter speed, sensitivity (ISO), exposure compensation and white balance. Using the Camera2 API, there is no way to transfer camera control to third-party applications, and there is no way to save pictures in RAW.

But Nova Plus can, unlike Honor 8, shoot video in 4K resolution (UHD), and this is quite revolutionary for smartphones of this level - not even all modern flagships implement this mode. However, the value of shooting in 4K on smartphones is not obvious to everyone.

The camera copes successfully with video shooting in all resolutions: the image is detailed, sharp, without noticeable artifacts and with good sound recording quality. Optical stabilization really helps make your footage smoother when shooting on the go. The noise reduction system copes with its tasks confidently.

Video No. 1 (85 MB, 3840×2160 @30 fps)
Video #2 (31 MB, 1920×1080 @30 fps, on the move, daytime)

	In the middle plans the foliage is already beginning to merge.
	The camera copes with macro photography.
	Noise in the shadows is well handled.
	Good work on details.
	The license plates of nearby cars are clearly visible.
	The camera copes relatively well with indoor shooting.

Huawei Nova Plus	Apple iPhone SE

The camera turned out good. You can see in the pictures the work of noise reduction and a slight soapiness in the background, but in general the work of the program is quite neat. Even the details in the shadows are handled well by the camera. As a result, she will cope well with documentary and artistic photography.

Telephone and communications

The European version of the smartphone works as standard in modern 2G GSM, 3G WCDMA networks, and also has support for fourth-generation LTE Cat.6 networks with a maximum possible speed of up to 300 Mbit/s for reception; there is a modem with X9 LTE support built in for data transmission. Five FDD LTE bands are supported (Band 1, 3, 7, 8, 20), including the three most common among domestic operators (B3, B7 and B20). FDD TDD band (Band 38) is also supported.

The rest of the communication capabilities of the Huawei Nova Plus are modest: the Wi-Fi module can only work with one 2.4 GHz band, Bluetooth has version 4.1, there is NFC, but for some reason test programs stubbornly refuse to see it working with the Mifare standard. The smartphone supports Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth channels. Smart Wi-Fi+ lets you automatically switch between Wi-Fi and mobile data networks. The USB Type-C connector supports connecting external devices in USB OTG mode.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. There is also support for continuous input such as Swype, and here this function is expanded with additional features and called “Huawei Swype”.

Everything, as usual, is spoiled by the unsuccessful implementation of switching language layouts, which Huawei adheres to with some kind of manic constancy. Instead of assigning this function to the usual pressing of one button, here you are forced to hold down the spacebar for some time and then slide your finger, selecting the options that open. An unfortunate and inconvenient decision, it’s time for the developers at Huawei to abandon this atavism. Well, buyers of the company’s smartphones have only to install another keyboard immediately after purchase.

OS and software

Nova Plus uses a 64-bit version of Google Android 6.0 with Emotion UI 4.1 shell. There are no noticeable changes or limitations compared to the same Honor 8 in the Nova Plus user interface. This shell from Huawei developers is so universal that they use it in almost the same form in all their smartphones, including the separate Honor brand. And also in all tablets, including the Mediapad M3 tablet presented simultaneously with Nova Plus at IFA, which will be discussed in one of the following reviews.

The familiar timeline in the notification shade is in place, an additional functional menu with a flashlight, voice recorder, etc. is called up from below, it is possible to change design themes, arrange virtual control buttons on the screen in your own way, and there is wide support for gestures. There are few applications in the firmware, most of them are useful, and if it were not for the forced pre-installed free services of Russian Yandex and Mail.ru, then in general the choice of programs could be called successful.

Performance

The Huawei Nova Plus hardware platform is based on the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC. This SoC includes eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2.0 GHz, and the Adreno 506 video accelerator is responsible for graphics processing. The amount of RAM of the smartphone is 3 GB, the volume of built-in flash memory is 32 GB (the user has no more than 22 GB of free space). This volume can be increased using microSD cards, but then you will have to remove one of the SIM cards. microSD cards are officially supported with capacities up to 128 GB; in practice, our 128 GB Transcend Premium microSDXC UHS-1 test card was reliably recognized by the device. It is also possible to connect external flash drives to the USB port in OTG mode.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 is a fairly recent chipset designed for mid-priced smartphones. It ranks below the Snapdragon 650 and is currently used in a fairly small number of smartphones - including the Asus ZenFone 3. Thanks to the latest 14 nm process technology, the platform has good performance with low power consumption.

In complex tests, the SoC Snapdragon 625 does not demonstrate very high results; they are comparable to the capabilities of the HiSilicon Kirin 650 and noticeably lower than those of the Snapdragon 650. The Snapdragon 625 is far from modern top platforms, but the performance of the review hero should be enough to perform basic tasks, including for demanding games, and such a platform does not have a large performance reserve for the future.

Testing in the latest versions of comprehensive tests AnTuTu and GeekBench:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in gaming tests 3DMark, GFXBenchmark and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark, the most powerful smartphones now have the ability 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 Plus (Qualcomm Snapdragon 625)	Huawei P9 lite (HiSilicon Kirin 650)	Sony Xperia X (Qualcomm Snapdragon 650)	Sony Xperia XA Ultra (MediaTek Helio P10)	Meizu Pro 6 (Helio X25)
3DMark Ice Storm Sling Shot (more is better)	463	367	871	425	1054
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (Onscreen)	7 fps	5 fps	10 fps	5 fps	11 fps
GFXBenchmark Manhattan ES 3.1 (1080p Offscreen)	6 fps	5 fps	10 fps	5 fps	11 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (Onscreen)	23 fps	19 fps	33 fps	18 fps	36 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex (1080p Offscreen)	23 fps	19 fps	31 fps	17 fps	40 fps

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal photographs

Below is a thermal image rear surface obtained after 10 minutes of battery testing in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the 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 only 33 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is very little.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the testing results, the test subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders that are needed to fully play most of the most common multimedia files on the network, in this case, audio files. To successfully play them, you will have to resort to the help of a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 sound format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Standard video player
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720, 24fps, AAC	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280×720, 24fps, AC3		The video plays fine, there is no sound
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24fps, AAC	plays normally	plays normally
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920×1080, 24fps, AC3	The video plays fine, there is no sound	The video plays fine, there is no sound

Further testing of video playback was performed Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We were unable to check the theoretically possible support for adapters for outputting images to an external device due to the lack of an adapter option that connects to the USB Type-C port, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files to 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 “Methodology for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices) 720/24p Great No

Note: If in both columns Uniformity And Passes Green ratings are given, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and frame skipping will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the border of the screen, one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: in the shadows only a couple of shades merge with black, and in the highlights all gradations of shades are displayed.

Battery life

The capacity of the battery installed in Huawei Nova Plus is 3340 mAh, which gives the device the opportunity to demonstrate a more than decent level of autonomy. The smartphone not only confidently withstands even an eventful day, but also demonstrates almost record-breaking performance in test modes, which is even a little surprising, but this is a fact established in practice. In the normal rhythm of life, you can count on a couple of days of battery life, but here everything depends on the scenarios for using the smartphone. Testing was carried out in mode without performance limitation and without power-saving modes.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme, with auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) lasts at least 20 hours. When continuously watching videos from Youtube in high quality (720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device operates for as long as 13 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone practically lasts up to 7 hours. Using the supplied mains charger (2 A, 5 V), the smartphone was fully charged in approximately 2.5 hours. The device does not support wireless charging.

Bottom line

Until the official price for Russian retail has been announced, it is difficult to promise success for the first-born of the new Huawei Nova line on the Russian market. However, the European price for them has already been announced: 400 euros are being asked for the regular model, and the Nova Plus modification will be offered for only 30 euros more. For the European market, this price may correspond to the average level, but for us, a simple conversion to rubles gives an amount of 30 thousand or more. And if you consider that during the Berlin presentation the creators more than once compared Nova smartphones with Samsung Galaxy A (2016) devices, then they seem to see them as their main competitors. And in comparison with them in Russian rubles, Huawei products are still clearly more expensive.

In any case, the Nova Plus device justifies its positioning. This is a good, but not top-end smartphone, without obvious disadvantages and shortcomings, with a good, albeit not the highest class, screen, cameras and sound. But one can be skeptical about the positioning of Nova as models aimed at a female audience: there is nothing so “feminine” here, except perhaps for the separately advertised advanced mode of “beautyification” of pictures, but this connection is rather illusory. Smartphones do not look pampered and are quite suitable for users of any gender - the main thing is that the price for Russia in the end turns out to be competitive.

The average power content of this 5.5-inch smartphone in a stylish metal case was supplemented by a main camera with optical stabilization and a fast fingerprint scanner. As Vesti.Hi-tech found out, Huawei nova plus was not without its drawbacks

As part of the Berlin IFA 2016 exhibition, Huawei presented two new mid-class fashion smartphones - (note that the original name of the newly-minted brand is written with a small letter). To demonstrate the photo capabilities of the devices, they invited the famous fashion “blogger” and model Ksenia Chumicheva (in the abbreviated English version Xenia Tchoumi). In this simple way, they tried to attract the attention of the youth audience to the new products, for whom, as Huawei says, a third of all photographs taken are selfies. In particular, Ksenia, in her own images, shared her experience of using tools for treating “herself,” such as Beautiful Skin 3.0 and Beauty Makeup 2.0. However, you should not think that new smartphones, having received modern means of “beautification,” are aimed only at the fair sex. Below we will take a closer look at the nova plus model. It’s so strange - in lowercase letters only - Huawei writes the names of smartphones in press releases. However, the inscription on the box reads more like NOVA Plus. For ease of perception, we will further write it in the standard way for names of electronics models, Nova Plus.

Specifications

Model: MLA-L11
OS: Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) + EMUI 4.1 shell
Processor: 8-core, 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (MSM8953), two clusters of 4 cores ARM Cortex-A57, up to 2.0 GHz, DSP Hexagon 546
Graphics coprocessor: Adreno 506
RAM: 3 GB LPDDR3 (933 MHz)
Storage: 32 GB, hybrid microSD/HC/XC memory card slot (up to 128 GB)
Screen: capacitive, IPS matrix, 5.5-inch diagonal, FullHD resolution (1920x1080 pixels), pixel density per inch 401 ppi, protective glass with 2.5D effect
Interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11 /b/g/n (2.4 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.1, USB Type-C for charging/syncing, NFC, 3.5 mm headphone jack
Cameras: main - 16 MP, phase detection autofocus, optical stabilization, dual LED flash, 4K video recording 2160p@30 fps; front 8 MP, video recording 1080p@30 fps
Network: 2G, 3G (HSPA+, up to 42 Mbit/s), 4G (LTE Cat 6, up to 300 Mbit/s)
SIM card configuration: nanoSIM (4FF format) + nanoSIM (4FF format)/microSD
SIM card operating mode: Dual SIM Dual Standby (DSDS)
Navigation: GPS/GLONASS/BDS, A-GPS
Radio: FM tuner
Sensors: accelerometer, light and proximity sensors, fingerprint scanner
Battery: non-removable, lithium polymer, 3,340 mAh
Colors: silver, gold, gray
Dimensions: 151.8x75.7x7.3 mm
Weight: 160 grams

Design, ergonomics

The Nova Plus “model” smartphone stands out for its premium design, which seems to have its origins in the tablet phone.

In the appearance of the device, the neatly smoothed corners of the case and the chamfers around the perimeter of the side edges, shiny from diamond grinding, immediately catch the eye. However, it seems that the bezels around the screen could be narrower.

The overall "rounded" feel of the Nova Plus adds a 2.5D effect glass protector to the screen.

The rear panel made of aircraft-grade aluminum fits seamlessly into the streamlined shape of the unibody case, where at the top and bottom there is a place for two radio-transparent plastic inserts for antennas, which are slightly different in color. The texture of the back panel, although slightly rough, does not slip much in the hand.

The new smartphone, without setting any compactness records, looks quite decent compared to the most famous 5.5-inch “colleagues”. So, with the same thickness (7.3 mm) as the Apple iPhone 7 plus and the “glass” Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016), their plan sizes differ as follows: (151.1x75.7 mm) versus (158.2x77.9 mm) versus (151.5x74.1 mm). The weight of the Nova Plus turned out to be less than that of others - 160 g versus 188 g versus 172 g. Note that in Russia only three colors are available for the new product - silver, golden and gray.

Above the smartphone display there is a front camera lens, an LED charging/event indicator, a speaker grille, as well as proximity and light sensors.

The lower insert is decorated with the Huawei logo. The touch control keys “Back”, “Home” and “Recent applications” are on-screen here (triangle, circle and square, respectively), and in the settings you can change their order and add another icon to control the notification shade. By the way, you can quickly reduce/increase the size of the working screen by swiping right/left on the navigation bar (along the area of these icons).

Predictably, a volume rocker and a power/lock button were placed on the right edge of the case. The latter is very small in size and has a textured notch on the surface, which makes it easy to identify by touch.

On the left edge there is a closed combination slot with a tray for two places, one of which is intended only for the subscriber identification module of the nanoSIM format, and the other can be occupied by either a second nanoSIM or a microSD memory card.

At the bottom end, between two groups of holes, a symmetrical USB Type-C connector was placed, which is framed by the slots of the heads of two screws. Behind the decorative grilles (viewed from the screen side) there is a “multimedia” speaker (behind the right one), as well as a “conversational” microphone (behind the left one).

At the top end there is a hole for a microphone (noise reduction), as well as a 3.5 mm audio headset connector.

Just below the top plastic insert, on the aluminum back panel there are places for a double LED flash and the main camera lens, slightly protruding above the plane of the body, as well as a fingerprint scanner, the almost square touch pad of which, on the contrary, is made in a certain recess.

In addition, the lower part of the panel is decorated with another Huawei logo, and from the inscriptions under it you can find out the model number, the name of the manufacturer and the country of production.

There are no complaints about the build quality of the smartphone, and the location of the controls does not raise any complaints. The tactile sensations that arise when the palm comes into contact with the body of the device are quite pleasant. The settings provide a number of proprietary tools, collected in the “Management” section, which allow you to partially compensate for the 5.5-inch screen size.

Screen, camera, sound

The Nova Plus smartphone received Full HD resolution (1920x1080 pixels) on an IPS matrix with a 5.5-inch diagonal. With these parameters, a pixel density per inch of 401 ppi is ensured, that is, individual dots can no longer be distinguished by the eye. The image on the screen, made using one of the variants of OGS technology (without an air gap between the elements), is quite clear and rich. In the presentation of smartphones, a figure regarding high screen contrast flashed - 1,500:1.

With a good margin, the backlight level can be adjusted manually or using automatic adjustment using the light sensor. At least the available brightness range is enough for comfortable work, both in daylight and in complete darkness. Capacitive touch screen recognizes up to ten simultaneous presses . The results of the AnTuTu Tester and MultiTouch Test programs fully confirm this multi-touch.

In the "Control" section, an option is available to increase the sensitivity of the touch layer for working with gloves. View mode options ("Small", "Standard", "Large") set the size of interface elements, including images and symbols. In the settings you can also change the color temperature of the screen - make the colors warmer or, conversely, cooler. In addition, the special “Vision Protection” mode, according to the manufacturer, allows you to eliminate blue spectrum colors and relieve eye fatigue. It is worth noting that in this mode the screen takes on a distinctly yellowish tint. The good anti-glare properties of the display make it very comfortable to use the smartphone outdoors, even on a sunny day. The protective glass with 2.5D effect is coated with an oleophobic coating, thanks to which small stains can be easily and quickly removed.

The main camera of Nova Plus has a 16-megapixel sensor. The aperture of the lens, equipped with optical stabilization (OIS), is f/2.0. There is also phase detection autofocus (PDAF), dual-tone LED flash and digital zoom. The maximum image resolution is 4608x3456 pixels (16 MP) with an aspect ratio of 4:3 and 4608x2592 pixels (12 MP) with a frame aspect ratio of 16:9. Examples of photos can be viewed.

The wide-angle lens of the front camera based on an 8-megapixel sensor also boasts an f/2.0 aperture. The maximum resolution for selfies is 3264x2448 pixels (8 MP, 4:3).

The main camera can shoot video even in 4K resolution (3840x2160 pixels) @ 30 fps, but for the front camera only Full HD quality (1920x1080 pixels) with the same frame rate is available. All content is saved in MP4 container files (AVC - video, AAC - audio). There is also the possibility of slow motion shooting (up to four times, 120 fps), as well as “time lapses”, all with HD quality (720p).

The Camera app offers Photo, Video, Beautify (for enhancing portraits), Time Lapse (for time-lapse photography), and Light mode (for low-light shooting with a tripod). The latter, in particular, contains the presets “Light of Lanterns”, “Light Graffiti”, “Water” and “Stars”. In the settings menu, along with the often popular HDR and “Focus”, it is worth noting “Professional” shooting, where it is possible to manually select on the “orbital” interface such parameters as the method of measuring exposure, ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, focusing (including manual) and white balance. In the front camera settings, the “Perfect Selfie” option is no longer surprising, where, along with the usual decoration effect, you can adjust additional parameters (“Smoothing”, “Whitening”, “Big eyes”, “Bright eyes”, “Narrow face”).

As already noted, despite the presence of two decorative grilles at the bottom end of the smartphone, only one “multimedia” speaker is hidden under them. At the same time, it sounds pretty good. However, one of the clear advantages of the new smartphone is the built-in support for DTS Headphone:X technology. The latter, according to the developers, emulates deep and surround 3D sound (7.1 system) when using any headphones. At least on the included headset, the changes are noticeable even to the untrained ear. The proprietary Music application can play sound files created by codecs for compressing audio data without loss of quality, for example, with the FLAC extension. By the way, broadcasting radio stations through an FM tuner, the operation of which requires the connection of a wired audio headset as a short-wave antenna, can also be output to a “multimedia” speaker. The Voice Recorder app makes it easy to record stereo conversations (48 kHz, AAC-LC) that are saved as M4A files.

Filling, performance

The new smartphone has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 (MSM8953) chipset hidden under the hood, which is the first in its line to be implemented in compliance with 14 nm design standards, which, in turn, has a beneficial effect on energy efficiency. Thus, Snapdragon 625 consumes 35% less energy compared to the previous generation Snapdragon 617 crystal.

In addition, lower heat generation allowed the clock speed of its eight 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 cores to reach 2 GHz. The capabilities of the new chip include support for video recording with 4K resolution (AVC and HEVC codecs) and cameras with sensors up to 24 MP. The X9 LTE modem provides LTE Cat.7 data transmission at speeds of up to 300 Mbit/s and works with Wi-Fi ac standard networks. The Adreno 506 graphics accelerator allows you to operate with a screen resolution of up to 1900x1200 pixels at a frequency of 60 frames per second. In addition, the MSM8953 also comes with built-in support for Quick Charge 3.0. The basic configuration of Nova Plus is supplemented by 3 GB of LPDDR3 (933 MHz) RAM, which is controlled by a single-channel controller. Judging by the published information, in terms of performance, the Snapdragon 625 occupies an intermediate place between the Snapdragon 617 and Snapdragon 652. This does not contradict the results obtained from our tests.

Thus, on the synthetic benchmarks AnTuTu Benchmark, the new smartphone scored more than 60 thousand “virtual parrots”.

Intermediate results are also observed when assessing the amount of horsepower and the efficiency of using processor cores (Geekbench 3, Vellamo).

But on the Epic Citadel visual test settings (High Performance, High Quality and Ultra High Quality), the frame rate changed slightly as follows - 60.2 fps, 60.1 fps and 50.1 fps, respectively.

On the universal gaming benchmark 3DMark, where Nova Plus was tested on the recommended Sling Shot set (ES 3.1), a result that was not outstanding for gamers was recorded - 462 points. However, the smartphone handles most games quite successfully.

The total number of points scored by Nova Plus on the cross-platform benchmark Base Mark OS II was 1,256.

After turning on, of the 32 GB of internal memory, approximately 24.01 GB are available, and, of course, even less is free (22.84 GB). To expand storage, Nova Plus has a combined slot designed for a second nanoSIM or a microSD/HC/XC memory card with a capacity of up to 128 GB. In addition, thanks to the support of USB-OTG technology, it is also possible to connect a flash drive to the device. However, due to the lack of a special USB Type-C adapter cable, it was not possible to test this possibility.

Two nanoSIM (4FF) format subscriber identification modules are connected to one radio module and operate in DSDS (Dual SIM Dual Standby) mode, that is, they are constantly active, but if one of them is busy, then the other is also unavailable at the same moment. In the SIM card settings, it is proposed to determine which subscriber identification module will work with 4G/3G networks, while the remaining one will be content with only 2G. The set of 4G frequency bands contains the most popular in Russia - FDD-LTE Band 3 (1,800 MHz), Band 7 (2,600 MHz) and Band 20 (800 MHz). Among other wireless communications, it is worth noting the Wi-Fi module 802.11 b/g/n (2.4 GHz), as well as Bluetooth 4.1 and NFC interfaces. For unknown reasons, the Wi-Fi module supports only one frequency range, which can hardly be added to the advantages of the new smartphone.

But thanks to the existing NFC interface, supplemented by the Moscow Transport Cards application, you can find out the balance of not only the Moscow Troika card, but also the Strelka card located near Moscow.

GPS, GLONASS and BDS satellite systems are used to determine location and navigation. A-GPS mode (cellular and Wi-Fi networks) is also available.

The non-removable battery capacity of Nova Plus is 3,340 mAh. This, for example, is 40 mAh more than the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016). The new smartphone comes with a regular charger (5 V/2 A). When using it, it will take about two hours to fill the battery 100%.

For the Nova Plus battery, the AnTuTu Tester test program showed a very good result - 14,870 points. Judging by the information released at the presentation, the device should last up to 82 hours when listening to music, up to 52 hours during normal use, up to 15 hours when watching HD video and up to 18 hours when surfing the web (4G). At the same time, every hour of continuous playback of test videos (in MP4 format with hardware decoding in Full HD quality and at full brightness) reduced the battery charge by an average of 9.5% (estimated at 7.5 hours).

In the subsection "Battery Manager" ("Advanced Settings"), which provides for optimization and monitoring of energy consumption, as usual, three modes are offered - "Productive" (online video, games), "Smart" (everyday work) and "Energy Saving". The latter mode can be disabled altogether or activated when the battery level is low (8%, 20% or 30%). In this case, the device turns into a regular “dialer”, when you can only make voice calls, view contacts and exchange messages.

Software Features

The Nova Plus smartphone runs on the Android 6.0 operating system, the interface of which is hidden under the proprietary EMUI 4.1 shell. A similar combination has already been encountered, for example, in the flagship.

It’s also easy to make video recordings from the screen (screencasts), as well as take “smart” screenshots, including “long” ones that take up several screens. Using control gestures, as usual, you can, for example, mute the sound, as well as launch a specific application (by drawing the corresponding letter on the display with your knuckle). Of course, the settings that allow you to comfortably operate your smartphone, including with one hand, have not been forgotten.

Registering even one (out of five) fingerprints allows you not only to quickly unlock your smartphone, but also to increase the level of security for access to personal folders and/or applications. In addition to the fingerprint scanner functions, the touch panel supports several options, thanks to which you can take a photo, start recording a video, answer a call, turn off the alarm, scroll through images in full screen mode, open or close the notification panel, etc. At the same time, fingerprint registration is not necessary here.

Purchase, conclusions

The new smartphone owes its model appearance largely to its metal body and stylish design. At the same time, among the key advantages of Nova Plus it is worth noting the main camera with optical stabilization, the option of surround sound in headphones, long battery life when watching videos, a fingerprint sensor with volumetric scanning, as well as an NFC interface that allows you to read transport cards. These were the advantages.

But, alas, Nova Plus is not without its drawbacks. If you gradually begin to get used to the mandatory choice between installing a second SIM card and expanding the memory in new smartphones, then just one Wi-Fi frequency band (2.4 GHz) is somewhat surprising. After all, the chipset used even supports the “ac” standard.

Of course, the attractiveness of Nova Plus on the Russian market will also depend on its official price, which has not yet been announced. However, the price tag for Europe is already known - 429 euros. But, for example, the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) SM-A710F was offered in large retail chains at the time of testing for 29,990 rubles. True, the maximum clock speed of the 8-core processor (Exynos 7580) is slightly lower (1.6 GHz versus 2.0 GHz), and the built-in memory is half as much (16 GB versus 32 GB). But the Super AMOLED screen and battery are almost the same capacity.

Review results of the Huawei Nova Plus smartphone

Pros:

Metal body with stylish design
Camera with optical stabilization
Surround sound in headphones
Long battery life when watching videos
Fast fingerprint scanner
Useful NFC interface

Minuses:

Mandatory choice between installing a second SIM card and expanding memory
One Wi-Fi frequency band

But what is considered generous execution by Samsung standards, in comparison with the Chinese, looks like much outdated technology. The Galaxy A7 2016, of course, is a very durable smartphone with a perfectly calibrated display, but in terms of performance and camera quality it is hopelessly behind the “glamorous” Huawei and ASUS ZenFone 3, and 16 GB of memory on the internal storage at a price of 30 thousand looks like a mockery.

It's easy to criticize a smartphone that's already a year old, but they say that the new A7 won't be much more powerful and will only have a 16-megapixel selfie camera. However, as an option for the requirements “I don’t want to know these Chinese of yours,” the A7 is good - not very cool, but a beautiful and high-quality smartphone with no obvious flaws.

conclusions

As you can see, the new Huaweis are all about selfies - even with the fierce promotion of the smartphone as a youth party model, the Nova Plus itself remains a high-quality mobile phone. Cool cameras, excellent speed, beautiful body, good display - there’s nothing much to complain about. Perhaps the lack of volume in the headphones, which is compensated by good (by Huawei standards) sound quality. And there is a little hope that the sound will become louder in future firmware.

The problem with an image smartphone lies elsewhere - in... the image. For the vast majority of buyers, the Huawei logo means “Chinese low-cost phones” and nothing beyond this interpretation. You won’t be able to take the flagship P9 out of your pocket in a youth crowd and say “Look what I bought and be jealous! New cool Huawei! You don’t have that!” - they will laugh. But with an older iPhone, this trick works. But the second-rate, but more prestigious Samsung Galaxy S6 is now easy to get for the money they ask for Nova.

“Cheap show-off,” you say? Yes, that is exactly what we are talking about. Because without taking this factor into account, you can remember ordering some Nubia Z11 or Xiaomi Mi5 from China - and then “oops”...

But, I said this at the beginning of the article, and I will repeat it again - few people care about the grumbling of “refined iron” lovers. In the end, people bought the Xperia M5 of comparable status last year and were happy. So Nova Plus deserves attention at least as a smartphone in which “everything is good” without excesses in any of the characteristics. Don’t load cute-looking convertible cars with sacks of potatoes and don’t expect the power of “anti-crisis flagships” from a smartphone for partygoers - with such ambitions, you can only go with Aliexpress or, at least, the anti-crisis Honor 8.

The smartphone is almost entirely made of aluminum. There are only a couple of small plastic inserts on the back panel, but they don't spoil the look. The camera lens protrudes slightly from the body. The front panel has glass rounded around the perimeter. There will be four colors on sale: dark grey, silver, gold and rose gold.

The smartphone is like a monolith: weighty, strong, with a jewelry cut. Everything here is like in premium devices.

photos

Everyone I gave the smartphone to hold appreciated the design. Girls especially liked Huawei Nova Plus. At the same time, friends and colleagues unanimously noted two shortcomings: ugly thick black frames around the display and a slippery body.

Smooth metal glides in dry hands. For a device with a 5.5-inch display and a weight of 160 grams, this could end badly. Using one hand is scary. The convex back panel, which fits well into the curve of the palm, helps a little.

The control keys are on the right side, exactly under the thumb of the right hand. The lock button is grooved and is easy to feel in the dark.

If Nova Plus seems big to you, then take a closer look at the 5-inch Nova smartphone. It doesn't lag behind in terms of characteristics, but it fits better in the hand.

The scanner has become even more accurate

A fast and accurate fingerprint scanner is Huawei's hallmark. Nova Plus has upgraded it: now it recognizes not only the papillary pattern, but also its depth. Result: instant response at any finger position.

The scanner also works as a touch panel. In the Camera app, you can take a photo by holding your finger on it. Or pull out the notification panel by swiping from top to bottom. You can scroll through photos, answer a call, or turn off the alarm. Simple, logical and convenient.

The camera is not bad, but competitors take better pictures

Nova Plus shoots worse than some competitors for the same money. Take, for example, OnePlus 3 or Honor 8. Automation often overexposes the frame, fortunately, the exposure is adjusted when focusing. You can curb errors manually. There is a lot to play around with: ISO, shutter speed, exposure compensation, etc.

The quality of landscapes greatly depends on the lighting: in cloudy weather, when shooting against the sky, the exposure meter is acting up. At night there are noises and blurs. But you can take good pictures from a short distance: portraits, macro, static objects.

The main camera of Huawei Nova Plus has a 16-megapixel sensor with a pixel size of 1.12 microns and optics with f2.2 aperture. There is only one module, unlike the double ones in Honor 8 and Huawei P9, but with optical stabilization.

photos

The camera has potential, but it can only be revealed in manual mode.

Videos can be shot in 4K resolution. The quality is excellent, there are no jerks or slowdowns. Stabilization helps a lot. But there are problems with sound recording: in the first second everything is fine, then the sound comes through as if through cotton wool.

At the presentation, most attention was paid to the front 8-megapixel camera. More precisely, photo processing. Huawei has equipped the application with the functions Beautiful Skin 3.0 and Beauty Make-up 2.0, which even out skin tone, remove bruises, blackheads, draw lips and do other things. The girls will definitely appreciate it.

Can handle all tasks

Huawei suddenly abandoned its own HiSilicon Kirin processors. Nova Plus uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 625. The result of 60,000 points in AnTuTu was not surprising, but when it came to real work, the smartphone was very pleased.

Launching applications, switching between them, taking photos, watching videos in 4K - everything works quickly, without stuttering or heating. Even with five programs in the background.

Huawei Nova Plus performance compared to competitors. The higher the result, the better.

The games are also in perfect order. Unkilled, Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5 ran at maximum settings, and there was not even a hint of lag during operation. The fighting game Injustice only slowed down in the menu and between fights.

Instead of a proprietary Huawei processor, the smartphone has a chip from Qualcomm. The device works very quickly, and this is even a little surprising.

Hauwei Nova Plus supports LTE from both SIM cards. On the outskirts of Moscow, the speed reached 40 Mbit/sec. The satellite location is determined in a couple of seconds. There are no problems with the call quality, but the volume of the speaker may not be enough on the street or in the subway.

The display is bright and clear

Huawei Nova Plus has an IPS display with a diagonal of 5.5 inches and a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. The pixel density is 401 ppi, so you don't have to worry about detail.

The color balance can be adjusted in the settings, making the shades warmer or cooler. Eye Protection mode turns off the blue spectrum colors that cause eye fatigue: convenient in the dark or before bed. The screen also responds to touches with gloves.

The image on the screen is clear, rich, with correct color reproduction. The brightness is enough for comfortable work outdoors.

The battery will last for a day

Nova Plus has a battery with a capacity of 3340 mAh, with which the smartphone will “live” from early morning until late evening. This is if you actively use all the functions. If you moderate your ardor and only occasionally check notifications, then 1.5 days will be enough.

The smartphone played Full HD video at full brightness for 7 hours and 45 minutes. Sabway Surf arcade game drained the battery after 6 hours. Samsung Galaxy Edge 7 and Moto Z Play are far from the benchmark results:

Operating time of Huawei Nova Plus in comparison with competitors and standards. The result is given in minutes.

Using the included adapter (5V/2A), the smartphone is fully charged in 1 hour and 50 minutes. Not bad for an “average” guy!

Artificial audio system was a success

The Nova Plus does not have a built-in amplifier, but it does have DTS Headphone:X technology, which simulates surround sound. And this is not just a marketing ploy - the effect is noticeable.

With Headphone:X, the soundstage expands, becomes fuller and bassier. Music seems to surround you from all sides. The only thing I can complain about is the volume reserve: it’s not enough. In normal mode, the sound is flat and inexpressive – like that of budget smartphones.