Huawei Nova Plus [review]

Huawei Nova Plus smartphone was launched in September 2016. The phone comes with a 5.50-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels.

The Huawei Nova Plus is powered by 2GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor and it comes with 3GB of RAM. The phone packs 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB via a microSD card. As far as the cameras are concerned, the Huawei Nova Plus packs a 16-megapixel primary camera on the rear and a 8-megapixel front shooter for selfies.

The Huawei Nova Plus runs Android 6.0 and is powered by a 4000mAh non removable battery.

The Huawei Nova Plus is a dual SIM (GSM and GSM) smartphone that accepts Micro-SIM and Connectivity options include Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth, FM, 3G, 4G. Sensors on the phone include Proximity sensor, Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, and Gyroscope. 

Huawei Nova Plus : Design :

 

 

While the Huawei Nova Plus is the bigger brother to the Huawei Nova and the two share the same design philosophy, there are subtle differences to tell them apart – unlike with previous Huawei phones which are near-on identical (Huawei P9 and P9 Plus, for example).
While the Huawei Nova Plus sports the same 2.5D glass and metal curved unibody as its smaller sibling, it features an entirely different rear design. The Nova features a P9-esque black segment housing the camera along the top of the rear, while the Nova Plus features an all-metal rear with a protruding camera in the centre, reminiscent of Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and Huawei’s Mate 8.
The Huawei Nova Plus features a 5.5in display, although you wouldn’t be able to tell when holding it in the hand. Why? Huawei has been smart when designing the Huawei Nova Plus, utilising small bezels to fit a larger display into a smaller-than-usual chassis. This provides a comfortable holding experience over extended periods, and is surprisingly easy to use one-handed. Of course, it’s never going to be as easy to hold as the iPhone SE, but it’s a step forward for those of us with a love for phablets.

The Huawei Nova Plus is a gorgeous smartphone with the same brushed metal finish on the sides and sandblasted finish on the rear as the Huawei Nova, and really doesn’t feel like a mid-range smartphone in the hand. All the small details, from the seamless connection from display to body, to the different finishes on different parts of the chassis provides the look and feel of a high-end, premium smartphone. 

Huawei Nova Plus : Features and spec :

So what can we expect from the Huawei Nova Plus? It features a larger IPS display than the Huawei Nova at 5.5in, although the resolution remains the same at 1080x1920 (full HD). We found the display itself to be incredibly bright, crisp and vibrant during our time with the smartphone, and it’s worth noting that it too features a blue light filter that should make using the smartphone in the evenings a little bit more comfortable on the eye.
Inside the Huawei Nova Plus, users will find a Snapdragon 625 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, much like its younger sibling. The 32GB of storage can be expanded too, thanks to the ‘Hybrid SIM tray’ that lets you use either one SIM and a MicroSD card, or two SIMs at once.
Like its sibling, the Huawei Nova Plus was extremely responsive during our time with the smartphone, and we experienced no lag at all. Although with that being said, we’re a bit confused as to why both smartphones feature identical processors and RAM – if Huawei is to charge more money for the Plus, it might want to make the smartphone more appealing than only offering a slightly larger display and a slightly bumped up camera. While the Snapdragon 625 is a decent processor, we expect a little more from a 429 Euro smartphone.

Speaking of the camera, the Nova Plus features a rear-facing 16Mp snapper, up from the 12Mp camera offered on the standard Nova. That’s not all either, as the Nova Plus also features Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS for short), which should help capture sharper images and smoother videos. The camera is generally quite impressive and images captured are quite sharp and well lit, although we’d like to get it back to PC Advisor towers and put it through its paces before giving it the official thumbs up.
On the flip side, the Huawei Nova Plus features the same 8Mp front-facing camera as the Nova. The front-facing camera is good for taking selfies and performs well in low-light conditions, but it won’t light up dark conditions – for those, users have the option of using the 5.5in display as a forward-facing flash.
The Snapdragon 625 processor provides users with around 30 percent better battery life than the Snapdragon 615, and when that’s coupled with a fairly large 3340mAh battery, Huawei claims that the smartphone will last 2.2 days on average. To compare, Apple’s similarly sized iPhone 6s Plus features a 2750mAh battery, 590mAh less than Huawei’s Nova Plus. While we’re impressed with the claim, we’d like to test the battery life of the Huawei Nova Plus ourselves once we get it in to test.

Huawei Nova Plus : Software :

 

The Huawei Nova Plus comes packing Android 6.0 Marshmallow complete with Huawei’s own Emotion UI (or EMUI for short) offering Huawei’s own spin on the Android software. For those that don’t already know, EMUI is about as far from stock Android as one can come, with almost every element of the Android interface being redesigned or at least tweaked for Huawei devices.
Although this may be slightly controversial, we love EMUI – it looks good, and offers functionality not available on standard Android devices, like tapping the screen to take a screenshot, and being able to view your notifications in a timeline-esque view. Yes, it may take some time to get used to, but we feel that the learning curve is worth it.

Huawei Nova Plus: Specs :

 

 

 

• 5.5in IPS FHD display
• Snapdragon 625 processor, 3GB RAM
• 32GB storage, expandable via MicroSD
• USB-C
• Rear-facing 16Mp camera with Optical Image Stabilisation
• Front-facing 8Mp camera
• 3340mAh battery
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow