Huawei is a corporation that is a major player in the telecommunications equipment and mobile devices market. Smartphones and tablets of the company are deservedly very popular due to their reliability and quite affordable price.
This article is dedicated to one of Huawei's latest innovations - the Nova 2 smartphone.
A bit about Huawei
Few people know that Huawei has gained worldwide recognition for its communications equipment. The company launched the release of smartphones and other electronic gadgets much later.
Huawei began its countdown in 1987. The creator of the company was Ren Zhengfei, a former officer who had previously served in the engineering corps of China. From the very beginning, all of the company's efforts were devoted to creating its own telephone switchboard.
In order to earn money for production and research, for the first three years the company had to work as a branch of a communications firm from Hong Kong.
In 1993, thanks to the hard work and the investment of all the profits made in the creation of a research and development center, the company introduced the first switch of its own production C & C08 to the public. They immediately started talking about the company, because before that in China all telecommunication technologies were represented only by foreign developments. In 1994, a lucrative telephone network contract was signed with the company in China. This moment can be considered the beginning of the triumphal procession of Huawei around the world.
Today, Huawei is a respected and well-known manufacturer in the telecommunications equipment market; the company's developments are used in 170 countries around the world.
Along with the development of telecommunication technologies, the company launched the production of mobile phones. The company announced its first phone in 2003, and six years later the first smartphone of the company based on the Android operating system was released. In 2011, the company's first tablet PC was released - Huawei Mediapad.
Currently, Huawei smartphones in terms of functionality and quality do not lag behind such giants as Samsung and Apple.
Now back to the review of Huawei Nova 2 - the smartphone of the Chinese company, released in mid-2017.
Unpacking the gadget and analyzing the configuration
The smartphone comes in a small white cardboard box with the inscription Huawei Nova 2. Inside there are two packages with the delivery, as well as the gadget itself.
The following was found in the box:
- The device itself.
- Inexpensive bumper case for Huawei Nova 2. A very useful thing actually. You can immediately use your smartphone without fear of scratching a beautiful new case.
- Wired headset. A cheap and simple accessory, nothing special, but the fact of the presence in the package is pleasant.
- A power supply for the device that supports fast charging.
- USB Type-C cable.
- A clip for removing the SIM card tray.
- Documentation including a quick start guide for basic features and a warranty card.
Options, one might say, are pretty good. Not every manufacturer will put a smartphone case in a box, not to mention a headset.
Design and execution of the body
The smartphone looks very interesting in appearance, although the design of the front panel is practically no different from its predecessor. In front is a protective glass rounded at the ends . Huawei Nova 2 (the instructions will help to understand the device and functions) the case itself is all-metal, only on the upper and lower ends are plastic inserts necessary for the functioning of the antennas. On the back panel, painted white (there are other color solutions) , in the upper left corner, there are camera lenses and a flash. A little lower in the center of the back of the smartphone is a fingerprint scanner. The back of the gadget is matte, but it collects fingerprints a bit. The smartphone does not have a single sharp edge. Everything is neatly rounded.
At the bottom there is a socket of the new universal USB Type-C interface, which replaced the standard miniUSB.
Despite the five-inch screen, a big smartphone can not be called. It is nice to hold in your hand. It creates the impression of an expensive device. Perhaps the smartphone itself is a little slippery, but it does not matter. It is quite possible to use the bumper case that comes with the Huawei Nova 2.
Facing the people: Huawei Nova 2 screen
Novelty boasts an IPS-matrix with a resolution of FullHD. The image is bright, the viewing angles are chic. Even in bright sunshine, working with the gadget is quite comfortable, but only if the brightness level is set to the maximum value in the parameters.
In the production of the screen matrix of the smartphone, low-temperature polycrystalline silicon technology was used to provide better image quality.
The display has a high-quality oleophobic coating, making fingerprints on the screen easily erased.
20 megapixels in front. Selfies are our everything!
The “trick” of this smartphone is that it has a 20-megapixel front camera. Many, for the first time reading about the front-facing camera of Huawei Nova 2 in the gadget review, think that an annoying typo crept into the description. But no! Support for a resolution of 20 megapixels is true.
With such a front camera, the gadget is a real find for selfie lovers. Huawei is precisely positioning its device. Built-in software allows you to process the image, for example, to make a beautiful background blur in the background or apply effects to the face in the photo.
Why does a smartphone have two cameras at the back?
The main camera of Huawei Nova 2 on the rear panel is represented by a dual optical module. One of them has a resolution of 12 megapixels, the second - 8. Why do we need these dances with a tambourine? Well, firstly, using two modules, you can implement optical zoom. Although it is twofold, it is optically complete. Secondly, such a constructive solution is designed to provide interesting photos in portrait mode.
When using portrait mode, a high-quality image of a person in the foreground is put forward in the first place, while everything that is in the back of the picture is programmatically blurred to get the best result. This processing technique is called the bokeh effect. This effect is often used by photographers, using specialized programs on a personal computer to blur the background image.
In itself, such a two-eyed solution is interesting and has already been used in some models of Huawei smartphones.
Sound: a find for the music lover
The audio capabilities of the Huawei Nova 2 smartphone surpass those of many opponents in terms of performance. In this gadget, the company used its Huawei Histen software package, which contains improved sound processing algorithms. Do not forget about the use in this unit of an audio chip with built-in amplifier AK4376A. The chip manufacturer is Asahi Kasei Microdevices.
Most sound settings are available only when stereo headphones are connected. It is understandable. An external speaker will not produce the necessary sound quality, and you simply can’t hear many of the necessary frequencies during such playback. But if the owner of the smartphone is undemanding to sound quality, then the audio data of the external speaker will quite suit him.
When using headphones, everything falls into place. The sound of the new Huawei is simply amazing. The sound is soft, but at the same time deep, has a kind of velvety shades.
FM-radio did not get a new smartphone. Some will consider this a minus.
There is a voice recorder in the smartphone, sound recording is at a level.
Hardware Test: CPU and Performance
The company used the Qualcomm Shapdgragon 625 processor in the first-generation Huawei Nova smartphone. It was decided to experiment with the new model. In the production of Nova 2, the corporation used an 8-core processor of its own design HiSilicon Kirin 659, made using 16 nm technology.
Smartphone Huawei Nova 2 in tests showed a performance comparable to its predecessor. The only difference is the more stable and faster operation of the smartphone with a large number of open applications, probably due to the amount of RAM in 4 GB.
In gaming applications, the characteristics of the Huawei Nova 2 allow it to stay strong mid-range. At maximum graphics settings in "heavy" games, twitching of the picture is observed. For comfortable work with games, it is better to choose medium settings.
Wireless modules - fly in the ointment
You can insert two nano-format SIM cards into your Huawei Nova 2 smartphone. It is also possible to use a memory card instead of a second SIM. Given that the device already has 64 GB of RAM on board, it is quite possible to refuse to expand it due to the card. In the smartphone Huawei Nova 2, according to the specifications, there is only one radio module, so the SIM cards will work alternately. The device supports 4G networks (LTE).
Bluetooth version 4.2 allows you to connect wireless stereo headphones for comfortable listening to your favorite music, which is very cool considering the presence of an audio chip for audio processing. NFC, unfortunately, is not supported by the smartphone. The company’s decision to use the Wi-Fi module with a frequency of 2.4 GHz was puzzling. In a model of this level, I would like to have a modern module with a frequency of 5 GHz.
The GPS module "on the cold" starts quickly, there are no complaints about its operation.
Autonomy
The smartphone has a built-in battery capacity of 2950 mAh. With such a capacity, one won’t have to wait for special wonders of autonomy. When watching a video, the smartphone will last 6-7 hours, and it will be possible to play for no more than 3 hours. Like it or not, and with active use, you will have to charge the gadget at least once a day. In such a situation, only the fact that the smartphone supports fast charging is encouraging.
Final verdict
Huawei Nova 2 is an interesting smartphone. Pleasant, well in the hand. The characteristics of Huawei Nova 2 are not that impressive, but they are enough for most users who do not require flagship performance from the device. The average price of Huawei Nova 2 is 20 thousand Russian rubles. The autonomy of the device is not its strong side, but many modern devices also can not boast long battery life.
The forte of the gadget is its camera. A powerful front camera will appeal to selfie lovers, and the fashionable dual main camera will not leave indifferent the rest thanks to the well-implemented portrait mode.
Using an audio chip to play music made it possible to get great sound when listening with headphones, which will delight people who use a smartphone as a player.
The smartphone’s pluses include the fact that it is running the modern Android 7.0 operating system in conjunction with Huawei’s proprietary shell - EMUI.
Now about the unpleasant. Given the decent characteristics of the Huawei Nova 2 smartphone and the price of 20 thousand rubles, it causes a lack of understanding of the company's policy regarding some decisions regarding wireless modules. Was it really impossible to add support for NFC and Wi-Fi with a frequency of 5 GHz?
Smartphone Huawei Nova 2 will find its buyer. Not everyone will find fault with Wi-Fi or gadget battery life. The deciding factor when choosing, most likely, will be the availability of powerful optical modules and an audio chip.