Introduction
This is the Huawei nova 2 Lite, the latest affordable smartphone by the Chinese tech giant! The nova series basically is targeting those young people who don’t want to spend much to buy a phone. We’ve been spending a few weeks to play with the phone, it’s time for the full review treatment!
Trendy Design
In terms of design, the nova 2 Lite looks quite similar to many other phones nowadays. The 18:9 display occupies most of the phone’s front. It doesn’t have a borderless display, but the side bezels are quite slim.
The phone comes in two finishing, blue with a glossy back and black with a matte back. However, the back of the phone is made of plastic, not glass or metal.
The bottom of the phone houses a 3.5mm audio jack, MicroUSB port, microphone, and the speaker. Seriously, it’s already 2018 and we are still seeing MicroUSB port in a smartphone. Judging from the price tag, you can’t really complain much, though.
18:9 Display
The nova 2 Lite sports a 5.99-inch HD+ FullView 18:9 display. Huawei claims that the phone has 12.5% more screen-to-body ratio than usual models. The screen isn’t really that impressive, its color temperature tends to be slightly cooler and outdoor visibility may be a problem.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 SoC
Powering the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB expandable storage. It can get you done for some basic tasks but don’t expect it to have a buttery smooth performance all the time. Playing Rules of Survival on balance graphics is alright.
EMUI 8.0 with Oreo
Even though it’s an affordable phone, the nova 2 Lite still comes with EMUI 8.0 out of the box, which is based on Android Oreo. As usual, EMUI is still not my cup of tea, it lacks optimization, especially on Google apps and services. If you are using this phone, don’t be surprised to see apps crashing.
Since it doesn’t have knuckle gestures like its flagship brothers, the phone comes with a three-finger screenshot feature. Just swipe up the screen with three fingers then the phone will capture a screenshot. Additionally, the phone also supports split-screen feature, though I don’t recommend you to use it since the phone doesn’t have a high-end performance.
Dual Camera
In terms of camera, the phone packs a 12MP + 2MP dual-camera combo on the rear, allowing you to use the wide aperture mode for creating the bokeh effect. Its 8MP front camera can also be used for face unlock, but using the fingerprint sensor to unlock the phone is much safer. There’s a selfie toning flash as well for you to take selfies even under the low-light condition.
Image quality is quite average since this is a selfie-centric smartphone. When taking photos, the phone does have shutter lag, probably due to the entry-level chipset. If you like to take selfies, this is actually a nice phone. There’s even a feature called AR Lens, which gives your selfie that extra magic by playing funny cosplay and swapping out the background easily. AR Lens will be available after HOTA upgrade.
3,000mAh Battery
Juicing the device is a 3,000mAh battery, which should provide you up to 20 days standby time, according to Huawei. Based on my usage, the phone can last through a day easily with around 4.5 hours of screen-on-time. Not really surprising since it has an HD+ display and not so powerful chipset.
Final Words
Retailing at RM799, the Huawei nova 2 Lite is definitely a good affordable device for those who like to take selfies. I personally like the blue color variant when I attended the launch as it has a nice light reflective effect like the Honor 8. Even though there are some compromises like a not so impressive display and MicroUSB port, in the end, you get what you pay for.
Yay
- Nice selfie camera
- Good battery life
- Affordable
Nay
- Unimpressive display
- Should have just use the Kirin 659 processor
- Software not optimized