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 reasonable price.
This article is dedicated to one of the novelties of Huawei - Nova 2 smartphone.
A bit about Huawei
Few people know that Huawei has gained worldwide recognition thanks to the release of communication equipment. The release of smartphones and other electronic gadgets, the company began much later.
Huawei began its history in 1987. The founder of the company was Ren Zhengfei, a former officer who previously served in the Chinese engineering corps. From the very beginning, all the efforts of the company were thrown into creating their own telephone exchange.
To earn money for production and research, the company had to work as a subsidiary of a Hong Kong communications firm for the first three years.
In 1993, through hard work and investing all the profits in the establishment of a research and development center, the company introduced the first C&C08 switch of its own production to the public. About the company at oncestarted talking, because before that in China all telecommunication technologies were represented only by foreign developments. In 1994, a lucrative contract was signed with the company to deploy a telephone network in China. This moment can be considered the beginning of Huawei's triumphal march 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 company's first smartphone based on the Android operating system was released. In 2011, the company's first Tablet PC, Huawei Mediapad, was released.
Currently, Huawei's smartphones keep up with such giants as Samsung and Apple in terms of functionality and quality.
And now back to the review of Huawei Nova 2, a Chinese company's smartphone released in mid-2017.
Unpacking the gadget and analyzing the package contents
The smartphone comes in a small white cardboard box with the inscription Huawei Nova 2. Inside there are two packages with the delivery kit, 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 indeed. You can immediately use your smartphone without fear of scratching your beautiful new case.
- Wiredheadset. A cheap and simple accessory, nothing special, but the fact that it is included in the package is nice.
- A power adapter for your device that supports fast charging.
- USB Type-C cable.
- SIM tray ejector.
- Documentation including Quick Start Guide and Warranty Card.
Complete set, one might say, is pretty good. Not every manufacturer will put a smartphone case in the box, let alone a headset.
Case design and execution
The smartphone looks very interesting in appearance, although the design of the front panel is practically the same as its predecessor. On the front there is a protective glass rounded at the ends. Huawei Nova 2 (the manual will help you understand the device and functions) has an all-metal body, only on the upper and lower ends there are plastic inserts necessary for the functioning of the antennas. On the rear panel, painted white (there are other colors), 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 little. The smartphone does not have any sharp edges. Everything is neatly rounded.
At the bottom end there is a socket for the new USB Type-C universal interface, which replaced the standard miniUSB.
Despite the five-inch screen, you can't call a big smartphone. It's nice to hold it in your hand. Createsthe 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 Huawei Nova 2.
Face the people: Huawei Nova 2 screen
The novelty boasts an IPS-matrix with FullHD resolution. The image is bright, viewing angles are gorgeous. Even in the bright sun, working with the gadget is quite comfortable, but only if the brightness level is set to the maximum value in the parameters.
The smartphone's screen matrix adopts low-temperature polycrystalline silicon technology to ensure better image quality.
The display has a high-quality oleophobic coating, making it easy to wipe off fingerprints on the screen.
20 megapixel front. Selfies are everything
The "chip" of this smartphone is that it has a 20-megapixel front camera. Many, when reading about the front camera of Huawei Nova 2 for the first time in a gadget review, think that an unfortunate typo has crept into the description. But no! Support for 20 megapixel resolution is true.
With such a front camera, the gadget is a real boon for selfie lovers. Huawei is positioning its device in exactly this way. The built-in software allows you to perform image processing, such as making a beautiful background blur in the background or applying effects to the face in a photo.
Why does a smartphone need two cameras on 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. What are these dances with a tambourine for? Well, firstly, with the help of two modules, you can implement optical zoom. Although it is double, it is optically complete. Secondly, this design 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 behind in the picture is programmatically blurred for 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 on the image.
In itself, such a "two-eyed" solution is interesting and has already been used in some models of Huawei smartphones.
Sound: a godsend for a music lover
The audio capabilities of the Huawei Nova 2 smartphone are superior in performance to those of many opponents. In this gadget, the company used its Huawei Histen software package, which contains improved sound processing algorithms. Do not forget about the use of an audio chip with a built-in amplifier AK4376A in this device. The chip manufacturer is Asahi Kasei Microdevices.
Most of the sound settings are only available when stereo headphones are connected. It is understandable. An external speaker will not produce the required sound quality, andmany of the necessary frequencies with such playback simply cannot be heard. But if the owner of the smartphone is undemanding to the sound quality, then he will be quite satisfied with the audio data of the external speaker.
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 tones.
FM-radio new smartphone did not get. Some will consider this a minus.
There is a voice recorder in the smartphone, sound recording is at the level.
Hardware test: processor and performance
In the first-generation Huawei Nova smartphone, the company used the Qualcomm Shapdgragon 625 processor. It was decided to experiment with the new model. In the production of Nova 2, the corporation used an 8-core HiSilicon Kirin 659 processor of its own design, made using 16 nm technology.
Smartphone Huawei Nova 2 in tests showed performance comparable to its predecessor. The only difference can be called a 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 Huawei Nova 2 allow it to keep a strong average. At the maximum settings of graphics parameters in "heavy" games, twitching of the picture is observed. For comfortable work with games, it is better to choose medium settings.
Wireless modules are a fly in the ointment
In Huawei Nova 2 smartphone, you can insert twoNano SIM cards. 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 with a card. According to the characteristics, the Huawei Nova 2 smartphone has only one radio module, so the SIM cards will work alternately. The device supports 4G (LTE) networks.
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 sound processing. NFC, unfortunately, is not supported by the smartphone. The decision of the company to use a Wi-Fi module with a frequency of 2.4 GHz caused bewilderment. In a model of this level, I would like to have a modern module with a frequency of 5 GHz.
The GPS module "cold" starts quickly, there are no complaints about its work.
Autonomy
The smartphone has a built-in 2950 mAh battery. With such a capacity, there is no need to expect special miracles of autonomy. When watching a video, the smartphone will last 6-7 hours, and it will be possible to play no more than 3 hours. Like it or not, but with active use, you will have to charge the gadget at least once a day. In such a situation, the only good news is that the smartphone supports fast charging.
Final verdict
Huawei Nova 2 is an interesting smartphone. Pleasant, fits well in the hand. Huawei Nova 2 specifications are not that impressive, but they will be enough for most users who do not require a deviceflagship performance. The average price of Huawei Nova 2 is 20 thousand Russian rubles. The autonomy of the device is not its strong point, but many modern devices also cannot boast of a long operating time without an outlet.
The strength of the gadget is its cameras. The powerful front-facing camera will appeal to selfie lovers, while the fashionable dual rear camera will impress others with its well-realized portrait mode.
Using an audio chip to play music has made it possible to get excellent sound when listening to headphones, which will please people using a smartphone as a player.
The pluses of the smartphone include the fact that it runs on the modern Android 7.0 operating system in conjunction with Huawei's proprietary shell - EMUI.
Now for the bad stuff. With decent characteristics of the Huawei Nova 2 smartphone and a price of 20 thousand rubles, it causes a misunderstanding of the company's policy regarding some decisions regarding wireless modules. Couldn't NFC and 5GHz Wi-Fi be added?
Smartphone Huawei Nova 2 will find its buyer. Not everyone will find fault with Wi-Fi or gadget battery life. The decisive factor in the choice, most likely, will be the presence of powerful optical modules and an audio chip.
