[Review] Huawei nova 3 – A Mid-Ranged Premium Phone With The Power of AI

We’ve seen the Huawei nova series being launched this year like it’s the baby-boom season – except it’s smartphones. Now with the latest addition of the nova family, nova 3 will cater to the mid-ranged smartphone tiers and it is equipped with AI-powered Quad Cameras! For a mid-ranged smartphone, it is currently sitting comfortably at RM 1,899 which is also equipped with the latest chips, quad cameras and a 6.3″ FHD+ resolution of up to 1080×2340. But is it good for gaming? Read on for the specifics!

How Does It Look?

The nova 3 features Huawei’s popular gradient colours like the Huawei P20 which gives it a premium look. We can see that with the Iris Purple design of the nova 3 which is beautiful to behold but as usual, we would have a cover over it to protect that beautiful bod. If the Iris Purple is not your thing, you can choose between the cool Black or the Airy Blue too.

Of course, the nova 3 also have a notch on top of the display where your notifications tray sits. That allows for a 6.3-inch LTPS (2340 x 1080) FullView display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9 on a 7.3mm thin phone. Even though it’s all glass, it’s easy to hold and it’s light in your pockets weighing at 166g. Sadly, as you might have known, glass pretty much attracts fingerprints but that won’t be a problem if you are putting on a cover on it.

There’s a fingerprint scanner sitting conveniently at the back of the phone for your index finger and it unlocks pretty quickly. Thankfully, it still has its 3.5mm headphone jack which allows us to plug it in to shut off the world. And if you ever run out of battery, it supports fast charging too – which uses the USB Type-C that’s neatly located at the bottom.

So what if it looks good on the outside. What’s important is the beauty on the inside right? Well with the EMUI 8.2, your widgets, background, the app designs now looks much cleaner than before. They now even come with a Game Suite which stores all your game apps that also comes with Huawei’s GPU Turbo that just recently launched. Now that’s just the beauty of its looks both inside and out, but the tech inside that’s more important.

What’s Inside?

Aside from its 6.3-inch LTPS (2340 x 1080) FullView display, it comes with 4 AI cameras. The AI-powered cameras covers the dual front-facing cameras with 24MP + 2MP sensor. It supports AI HDR Pro, Qmoji and of course, the optimization for over 200 scenarios across 8 categories such as Blue Sky, Plant and Beach too. With 3,740mAh, it can last you throughout the day with a single charge if you use normally. However, if you’re playing games or actively using it, you’re going to need to charge it more than once of course.

What’s really important in the phone is the Kirin 970 processor with its 6GB RAM that’s powering all the features. It also has a 128GB ROM which can be extended up to 512 GB, so you can store as many pictures or videos instead of performing spring cleaning on it every now and then. While taking pictures might be fun, it’s now even better when you can take them like a pro. The AI-powered cameras intelligently recognize the surroundings instantly to make necessary adjustments and take a good picture. It then intelligently categorizes the pictures into either of the 8 unique categories, recognizing over 200 different scenes.

Can We Game On It?

Of course you can game on it! As we mentioned earlier, it comes with a Game Suite which also pairs with Huawei’s latest GPU Turbo that allows you to play your games without being disturbed. That’s kind of like OnePlus’ Gaming Mode switched on. That way, you can game without having calls or messages interrupting you when you’re in an important match of Arena of Valor or Mobile Legends.

So far, we’ve played games like PUBG Mobile, Arena of Valor, Identity V and Honkai Impact 3rd. The nova 3 handled them well but of course, the phone does get a tad bit warm. With a Kirin 970 processor and 6GB RAM, you can play most high-end games on it! 

Verdict

The Huawei nova 3 is a great mid-ranged phone that has one of the latest processor, the Kirin 970 paired with 6GB of RAM. With the usual quad cameras front and back, the cameras are smart with the power of AI. You can easily take pictures, stored in categories for easy compilation and search, and play the latest games on it. Sure the battery is only at 3,740mAh, it still has one of the largest battery juice out there and can still last you about a day just like any other phone.

The Game Suite paired with the Huawei’s GPU Turbo, you can game without any worries from being cut off while gaming because of calls or text messages. It also enhances your gameplay experience and allows you to play with no lag whatsoever. With the EMUI 8.2 design, it serves to provide great user interface on the launcher and apps with smooth transitions from app to home screen with the amount of RAM packed in it.

As its in the family of the mid-range of smartphones, for a price of RM 1,899, it’s a great phone if you are on a budget but you still want to get the best out of Android.

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