OCWorkbench 16/8/2018
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
Huawei should be a familiar household brand by now to most smartphone users after dethroning Apple as the second largest smartphone maker.
Over the years, Huawei has been going for the high end market with its P10, P20. This strategy has worked well but it seemed to have left out the mid range market.
Huawei Nova 3i is the first smartphone that might suit this space. Without compromising quality and design, the Nova 3i appeals to the broader market who wants a powerful yet affordable smartphone.
The Huawei Nova 3i has a 6.3 inches screen 16.7 million colours TFT LCD (IPS) Screen supporting FHD+ 2340×1080 at 409 PPI. At the central of the device is the Huawei’s own Kirin processor Kirin 710. The Kirin has 4 x Cortex A73 2.2 GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 1.7 GHz. The Nova 3i is big in memory capacity as it comes with 4 GB RAM + 128 GB ROM and a micro SD card slot: support up to 256 GB. It comes with a 3340mAh Li-Ion battery that at least a day.
In terms of the camera, the Huawei Nova 3i is the first phone that comes with 2 front f/2.0 (24 MP +2 MP) and 2 rear f/2.2 (16 MP +2 MP) powered by AI. Be a selfie Superstar as Nova 3i beautification algorithm is designed to understand the aesthetic differences to bring users around the world the best beauty filters. Enjoy Qmoji to capture fun selfies with Qmoji. You can also have fun with the 3D background stickers to add to your picture. The rear camera is also AI powered and is capable to recognise over 500 scenarios in 22 categories to enhance the pictures for the best picture.
The Huawei Nova 3i comes with Dual SIM slot and supports Dual VoLTE. It supports the following FDD and TDD bands. It also supports 3 band CA.
INE-LX2 (Dual SIM)
4G LTE TDD: B38 / B40 / B41 (2,545 – 2,655 MHz)
4G LTE FDD: B1 / B3 / B5 / B7 / B8 / B28
3G WCDMA: B1 / B5 / B8
2G GSM: B2 / B3 / B5 / B8
Secondary SIM card:
4G LTE TDD: B38 / B40 / B41 (2,545 – 2,655 MHz)
4G LTE FDD: B1 / B3 / B5 / B7 / B8 / B28
3G WCDMA: B1 / B5 / B8
2G GSM: B2 / B3 / B5 / B8
In terms of connectivity, the Huawei Nova 3i supports 802.11b/g/n, 2.4 GHz. Bluetooth 4.2, BLE, HWA, aptX and aptX HD,
There is a USB 2.0 Micro USB and a 3.5 mm Headset Jack which you can use to do PC Data synchronisation.
Apparently, 802.11ac and USB-C is not supported which is a pity. Fortunately, the 3.5mm jack remains.
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
[nextpage title=”Performance”]
How does the Huawei Nova 3i perform running the Kirin 710 processor ?
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
The score makes it quite close in performance to a HTC U11+ or even the Huawei Mate 10 and Google Pixel 2 XL , That means that the Kirin 710 is a pretty fast processor that is catching up with it’s bigger brother the Kirin 970 and closing up to the Snapdragon 835.
Speedtest result is impressive with a score of 195 Mbps on Singtel/Zero1 4G+ network. As the Kirin 710 supports CAT 12/13 LTE 600 Mbps (3CA), higher speeds are possible when we have a 3 band CA in force.
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
[nextpage title=”Camera modes”]
Camera modes
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
Other than the standard Photo mode (with AI), there are other options like Portrait, Video, AR Lens mode and Others.
Under Others mode, you can select Pro (Professional mode), SLow motion, Night, LIght painting etc.
In professional mode, you can adjust ISO from AUTO to 3200, Shuttle can range from 1/4000s to 30 secs. EV from -4 to +4, AF-C, AF-S or MF and white balance. With all these settings, you can create wonders by doing manual adjustments to ISO, Shuttle speed etc.
Add more fun to your pictures by AR lens. With it, you can try out 3D Qmoji (which basically follow your expressions), You can add effects, background to your pictures or videos. With 3D Objects you can add objects (see below) an object onto your picture you intend to take.
Here are some day and night shots we took using AUTO mode with AI turned on.
When taking photos, we noticed that whenever AI is turned on, you cannot use the Digital Zoom feature. It is either you Zoom without AI enable or you don’t zoom.
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
More photos are posted in our FB group
[nextpage title=”Video recording function”]
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
There are a few options available for video recording.
1080p 1920×1080 (60 fps), 1080p 1920×1080, 1080p (18.7:9) and 720p (1280×720). Th e following video clip was recorded for 10 minutes but we trip it down to the last 4 minutes of the show. There is no 4K Recording. Slow motion at 480p is not in this menu but located in “Others” section of the options.
Watch it and be surprised by the quality of the video taken in low light environment. I showed it to friends and they were asking me when did I started this new hobby of videography. Well, I told them that it was mere coincidence that I was there and I just took it out to shoot it. There were surprised that the video was taken from a smartphone.
[nextpage title=”Conclusion”]
Conclusion
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
The Huawei Nova 3i didn’t disappoint. We didn’t experience any lag in the applications in daily usage. The performance is pretty on par with existing competing chipsets out there but it is still behind the Snapdraon 845 and Kirin 970. For game players, Huawei will be updating it’s firmware to support GPU Turbo that will improve the graphics performance. So, that is probably something that you would want to look out for.
At the price of S$398, it is almost half the price of it’s nearest mid range competitor the Oppo R15 and Samsung A8 Star which are both priced in the range of S$750. In fact, the Huawei nova 3i already beats the competitors with it’s 4GB+128GB storage at almost half the price. The Oppo R15 comes with 6GB+128GB while the Samsung has 4GB+64GB.
The design of this phone is quite similar to most Chinese smartphones. A gradient colour backplate and a notch. After a while, I still prefer the traditional black. The emphasis on selfie also put the wrong focus on the camera. In fact, the back camera should have a high megapixel instead of the front camera.Features wise the f/2.2 back camera is amazing. The night shots and video turned out to be better than what I expected. The AI, again is a hit or miss thing. Certain sceneries or objects will turn out really nice but sometimes it be over saturated. The best is to take two shots and see which one you prefer.
The WiFI is also a bit weaker than other phones. WiFi signal drops and speedtest shows the speed is slower even though we are right next to the access point. It would also be better if the phone comes with a USB-C connector and charger. That will speed things up in file transfer and charging.
In Conclusion, the Huawei Nova 3i is truly a good contender for mid high range segment of smartphones for 2018. The pricing is just right but I don’t mind paying a bit more if it has the 802.11ac, USB-C thrown in.The Nova 3i comes with 24 months local warranty and retails at SGD 398 at online and retail stores.
Price : S$398 (Qoo10), S$378 (Lazada)
Pros :
- Performance
- Affordable
- Large memory storage
- Dual SIM VoLTE
Cons:
- Higher MP lens should be for the rear
- No Wide angle camera
- No 802.11ac
- No USB-C
Ratings
Score : 9 / 10
