Huawei Nova 2
Specifications
Secondary Camera: 20 MPix
Price comparison
Average of 13 scores (from 20 reviews)
Reviews for the Huawei Nova 2
Selfie superstar? Huawei has created an upper-mid-range phone with the 5-inch Nova 2 and given it a special feature with a 20 MP front camera. Our review will reveal whether selfie fans should go for it.
Source: iTech Post
Archive.org versionHuawei has revealed the Nova series smartphones at the end of 2016 and marketed them as phones for fashionable folk, a slim device with a great camera to slip into skinny jeans. The successor to the Nova smartphone Huawei Nova 2 was launched in May this year. The device, as company claims, is more lightweight, stronger and slimmer than its predecessor.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 08/16/2017
Source: Stuff TV
Archive.org versionThe only thing that could torpedo a UK launch is Huawei's own Honor brand - which is much more popular when it comes to less-expensive hardware that can still trade blows with the big boys.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 06/12/2017
Source: Tech Advisor
Archive.org versionGiven the limited hands-on time, it's too early to give any buying advice. However, the mid-range price does make both the Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus seem good value if you're particularly after a phone for taking all kinds of photos. They're not so hot for video, however. There's no word on whether either or both will come to the UK, but you'll be able to import them relatively easily via Chinese retailers such as GearBest and Geekbuying.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 06/09/2017
Foreign Reviews
Source: Technik Surfer
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 11/25/2017
Rating: Total score: 78% price: 80% performance: 80% mobility: 70% workmanship: 90% ergonomy: 70%
Source: MobiFlip
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 10/08/2017
Rating: Total score: 84%
Source: Connect - 10/17
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/01/2017
Rating: Total score: 78% features: 74% ergonomy: 84%
Source: Bulaland
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/30/2017
Source: Netzwelt
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 09/27/2017
Rating: Total score: 78% features: 70% mobility: 70% workmanship: 90%
Source: Teltarif
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 09/26/2017
Rating: Total score: 89% price: 95% display: 80% mobility: 80% workmanship: 80%
Source: Chip.de
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/06/2017
Rating: Total score: 87% performance: 92% features: 87% display: 88% mobility: 82%
Source: Android Pit
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/31/2017
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Computerbase
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/30/2017
Source: n-tv
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/30/2017
Source: Inside Handy
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/30/2017
Rating: Total score: 80%
Source: Curved
DE→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 08/24/2017
Source: 4G News
PT→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 10/31/2017
Rating: Total score: 75% price: 80% performance: 75% display: 70% mobility: 70% workmanship: 80%
Source: HDblog.it
IT→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Very Long, Date: 09/19/2017
Rating: Total score: 79%
Source: AndroidPit.it
IT→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Medium, Date: 09/05/2017
Rating: Total score: 70%
Source: Komputerswiat
PL→EN Archive.org versionSingle Review, online available, Short, Date: 10/17/2017
Rating: Total score: 77%
Source: AndroidInsider.ru
RU→EN Archive.org versionPositive: Good price; nice display; decent cameras; fast fingerprint sensor. Negative: No NFC; weak connectivity; sim and microSD are on the same slot.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 08/10/2017
Comment
Model: Huawei used to be synonymous with PC modems and networking devices but these days they are also quite well known for making good Android smartphones in most markets and it seems like Huawei might be trying to beat Apple to the punch before their release of the iPhone 8. For starters, it seems like the Nova 2 and its bigger brother, the Nova 2 Plus, is somewhat reminiscent of the 6S and 6 Plus from Apple. But do not let its design trick you into thinking that it’s just another one of those apple wannabe’s. Under the hood, the Huawei Nova 2 is packing Huawei’s own SoC design called the Kirin 659, which may seem like a untested design but it is still an 8 core CPU, which may prove to be a capable driver. Apart from that the Huawei Nova 2 is also equipped with 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, a dual 12 MP plus 8 MP camera combo for the rear, and an additional 20 MP front camera. The specs are about mid-range if purely comparing the numbers. With the preloaded Android 7 Nougat it remains quite snappy although as with most China made phones there are tons of bloatware, which some users may never end up using. Display-wise the Huawei Nova 2 is sporting a 5-inch FHD IPS based LCD panel. It is reasonably sharp and vivid. However, the brightness is about average. In terms of the chassis construction and design the Huawei Nova 2 is made out of a single metal unibody, which is similar to the iPhone. It looks premium and not poorly made, although it seems that Huawei does not seem to grasp the concept of glossiness equals fingerprint magnet. In this case you might want to have a phone case not for damage protection but for fingerprint protection. Otherwise the chassis is reasonably rigid and solid.
The speakers are about as good as they can get. They are not groundbreaking but would surely do you wonders in a pinch. It is just a common thing that phones of this market segment don usually not have anything more than its needed. Dual camera setups are starting to get mainstream. The Nova 2's gives some satisfactory shots with proper zoom, which does not take away from its quality. However, a monochrome mode is unavailable. This does not mean that the camera is bad, but some over sharpening effects can be seen. Lastly, battery life should be mentioned. While the Huawei Nova 2 has a battery capacity of 2950 mAh it does not really take away from its battery life which it loses at about 15% per hour when on load. The battery life of easily 10 hours under lighter load and possibly even longer if used infrequently is reasonable. The phone is about solid with its mid-range specification and performance. It surpasses its predecessor even though the Snapdragon SoC was replaced by Huawei’s in house design.
Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam
Series:
Huawei's phone business may be embattled due to software problems but it has not stopped making new phones. While most of them have not made it to European shores, the latest Huawei Nova 9 is an exception to this. In terms of its design, this device is still considered thin at 7.8mm and light at 175g. This definitely makes it rather portable while the curved edges keep it comfortable to be held on too. The rear camera module on the back comes in two different circles which houses the main camera and the remaining lenses. However, this model has no Gorilla Glass on the display and there is also no water or dust-resistant IP rating. As far as the display is concerned, the Huawei Nova 9 has been incorporated with a large 6.75-inch Full HD+ OLED display with high colour coverage. This is paired with an impressive 120Hz high refresh rate. In addition, there is also an under-display fingerprint reader, which can be quite fast and reliable. In terms of its performance, this is a firmly mid-range device which uses the Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 778G chipset paired with an 8GB of RAM with either 128GB or 256GB of storage. It is undeniable that this is not the fastest or most powerful phone on the market, but it has got more than enough power for the average user. The performance is rather smooth and fluid even when multi-tasking, and there is enough power to run any modern smartphone game too.
In terms of its battery, the Huawei Nova 9 comes in with a 4300mAh battery which is enough for the phone to last a day’s use fairly comfortably, but definitely not enough to stretch it to two days unless for an exceptionally light usage. Fundamentally that makes the battery life fairly average for the modern market as there are phones with better battery life out there, but this is obviously not the worst though. As for its camera, this smartphone carries a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultrawide camera, 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor. The main camera being encased in its own circular housing, utilizes Huawei's RYYB pixel arrangement which the company prefers especially for low light performance. However, in this device it is not combined with optical image stabilization (OIS) which is key to really excellent night photography. Overall, in daylight the main camera is exceptional with rich colours and vivid detail in a range of conditions. Though in darker lighting results are good, the lack of OIS does show. Apart from that, the ultrawide does the job in decent lighting, but there is a marked drop in detail compared to the main lens while colours tend to be washed out. There is also a 32MP selfie camera which is quite decent. Overall, it is a great phone to be considered if the absence of Google Mobile services is not an issue.
ARM Mali-T830 MP2: Integrated graphics card for smartphones and tablets with two clusters (MP2) supporting OpenGL ES 3.2.
Only some 3D games with very low demands are playable with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Kirin 659: ARM-based octa-core SoC (4x Cortex-A53 max. 2.36 GHz, 4x Cortex-A53 max 1.7 GHz) with an integrated LTE modem (Cat. 13) and a ARM Mali-T830 MP2. In our benchmarks around 4% faster as the older Kirin 658.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
5.00":
This display is tiny. You will probably see very little on the screen and be able to use mini-resolutions.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.Huawei: Huawei Technologies Co, Ltd. is a Chinese telecommunications company and hardware manufacturer founded in 1987 and headquartered in Shenzhen. Huawei is a global leader in information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices. Huawei provides end-to-end solutions for telecommunications networks, devices, and smartphones, as well as storage, servers, networking, and cloud computing enterprise solutions and products.
In 2014, Huawei established the Honor subsidiary brand under which certain smartphone lines are sold. The Huawei name is usually not listed for these products.
79.16%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.
