Chinese Smartphone manufacturer, Huawei recently launched Nova 3 and Nova 3i in India. Both the smartphones come with AI-based processors and features made for improving the way the user interacts with the device. Along with that the Nova 3 and the Nova 3i packs dual rear and front camera setup.
Huawei Nova 3
The highlights of the smartphone include the 3,750mAh battery and a 6.3-inch Full HD+ (1080×2340) 19.5:9 aspect ratio display. The smartphone is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset coupled with MAli-G72 GPU. The smartphone packs 6GB RAM with 128GB storage. The device sports a 16-megapixel f/1.8 rear sensor coupled with a 24-megapixel f/1.8 aperture at the back. The front camera sensor is a 24-megapixel sensor along with a 2-megapixel sensor. The dual-SIM dual VoLTE handset also packs features like AI sorting and face recognition along with scenery recognition.
Design
The Huawei Nova 3 sports a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The company claims a near bezel-less display, however, the smartphone has a big chin and a notched display. The display is good enough and vivid. The overall build quality is great for the price tag, par with the OnePlus 6, industry leader in this segment. The device feels sturdy in hand and it looks and feels premium. Also, the glass sandwich makes the devices slippery, so you would want to put a case on that. Also, the Iris purple color looks amazing.
Overall, the looks of the smartphone are subjective. Some may like the notched display and for some, it is a big no. That makes the Huawei Nova 3's design a bit subjective to user opinion.
Huawei Nova 3i
The highlights of the smartphone include the 3,340mAh battery and a 6.3-inch Full HD+ (1080×2340) 19.5:9 aspect ratio display. The smartphone is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 710 chipset. The smartphone packs 6GB RAM with 128GB storage. The device sports a 16-megapixel rear sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel sensor at the back. The front camera sensor is a 24-megapixel sensor along with a 2-megapixel sensor. The dual-SIM dual VoLTE handset also packs features like AI sorting and face recognition along with scenery recognition.
Design
The Huawei Nova 3i sports a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The company claims a near bezel-less display, however, the smartphone has a big chin and a notched display. The display is good enough and vivid. The overall build quality is good enough for the price tag. The rear glass doesn't feel as good and looks like plastic coated to look like glass. The device feels sturdy in hand and it looks premium and feels less premium than that. Also, the Iris purple color looks amazing.
Overall, the looks of the smartphone are subjective. Some may like the notched display and for some, it is a big no. That makes the Huawei Nova 3i's design a bit subjective to user opinion. Apart from that, the cheap looking and feeling glass back of the smartphone surely is a big negative for the smartphone design.
Camera
The camera on the Huawei Nova 3 and Nova 3i are extremely similar so we will cover that under one section only. On the optics front, both the devices sports a dual front camera setup. It consists of a 24-megapixel sensor coupled with a 2-megapixel sensor. The photos are you can say great for the price of the Nova 3i and good for Nova 3. The AI scene detection and improvement to the photos certainly give the camera's an edge over the others. The contrast is quite good. However, the smartphone can't apply AI improvement when it is not required for making photos look at little artificial.
For the rear camera, the Huawei Nova 3 sports a 16-megapixel f/1.8 aperture rear camera along with 24-megapixel f/1.8 aperture sensor. While the Nova 3i cuts costs on the rear camera offering only 16-megapixel sensor along with a 2-megapixel sensor. In both the Nova 3 and the Nova 3i, the AI makes the photos look artificial. That may be okay for some, but in our case, it is not that effective. Yes, it can detect scenario's and adjust according to that, but it leaves makes the photos look artificial.
As for the rest of the camera, the colors of both the smartphone's sensors are great. However, the Nova 3's contrast is a little high. Rest the smartphone camera is what we have come to expect at this price range. We didn't try to bokeh mode, but we think the bigger secondary sensor of the Nova 3 will make it better in bokeh mode than the Nova 3i;
Price
The Huawei Nova 3 will cost you Rs. 34,999 in India while the Nova 3i will cost your Rs. 20,999 in India. Both the smartphones are Amazon exclusive and the pre-booking has already started. The Nova 3i will go on sale on August 7th while the Nova 3 will go on sale on August 23rd. The smartphones will be available in Iris Purple and Black color variants.
The Nova 3i is one of the best smartphones in its price segment. Especially considering Rs. 15,000 - Rs. 25,000 segment is being ignored by other companies. Huawei knows their target audience with the Nova 3i and its a great option for the price point. However, with the Nova 3, the things are little different.
The smartphone costs the same as the OnePlus 6, Honor 10, Zenfone 5z and more. Also, the AI based processor of the Nova 3 loses in the raw performance like gaming to the OnePlus 6's Snapdragon 845. This makes the Nova 3 favorable only if one needs the AI features more than performance. If the AI features like AI gallery sorting and more are necessary for you, then the Nova 3 is a great option else, there are better smartphones in the market.
