Huawei Nova 3i

Huawei is famous worldwide but has failed to make a mark in India. With Nova 3i 4 priced at a moderate Rs. 20,990, Huawei tries to break the Indian flagship market, too.

Nova 3i looks forward to beating the fierce competition with a fantastic premium design that is unexpected at this range. Coupled with a reasonably powerful debut processor and AI-assisted camera, Nova 3i is all set to capture the market. But the weak, mediocre battery and jittery gaming experience might bring some disappointment.

Nova 3i looks similar to Nova 3. It has a glass sandwich design and a metal body that beats its competitors easily. It comes with a notch similar to iPhones. However, Huawei has kept the bezels to a minimal and paired it with a thin chin that gives you a lot of screen space to work with. The glass back cover looks beautiful, but as is always the case with glass backs – it’s slippery and vulnerable to finger smudges. The fingerprint sensor is placed conveniently at the back where the index finger will naturally gravitate to. The loudspeaker of the phone is underwhelming and fails to produce rich sounds. Thankfully, it comes with a headphone jack for a better audio experience.

Nova 3i has crammed 6.3-inch 2340x1080p IPS LCD within the price range, making it a flagship feature that is going to beat many of the competitors. The huge display captures crisp colours and allows easy flicking through apps. The 19:9 aspect ratio stands out in the fierce competition. However, despite reproducing sharp colours, it fails to provide the saturation and high contrast ratio of an AMOLED display.

This phone marks the debut of Huawei’s flagship processor – Kirin 710. It is a reliable processor which works well with the bloated UI. Camera app opens fast, app-switching is smooth, and flicking through the interface does not show any signs of lag. Partnered with a 4GB RAM, this processor sails you through the phone pretty easily. However, heavy games stutter in its default setting and you need the GPU Turbo to get a reasonable gameplay experience. Competing flagship phones offer better performance, especially when compared against the Kirin 970 fitted in Honor Play.

Nova 3i has a 16MP primary camera with phase detection autofocus and a secondary 2MP monochrome camera. It manages to capture vibrant colours with excellent sharpness during ideal light conditions. The AI helps to optimise shooting experience by recognising over 22 categories with more than 500 scenes. However, it is not as accurate as P20 and does not impress.

Low-light images are less impressive as it captures a lot of visual noise which can be only removed by AI assistance.

The front comes loaded with a 24MP primary camera and a 2MP secondary sensor used for depth sensing. The selfies are decent, and the AI removes all blemishes and lighting issues without making you look artificial. It makes your selfies social-media ready. However, selfies in low-light look grainy and unimpressive.

Packed with a 3,300 mAh battery, Nova 3i promises to see you through the day with essential functions like calling and texting and the occasional social media browsing. However, if you engage in heavy gaming, even playing PuBG, might strain the battery. It won’t last for a day as claimed by the company. Nova 3i does not come with fast charging, which is a shock since less pricey Honor Play and Mi A2 are equipped with this feature. The model takes 2hrs to go from 0% to full power – which is pretty slow compared to flagship competitors.

For a budget phone, Nova 3i hits almost all the right places – excellent design, convincing camera, and good performance. However, it lags behind many flagship phones in the same range. Poor loudspeaker and no quick charge makes it a tough recommendation. Even Honor Play exceeds in performance against Nova 3i. For premium design and capable camera, Nova 3i stands out against the rest. But for everything else, there are better options available in the market.