Huawei Nova 5T Review and Full Specifications

Huawei Nova 5T review

Huawei Nova 5T price in Bangladesh BDT. ৳49,999 (8/128GB) and in India Rs. 27,290 (8/128GB). Highlighted features of Huawei Nova 5T 

● 6.26 inches IPS LCD display 

● 48MP Camera 

● 3750 mAh battery 22.5W Fast Charger 

● Kirin 980 (7 nm)

The Nova 5T is Huawei's latest bet for the domestic market. It is a variant of the Honor 20, being the last launch of the brand to still count with support for Google apps. With a launch price of Rs. 27290, the Chinese novelty arrives to fight with the top of the line rivals, but cost less. Is it worth it to pay for all this or do you have better alternatives? That's what you can see in this complete review by S M Zubair Islam. 

■Display and Design

Unlike Samsung, which has been betting on expensive phones with a plastic finish, or "glastic", as the Korean calls it, the Nova 5T has an aluminum body with a glass back. Of course, some cuts were made to offer a more affordable product, so forget about IP certification With protection against water or biometrics on the screen. A curious detail is that the proximity sensor is on top of the device, and some may end up mistaking for an infrared emitter. It's a strange place, but what matters is that it works well. In addition to good build quality, the Nova 5T has few edges and a hole in the screen it is very close to the top left corner, which is less distracting to your attention. The biometric reader is on the side for you to access with your right thumb and it works well, being quite fast. The problem remains for those who are left-handed, who will suffer a little to use the digital here. The little speaker at the top of the screen hides a notification LED, but it only displays two color options: green or red. And if you're looking for a headphone jack, you'll be disappointed with the Nova 5T. 

Another point that may be negative for some is the absence of the OLED screen - Huawei ended up saving and adopted a 6.2 "IPS LCD panel, with Full HD+ resolution. This is where you forget that the Nova 5T is a flagship. Your screen is good, but nothing special. The brightness is only average, but the contrast level is good. The screen displays saturated colors by default and makes the white slightly bluish. This can be corrected by switching between the screen calibration profiles. If you want colors closer to reality, then it is the "Normal" profile that you should choose. Huawei could have enabled the call speaker to serve as the secondary channel which would not only help to deliver quality stereo sound but would also contribute to sound more powerful - the only speaker at the bottom delivers good sound, but it is enough to force the volume to have a certain distortion. The headset has a USB-C connection and resembles Apple models.

■Camera

The Nova 5T has four cameras - three of them are in the skipped block, the main one being the wide-angle and a depth sensor. The fourth was allocated next to the information about the main sensor, and has a macro lens, for shooting closer. As is common with phones with a 48 MP camera, the Nova 5T also compresses 4 pixels in 1 only, to reduce the size of images without losing quality. And depending on the scenario, taking pictures at full resolution results in even worse pictures. So, leave it in the default mode which is the best option. Your main camera can capture great photos by day.

It outperforms most of the premium middlemen we tested and fights with several flagships. We even compared it with Samsung's Galaxy Note 10 Plus, which is our king in camera today. And the Chinese model is not ugly - there is artificial intelligence, which improves the clarity of photos highlighting some details. When she gets it right, it really makes a difference, but most of the time it will be useless. There is a 2x zoom shortcut in the app but, for lack of a telephoto lens, the Nova 5T only does a cut in the photo to approximate what was photographed. A wide-angle lens allows you to capture more of scenes in exchange for less detail and slightly distorted colors. This happens more with shades of blue like the sky, which is quite artificial. During the night you will have darker pictures with this camera, and a greater amount of noise. The macro lens is only 2 MP in resolution, so don't expect pictures in stunning detail. It gets the work done, as long as you respect the 4 cm distance from the object to be photographed. Since it does not have autofocus, any distance beyond that number will result in a blurred image. Shooting at night will result in dark pictures, but there is a Night Mode that helps you see better in exchange for excess noise. We’ve seen better results than at Motorola’s middlemen and also compared to Night Mode Note 10 Plus, where the difference is huge. However, this mode is very useful when shooting indoors. It combines several images to result in a photo in much more detail. It takes a few seconds and you can even stop the process in between, but it’s worth the wait. 

The 32 MP front camera impresses and even does a better job than some more expensive phones, this when there is a good source of lighting. Selfies at night are no longer sharp, but you'll still have good photos to publish on social networks like Instagram. The background blur is good and has few flaws, but sacrifices HDR. The camcorder has lower quality than the photos, the focus could be more agile, getting even slower at night. There is only electronic stabilization and it is always active. The result is good, but we have seen better in this price range. Audio capture is also good.

■OS and Hardware

In hardware, Huawei did not save. Included in the Nova 5T the same chipset as the P30 Pro, which is still one of the fastest that passed through the TudoCelular test bench. Unfortunately, at speed, the Chinese manufacturer was unable to repeat the same feat with this model. The 5T even delivers good performance, but we feel it could be better. You can activate "Performance Mode" which forces the Kirin 980 to the maximum and it makes the phone warm up, but in return, it gets a little faster and achieves more expressive numbers in benchmarks. In practice, it's not even worth it, as battery consumption also increases significantly. In games, we have the same performance as the P30 Pro, which was already expected with the same hardware and screen resolution. All the games we tested on the Nova 5T ran smoothly, and the device didn’t get warm, unless you force it with Performance Mode enabled.

What could alienate many people from recent Huawei launches is the absence of Google Service which allows you to download apps from the Android store and use Google’s many apps and services. But, fortunately, this is not a problem for the Nova 5T. Despite having reached the market with the Android Pie, Huawei has already released the update for Android 10, entitled to EMUI 10. Only the old security package, which dates back to January. We tested it in both versions, and we didn't notice any differences, either in performance or battery. Only a few benchmarks that had a drop in score, such as AnTuTu. In terms of resources, you will have the same features as others from Huawei, with the EMUI 10. And if you missed an app drawer, you can activate it in the settings.

■Battery

Huawei Nova 5T features 3,750 mAh battery. In our tests, it had only average autonomy. In moderate use you will have the charge for the whole day, needing to recharge again only when you go to bed. Now, if you’re playing games, watching a lot of videos on YouTube or taking selfies all the time, then you’ll have to do a second recharge cycle in the early evening. At least, accelerated charging and powerful charger help and you’ll need to wait just over an hour to have 100% recovered battery, with half an hour in the socket you will already have half of the battery to use. It is not as fast as the P30 Pro, but it is much lower than some more expensive flagships deliver.

■Our Verdict

Is the Nova 5T worth its price or has better options? In the same price range, you can find the Galaxy S10 Lite and Zenfone 6. Samsung's model delivers similar performance, with better battery and lower cameras. The ASUS model, on the other hand, is a little faster. The battery also lasts longer and has more comparable cameras. Huawei's P30 Pro delivers a better set overall. It is superior in everything, which makes the Nova 5T more like a premium intermediary than a brand flagship. It may not be as fast as the iPhone 11 or have the Galaxy Note 10 Plus camera, but these phones are much more expensive. 

Costing Rs. 27,290 at its launch, Huawei comes betting on the right price for the Nova 5T Here in India. You may find this value expensive, but remember that other brands are asking for this or even more and delivering much less. When the value of the Nova 5T drops a little closer to Rs. 20,000 it will compete with the models more advanced in the Galaxy A series, and that's where the fight will be interesting. The Nova 5T is a premium intermediary with a pinch of a flagship, which has everything to fight hard with the cost-effective kings in 2020. And to follow the best offers of the new Huawei device just follow our blog. 

■Huawei Nova 5T full Specifications 

● Network
2G bands	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
3G bands	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands	LTE band 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 26, 28, 38, 40, 41
Speed	HSPA 42.2/5.76 Mbps
GPRS	Yes
EDGE	Yes
● OS & Hardware
OS	Android Pie(9.0), Upgradable to Android 10, EMUI 10
Processor	Kirin 980 (7 nm)
Chipset	Octa-core (2x2.6 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2x1.92 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4x1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 )
GPU	Mali-G76 MP10
● Design
Dimensions	154.3 x 74 x 7.8 mm (6.07 x 2.91 x 0.31 in)
Weight	174 g (6.14 oz)
Build	Glass front (Gorilla Glass ), Glass back, Aluminium frame
Colors	Black, Crush Blue, Crush Green, Midsummer Purple.
● Display
Type	IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Screen Size	6.26 inches IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen Display
Resolution	1080 x 2340 pixels (~412 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch	Yes
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass
Sensors	Fingerprint (side-mounted), Accelerometer, Proximity, Compass, Gyro
● Memory
Card slot	No
Internal	128 GB
RAM	6GB / 8GB
● Camera
Rear	48 MP, f/1.8 (wide) 16 MP, f/2.2 (ultrawide) 2 MP, f/2.4, (macro) 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth)
Front	32 MP, f/2.0
Features	HDR , Face detection
Video	1080p@30fps
● Multimedia
Music play	Yes
Radio	FM Radio
Games	Yes
Alert types	Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker	Yes
3.5mm jack	Yes
● Battery & Power
Type	Non-removable Li-Ion 3750 mAh battery
Charging	22.5W Fast charging
Fast Charge	Yes
● Expected Price
US Dollor	$279.99
Bangladeshi Taka	BDT 49,999 (For 8/128 GB varient)
Indian Rs.	Rs. 27,290 (For 8/128 GB varient)