Review and technical specifications of the Huawei Nova 3 smartphone

The Huawei Nova 3 smartphone was presented to the public in mid-2020. It received top-end hardware, an interesting design and two dual cameras. After it, at the end of the year, Huawei Nova 4 came out. It is even more sophisticated: the front camera is installed in the display, the number of sensors has been increased. But Nova 3 has not yet become an obsolete model. The price at the start of sales was 30 thousand rubles, then dropped to 27 thousand rubles.

Design and build

The Huawei Nova 3 smartphone has a rectangular shape, with noticeably rounded corners. The phone comes in two design options. There is a strict black model, beige, blue and a bright gradient coloring in purple-red. Under the rays of light, it shimmers and sparkles, attracting attention. This option also has disadvantages - the body is slippery, its sides merge with the lid. Therefore, it is not easy to hold it in your hand.

The front panel of the Nova 3 is painted black. There is a display on it, in the upper part of which there is a mono-bang with a dual front camera. There are also light sensors and a speaker slot in which an event indicator is mounted. There is an infrared port that helps perform the face unlock function in low-light conditions.

On the bottom frame there is no logo, as usual for Huawei smartphones, as well as control buttons. They are on screen here. The side frames are thin, 3 mm, the top 4 mm. Only the mono bangs stand out from the bottom, which can be hidden in the settings. On the back side on the left, a camera unit with two sensors is installed vertically. The camera protrudes a couple of millimeters above the surface of the lid. Therefore, the device lies unstable on the table. Below the camera is an LED flash, and below it is information about the camera. Closer to the base is the brand logo.

The fingerprint pad is located in the center. He quickly copes with his tasks. In addition to unlocking your phone, you can assign other functions to it, including releasing the camera shutter. It is not difficult to find the pad by touch, because it is slightly recessed into the body.

At the bottom end there is a speaker grille, a microphone, and a Type-C port for connecting a charger. At the top there is only a microphone for the noise reduction system. On the right is a hole for connecting headphones. On the right side there are volume and power keys with notches. On the left is a hybrid slot for two SIM cards. If desired, one of them can be replaced with an additional memory card up to 256 GB. Hot swapping of cards is supported. The phone is not protected from moisture and dust.

Cameras

• Main camera: 24 + 16 MP, AI mode
• Front camera: 24 +2 MP, AI mode

Huawei Nova 3 has a dual main camera with 24 and 16 megapixel matrices. The main feature of the camera is its artificial intelligence functions. Even on the body of the gadget there is a proud inscription “AI camera”.

In AI mode, the camera recognizes your subject and optimizes color, aperture and focus settings for the best results. As a result, the photo turns out rich, clear, with correct focus. For example, when you point at the sky, the app configures the camera to capture the landscape. The Historical Museum recognized Nova 3 as an "Ancient Building".

In bright light, the photos turned out great, and during twilight, too. In some cases, the AI ​​processed the photos so much that the picture on the screen looked better than the real landscape. Examples of photos are in the gallery below (click on pictures to enlarge).

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Photo indoors

Photo at dusk

Photo at dusk

Photo at dusk

The camera app has advanced settings for the pros, where you can play with shutter speed and ISO. Ordinary users have access to ready-made modes for night photography, photos of bright objects (headlights, light) and water. When shooting portraits, already on the main screen you can turn on background blur or programmatically adjust the aperture (f/0.95 - f/16).

Among the unusual features are all kinds of masks and animated augmented reality stickers. For example, here is a penguin in the office kitchen.

The main camera can record video in Full HD (60 fps) and 4K (30 fps). You can also shoot slow-motion or super slow-motion videos (16x, 480 fps). The quality of panoramas depends on the straightness of your hands and the movement in the frame. Stationary objects and buildings come out perfectly, without noticeable transitions or artifacts.

A dual main camera will no longer surprise anyone, but a dual front camera is not so common. But what won’t you do for beautiful selfies? Nova 3 is doing great in this regard - the front camera supports AI mode and is equipped with two 24 and 2 megapixel matrices. This pair recognizes a face faster during unlocking and more accurately highlights the foreground when blurring the background.

In addition to the standard slider that adjusts the smoothness of the skin and the beauty of the face, the front camera has a huge list of functions for taking selfies. There are 3D Qmoji - funny avatars that repeat your facial expressions. There are effects in the spirit of Snapchat: all kinds of ears, bows, hearts... You can turn yourself into a cute cat with big eyes or a Christmas reindeer. The filters include different backgrounds that will take your portrait under palm trees, into space, or wherever your heart desires. You can also take a selfie with a 3D effect, and then change the background and lighting on the finished photo.

Selfie with blurred background and “enhancers”

Our colleague took a couple of funny photos with different filters. When taking standard selfies, the camera clearly separates the foreground from the background and does not blur the edges of the face or hair. But when adding a background, the algorithm may fail and cut off part of the hairstyle or arm.

AI on the front camera works the same way as on the main one - it makes pictures brighter, richer and more colorful. Here are two selfies taken with and without AI mode. In the left photo the colors are noticeably brighter, but less true to reality.

This processing saves pictures taken in poor lighting, but initially good photos seem unnaturally bright and saturated if you overdo it with “enhancers” like AI mode.

Display Specifications

The screen of the Huawei Nova 3 smartphone has a display on an IPS matrix with a diagonal of 6.3 inches. Some sources claim that it is actually 6.14 inches. Resolution 2340x1080 pixels. Dot density 409 ppi. It is covered with 2.5D protective glass. The aspect ratio is 19.5:9. It is convenient for watching videos and playing games. The display is made using OGS technology - without an air gap between the matrix and glass.

The image on the screen is rich and bright. The maximum brightness of 440 cd/m² is enough to easily see the image on the screen even under bright sunlight. This is also facilitated by a high-quality anti-reflective coating. Minimum value for manual adjustment: 1.3 cd/m². The parameter can be adjusted manually or set to “auto brightness”.

The function works adequately, but depends on the value set by the user on the slider. In case of default settings, in a room with artificial lighting it will be about 145 cd/m², in a dark room it will be about 10 cd/m². This is the value at which it is comfortable to read.

Multi-touch supports up to 10 simultaneous touches. The screen surface of the Nova 3 is resistant to minor scratches. It has a high-quality anti-reflective coating. The finger glides easily over the surface without leaving marks. There is eye protection that can be adjusted manually. You can remove the mono fringe by selecting “Dark area at the top of the screen.”

Contrast ratio 1300:1. Screen image colors are oversaturated. To give them a more natural look, set the profile to “Normal”. You can change color shades using the color wheel. When viewed at right angles, the black color is uniform.

The viewing angles are great. Colors are not distorted even with significant deviation from perpendicular viewing. Black, when viewed diagonally, fades into purple, which reduces contrast. The brightness decreases several times. These shortcomings are common to almost all smartphones with an IPS matrix. But there is no backlight modulation, flickering is not noticeable even at minimum brightness values.

⇡#Camera

The main camera in Huawei nova 3 consists of two modules: an RGB sensor with a resolution of 16 megapixels with an ƒ/1.8 aperture lens and a monochrome sensor with a resolution of 24 megapixels and a lens of the same aperture.

The optical stabilizer is left for the older Huawei P and Mate series, but nova 3 is nevertheless quite combat-ready not only in daylight (even budget smartphones can cope with this today), but also in the dark - due to the combination of fairly high-aperture optics and a dual-chamber circuit with monochrome sensor. Only phase-detection autofocus is used – it lacks the addition of contrast sensors. This does not affect the speed when focusing during the day, but at night the nova 3 does not cope with this task very confidently.

There is also a hybrid zoom - the lenses do not differ in focal length, the difference in matrix resolution is used; As a result, we get a 2x zoom with a slight, but not critical, decrease in quality compared to a photo without using zoom.

Like the entire last year, Huawei is pushing the presence of artificial intelligence in the smartphone - it helps the operation of the operating system (trying to optimize the ongoing processes) and manifests itself in the camera. When you click on the AI ​​icon in the shooting application, the smartphone diligently recognizes a variety of scenes (it knows 22 of them) and tries, with varying success, to adjust settings for them: making warmer tones in sunset scenes or raising the blue saturation for the sky in the frame and deciding to blur background, if he sees that you are doing a portrait. The work of artificial intelligence is really noticeable, another thing is that it sometimes tries too hard, making pictures bright, saturated, but unnatural - which is very popular in Asia, but not always appreciated here. It is worth saying that the system began to work noticeably more correctly and a little less intrusively than in the past, and at any time, if desired, the artificial intelligence module can be turned off.

In addition, when you click on the eye icon in the upper left corner, the object recognition mode for shopping and reading QR codes is activated. These things are also attributed to artificial intelligence. There are two buts - for shopping you need to separately download the Amazon Assistant application (why is it not installed on your smartphone by default?), a store that does not officially operate in Russia, and phones have been able to read QR codes since the early 2000s.

The camera application interface is good: horizontal navigation, a fairly convenient arrangement of elements, the ability to shoot with manual settings and in RAW, artificial blur of the background with adjustable aperture after the fact, monochrome mode, and so on. The only thing that is somewhat frustrating is the location of the zoom icon: it is always located outside the natural reach of the finger - on the side with a vertical grip and below with a horizontal grip. You have to grab the smartphone in your hand to reach it.

The shooting quality of the nova 3 makes a good impression. Thanks to the dual-camera module, the dynamic range in daytime conditions is very pleasing - detail is preserved in both highlights and shadows. In the dark, the situation is worse - as I mentioned above, the smartphone lacks an optical stabilizer. In order to get a sharp photo, you need to have strong hands and make several attempts. Another subtle point is the excessive efforts of nova 3 to “pull out” details in the shadows in combination with very aggressive noise reduction, due to which the picture turns out soapy. You can combat this by using exposure compensation or shooting in manual mode. In daytime photographs there is no problem with sharpness - the nova 3 does not suffer from “soap”.

Gallery of pictures

View all images (32)
The smartphone allows you to shoot video in 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. There is no option to shoot slow motion video.

The front module of Huawei nova 3 also consists of two cameras - along with a 24-megapixel camera (aperture - ƒ/2.0), there is a 2-megapixel module, which serves for more correct background blur and (in theory) helps with various specific modes, like simulation of studio lighting (example above, looks creepy) and games with alternative reality (more about them below).

An artificial intelligence mode is also available - yes, nova 3 can also identify scenes (8 pieces) when shooting with the front camera, trying to recognize where you are. It turns out pretty confident. There is also a switchable HDR mode (here it is called HDR Pro for good measure). Despite the lack of autofocus and flash, the front camera is close to outstanding both in terms of pure shooting quality and capabilities.

One of the main features of Huawei nova 3, which, among other things, distinguishes the smartphone from Honor 10, is augmented reality modes. When working with the front camera, these are animoji (your face is replaced with the face of some animal or monster), various effects (cat whiskers, hearts, etc., so beloved in Asian countries, are glued to your face), gestures (swipe your finger across the screen and cause thunder and lightning - recorded on video) and backgrounds (with you in the frame all sorts of madness is happening to the music). With the main camera, animations with 3D objects on a real background are available - a chick hangs out under an umbrella, fishes, dances, and so on.

Options and performance

The technical characteristics of the Huawei Nova 3 smartphone are collected in the table:

A review of the characteristics of Huawei Nova 3 shows that the smartphone is equipped, although not a flagship, but with a modern, productive processor manufactured using a 10-nm process technology. Its 8 cores are divided into two clusters of 4 each. Fast ones work on solving simple problems, with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz. To solve more complex ones, powerful ones with a frequency of up to 2.36 GHz are connected.

Huawei Nova 3 interface

The review of Huawei Nova 3 moves on to its interface, which is based on Android 8.1, on top of which the proprietary EMUI 8.2 shell is superimposed. For a long time, EMUI frightened us with its overload and poor design. But recently the system has begun to change for the better.

All installed applications are on the desktop. If you like the classic application menu, you can activate it in the settings. The shell offers extensive gesture control capabilities and a huge selection of parameters that you can customize for yourself - change the list of shortcut icons in the notification shade, change the theme, etc.

Camera overview

The Huawei Nova 3 smartphone has two cameras, each of which consists of two sensors. The front one has a 24 megapixel main module, the lens aperture is f/2.0. An additional 2 MP sensor is designed to create a bokeh effect in portrait photography and assess depth of field.

The front camera makes extensive use of artificial intelligence capabilities. It recognizes about 200 scenes, dividing them into 8 categories. For each of them, optimal shooting parameters are automatically selected. The quality of the images from the front camera is high. Overexposure is sometimes noticeable, and the edges of the frame are often blurry. But this is only noticeable when viewed on a large screen.

The front camera performs face unlocking, if provided by the user. Recognition occurs quickly and correctly. In the evening, the infrared port located on the front panel of the phone helps.

The main camera received 16 and 24 megapixel sensors. The first of them has a 6-lens lens (f/1.8) and is equipped with an RGB sensor. The second is monochrome, it improves the detail of the pictures. The camera has hybrid autofocus. A single-color LED flash will help improve the quality of pictures in the evening and at night. The disadvantages are that there is no optical zoom or stabilization.

Artificial intelligence recognizes about 500 scenes, dividing them into 22 categories. AI takes into account many characteristics of the subject in the frame, including facial expression, type of clothing, and direction of light rays. If you want to set parameters manually, you can disable this function. In manual mode, you can save received photos in RAW.

The quality of the images is high in good lighting. When it is reduced, noise appears and close objects are not always in focus. Detail drops when shooting tree branches. The narrow dynamic range does not allow you to take high-quality photos. You can change the situation for the better by reducing the image resolution.

The camera can shoot 4k video at 30 frames per second or 1080p at 60 frames per second. Video detail is good, colors are reproduced correctly. The lack of optical stabilization negatively affects video quality. Autofocus sometimes lags. The video sound quality is high.

Review of the Huawei Nova 3 smartphone

The nova line of smartphones appeared in the Huawei portfolio later than others. The first representative of the new family was presented only three years ago during the MWC 2020 exhibition. By that time, not only did the Huawei P and Mate lines already exist, but the Honor brand had managed to spin off into a separate brand, successfully copying some of Huawei’s own products and offering them lower prices. Against the backdrop of this diversity, the very idea of ​​releasing another line of Huawei smartphones seemed, to put it mildly, strange and redundant. However, the manufacturer continues to support it to this day, although it does so as slowly as possible. At least, this is how it looks against the backdrop of the rapid growth of other families.

As for positioning, nova stands somewhere between the middle and top segments, that is, in terms of characteristics, these smartphones are higher than models with the “Lite” prefix, but lower than “Pro”. The cost is appropriate, nova models in this regard cannot compete with most representatives of the Honor brand, and at a price of 30 thousand rubles they cannot be called “balanced in the middle,” but such smartphones are certainly of some interest. Today we will take a closer look at the latest addition to the series – the Huawei nova 3.

Main characteristics of Huawei nova 3 (model PAR-LX1)

• SoC HiSilicon Kirin 970, 8 cores: 4×Cortex-A73 @2.36 GHz + 4×Cortex-A53 @1.8 GHz
• GPU Mali-G72 (MP12)
• Operating system Android 8.1, EMUI 8.2
• Touch display IPS 6.3″, 2340×1080 (19.5:9), 409 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 4 GB, internal memory 128 GB
• MicroSD support up to 256 GB
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• GSM/WCDMA/HSPA+ networks
• LTE Cat.12/13 FDD networks (B1/3/5/7/8/20)
• GPS, A-GPS, Glonass, BDS
• Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4 and 5 GHz)
• Bluetooth 4.2, BLE, aptX, aptX HD
• NFC
• USB 2.0 Type-C, USB OTG
• 3.5mm audio jack
• Main camera 16 MP (f/1.8) + 24 MP, 4K video
• Front camera 24 MP (f/2.0) + 2 MP
• Proximity and lighting sensors, magnetic field, accelerometer, gyroscope, step counter
• Fingerprint's scanner
• Battery 3750 mAh
• Dimensions 157×74×7.3 mm
• Weight 166 g

Appearance and ease of use

Huawei nova 3 looks the same as most modern Huawei/Honor mobile devices. This is a catchy, shiny device that shimmers in the light with a gradient color, varnished slippery and easily soiled surfaces and streamlined shapes.

Some of these models have a more thoughtful shape of the side edges, by which you can hold the device more firmly, but here the situation is completely deplorable: the sloping edges of the rear glass smoothly merge with the same smooth, slippery and overly convex side frame. Because of this, the smartphone is extremely “fidgety” in the palm of your hand, spinning in your hands like a bar of soap.

The camera module on the back side protrudes outward, the smartphone sways when you touch the screen, and lies unsteadily on a hard surface. The camera on the back of the body is dual, but the flash is single, but quite bright.

The fingerprint scanner area is located on the back wall; it is tactilely clearly visible, since it is slightly recessed. There are no complaints about the scanner's performance.

The screen on top received a cutout in the form of a classic (rather large) “bang” (aka “unibrow”), there was a place in it for a dual camera and an LED event indicator, which is built right under the speaker grille. The corners of the screen are strongly rounded.

The side keys are installed on the same face, they are almost indistinguishable tactilely, although this was the idea, since the power button has a small corrugated pattern (in practice, it cannot be felt with your fingers).

The card slot is hybrid; you can install two Nano-SIM cards at the same time or replace one of them with a microSD memory card with a capacity of up to 256 GB. Hot swap supported.

At the top end there is nothing except an auxiliary microphone; the smartphone does not have the usual IR transmitter for emulating a remote control for Huawei devices.

The set of interface connectors at the bottom is as follows: the USB port is represented by a modern Type-C connector, while the usual 3.5 mm audio output for headphones is retained. The main speaker and conversational microphone are also located here, at the bottom end.

The choice of colors for the model was initially scarce: in addition to the gradient purple color shown in test photographs, only a completely black version could also be found on sale. However, a little later, Huawei released a model in red, the same thing it did earlier with nova 2. The device did not receive protection from dust and moisture.

Screen

Huawei nova 3 is equipped with an IPS display with 2.5D protective glass. The screen dimensions are approximately 67×146 mm, with a diagonal of 6.3″, and a resolution of 2340×1080 (aspect ratio 19.5:9, pixel density about 409 ppi). The width of the frame around the screen on the sides is about 3 mm, the indentation at the bottom is about 7 mm high, and at the top it is only 4 mm (not counting the “bangs”).

You can adjust the display brightness manually or use automatic settings based on the ambient light sensor.

A detailed examination using measuring instruments was carried out by the editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections Alexey Kudryavtsev . Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the sample under study.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is scratch-resistant. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are better than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) screen (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the switched off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Huawei nova 3, then they can be distinguished by size):

The screen of the Huawei nova 3 is slightly darker (brightness according to photographs is 121 versus 128 for the Nexus 7). The ghosting of reflected objects in the Huawei nova 3 screen is very weak, this indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS - One Glass Solution type screen). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (glass/air type) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of intense external illumination, but their repair in the case of cracked external glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be replaced. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating, which is better in efficiency than that of the Nexus 7, so fingerprints are removed much easier and appear at a lower speed than in the case of regular glass.

With manual brightness control and when the white field was displayed in full screen, the maximum brightness value was about 440 cd/m², the minimum was 1.3 cd/m². The maximum brightness is quite high, therefore, given the excellent anti-glare properties, screen readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at an acceptable level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable value. There is automatic brightness adjustment based on the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker grille). In automatic mode, as external lighting conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. The operation of this function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider: with it the user can try to set the desired brightness level in the current conditions. If you do not interfere and leave the default settings, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 10 cd/m² (normal), in an office illuminated by artificial light (approximately 550 lux) it sets it to 145 cd/m² (suitable), in very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or a little more) increases to 440 cd/m² (to the maximum, as needed). The backlight brightness level depends on the position of the slider in dark and average conditions, and in very bright environments it is always set to maximum. The default result suited us, but for the experiment we moved the slider a little to the right in complete darkness and for the three conditions indicated above, we got 20, 130 and 440 cd/m² (and this option is not bad). It turns out that the auto-brightness function works adequately and allows the user to customize their work to individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is no significant backlight modulation, so there is no screen flicker.

This smartphone uses an IPS matrix. The microphotographs show a typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of microphotographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift even with large viewing deviations from perpendicular to the screen and without inverting shades. For comparison, here are photographs in which identical images are displayed on the screens of Huawei nova 3 and Nexus 7, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to approximately 200 cd/m², and the color balance on the camera was forcibly switched to 6500 K.

There is a white field perpendicular to the screens:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field.

And a test picture:

The colors on the Huawei nova 3 screen are clearly oversaturated, and the color balance varies between screens.

Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors have not changed much on both screens, but on the Huawei nova 3 the contrast has decreased to a greater extent due to the greater highlighting of blacks.

And a white field:

The brightness of the screens at an angle has decreased (by at least 5 times, based on the difference in shutter speed), but the Huawei nova 3 screen is still a little brighter. When deviated diagonally, the black field brightens greatly and acquires a red-violet hue. The photographs below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from another angle:

When viewed perpendicularly, the uniformity of the black field is excellent:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1300:1. The response time for the black-white-black transition is 20 ms (9 ms on + 11 ms off). The transition between halftones of gray 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes a total of 35 ms. The gamma curve, constructed using 32 points with equal intervals based on the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal any blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.00, which is lower than the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve noticeably deviates from the power-law dependence:

This device has a dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness with a non-obvious dependence on time and on the nature of the displayed image. As a result, the resulting dependence of brightness on hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential display of shades of gray on almost the entire screen. For this reason, we carried out a number of tests - determining contrast and response time, comparing black illumination at angles - (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not monochromatic fields in the entire screen. In general, such non-disabled brightness correction does nothing but harm, since constantly changing the screen brightness can at least cause some discomfort.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

Let's look at the spectra:

The spectra of the components are quite well separated, which determines the wide color gamut. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant disadvantage, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and the vast majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photographs above.

However, not everything is so bad: when you select the Normal , the coverage is compressed to the sRGB boundaries.

Colors in images become less saturated (and color balance changes slightly):

The balance of shades on the scale is a compromise, since the color temperature is approximately 9000 K, which is significantly higher than the standard 6500 K, but the deviation from the blackbody spectrum (ΔE) is about 7, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, color temperature and ΔE change little from hue to hue - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of color balance. This device has the ability to adjust the color balance by adjusting the hue on the color wheel.

The graphs below show the data obtained after selecting the Normal and shifting the point on the circle to the position indicated in the image above. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature approached the standard value and ΔE decreased. There is some benefit from this correction - however, the maximum brightness has decreased to 400 cd/m². Note that this function is implemented more for show, since there is no numerical reflection of the correction and there is no special field for measuring color balance.

There is a fancy setting that allows you to reduce the intensity of the blue component.

Marketers tried to intimidate the user in order to show the level of care of the manufacturer. Of course, there is no harmful UV radiation (see spectrum above), and there is no eye fatigue caused specifically by blue light. In principle, bright light can lead to disruption of the circadian rhythm (see the article about the iPad Pro with a 9.7-inch display), but everything can be solved by adjusting the brightness to a comfortable level, and there is absolutely no way to distort the color balance, reducing the contribution of blue sense.

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has excellent anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors even on a sunny summer day without any problems. In complete darkness, the brightness can be reduced to a comfortable level. It is also possible to use a mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Also, the advantages of the screen include an effective oleophobic coating, the absence of an air gap in the layers of the screen and flicker, high contrast, excellent uniformity of the black field, sRGB color gamut (when choosing the right profile) and good (after a small correction) color balance. The disadvantages are the low stability of black to the deviation of the gaze from perpendicular to the screen plane. Taking into account the importance of characteristics for this particular class of devices, the quality of the screen can be considered high.

Cameras

For the front camera, Huawei nova 3 uses a dual module. The main camera with a 24-megapixel matrix resolution and an f/2.0 aperture lens is complemented by a simple 2-megapixel module for measuring depth of field and creating a background blur effect in portrait mode.

When shooting self-portraits, the front camera of Huawei nova 3 recognizes more than 200 types of different scenes in eight categories, including “sky”, “greenery” and “beach”, and tries to select the optimal set of parameters, adjusting the frame based on the work of AI.

The shooting quality is decent: the pictures are bright and with good detail. True, there are often overexposures and there are spots of blur across the field of the frame, but when viewed on the screen of the smartphone itself, such a picture looks very good.

As for the main camera, everything here is also quite decent. This dual camera has sensors with a resolution of 16 and 24 megapixels, however, the functions of the modules are already atypical today: the 16-megapixel has an RGB sensor and a six-element lens with an f/1.8 aperture, and the 24-megapixel is monochrome, it is responsible for details . There is a single-color bright LED flash and fast, adequate hybrid autofocus. There is no optical image stabilization or optical zoom here.

While the main camera is working, artificial intelligence also analyzes the picture, identifying more than 500 different scenes in 22 categories. A special algorithm recognizes object contours, textures, gradients, lighting patterns and applies this information during image processing, also using data on the depth of objects and the scene. According to the developers, the AI ​​even takes into account facial expression, the nature of clothing, pose and direction of lighting, independently correcting the images, but all this can be turned off.

There is an advanced manual mode in which you can manually select light sensitivity, shutter speed, focusing method and white balance. In this mode, it becomes possible to save pictures in RAW.

In general, the image quality is also quite decent, but nothing more, the camera is of average quality. With sufficient lighting, everything is fine with detail and sharpness, but with the slightest darkening of an area of ​​the frame, traces of noise are immediately visible, the dynamic range is narrow, the camera is not always able to focus on close objects, tree branches merge into a mess. A good margin in resolution helps; as the resolution of the images decreases, the quality, as expected, increases. In general, not bad, but cannot be confused with flagship cameras.

The camera can shoot video in a maximum resolution of 4K at 30 fps, as well as in 1080p at 60 fps. As standard, you can choose which codec to use: H.265 (HEVC) or H264. There is no optical stabilization. The video comes out with decent detail and color reproduction. Autofocus sometimes lags or adjusts on the fly. The sound is recorded clearly, the noise reduction system works adequately and does not introduce distortion.

Video examples:

• Video #1 (107 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 2 (107 MB, 3840× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)
• Video No. 3 (45 MB, 1920× [email protected] fps, H.264, AAC)

Telephone and communications

Huawei nova 3 supports all common frequencies of the LTE FDD Cat network. 12/13 (Band 3, 7, 20). In practice, within the city limits of the Moscow region, the device demonstrates reliable operation in wireless networks, does not lose connection, and quickly restores connection after a forced interruption.

The device also supports operation in both Wi-Fi bands (2.4 and 5 GHz), there are no complaints about the operation of the Wi-Fi module. There is an NFC module; it can work with Troika travel cards and the My Travel Card application. Everything is familiar to Huawei smartphones; communication capabilities are maximum and will please anyone.

The navigation module works with GPS (with A-GPS), and with the domestic Glonass, and the Chinese Beidou. The first satellites, even during a cold start, are detected quickly, within the first seconds, and the positioning accuracy does not cause any complaints. The smartphone has a magnetic compass, necessary for navigation programs.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, while dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by the first letters in contacts. Methods for sorting and displaying contacts are standard for the Android interface.

In the conversational dynamics, the voice of a familiar interlocutor is clearly recognizable, the sound is loud and clear, there are no extraneous noises. The vibration alert is average in power. VoLTE supported.

The platform supports active standby of both SIM cards in 3G/4G simultaneously. That is, the SIM card can be in active standby on a 3G/4G network, and not just on 2G, even if another card is assigned to transmit data on 4G. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio modem.

Software and multimedia

As a software platform, Huawei nova 3 uses Google Android 8.1 with its own proprietary shell EMUI 8.2 with the ability to update over the air. Users familiar with Huawei mobile technology will not discover anything new here: both the design and capabilities have not changed radically.

The sound of the nova 3, frankly speaking, is rather weak in comparison with the top-end Huawei devices of the P and Mate series. Both in headphones and even through a loudspeaker, the sound is of average volume, inexpressive, dim and without a clear presence of low frequencies. Huawei Histen audio effects technologies are also implemented here, but they are not able to radically improve the sound. The voice recorder demonstrates good sensitivity; there is no FM radio in the device.

Performance

Huawei nova 3 uses the HiSilicon Kirin 970 single-chip system, manufactured using a 10-nanometer process technology, as its hardware platform. The SoC configuration includes two clusters of four processor cores: ARM Cortex-A73 with a maximum frequency of up to 2.36 GHz and ARM Cortex-A53 with a frequency of up to 1.8 GHz. The amount of RAM is 4 GB, the storage volume is 128 GB, of which about 114 GB of flash memory is free. The ability to expand memory by installing microSD cards is also provided.

HiSilicon Kirin 970 is not a flagship platform, but it is very powerful, it is a conditional lower top level, clearly above average. Of course, it does not outperform the top Qualcomm Snapdragon 845, but it is superior to the same Snapdragon 710 in everything. In real use scenarios, there are still no obstacles for this SoC. She confidently copes with any tasks assigned to her, including the most demanding games. True, our test unit experienced overheating in almost every benchmark, but its performance level still remains high.

All the games we tested, including Injustice 2 and PUBG, run confidently at high settings without the slightest slowdown. Huawei nova 3 is a powerful smartphone, it has a performance reserve for future updates.

Testing in complex tests:

For convenience, we have compiled all the results we obtained when testing the smartphone in the latest versions of popular benchmarks into tables. The table usually adds several other devices from different segments, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry figures). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, so many worthy and relevant models remain “behind the scenes” - due to the fact that they once passed the “obstacle course” on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in game tests:

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for assessing the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowance for the fact that their results significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so the comparison can only be truly correct on the same OS and browsers, and this is possible during testing not always. For Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

AndroBench memory speed test results:

Heat

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface obtained after 15 minutes of fighting with a gorilla in the game Injustice 2 (this test is also used to determine autonomy in 3D games):

The heating is localized in the upper part of the device, which apparently corresponds to the location of the SoC chip. According to the heat camera, the maximum heating was 43 degrees (at an ambient temperature of 24 degrees), which is slightly higher than the average value in this test for modern smartphones.

Playing video

To test the omnivorous nature of video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats, which make up the bulk of the content available on the Internet. Note that for mobile devices it is important to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is most often impossible to process modern options using processor cores alone. Also, you shouldn’t expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a table.

Further testing of video playback was performed by Alexey Kudryavtsev .

This unit does not appear to support DisplayPort Alt Mode for USB Type-C—outputting image and sound to an external device when connected to a USB port—which was discovered using USB Type-C → HDMI adapters from Choetech and Tronsmart CTHA1. Therefore, we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself.

To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see “Method for testing video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)”). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped determine the nature of the output of frames of video files with various parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p), 1920 by 1080 (1080p) and 3840 by 2160 (4K) pixels) and frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). In the tests we used the MX Player video player in the “Hardware” mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips have green ratings, this means that, most likely, when watching films, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect comfort viewing. Red marks indicate possible problems with playback of the corresponding files.

According to the frame output criterion, the quality of playback of video files on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) be output with uniform alternation of intervals and without skipping frames. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly at the height of the screen (in landscape orientation), one to one in pixels, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235: all shade gradations are displayed in shadows and highlights, which is required for correct playback of typical video files. Note that this smartphone has support for hardware decoding of H.265 files with a color depth of 10 bits per color, while the output of gradients on the screen is carried out with slightly better quality than in the case of 8-bit files (however, this is not proof of true 10-bit resolution). bit output). HDR files play back, but colors appear too pale.

Battery life

The non-removable battery installed in the Huawei nova 3 has a high capacity of 3750 mAh, but the hero of the review does not demonstrate such an outstanding level of autonomy; it barely surpasses the same Honor 10 with its 3400 mAh battery in this indicator. Obviously, the whole point is in the not very economical hardware platform on which both devices operate.

In real life, the device behaves the same as everyone else: it survives until evening charging, it can last a day, but you can’t count on more.

Testing has traditionally been done at normal power consumption levels without using power-saving features.

Continuous reading in the Moon+ Reader program (with a standard, light theme) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (brightness was set to 100 cd/m²) with auto-scrolling lasted about 15.5 hours until the battery was completely discharged, and when continuously watching videos in high quality ( 720p) with the same brightness level via a home Wi-Fi network, the device operates for up to 11 hours. In 3D gaming mode, the smartphone can work up to 6 hours, depending on the specific game.

The smartphone supports SuperCharge fast charging; it charges from its own AC adapter in about 2 hours with an initial current of 1.8 A 9 V; towards the end of charging, these values ​​naturally drop.

Bottom line

The official price for Huawei nova 3 in Russian retail was 30 thousand rubles, and although after the New Year it dropped to 27 thousand, it is obvious: Huawei has stopped pleasing Russians with affordable prices, believing that “they will buy it anyway.” Honor, in the same price niche, has the Honor 10, which is as similar in characteristics as possible, so there is nothing unique about the Huawei nova 3. Appearance, filling, cost - everything is at the level that has already become familiar to Huawei/Honor. The smartphone is not bad in its own way, but we couldn’t find any “zest” in it. We expected increased autonomy with such a battery, but these expectations were not met, and the camera doublets were not impressive. Nova 3 is a good smartphone, higher and more expensive than the average, but it is interesting to purchase only in promotions and with bonuses.

Communication and sound

The Huawei Nova 3 smartphone supports two SIM cards in 3-4G frequencies, including Band 3, 7, 20. The connection is not lost and is restored quickly after a break. The cards operate in Dual SIM Dual Standby mode, there is only one radio module. Active standby is supported in 3-4G networks.

The Huawei Nova 3 dials numbers using the first letters – the Smart Dial function is supported.

Installed:

• Dual-band Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• NFC

Navigation is carried out via GPS, A-GPS, GLONACC, Beidou / the first satellites are located in a matter of seconds. The location is determined accurately. There is a magnetic compass. The ringer volume is high, the vibration alert volume is medium. The sound in the conversational dynamics is recognizable and audible well. VoLTE voice transmission technology is supported.

The sound of the multimedia speaker is average. The range is not wide, low frequencies are not audible. Listening with headphones does not correct the situation. Huawei Histen video effects technology is used. There is a voice recorder. There is no FM radio. When viewing a video, frames are displayed at evenly alternating intervals. When playing video files with a resolution of 1080p, the image is displayed at the height of the screen.

Detailed technical specifications

Make and model

Make and model of the device, and alternative names (if any).

Design

Appearance of the device including dimensions, weight, volume, colors and materials.

System on a Chip (SoC)

A system on a chip, a single-chip system (System on a Chip, SoC) is when several systems performing different device functions are connected on one chip.

Central processing unit (CPU)

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

Random access memory (RAM)

Built-in memory

Most mobile devices have built-in Flash memory, which is used as a storage for system data, the operating system, as well as user data - photos, videos, recordings and much more.

Operating system

A mobile operating system (OS) is pre-installed software with a well-thought-out interface for user control of device functions.

Battery

To operate autonomously, a mobile device requires a battery that powers all its components.

Screen

The screen (display) is the main element for displaying graphic information.

Main camera

The main camera, usually built into the rear of the device, is designed for creating photo and video content.

Additional cameras

Secondary cameras allow you to expand the capabilities of the main camera, such as adding a wide shooting angle, sharpness, optical zoom and other functions depending on the type of secondary camera.

Front-camera

The front camera of a mobile device (selfie camera, rear camera) is a camera on the front part, which is usually used for video communication, recognition of gestures or faces, and selfie photographs.

Memory card

A memory card (flash card) is an external data storage device that is used in many devices to increase memory capacity.

SIM card

Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) used in mobile devices to identify subscribers in cellular networks.

Mobile networks

This is a system in which communication and data transfer is carried out between subscribers, the location of one or more of which changes. This section lists the supported mobile communication standards and frequencies.

Mobile network data standards

What data transfer standards in cellular networks are supported by the device, as well as their speed.

WiFi

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) is a technology for wireless data transmission over a local network among devices based on IEEE 802.11 standards.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth (BT, bluetooth (z), “blue tooth”) is a short-range wireless network (up to 10, sometimes 100 meters) operating on radio waves to transmit voice and data between devices.

Sensors

Modern devices have many sensors that help in measurements, trigger functions, and make using the device more pleasant.

Audio

Audio - characteristics and capabilities of a mobile device in terms of sound.

Radio

The radio in a mobile device can be built-in by the manufacturer (catch local radio channels, no internet required, often works only with headphones (as an antenna), but not always) or installed as an online application (requires internet, but more channels and often better quality) .

Navigation and location

The location is determined by satellite navigation systems that track the device's autonomous geospatial location at multiple points. The most common satellite navigation systems are GPS, GLONASS, and the Chinese BeiDou.

USB connector

USB (Universal Serial Bus) is a serial interface for connecting peripherals to computers, smartphones, laptops and much more. The interface allows you to exchange data and power a peripheral device with energy, as well as connect several peripheral devices to one USB connector at once.

Headphone jack

A TRS headphone jack (or jack) is a common standard of connectors used for transmitting audio signals. By diameter there are jack (6.5 mm), mini-jack (3.5 mm) and micro-jack (2.5 mm). In mobile devices, the 3.5mm jack was considered the most popular and widespread, but recently they began to be removed, leaving only USB connectors, through which headphones are connected with a corresponding plug or using adapters.

Connection and synchronization

Options for synchronizing your mobile device and connecting it to other devices.

Browser

A browser is a browser program for viewing sites and their content on the Internet. Through the browser, you can open websites, search for information, download necessary files, watch streaming videos, play browser games, etc.

Audio file formats/codecs

Mobile devices support many audio file formats, as well as codecs for playing them.

Video file formats/codecs

Video file formats that the device supports and is capable of decoding and playing.

Autonomy

The Huawei Nova 3 smartphone is powered by a non-removable battery with a capacity of 3750 mAh. A full charge is usually enough for a day or a day of operation, depending on the load. You can watch 720p videos for 11 hours, play 3D games for 6 hours. In reading mode at a comfortable brightness level, the charge will last for almost 16 hours.

The Huawei Nova 3 smartphone supports SuperCharge fast charging function. It can be charged in 2 hours using the supplied mains adapter.

Communications and connections

We have a dual-band Wi-Fi module at our disposal (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz). I have no objections to its operation - the module catches the network without problems, even after a significant distance from the router. Bluetooth 4.2 copes with additional accessories also without any reservations. There is NFC, which performed all tasks perfectly during tests.

Navigation during the entire period of my testing did not cause problems - the signal and satellites were detected quickly. The range of the cellular network is just as good as the quality of communication during conversations - the interlocutors heard me loud and clear, and I also had no problems understanding people on the other side. I also enjoyed the presence of a Type-C USB port.

The equipment also includes a Dual SIM that works in standby mode - one of the cards stops being active when we start calling from the second. Huawei has equipped the Nova 3 with as much as 128 GB of internal memory, of which about 112 GB remains for the user, but it can be expanded using memory cards up to 256 GB.

Advantages and disadvantages

The smartphone has the following advantages:

• Beautiful appearance
• High quality screen
• Modern processor
• Dual cameras
• Fast charging supported
• Dual Frequency Wi-Fi
• Has an NFC chip
• There is an IR port

Disadvantages of Huawei Nova 3:

• Low autonomy
• Picture quality is not ideal
• The cameras do not have optical stabilization or zoom
• No FM radio
• No wireless charging
• The manufacturer claims protection from weather conditions, but it was not possible to find any signs of it.

Considering the high price of the device, we can say that the ratio of cost and quality here is not ideal.

Appearance and design

Huawei Nova 3 attracts with the design of the case; at first glance, it seems that the smartphone is aimed at young and active people who value an unusual appearance and interesting solutions. Particular attention is drawn to the color version that I had the opportunity to test, more precisely - Purple Iris, which means that we are dealing with a purple-blue body.

In practice, the glass surface flickers at different angles, shimmering from purple to blue, like the Honora 10, which I tested some time ago. It is important to note that the frame of the device is also in blue-violet tones and is made of shiny aluminum. Looking at it from the front, the Nova 3 looks like many other Huawei smartphones released this year.

We have a large, 6.3-inch display with a cutout, the so-called “notch”. The bezels around the screen are relatively narrow - some might say the phone is big, but overall I think it looks very good and will appeal to many. I don't mind logos and lettering on the case, as long as they are of a reasonable size and don't take up much space. In the case of Huawei's Nova 3, everything looks great, I have no objections in this regard.

Since we've looked at the front, it's time to look at the back. There is a protruding camera module that is placed vertically, again very similar to other smartphones this year. It is important to note that the camera module protrudes above the body, but this is not the only “structural” flaw.

Firstly, the glass surface gets dirty like crazy, which makes the process of maintaining the device in frequency very difficult. Secondly, the material is susceptible to scratches, but I must note that after my tests I did not find any serious scratches. And yes, I know that things may look different after several years or even months of daily use.

And thirdly, the body is slippery, so the smartphone “runs away” even when we place it on a relatively simple surface. Fortunately, all of the aforementioned caveats or defects can be “removed” by wearing the case that the manufacturer includes with the kit. True, it slightly spoils the style and appearance of the device itself, the main thing is that the gadget is protected from mechanical damage.

To top it all off, thanks to the rounded edges, the device is comfortable to hold in your hand. However, you should be aware that the Huawei Nova 3 is quite large, so one-handed operations may be challenging - especially if you are someone with small hands.

The location of individual elements, ports and connectors is not surprising - everything is standard. On the right side are buttons for volume control and switching, on the left is a tray for two nanoSIM cards, one of which serves as a slot for microSD cards. The bottom edge has USB-C, a 3.5mm audio jack, a single microphone and a speaker, while the top edge has a lot of unused space - there's only a microphone hole.

On the front, above the 6.3-inch screen, we find two front camera lenses, a speaker, a set of sensors and a notification LED. On the back panel, in turn, two protruding cameras with an LED were installed, a fingerprint scanner located slightly lower in the center, as well as the Huawei logo and several inscriptions or symbols.

Nova 3 is a really good smartphone and made with attention to detail, it is able to please many users.

Sound

I can't say anything good or bad about the sound. There is one and it is of good average quality. The only thing that can be highlighted is the volume; its maximum level here is excellent in every sense. I got the impression that the volume here is higher than the average in other smartphones. This applies to both the speaker and headphones.

The external speaker behaves quite normally: the sound is of good quality, the lows and highs are in place, but nothing outstanding. And at maximum volume, noises and wheezing appear, but they are insignificant. The situation is better in headphones - no sound distortion or unnecessary noise was detected there.

Overall, the Nova 3 offers good sound, but it's flat and somewhat uninteresting, with no depth. And to improve the situation, you will have to download a third-party player, because the native one does not have an equalizer or any other sound settings.

Bottom line

Personally, I think the Huawei Nova 3 is a success. Besides the Huawei P20, it is inferior only to the quality of cameras and sound. But even then – not much. And taking into account the difference in price, Nova 3, in my personal opinion, looks like a more profitable option.

The smartphone offers excellent performance, a nice-looking display, and a good battery that will last the whole day in any scenario. Yes, if you think about it, everything is fine. Therefore, if you want to get a productive and powerful device with a cool design, pay attention to our hero.

Let me remind you that you can already buy Huawei Nova 3 in official Russian retail for 29,990 rubles.

Huawei Nova 3

Safety

Huawei Nova 3i has both a fingerprint scanner and facial unlocking. They work quickly and accurately.

The fingerprint scanner is located in a convenient location on the back of the case. It is located at the top where the index finger naturally rests. It takes less than a second to recognize a fingerprint.

You can use the fingerprint scanner in parallel with facial unlocking. Despite the lack of complex sensors that many expensive smartphones have, facial recognition works very quickly. Usually you just need to pick up the device and you can already work with it. It works surprisingly well even in low light.