The Nova series of Huawei is definitely one of the hottest in the country. The Nova 2i delivered the promise of bringing an affordable mid-range smartphone with a top-notch hardware. Recently, Huawei has also announced that the Huawei Nova 2 Lite will be available soon. It’s a more affordable smartphone in the Nova 2 Series that still delivers most features that every Filipino consumers want on a smartphone – a long battery life, a large display, and a dual lens camera

Design and Hardware

The Huawei Nova 2 Lite comes in two colors – black and blue, however, the blue one really shines over the black variant as it features a metallic glossy blue design while the back is just a plain matte black plastic. The smartphone that we got for review is the black variant.

The smartphone got a plastic build compared to the Nova 2i but that’s understandable since we’re getting a more affordable smartphone at Sub-Php10k. It isn’t that bad and holding the smartphone was just fine despite the 5.99-inch display thanks to its curves and also its lightweight body.

The smartphone still rocks a Micro USB port and also a headphone jack and Huawei has placed its volume rocker and the power button on the right side of the smartphone. The fingerprint scanner is placed at the back since we’re getting on a smartphone with a thin bezel with an 18:9 display aspect ratio. There’s face unlock too but I would suggest that you use the fingerprint scanner instead as it is a faster way to unlock the smartphone.

Display

Speaking of display, the Huawei Nova 2 Lite features an 18:9 display similar to the Nova 2i. It also has a thin bezel just like its brother, however, the display resolution of the smartphone is now down to HD+. If you’re really nifty about the display, you’ll really notice that one especially when you love browsing photos and videos on the smartphone.

Despite having an HD resolution, it has a good color reproduction and also good viewing angles. The brightness is just fine and it is usable outside however you’ll notice that sometimes, the smartphone’s display brightness isn’t just enough.

But again, we’re talking about a smartphone with a Sub-10k price here so having this display resolution in order to have a better hardware in other aspects will be just fine for some.

Performance

The Huawei Nova 2 Lite has surprised us with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 that is being utilized by the smartphone. Most of the time, Huawei uses their own Kirin chipsets for their smartphone as those chipsets have better optimization for their devices and they have more control over it.

Speaking of the chipset, the Snapdragon 430 and 3GB RAM inside the smartphone will be just fine running on most games and applications. We tried Rules of Survival on the smartphone and we’re happy with its performance in the game. We also tried the latest Battle Royale game on smartphones, PUBG Mobile and yes, the Huawei Nova 2 Lite was able to run that game however, you’ll have to set your expectations lower as the smartphone can only run it well at the lowest settings. But we’re hoping that we could set up the settings higher once the game is more optimized.

Battery Life

The Huawei Nova 2 Lite packs a 3000mAh battery and since we’re talking about a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor along with its HD+ display, we already know that the smartphone won’t be a battery hog. The smartphone can last up to a day of usage without asking for a power bank or charger at an average use of social media browsing and light gaming and it can probably last more if you’re a light user.

Software

The smartphone is running on Android Oreo with EMUI 8 out of the box. The UI of the smartphone is really easy to use as this one doesn’t have an app drawer and most of the settings and features are easy to grasp.

And of course, the smartphone does come with some applications that you won’t probably use but as a gamer, I’m happy to see game suite, an application that aims to optimize the performance of the smartphone when it comes to gaming.

Camera

One of the biggest features of the Huawei Nova 2 Lite is its camera. Despite having a Sub-Php10k price, the Huawei Nova 2 Lite still managed to have a dual lens camera at the back. The smartphone features a 13-megapixel rear camera with a secondary 2-megapixel rear camera for depth detection. The Huawei Nova 2 Lite does have a really nice camera and it actually exceeded my expectations for the smartphone. Check out the shots that I took using the smartphone:

Verdict

Overall, the Huawei Nova 2 Lite should be on your list when you’re looking for a sub-Php10,000 smartphone. It does have solid design despite using plastic for its body especially the blue variant. The Snapdragon 430 processor inside the smartphone will do just fine for most games and applications without hiccups and its dual-lens camera performs really well in its price range. Battery life is also one of the things that I loved on the smartphone. Despite having only an HD display, I was still happy with the Huawei Nova 2 Lite.

The Huawei Nova 2 Lite will be available this March 24, 2018, for Php9,990.

HUAWEI NOVA 2 LITE SPECS

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 Processor
• 5.99-inch HD+ Display with 18:9 Display Aspect Ratio
• 3GB RAM
• 32GB Internal Storage expandable via MicroSD
• 12MP+2MP Rear Camera
• 8-megapixel Front camera
• LTE
• Dual SIM
• Fingerprint Scanner
• Face Unlock
• Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, A-GPS
• 3000mAh Battery
• EMUI 8.0 with Android 8.0 Oreo