Huawei’s new Nova 3e brings bezel-less display to the mid-range smartphone market. It is actually the rebranded P20 Lite which has been launched on select global markets as the Nova 3e. The new Nova 3e comes with a 5.84-inch touchscreen display that offers a resolution of 1080-by-2280-pixels. It also offers an aspect ratio of 18:9, which has sort of become a standard in all new phones hitting the market this year.
On the front of the device, you will find just the screen with the Huawei logo at the bottom of the screen. On top of the screen, you get a 16-megapixel front facing camera for all your selfie requirements. The front camera comes with a f/2.0 sensor, which offers a pixel size of 1.0 μm and a 70-degree FOV wide angle for that perfect “groupie” shot.
On the left edge of the device, you get a dual SIM tray that either takes in two nano SIMs or one nano-SIM and a micro SD card. On the right edge, you get the volume rockers and the power button. On the top edge, you will find a solitary noise-canceling microphone. No IR blaster as seen on most Huawei phones that have come out recently on the market.
On the bottom edge, you get a 3.55mm audio jack, a USB-C charging port, a microphone and the speaker grille. The phone, however, does not support fast charging. Turn the phone around and you get to see the dual camera setup, which has been placed vertically. The dual camera system includes a 16MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture and a 2MP sensor with f/2.2 sensor. There’s also a fingerprint scanner next to the dual camera system.
The phone’s body is made of metal and glass, and the overall design and build quality are quite good. It measures 148.60 x 71.20 x 7.40 (height x width x thickness) and weighs 145-grams. Under the hood, the phone runs on a 1.7GHz octa-core Kirin 659 processor. The phone also comes with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage, which can be expanded to up to 256GB via a micro SD card. The phone is powered by a 3000nAh battery.
The strength of every Huawei phone has always been its cameras. And this stands true for the Nova 3e, too. Under good lighting conditions, the dual cameras at the rear can shoot some amazing images and videos. Even under low light conditions, the cameras did not disappoint. The front camera also snaps some really good selfies.
We ran the AnTuTu benchmark to assess the real world performance of the device and we ended up with mid-range points at 87387, which is not bad. For a price of AED 1199, Huawei has come out with yet another device that is brilliant in terms of specs, performance, and value for money. Go for it, if you are shopping right now for a dependable primary phone.
Price: AED 1199
