Huawei Nova review: A OnePlus 3 killer? Not quite

Camera

The Nova’s 12-megapixel rear camera is possibly its weakest area. Although the specifications look decent enough – it has phase-detect autofocus, and a reasonably bright aperture of f/2.2 – its image quality isn’t the best.

In outdoor shots, shadows looked excessively dark and the phone’s HDR mode failed to fix the problem. Shots would have benefitted from optical image stabilisation, a feature only available with its bigger brother.

With indoor shots, things looked up. Images were reasonably crisp and clear, with noise in shadow areas handled particularly well. Take a look at the stuffed bear in our low-light test shot and you’ll notice a little bit of fuzziness around the ears, but other than that, low-light shots looked fine.

Either way, it can’t match the quality of either the OnePlus 3 or the Nexus 6P, both of which produce more detail-rich shots, with less obvious noise and over-processing. The Nova isn’t a phone for the avid photographer, but it serves the purpose for the occasional snaps.

Emotion UI

It’s worth mentioning Huawei’s Emotion UI Android overlay at this point. It’s been a little too intrusive for my tastes in the past, but it isn’t anywhere near as offensive as it once was.

For instance, where once all homescreen icons were surrounded by an obtrusive ugly box, that restriction has now been lifted, and its overall look is much cleaner and easier on the eye as a result.

I’d still rather Huawei offer the choice between its own software overlay and stock Android at installation. The notifications menu is still dreadful, and I don’t much care for the stripping out of the app drawer, but at least it seems that the firm is taking feedback on board.

Verdict

Despite the niggles, there’s plenty to like about Huawei’s latest Nova handset. With its vibrant, curved-edge screen, smooth performance and battery life that will last you a full working day, it should serve you well, but the problem is it’s up against some pretty fierce competition in this price bracket.

The one advantage it holds is its more pocketable size, but at £335, I’m of the opinion that the slightly cheaper OnePlus 3 is the better buy, while the Nexus 6P is the better option if you’re after the best camera quality.