Despite the challenges HUAWEI has faced for a couple of years, they continue to release smartphones that awe their fans with feature-packed designs. In this article, we finally got our hands on one of the most affordable HUAWEI devices, the Huawei nova Y72.
Boasting a 6.75-inch display, a Kirin 710A processor, and a dual main camera with a 50MP sensor, will the Huawei nova Y72 be a good daily driver? Well, let’s find out in this review.
Table of Contents
Design and Construction
In terms of design, the HUAWEI nova Y72 feels hefty at 207 grams making it feel solid in the hands. It also shares an almost similar design to HUAWEI’s flagship P60 Pro at the back. Speaking of the back panel, we have the huge main rear camera and a macro lens at the top of the module and the LED flash below. Additionally, there’s HUAWEI branding.
Regarding build quality, the Huawei nova Y72 is made out of a plastic back panel and frame, this doesn’t mean it isn’t durable or bendable. Just for the sake of this review, we tried bending it with ample force, and to our surprise, it remained intact.
The unit we have is in the Green colorway, which has an iridescent/glittery finish panel, but for a much more muted color, the Black option is also available.
Moving over to the front, we have a decent-sized 6.75-inch LCD panel with a dewdrop notch at the top for the selfie camera – which makes this device feel a little dated. At the top of that notch is the call speaker. We’ll explore the display more in a bit.
Now, checking out the buttons and ports, situated on the right side are the volume rocker and the sleep/wake button.
On the right side, there’s the Quick Access button for quickly launching apps, which is pretty nifty.
Moving over to the top, we have the secondary microphone,
while down at the bottom, there’s the speaker grille, SIM card tray, main microphone, and the USB Type-C port.
Overall, one thing that we didn’t like about this device from a design standpoint is the dewdrop notch, as it feels a bit dated in our opinion.
Display and Multimedia
For the display, we have a decently sized 6.75-inch TFT LCD HD+ panel with resolution of 1600 x 720 and a pixel density of 260ppi. There is no form of glass protection here, aside from the pre-installed screen protector.
The display is bright, although we had a bit of a problem when using it outdoors. Indoors, visibility is okay. Texts are sharp, although the display leans towards the cooler side for our liking, but this can be adjusted through the settings under the display and brightness section. Also, the screen refresh rate is only at 60Hz, so do take note of that.
While we have slightly dated display technology on the HUAWEI nova Y72, this doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great tool for watching content. For its price, the display quality is decent, colors are okay for an LCD panel, and there’s ample contrast.
The display also features Eye comfort where the display turns warm, and eBook mode for reading eBooks comfortably. Night mode is also present – but since this is an LCD panel, it would not have any conservation effect on the battery.
For speakers, it sounds tiny but can easily fill up the room at maximum volume. Also, do take note that we only have a single downward-firing speaker here, so we highly suggest using your favorite TWS or wired earphones for a much more optimized viewing experience.
Camera
In terms of the camera, we do have a 50MP main with f/1.8 and a 2MP macro sensor with f/2.4.
Camera quality is surprisingly good, colors and contrast are well balanced details are present, although there are instances where some details are soft – but we don’t mind that so much, as most of us don’t really pixel peep as much. HDR is also good, and the overall photo quality doesn’t look washed out and is definitely usable for social media postings.
Lowlight photos on the other hand are also good. It’s not like it’s going to brighten up a pitch-black scene but it is very much usable.
Video quality is subpar — it can shoot up to 1080p at 30fps, and just like the photo quality, it’s decent. Although there is no form of stabilization here so expect shaky video output.
OS, Apps and UI
Running on the Huawei nova Y72 is Harmony OS 4.0 which is EMUI version 12.0. Just like any HUAWEI devices, there is a few bloatware here and there but can be uninstalled pretty easily.
Good thing now is that you have now easy access to Google suite unlike before. But if you want to skip the hassle on going through that process, there are hundreds of thousands of apps available on HUAWEI’s AppGallery.
But just in case you want to know how to install Google Apps on your Huawei nova Y72, click the video below for our instructional video.
Nonetheless, we are pretty happy that HUAWEI devices now doesn’t feel limited when it comes to installing apps and be a good daily driver. UI is pretty intuitive and also there are a host of customization options available from changing your wallpapers to applying themes to match your personality.
Then again, we do recommend to stick with the stock theme for a much more optimized user experience as third-party themes can sometimes cause occasional lags as there are a ton of added animations, and background tasks which can also lead to bad battery performance.
Performance and Benchmarks
And speaking of performance, running on the Huawei nova Y72 packs a Kirin 710A coupled with a Mali G51 GPU, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. There’s an expandable storage option but it uses HUAWEI‘s proprietary Nano Memory which can go up to 256GB of extra storage.
Performance-wise, we find it a bit underpowered. You can do all the tasks that you need, but we feel a little bit reserved on jumping tasks from time-to-time. We do feel limited as when we have a couple of apps opened, there’s a noticeable stutter here and there, and sometimes, when opening an app for the first time, it takes a while to load up.
When playing games, of course, Mobile Legends is playable under medium to high settings, but for playing Genshin Impact – while it’s not impossible to play this game on this device, frame rates are dropped to around 25fps and it feels laggy most of the time even on low graphic settings.
This isn’t really an issue if you think about it as we do have to consider that we have a budget processor baked on this device.
Battery, Connectivity and Security
Battery, we have a sizable 6,000mAh battery here with support for 22.5W fast charging. In our experience, charging this device from 0-80% will take approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes. This is okay considering that we have a huge 6,000mAh lithium-ion battery to fill up.
We did also run our usual benchmarking apps, and we get a score of 25 hours and 13 minutes for our video loop test while 16 hours and 57 minutes on PCMark Work 3.0 Battery Test. And yes! This device can last you days on average use making the HUAWEI nova Y72 a reliable device for people who need to be connected to the internet all day.
For connectivity, we do get WiFi 802.11, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, and unfortunately you got 4G LTE only. No 5G here.
For security, we have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner which works okay most of the time. But there’s also facial recognition – though this option is less secure.
Conclusion
Now, to conclude this review of the Huawei nova Y72, without a doubt that this device has a few shortcomings, like its LCD display and performance. But when it comes to the battery and camera department, the HUAWEI nova Y72 won’t fail you.
When buying a new smartphone, you have to look for a device that can fit your needs. In this case, if you are willing to sacrifice a little bit on the performance side, and display to have a huge battery capacity and a good camera for its class, the Huawei nova Y72 could be a good daily driver for you.
But if your lifestyle are more on the productivity side, the Huawei nova Y72 can still be a good pick, but you have to take it to account the limitations that it might bring along the way because of its processor and old styled display.
As for pricing, this device is priced at PHP 9,999 which is an early bird promo. Hence, in our book, the Huawei nova Y72 is priced just about right. This device will be available starting today at all HUAWEI stores nationwide including HUAWEI’s official store on Lazada and Shopee and it comes with a Leisure Gift Box worth PHP 1,999, and freebies including Angkas vouchers in which you can claim on the AppGallery.
And there you have it, guys. What do you think about this device? Do let us know in the comments section below!
HUAWEI nova Y72 specs:
6.75-inch LCD display @ 1600 x 720, 260ppi
90Hz refresh rate
Kirin 710A octa-core processor (14nm)
Mali-G51 MP4
8GB RAM
128GB, 256GB internal storage
Dual rear cameras:
• 50MP F1.8 main camera
• 2MP F2.4 macro
8MP F2.0 front camera
Dual nano-SIM
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 2.4 GHz
Bluetooth 5.1
NFC
GPS, AGPS, BeiDou GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS
USB-C
Type-C headphone port
Fingerprint scanner (side)
Gravity sensor
Proximity sensor
Ambient light sensor
Compass
X Button for app switching
EMUI 12
6,000mAh
22.5W HUAWEI SuperCharge
168.3 x 77.7 x 8.93mm (dimensions)
207 grams (weight)
Green, Black
