5 Reasons Why The Huawei Nova 2i Should Be Your Next Smartphone

Huawei rocked the mid-range segment in the Philippines with the release of the Huawei Nova 2i. It’s got the looks, specs, and features normally found in more expensive devices. So if you’re planning an upgrade, here are five reasons why the Nova 2i should be your next smartphone.

1) All-metal unibody design

Some mid-range smartphones sport plastic bodies to keep the costs down. In the case of the Nova 2i, Huawei didn’t skimp and equipped with an all-metal body with a matte finish that gives it the classic look that’s similar to the P10 Plus. That said, it feels solid, cool-to-the-touch, and looks premium. At 75.2mm width and 7.5mm thin, it’s comfortable on the hands despite the 5.9-inch display and above average battery capacity.

2) 5.9-inch FullView Display

The Nova 2i comes with a huge 5.9-inch IPS LCD display with the glass slightly curving out around the edges. It nearly competes with the 5.8-inch display of the Galaxy S8 and the 5.99-inch display of the Vivo V7+. But like with the mentioned devices, the Nova 2i features a FullView display with 18:9 aspect ratio and slim top and bottom bezels. The Full HD+ resolution equates to 409ppi produces accurate and sharp images. Viewing angles are wide with vibrant colors and good contrast.

3) Quad cameras

The Nova 2i is one of the few mid-range smartphones to feature four onboard cameras – two at the back and two at the front. The rear setup consists of a 16MP + 2MP sensors, while the front has 13MP + 2MP. Although the secondary 2MP cameras are of low resolution, they provide support to the main cameras to produce images with a depth-of-field effect. Video recording, on the other hand, tops at full HD 1080 at 30fps. While there’s no support for 4K, it comes with fancy features such as slow-motion (480p), time-lapse and light painting are present. That said, images captured by either the rear or front cameras will yield interesting results.

4) Kirin 659 + 4GB RAM + 64GB storage

For a mid-range smartphone, the Nova 2i performs quite well. The HiSilicon Kirin 659 got a score of 62,964 in AnTuTu benchmark which puts it around the performance of the Snapdragon 810 and Snapdragon 625. In addition, it has 4GB RAM to handle plenty of background tasks, and expandable 64GB of storage, for those who are heavy on multimedia files. Graphics-intensive games play just fine — from Asphalt 8, NBA2K16 and Gods of Rome, the game experience is short of excellent. We didn’t even notice the device getting any warmer than usual even at extended playing time.

5) Competitive price

What made the Nova 2i a stand-out is its asking price. At Php14,990, it came out as one of the best mid-range smartphones that pack the best feature-set for its price category. So, if you’re looking for a smartphone with strong features but don’t want to shell out much, the Nova 2i should be on your list.

Huawei Nova 2i specs:
5.9-inch 18:9 IPS LCD display @ 2160 x 1080 pixels
2.5D Curved Glass Display
HiSilicon Kirin 659 2.36GHz octa-core processor
4 x 2.36GHz ARM Cortex A53 + 4 x 1.4GHz ARM Cortex A53
4GB LPDDR3 RAM
64GB internal storage
expandable via microSD up to 256GB (uses SIM2)
16MP+2MP rear cameras, f/2.2 with LED Flash
13MP+2MP front cameras, f/2.0
4G VoLTE
Hybrid Dual-SIM (nano+nano/microSD)
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS with aGPS support, GLONASS
Fingerprint Scanner
Android 7 Nougat with Huawei EMUI 5.1
3,340mAh Li-Ion battery
Dimensions: 156.2 × 75.2 × 7.5mm
Weight: 164 grams

You can get the Huawei Nova 2i in Lazada with a free Bluetooth speaker. Available on cash-on-delivery or 24-months installment {see listing here}.

You can also watch our full video review below: