Huawei Nova 5i First Impressions

Now that you’ve seen the Kirin 980-powered Nova 5 Pro and the Kirin 810-powered Nova 5i Pro, let’s take a look at their Kirin 710-powered sibling, the Nova 5i. Check out our initial thoughts about the device below.

Looking at the design, the Nova 5i is like a combination of the Nova 5 Pro and the Nova 5i Pro. On the front, it shares the look of the latter because of its hole-punch screen that houses the 24MP selfie camera.

At 6.4-inches, it has a large screen size with a pixel density that equates to 398ppi. The quality is good, although not as punchy as the OLED screen of the Nova 5 Pro. It also has a screen protector pre-installed to prevent scratches. Found above the display is the earpiece. On top is the secondary microphone.

On the right are the volume and power/lock buttons, while on the left is the SIM card tray. Down at the bottom are the USB Type-C port, loudspeaker, microphone, and 3.5mm audio port.

At the back is the quad-camera setup which consists of the 24MP main, 8MP ultrawide, 2MP macro, and 2MP depth. Like the Nova 5 Pro, the camera module is protruding. Also found at the back is the fingerprint scanner.

The build quality is solid and premium, thanks to the metallic frame and glass back. The tapered sides also make it easier to grip. It has the same thickness as the Nova 5i Pro at 8.3mm, which is still relatively thin despite the large 4,000mAh battery.

Powering the Nova 5i is the Kirin 710F, the same chip that is powering the Huawei Y9 Prime 2019. It has the Mali-G51 MP4 GPU with GPU Turbo, up to 8GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, and EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9 Pie.

The Nova 5i has the following price tags:
• 6GB + 128GB – CNY 1,999PHP 16,114USD 275INR 23,274EUR 261 (~PHP 14,967USD 255INR 21,621EUR 243CNY 1,857)
• 8GB + 128GB – CNY 2,199PHP 17,726USD 302INR 25,603EUR 288 (~PHP 16,464USD 281INR 23,784EUR 267CNY 2,043)

No word yet if it will be available in the Philippines.

Huawei Nova 5i specs:
6.4-inch Full HD+ (2310 x 1080) IPS display, 398ppi
HiSilicon Kirin 710F (12nm) 2.2GHz octa-core CPU
Mali-G51 MP4 GPU
6GB, 8GB RAM
128GB storage
microSD up to 512GB (uses SIM 2 slot)
24MP F1.8 (main) + 8MP (ultrawide) + 2MP F2.4 (macro) + 2MP F2.4 (depth), quad rear cameras
24MP F2.0 front camera
Dual-SIM
4G LTE
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.2
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
USB Type-C
3.5mm audio port
Fingerprint scanner (rear)
EMUI 9.1 (Android 9 Pie)
4,000mAh battery w/ 10W fast charging
159.1 x 75.9 x 8.3 mm
178 g