HUAWEI nova 2 lite Review – Capturing moments with double the cameras

Aiming the youth market, HUAWEI’s nova series has always been designed with high performance and reliable quality in mind. After the success of nova 2 and nova 2i (launched last October), HUAWEI has launched another low-priced yet powerful product – nova 2 lite in Malaysia today. We are lucky to be able to test out the phone before its official launch so here is our HUAWEI nova 2 lite review!

The Design and Display

Despite being the lite version of the HUAWEI nova 2, the nova 2 lite is having a different design compared to nova 2 (which is more updated to the recent market trends). The device is featuring a sleek body with a 5.99-inch HD+ FullView display (18:9 ratio), while on the back it uses IMT painting technique to strengthen the durability and gives out a premium feel.

One of the models we get is in black with a matte finish, and the another one comes in shiny glass-like blue colour. The blue colour version is definitely more eye-catching, but it is quite fingerprint-magnet so you will probably want to get it a cover or case. The device is super light-weight too with only 155g measured. Another detail that caught my attention is that it is having 3 card slot which supports 2 SIM cards as well as a microSD card.

HUAWEI nova 2 lite specifications

• Size: 158.3 x 76.7 x 7.8 mm
• Weight: 155 g
• Color: Black, Blue
• Display: 5.99-inch HD+ FullView display
• Resolution: 1440 x 720 pixels
• CPU: Snapdragon 430 Octa-core Processor
• OS: Android 8.0 Oreo
• Memory: 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM (expandable up to 256GB using microSD)
• Camera:
  • 8MP Front Camera
  • 13MP+2MP Dual-lens Rear Camera
• Battery: 3000 mAh
• EMUI: EMUI 8

Camera

As our title suggests, the cameras can be said to be the biggest selling point of HUAWEI nova 2 lite. It features 13MP + 2MP dual camera on the rear so you could snap pictures with stunning wide aperture Bokeh effects easily. The PDAF fast-focusing rear camera also allows you to capture exciting moments anytime instantly.

For the front camera, nova 2 lite packs an 8MP front camera with smart selfie toning flash (whew, the selfie lovers would like it so much). In case you don’t how the smart selfie toning flash improves your selfies, it allows the device to automatically detect the lighting on your surface and cleverly adjust the level of brightness for a more natural-looking selfie. It improves the quality of selfies you took under low-light conditions too.

Also, you can find AR lens – a fun feature on nova 2 lite. It would detect and crop you out in real-time so you could change the background or add funny cosplay filters as you like. The device is featuring various selfie-taking modes such as audio control as well. However, the rear camera only supports the function of funny cosplay and there is no pro mode available.

Performance and Battery Life

With Snapdragon 430 as the processor and 3GB RAM, you can’t expect the device to run graphics and performance demanding games perfectly. But the good thing is, you still can run most of the popular mobile games well under the lower settings. For example, we could run the recent released PUBG Mobile and The Sims Mobile without any lagging but its default graphics setting is set to low (for PUBG Mobile).

There is also a built-in app called Gaming Suite that optimizes gaming performance or energy use during gaming. Using it, you can filter notifications or lock the off-screen navigation keys for an interrupted gaming experience. The steps to activate it is simple, you only need to add the game to the suite and it will automatically activate when you enter the game.

The 32GB ROM storage can store all the essential apps we need and if you need extra storage, don’t worry as you can expand it up to 256GB via a microSD. The nova 2 lite features a 3000 mAh battery that allows you to go through a day of regular use easily. However using it to perform heavy gaming continuously only gives you about 3 hours of battery life.

Other features

The device comes with an interesting Karaoke mode, where you can hear your voice singing from the headset during the usage of karaoke or a live video streaming application. Not to mention that the device supports both face unlock and fingerprint unlock too!

Conclusion

Coming with all the nice features above, HUAWEI nova 2 lite is only priced at RM 799 (about 204 USD) so it is quite a steal if you’re in need of a new smartphone. It is available in 2 colours – Black and Blue (with a shiny surface on the back), you can visit HUAWEI retailer stores or their official website if you are interested!