Huawei Nova 2 Plus - Review of a smartphone in which there is nothing new

The Huawei Nova 2 Plus smartphone needs more than just good looks to stand out from the crowd.

New Huawei Nova 2 Plus - Reviews

Huawei launched the Nova series in late 2016 and marketed it to people who want a thin smartphone with a great camera that fits into the pocket of skinny jeans.

Nova 2 and Nova 2 Plus were launched in China, but there was no wider international launch. I was able to test the 2 Plus in China and compared it to the first Nova phones.

Design Huawei Nova 2 Plus you will definitely like it. The smartphone has a metal body and comes in beautiful black, green or blue colors. The style of the 2 Plus is reminiscent of the Huawei P10. Body with minimal branding and antenna strips that blend into the body of the smartphone, with a dual camera positioned at the top. It is similar in style to Apple's iPhone.

The fingerprint sensor is on the back of the phone, not in the home button. Nova 2 Plus weighs only 169 grams, it is very light. At just 6.9mm thick, this is one of the thinnest smartphones you can buy today.

Huawei Nova 2 Plus is a mid-range phone. It received a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1,920 × 1080 pixels, covered with 2.5D curved glass. The work is provided by the Kirin 659 processor from Huawei with 4 GB of RAM. Thus, there was a departure from the Qualcomm Snapdragon processors used in the first Nova. The Nova 2 had a 5-inch screen, was lighter at 143 grams, but had a smaller 2,950 mAh battery compared to the 2 Plus' 3,340 mAh.

Nova 2 Plus comes with 128GB of internal storage.

Phone performance and OS

The performance of the smartphone, in the short period that I used it, was excellent. As you'd expect, it slid through menus and apps without issue. I doubt anyone will be upset by the lack of a Snapdragon processor, especially since the faster Kirin 960 has already performed well in the P10 and Mate 9.

Android 7.0 Nougat comes with Huawei EMUI 5.1 user interface. I liked it, but the Chinese version I tried was infected with a virus. Nevertheless, the shell is stable, there are algorithms to help you work with the software faster, and it is much more convenient than previous versions.

Camera Huawei Nova 2 Plus

The dual-lens camera from Huawei was the Nova 2 and is on the 2 Plus. I tried the camera, with 12 megapixel and 8 megapixel lens. The result is not amazing, but the software is easy to use, all operations are performed quickly.

There's an additional mode that wasn't there before called Moving Picture, which is similar to Apple's Live Photos mode. In mode, when you press the shutter release, a short video is recorded and saved as a GIF. When you select it in the gallery, the image comes to life. The Moving Picture feature is a fun option that opens up interesting creative possibilities.

The 20-megapixel selfie camera installed in Huawei Nova 2 Plus takes images of excellent quality. But, the small sensor can't cope with difficult lighting conditions, despite the many megapixels, you should not expect amazing results from the selfie camera.

Outcome

When you pick up the Huawei Nova 2 Plus, it becomes clear why the manufacturer is in no hurry to sell it internationally. This is due to the Honor brand making great phones that are not very expensive. The 5.5-inch Nova 2 Plus costs roughly $425 ($25,700), which is much more than the Honor 6X, which offers similar specs. The smartphone has a visual resemblance to the Honor 8 Pro, which received a more powerful filling, but costs not much more.

This is the same issue that Huawei faced when launching the first Nova. The $300 to $500 smartphone market is brimming with powerful gadgets and the competition is fierce. In China, it's even tougher, given a competitor like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4X, which costs half the price.