Huawei Nova 3i Is A Budget Smartphone With Flagship Cameras

It is a norm for handset maker to put all its love and affection on flagship devices, but not in the case of Huawei. The Chinese handset maker has been equally devoted to its non-flagships. Case in point: the Huawei Nova 3i – the latest addition to the brand’s Nova series, the Nova 3i, – that was rolled out on the July 18. 3i joins the 3 and the 3e, and shares much of the two’s aesthetic, including the disturbing, controversial trend: the notch, made popular by iPhone X.

With the 3i and Nova 3, in general has opt to make full use of the chin (the lower bezel) by having the fingerprint sensor around the back and so, you will be getting a fuller full-view display which looks kind of dope. As with recent Huawei’s recent focus, it is all about imaging and with the 3i, it gets a little helping hand from artificial intelligence like its flagship counterparts. While it may not have as many cameras around the back, it does boasts a four-camera setup.

The four cameras include a dual camera snapper on the front and the back. The front cameras also serve as to unlock the phone with face recognition, though it lacks of the sophistication found on iPhone X. But that’s not the selling point here. The real selling points here are the affordability and practical functionality with gorgeous aesthetic to boot (lent to it by the full view display and bold colors). It comes with a 6.3-inch FHD+ display that touts 16.7 million colors and 2,340 by 1,080 resolution (409ppi). Unfortunately, the display is of TFT IPS, not AMOLED.

Huawei Nova 3i isn’t a flagship and thus, it does not get the same processor as the P20 or Mate 10; instead, it has a Kirin 710 SoC that packs an octacore with 4x Cortex-A73 clocking in at 2.2 GHz and 4x Cortex-A53 with 1.7 GHz. Backing the processor is up to 6 GB RAM and up to 128 GB storage. The latter is expandable up to 256 GB with the use of microSD card. On the imaging aspect, it gets a 16 MP and 2 MP combo shooter that records 4,608 x 3,456 resolution stills and FHD videos.

Selfie is a big thing with the 3i and therefore, it gets a more capable 24 MP and 2 MP setup that captures 5,632 x 4,224 resolution stills and as for videoing, it is the same as the rear. AI plays an important part in sprucing up the stills. It is intelligent enough to ID what you are capturing, like food, portrait, scenery and whatnot. Huawei Nova 3i is a dual SIM device and it runs on the latest version of Huawei’s UI, EMUI 8.2 on Android 8.1 Oreo.

The device is supposedly available in China on Vmall, but last checked it is still yet to be listed. So, how much exactly it costs in China is unknown. However, according to our source, it is “under 400 Singapore dollars” (which works out to be US$294 or less). If you are keen, you can read a full review by Zafirah Salim of Vulcan Post to see how this little guy performs.

Images: Huawei.

Source: Vulcan Post.