Huawei Nova 5T Review: A Flagship in Disguise

Ciara Alarcon
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INTRODUCTION:

When Huawei launched the Nova 5T in the Philippines, we all knew that the device could dominate its price segment – thanks to its trendy design, flagship-grade specs, and great photography features. Tapped to battle out other mid-range smartphones, the Chinese mobile maker allowed consumers to get a powerful device at an affordable price tag.

Huawei Nova 5T Review: A Flagship in Disguise
Huawei Nova 5T Review: A Flagship in Disguise

Now that 2019 is about the end, is it still wise to get the Nova 5T over other latest smartphones? Let's find out!


PHYSICAL:

Its front is dominated by a large 6.26-inch screen, which is mounted with a hole-punch selfie camera, allowing the phone to look more attractive than those devices with a thick notch.  However, unlike other trendy handsets, the Nova 5T doesn’t have an in-display fingerprint scanner. Instead, its power/lock button also works as a fingerprint sensor. It is placed on its right side along with the volume keys.

Power/lock Button Doubles as Fingerprint Scanner
Power/lock Button Doubles as Fingerprint Scanner

On the other hand, its card tray – which can accommodate two nano SIM cards – is found on its left side. On top, you can find its secondary mic and sensors, while its bottom houses its main mic, USB Type-C port, and the speaker grilles. Meanwhile, Huawei decided to get rid of the 3.5mm audio port, which is quite sad because many users still prefer wired earphone.

Back
Back

Flip the device on its back to reveal its glass body, protruding camera module, and LED flash. It also comes with its branding on its lower part. Since it has a glass back, the device is slippery and can easily attract fingerprints.

We’ve said it before and we’re going to say it again, the Nova 5T is one of the most good-looking smartphones in 2019. Huawei also made sure that the device can match different styles, as the Nova 5T comes in three color variants: Black, Crush Blue, and Midsummer Purple. Our team received the Crush Blue model, which we prefer the most because of its well-balanced appearance in a way that we can flaunt it whenever we need to be stylish or classy.

DISPLAY:

The Nova 5T flashes an immersive 6.26-inch FHD+ display. Users will surely enjoy watching videos, as it has accurate colors. You can also choose between two color modes such as Normal and Vivid. The device has good viewing angle, as well as brightness level, allowing us to easily use it even under direct sunlight.

6.26-inch Hole-Punch Display
6.26-inch Hole-Punch Display

Meanwhile, if there are instances that you want to eliminate its hole-punch camera in its display, don't worry because you can easily hide it in Settings. However, doing so might let you down as it will start flaunting a thick bezel-like appearance at the top of the screen.

SOFTWARE:


EMUI 9.1 skin based on Android 9 Pie OS
EMUI 9.1 skin based on Android 9 Pie OS

The Nova 5T is running on Android 9 Pie OS with EMUI 9.1 skin on top. Similar to other Huawei devices, the phone has no app drawer, which means that it settles for multiple home screens to house your apps. Navigating the device is easy, and it has clean interface too.

Compared with other Android smartphones, the Nova 5T has few pre-installed apps.

PERFORMANCE:

Huawei armed the Nova 5T with a flagship Kirin 980 octa-core processor, Mali-G76 MP10 GPU, and 8GB RAM. Yup, it shares the same offerings as its brothers – the Mate 20 Pro and P30 Pro. Knowing this fact, we expected that it could handle heavy mobile activities such as gaming and multitasking. However, we still ran it on various benchmark apps to give us enough idea on how it will perform.

Here are the results:


Benchmark Scores
Benchmark Scores

  • AnTuTu - 201,714
  • 3DMark - 28,852 (Ice Storm Unlimited)
  • PCMark - 7,663 (Work 2.0 Performance)
  • Geekbench - 589 (Single Core)
  • Geekbench - 1,332 (Multi Core)

It didn’t disappoint us. The Nova 5T is really a flagship smartphone in disguise. Tapped as our main driver, it can accommodate our daily mobile tasks, including continuous social media browsing, casual gaming, and watching films. We never encounter obvious lags when we’re switching from one app to another.

We also enjoyed playing games with heavy graphics using the Nova 5T. However, we noticed that it gets warm when we’re intensively using the device. It’s manageable, though.

CAMERA:

The Nova 5T is banked with quad-rear camera setup, consisting of a 48-megapixel f/1.8 Sony IMX586 main shooter, 16-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle lens, 2-megapixel f/2.4 macro, and 2-megapixel f/2.4 depth sensor. Users can also expect good selfies, as it sports a 32-megapixel f/2.0 snapper.

Sample Photos:


Outdoor
Outdoor

Food
Food


Outdoor (Regular)
Outdoor (Regular)

Outdoor (Wide)
Outdoor (Wide)

Outdoor (Zoom)
Outdoor (Zoom)

Night (Regular)
Night (Regular)

Night (Wide)
Night (Wide)

Night (Zoom)
Night (Zoom)

Portrait
Portrait

Selfie (Outdoor)
Selfie (Outdoor)

Selfie (Indoor)
Selfie (Indoor)

We’re not surprised by its camera performance, and we’re glad that it didn’t fail us. It can produce great images in places with good lighting. Taking landscape shots satisfied us, too, but we would like it better if its AI won’t enhance photos aggressively.

Meanwhile, night shots were also fine – thanks to its dedicated night mode. Of course, Huawei’s flagship smartphones can perform better, but considering its price, we’re glad that it only has minimal noises when taking photos at lowlight settings.

It can produce good selfies, too, but its low-light performance was slightly underwhelming. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed taking photos using the device, as it can enhance our facial features without overdoing it.

See Also: Huawei Band 4e Review: An Affordable Fitness Buddy

CONNECTIVITY:

The Nova 5T is a dual-SIM device that supports LTE connectivity. It has basic connectivity features, including WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and USB Type-C port. All functioned well during our tests, considering that we have good signal reception, too.

Bottom
Bottom

Unfortunately, it didn’t have a 3.5mm audio port, which can enhance user’s music experience.

BATTERY:

Huawei packed the Nova 5T with a 3,750mAh battery. As our main driver, it can last for almost eight hours. We just hoped that it has at least 4,000mAh stamina for a longer battery life.

In terms of charging, it supports Huawei’s 22.5W SuperCharge, allowing us to charge its battery to 100% from 20% in just 2 hours.

VERDICT:


Huawei Nova 5T
Huawei Nova 5T

Initially priced at Php18,990, the Huawei Nova 5T could easily dominate its price point through its flagship-grade offerings. Now, the device sells for only Php17,990, making it more affordable and competitive.

Having good display, great photography department, and powerful specs, the Nova 5T is obviously a wise choice if you’re getting a new smartphone.

So, is it a yay or nay? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!

Huawei Nova 5T Specs (Philippines):

  • Dual SIM, supports LTE connectivity
  • 6.26-inch IPS FHD+ (2340 x 1080) capacitive touchscreen
  • Dimensions: 154.25 x 73.97 x 7.87mm
  • Weight: 174 grams
  • Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9.1
  • 2.6GHz 64-bit octa-core CPU, Kirin 980 chipset with Dual-NPU, Mali-G76 MP10 with GPU Turbo
  • 8GB RAM
  • 128GB storage
  • 48MP f/1.8 Sony IMX586 + 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 cm macro + 2MP f/2.4 depth quad cameras
  • 32MP f/2.0 front camera
  • Multimedia Player
  • WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac
  • Bluetooth 5.0
  • USB-C, OTG
  • NFC
  • GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
  • Sensors: fingerprint, accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic, pressure
  • Battery: 3,750mAh non-removable, 22.5W fast charging
  • Colors: dark black, crush blue, midsummer purple
  • Price: Php18,990 (old); Php17,990 (new)

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