Look out OPPO, vivo and ASUS, there’s a new challenger to the selfie camera crown. Huawei’s new power-packed mid-ranger—nova 2 Plus is all about taking the best selfies. Armed with a massive 20MP hi-res front camera, and a whopping 128GB, the new device aims to take selfie and photography in general, to new heights.
Huawei took a no holds barred approach with the nova 2 Plus. In the camera department, the big 20MP front camera is backed by 3D facial recognition and skin enhancement. Huawei’s technical wizardry with the camera software returns more natural skin tones and true-to-life portraits.
In low-light, the nova 2 Plus uses the LCD screen flash which has 11 colour temperatures for different lighting conditions. Also, as seen on the higher range Huawei P10, P10 Plus and Mate 9 series smartphones, selfies can have a bokeh effect
For added convenience, there’s a gesture shutter—just wave your palm within 1.5m of the phone, and the camera will take a shot within two seconds.
For those who love photography, the rear 12MP f/1.8 + 8MP dual-lens camera setup also aims to please. The wide-angle 12MP lens captures broader scenery, while the 8MP lens is for shooting subjects at a distance. In tandem, they can deliver optical zoom without compromising quality, and work great in low-light environments too.
In fact, Huawei is so confident of the nova 2 Plus’ camera, it equates the performance to that of the Apple iPhone 7 Plus.
If audio is your thing, the nova 2 Plus boasts HiFi audio, thanks to the AK4376a HiFi chips that minimise distortion, harmonics, and other disturbances. Huawei partnered award-winning musician, Rainer Maillard, to tune the audio software and hardware.
The key to the premium sound quality on the device is Huawei Histen—Huawei 2012 lab’s unique audio algorithm. It’s an intelligent algorithm that includes 10 targeted modules for various effects, including a 3D stereo sound effect. Additionally, the nova 2 Plus supports aptX wireless Bluetooth.
Design-wise, the nova 2 Plus features a metallic unibody with a rounded design. Huawei is proud of the wave-textured power button design, an industry-first breakthrough.
Not only that, the device features a shallow fingerprint scanner design, with a depth of a mere 0.1mm.
The device weighs just 169g and measures a slim 6.99mm. Housed within the sleek body is a 5.5-iinch Full HD LTPS display.
Under the hood, it rocks an octa-core Kirin 659 chipset mated to 4GB of RAM and whopping 128GB of storage.
It boasts a 3,340mAh battery that supports quick-charging—10 minutes of charging can support 1.67 hours of video playback and 8.5 hours of audio playback.
The nova 2 Plus runs EMUI 5.1 and Android 7.0 Nougat.
Pricing and availability
The nova 2 Plus retails for MYR1,999 and is available in Graphite Black, Prestige Gold and Aurora Blue.
What do you think? Can the nova 2 Plus take the selfie crown?