The Huawei Nova 3 and the 3i recently launched this July 28 and it caused quite the hype online. The Nova 3 is Huawei’s latest flagship phone in the Nova series. It was labeled as the company’s most powerful AI quad-camera smartphone to date.
Similar to the Huawei P20 Pro, the Huawei Nova 3 sports a HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset. We managed to get ahold of a unit so here are our unboxing and first impressions of the device.
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| SPECS | Huawei Nova 3 |
| Display | 6.3″ Huawei FullView FHD+ display,  2340 x 1080 resolution, 19.5:9, 3D Glass, 409 PPI |
| Chipset | HiSilicon Kirin 970 |
| GPU | Mali-G72 MP12 |
| Memory | 6GB RAM, 128GB internal storage |
| Rear Camera | Dual: 24 MP (f/1.8) + 16 MP, Autofocus, AI camera, BSI, Dual-camera zoom |
| Front Camera | Dual: 24 MP (f/2.0) + 2 MP, Digital Zoom |
| Colors | Red, Black, Iris Purple |
| Battery | 3750mAh battery |
| OS | Android 8.1 (Oreo), EMUI 8.2 |
| Price | PHP 25,990 |
Table of Contents
What’s inside the box?
The device came in a hard and white box with the smartphone’s name on top. The package contained the 6.3″ Huawei Nova 3, a wall adapter, a white Type-C cord, earphones, a silicon protective case, and a SIM ejector pin.
Design
The Nova 3 sports a glass front and back along with a metal frame. It measures 157.0 x 73.7 x 7.3 mm and weighs 166g. Similar to other recently released flagships, the smartphone has thin bezels as well as the infamous notch. No physical or capacitive buttons can be seen at the front since Huawei made use of on-screen buttons.
Moving on to the rear part of the device, the dual rear cameras are positioned at the top-left with its LED flash underneath. The circle-shaped fingerprint sensor can be at the center. As for its logo, it can be found on the bottom-left.
The usual power button and volume rockers can be found on the right side of the smartphone. The SIM tray is at the left side of the phone. The bottom houses the 3.5mm audio jack, mic, Type-C port, and speaker grilles whereas the top has a sensor.
Overall, the design of the Huawei Nova 3i looks really slick and modern. It looks a bit similar to the Huawei P20 series’ design. Unfortunately, a downside for us was the smartphone’s glass rear back since it can easily be smudged with fingerprints. In order to solve this, the company included a silicon case in the package.
Display
The Huawei Nova 3 features a 6.3″ Huawei FullView FHD+ notched display with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Its screen was bright enough and it managed to produce a good color representation when we tried watching some movie trailers. The color also doesn’t change when viewed from different angles. We also tried taking some shots outside and we didn’t have any issues with looking at the screen.
Some users may not like the notch in the device since it might serve as a distraction while movie-watching. Fortunately, Huawei included an option to hide the notch.
Camera
The Huawei Nova smartphone features a dual 24 MP (f/1.8) + 16 MP rear cameras and a dual 24 MP (f/2.0) + 2 MP front camera that has Digital Zoom. Here are some sample shots:
Other Features
The Huawei Nova 3 is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 970 along with a Mali-G72 MP12 GPU. It comes with 6GB of RAM and an internal storage of 128GB. The smartphone is fueled by a 3,750mAh battery and runs on Android 8.1 Oreo.
We’ll dive more about its features and user experience in our full review.Â
Price and Availability
The Huawei Nova 3 is available in the colors – Red, Black, Iris Purple. Its pre-orders start from August 4 to 10 and will officially be available on August 11 at the price of PHP 25,990.
