HUAWEI nova 5T Price in the Philippines and Specification

PROS of the HUAWEI nova 5T

• It has a premium design language
• It has a good camera setup
• It has an excellent LCD display
• It has 22.5 W fast battery charging
• It performs like a flagship device
• It records up to 4K resolution

CONS of the HUAWEI nova 5T

• It has no 3.5mm headphone jack
• It has no IP68/67 certification for dust and water resistance
• It has no dedicated microSD card slot/not even hybrid SIM tray
• It has no infrared port
• It does not have FM radio
• It does not use a Super AMOLED display

Design of the HUAWEI nova 5T

Well, most flagship smartphones nowadays follow the glass-aluminum-glass sandwich design, which always results in a premium and high-end feeling when held. This is also true for the HUAWEI nova 5T. The device celebrates the same design language, which puts it on top of other mid-range devices. Going over the front, you will see a large 6.26-inch IPS LCD display. In the very thin top bezel sit the earpiece and the LED notification light, which are almost invisible. At the upper-left corner of the display is a hole-punch that houses the 32MP selfie snapper. Yes, the HUAWEI nova 5T has abandoned the notch for the hole-punch display. Also, on top are the light sensor, proximity sensor, and the noise-canceling microphone. Going to the left, you will find the SIM tray, which supports two nano-SIM cards. Yes, it is not a hybrid tray, and there is no dedicated microSD card slot. On the right, you will find the power key in which the fingerprint sensor is mounted on and the volume rocker. The placement of the fingerprint scanner on the side is much more strategic and comfortable to access as compared to having it mounted on the rear or even on the screen. At the bottom part, you will find the USB-type C port, the primary microphone, and the loudspeaker. Unfortunately, it seems like the nova 5T has adopted the flagship trend and abandoned the 3.5mm headphone jack. Exploring the back, you will find prominence on how the three-camera module is positioned. While the phone is much thinner, there is still a camera bump. The three cameras are placed vertically on the upper-left corner together with the LED flash; the fourth camera is placed right next to the module. The HUAWEI brand logo is positioned on the lower-left corner. The back glass is glossy and is very prone to fingerprints and smudges. The paint job is premium and gorgeous that when light reflects on the panel, it creates a 3D effect, which is quite fascinating to the eyes. Since the device is mostly covered in glass, it is encouraged that you dress it with a protective case to preserve its elegance.

Display of the HUAWEI nova 5T

The nova 5T is made for those consumers who love enormous displays. For a very compact device, the 5T sports a whopping 6.26-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors. It has a high screen-to-body ratio of 84.2%. It has an excellent Full HD+ resolution with an actual resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels in a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. With that being said, it has a pixel density of 412 ppi. However, if you are worried about how much power the FHD+ resolution consumes, there is a display option that lets you downscale it to HD+, which is significantly lower but more power-efficient. There is also a Smart resolution functionality that makes the device calibrate the display resolution for you. Since it is an IPS display, it is expected that viewing angles are excellent with no noticeable color shifts when tilted. The IPS screen also produces more natural colors. However, there are also two display color modes, which come in handy if you want to personalize the display experience. Unfortunately, the device is not protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass, but it does come with a pre-installed glass protector out of the box. Perhaps the most notable feature of the large display is the hole-punch implementation instead of the notch. It adds to the overall aesthetics of the device; however, some applications may not be optimized with the hole-punch. Thus, if you get distracted by it, you way go to the settings and click a dedicated toggle that hides the hole. Unfortunately, hiding it may be more incredible with a Super AMOLED display as it produces true blacks, which could successfully obscure the hole-punch. But like any other powerful mid-range smartphones, this is perhaps its fair share of cutouts.

Performance of the HUAWEI nova 5T

The HUAWEI nova 5T is powered by HUAWEI's in-house chipset--a HiSilicon Kirin 980 with an octa-core CPU. The processor is consists of two Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.6GHz, another two Cortex-A76 clocked at 1.92GHz, and four Cortex-A55 clocked at 1.8GHz. This excellent CPU configuration is coupled with a Mali-G76 MP10 GPU for intensive graphics processing. The internal storage of the device is 128GB and has a base RAM of 6GB; however, if you want more RAM, there is an 8GB variant for you. This hardware configuration is similar to those found in the much superior HUAWEI lineup such as the HUAWEI P30 Pro and the Mate 20 Pro. With the flagship specifications, the nova 5T is expected to perform very excellently. Using the AnTuTu benchmark test, in normal mode, the device scored at 199490, while in performance mode, it leaped at 319526. In GeekBench, in normal mode, 5T scored 3,293 for single-core and 9,511 for multi-core; in performance mode, it scored 3,256 for single-core and 9,972 for multi-core. These scores could go toe-to-toe with other flagship devices.

Software of the HUAWEI nova 5T

In terms of software, the HUAWEI nova 5T is run by the latest Android 9.0 "Pie" with HUAWEI's very own EMUI version 9.1. Since it uses a custom overlay, vanilla or stock Android experience is significantly reduced. The EMUI has brought heavy customization to the system. Despite that, the UI is very simple and clean. It does not have an application drawer, instead, it uses the home screen to display the application icons. Positively, the software does not come with a bunch of uncalled bloatware or pre-installed apps; however, it does have the basic Google applications such as Google Chrome, YouTube, Gmail, etc. Unfortunately, despite having the newest UI, the device does not have a dedicated Dark Mode, which HUAWEI flagships have. This downside is simply due to the fact that the nova 5T does not have a Super AMOLED panel for true blacks.

Cameras of the HUAWEI nova 5T

The HUAWEI nova 5T sports a quad-camera setup on the rear, which is an excellent feat for a mid-range device. The main camera is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor with f/1.8 aperture lens, 28mm (wide), 1/2", 0.8µm, and Phase detection auto-focus. The second camera is a 16-megapixel ultrawide sensor with f/2.2 aperture lens, 13mm, and 1/3.1" size. The third camera is a 2-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture lens, 27mm (wide), which is used as a dedicated macro camera. The fourth camera is another 2-megapixel sensor with f/2.4 aperture lens used for depth information. This excellent camera setup is supported by an LED flash, HDR, and Panorama. Going to the front, we have a 32-megapixel selfie snapper with an f/2.0 aperture lens and a 0.8µm pixel pitch. It supports HDR for more enhance photos. These camera systems are AI-powered with Super Night Mode, 3D Qmoji Expressions and Super AI HDR+. In terms of video recording, the back cameras support 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60fps; gyro-EIS, while the front camera supports 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS.

Battery of the HUAWEI nova 5T

The HUAWEI nova 5T houses a non-removable Li-Po 3750 mAh battery, which is adequate for light to heavy use. However, other smartphones at this price point sport a whopping 4000mAh- 4500mAh. Nevertheless, on paper, the device can still last through the day. With variable use, it could last for 10 hours. In the video loop test, it scored 15 hours. Using the PC Mark battery test, it scored 14 hours. Positively, despite having a lesser battery capacity, the device supports a whopping 22.5W SuperCharge, which fills the device up to 50% in just 24 minutes.

Network, Connectivity, and Sensors of the HUAWEI nova 5T

Talking about the device network support. The HUAWEI nova 5T supports two nano-sized SIM cards; it also supports GSM, HSPA, and LTE, which entails that the device can be operated in 2G, 3G, and 4G signals. nova 5T's network bands are GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 for the 2G network bands HSDPA 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 for the 3G network bands; LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 18(800), 19(800), 20(800), 26(850), 28(700), 38(2600), 40(2300), 41(2500) for the 4G network bands. The network speed in HSPA is 42.2/5.76 Mbps; however, in LTE-A, the network speed is unspecified.

In terms of device connectivity, the HUAWEI nova 5T sports Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, and hotspot for WLAN; there is also an installed Bluetooth version 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE; GPS (Global Positioning System) is enabled with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, QZSS, and BDS. It has NFC functionality for electronic transactions. For charging and data transfer, it has USB 2.0, USB Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, and USB On-The-Go. Unfortunately, the device does not have a radio and an infrared port. For biometrics security, there is a side-mounted fingerprint sensor; the placement of the sensor is very comfortable to access. Other essential sensors are an accelerometer, gyroscope, proximity sensor, and compass.

Comparing the HUAWEI nova 5T to the Samsung Galaxy A70

The main differences between the two mid-range smartphones lie on their build quality, display, chipset, camera setup, and battery. The HUAWEI nova 5T comes with a glass-aluminum-glass sandwich design, which gives a more premium look and feels. It has an IPS LCD panel. It uses HUAWEI's flagship HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7 nm) chipset. It has a quad-camera setup on the back. Lastly, it only has a 3750 mAh battery. On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy A70 uses a plastic unibody, which is noticeable upon closer inspection. It has an excellent Super AMOLED display. It uses Qualcomm's SDM675 Snapdragon 675 (11 nm) chipset. It only has three cameras on the back. Positively, it has a whopping 4500mAh battery.

Conclusion of the HUAWEI nova 5T

The HUAWEI nova 5T is not your typical mid-range device. In terms of raw power and performance, it will easily outclass most smartphones in its price category. Most especially, it has a premium design language; it has a good camera setup; it has an excellent LCD display; it performs like a flagship device; it records videos up to 4K resolution; it has 22.5W fast battery charging. Surely, gamers and photography lovers will love this device.

January 9, 2020