Regarding phones, Xiaomi is never far behind in its release, be it their flagship series like the recently released Xiaomi 13T and Xiaomi 14T (China only). Xiaomi always has something that keeps their customers on their toes. This time around they released the Redmi 13C, which goes just slightly above the norms of budgeted phones. The Redmi 13C comes in 4 vibrant colours: Midnight Black, Navy Blue, Glacier White and Clover Green. Priced at RM499.00 on their official store. The unit I received for review was the Navy-Blue Variant.
First Impressions and Unboxing
The box has a set of double-point charger heads, a USB Type-C cable, and a user manual. The unwrapping experience is still enjoyable as it was seamless and easy to open with the general kit you would normally see. I would like to say that I was happily pleased with the inclusion of a charger head as not many phones supply the charger heads anymore. Besides that, my first impression of the phone surprised me. At first glance, it looked polished and nearer to the high-end looks, thanks to its sleek and clean design and larger screen. This is one of its main highlights that I like.
Design
Xiaomi made a bold move by updating the Redmi 13C with a more refined and modern look. Minimal bezels and a U-shaped notch house the 8MP front camera, while the 6.74-inch LCD screen takes centre stage. The back has a matte coating that hides fingerprints and gives the device a shiny, clean appearance to appreciate. However, the back material makes it very smooth and, in my experience, makes it very slippery on certain surfaces and even when holding it in my hand.
Besides the slippery backside, the phone has a lightweight design and is decently sturdy. This phone provides a pleasant experience for any user. It also has a separate microSD slot for expandable storage, which can go up to 1TB. A 3.5mm headphone jack and a side fingerprint sensor, thoughtfully placed on the phone, all of which contribute to its user-friendliness. However, note that while using the phone, the side buttons feel incredibly flat against the surface. While some will take that as a plus, I found it a bit of a worry as the power button, which is also where the finger sensor is located, is so flattened that I worry if usage of pressing the power button can have it stuck down or wear it down to the point you can’t click it which is something to look out for long-term use.
Display
With a 90Hz refresh rate, the 6.74-inch LCD screen of the Redmi 13C has an immersive viewing feeling that most users will enjoy without any issue. However, during my phone use, there was an annoying glare from the display in certain positions or from certain viewing angle. It shouldn’t be much of an issue for most standard smartphone users in daily use. The display and screen are equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass, ensuring scratch resistance and long-lasting protection. The display’s mix of colour accuracy and vibrancy makes for a great everyday experience.
With a peak brightness of 600 nits, it tackles outside visibility and decently holds itself even in dark or low-lighting areas. Besides that, to ensure users’ eyes are always protected, the display also has reading and dark modes, which can easily be turned on or off with a tap. It’s also to note that the brightness display and control is quite unorthodox to me as it was longer than standard brightness control bars, but it gives more minute control to users, that’s for sure, on how bright or dim they wish it to be.
Performance
The Media Tek Helio G85 processor allows the Redmi 13C to breeze through regular chores. With 128 or 256 GB of storage and a choice of 4, 6 or 8 RAM, you can multitask with ease and speed. According to benchmark ratings, this smartphone performs admirably compared to others in its price range. But I wouldn’t recommend it for long gaming periods as the phone can overheat pretty decently and has a warning system. Besides that, the phone, thanks to its processor, can hold up decently with most heavy base games like Mobile Legends, and if you can tweak it a bit, it can even run to play heavy-duty games like PUBG or even Call of Duty. Still, it won’t be as smooth or visually pleasing compared to more expensive phones.
Redmi 13C also comes installed with MIUI 14.0.1, which improves the software experience and is based on Android 13. But some features are missing from this phone, such as the floating or minimised screen feature. If you used this function a lot on your previous phones, it’s sad to say you will not get it here. Kinda feels like a small nifty feature that would make this phone easily better.
Camera
The Redmi 13C has a 50MP primary camera, a 2MP macro camera, and an 8 MP selfie camera. Good and Standard results are achieved in daylight photography, while low-light performance is decent enough. Still, overall, when taking photos using the back camera, it seems reasonable and can keep up with most standard users who don’t have a lot of needs for their photography. Despite its 2MP resolution, the macro lens makes close-up photography quite lovely. While it doesn’t have many features compared to more expensive phones, the features include Portrait Mode, Night mode, Macro mode and 50mp mode. Besides that, when it comes to video recording, the quality is decent at 1080p, and it also has a nice time-lapse feature.
Charging and Battery Life
During my use of the phone, the most appealing part of it is its excellent battery life, lasting over two days for moderate users (when not using intensively or using it heavily), which is due to its large 5000mAh battery but when used for daily be it as a student or a working adult, the phone can easily last all day.
Now there is a large downfall here. While its battery life can withstand extended usage, the charging is so slow. A standard charger of 10W can easily take up to 1 to 2 hours (depending on your phone percentage when you plug in to charge) to reach 100 per cent. But when a fast-charging wire or charger head is used, a full charge can be reached in under two hours, and the charging process takes approximately 40-50 minutes, depending on how low your battery percentage is. So, if you’re in a rush and the battery is low, I recommend a power bank on the go because even with fast charging, it isn’t so fast.
Conclusion
Overall, the Redmi 13C shines out from the rest thanks to its sturdy, upgraded design and good all-rounded performance. It can easily compete successfully in the budgeted smartphone market as it also supports 5G and has a feature-rich MIUI. This phone’s only major downfall was its slippery nature without a phone case and the prolonged charging. Besides that, the Redmi 13C is a budget and user-friendly phone with features that make it seem more than a regular budgeted phone and still has the class to it. Overall, my experience with the phone has been a positive one, and I would recommend this phone to those who want a phone that won’t burn a hole in their pocket and, overall, is able to hold up close to some of the more expensive phones in this bracket.
Anker continues to expand its influence in the earbud market with its latest True Wireless entry in the Soundcore series, the Soundcore A20i. With prices going as low as RM 89 on discount, one could easily doubt the quality of these earbuds. But you are in for a pleasant surprise!
Design
Positioned as a budget-friendly model, the A20i is not the flashiest in terms of design. The charging case has the conventional cuboidal shape with rounded edge, as with most entries in the market. There is only the Soundcore logo branded on the top, a white LED charging indicator on the bottom lip of the case opening and a handy lanyard. This minimalistic design is also reflected on the earbuds themselves, with only the engraved Soundcore logo and slightly tapered edges for the button heads.
The same lightweight material is used for both the Soundcore A20i case and earbuds. It has good grip and more importantly, is not a magnet for dust or fingerprints. When using these earbuds in the gym or during brisk walking, its light weight coupled with well-fitting tips helped the earbuds stay on. The buds were still easy to grip even when handling with sweaty hands. The form factor of the buds are also on the smaller side and comes with rubber tips, which makes it very comfortable to wear for long periods of time. Even through sweat and long hours, there are times where I almost forget that I’m wearing them.
Hardware and Features
The wireless sound of the Soundcore A20i works over Bluetooth 5.3, with a very stable connection. I frequently used the buds at the gym or at work and rarely ever had a disconnect. Even when moving up to 4 meters away from my connected device, I did not experience any crackling or connection drops.
Pairing the earbuds was very quick and is mediated through the Soundcore app. Simply remove the earbuds from the case and it is immediately discoverable by Bluetooth, and with one tap, its ready. Connecting with PC was also seamless, with the buds being immediately discoverable and connected on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 devices.
As this is a budget set of earbuds, there are limitations in its features. There is no multi-point connection available, so you can only have one device connected to the A20i at any given time. There is no support for higher end audio features such as Hi-Res Audio and also, no Active Noise Cancelling. It does however, come with IPX5 waterproof rating, so no stress when caught in bad weather or hitting the gym.
Soundcore App
The Soundcore App is one of the plus points of getting the A20i, or any other Soundcore product for that matter. The landing page is streamlined, showing your connected device and a battery snapshot.
Tapping into your device brings up the device settings, allowing you to adjust the equalizer and customize the tap controls on the earbuds. At the bottom, tapping the tab with the Anker logo in the middle brings you to an Anker landing page with a few nifty features. The Discovery tab shows the latest news and products from Anker while the White Noise tab gives a selection of free, white noise channels with different subgenres to them. I spent some hours on these channels as they are quite diverse and rather relaxing to listen to while I’m at work, or even writing this article.
The Equalizer is pretty comprehensive and there are audible differences in the audio with each setting. As someone who prefers more punchier bass in their music, I find the soundcore Signature setting with BassUp turned on to be quite acceptable. I use the Podcast setting when I’m listening to podcasts, which helps improve clarity especially in noisy environments. The customization of the tap functions is simple yet covers the necessary bases. It is good enough to let me listen to music and use Google Assistant features without looking at my phone screen. One minor complaint is that when adjusting the volume via tap, there is a bit of a delay between the tap and the volume changing. However, it is no dealbreaker. I also found the user interface of the Soundcore app to be aesthetically pleasing and easy to use.
Performance
Sound Quality
Considering its price tag, the Soundcore A20i pleasantly surprised me with its sound quality. Testing was mainly done with Spotify, YouTube and Netflix. I was impressed with the volume of the earbuds. In a busy environment with the smaller ear tips, I was able to clearly listen to YouTube videos even without noise cancelling. There is very good clarity on the highs and mids; they did not sound muddled and even at full volume, I never heard any distortion. While the bass will not set your heart racing, it is audible and punchy enough to round out the music. The BassUp feature in the Soundcore Signature is definitely a must if you prefer louder punchier bass as without it, I found it pretty middling. The voice clarity, be it in music, podcasts, Netflix or YouTube videos, were always crisp and clear.
No complaints on call quality too. With testing on WhatsApp calls, Microsoft Teams and regular phone calls, I found call audio to be clear and crisp. The earbuds also come with dual mics, which resulted in the voice being clear and have good volume too. In a noisy environment however, the background noises did get picked up by the mics.
Audio quality in games is also good. There is a dedicated game mode which is claimed to enhance the sound of footsteps, voices and improves latency too. The audio quality on PUBG Mobile was good, with footsteps and gunshots ringing clear. Honestly, I did not hear a remarkable improvement in the sounds of footsteps in Game Mode. But that is mainly because I found the audio quality to be loud and clear enough even without Game Mode.
Battery life
The battery life is another impressive feature of the Soundcore A20i. With a single charge on the buds, I managed to get around 9 hours of playtime. The case holds up to two (almost) full charges and is charged with the provided USB-C cable. With a fully charged earbud and with additional charging from the case, the total playtime from the A20i was approximately 27 hours.
The Verdict – Probably the best no frills wireless earbuds of 2023!
Overall, the Soundcore A20i offers an impressive, no frills, true wireless earbuds that does the essentials really well. For a price point below RM100, it has impressive sound quality, IPX5 rating, stable connectivity, good build quality and wearing comfort. It is a great option for anyone looking for their first TWS earbuds on the cheap, as a pair of secondary earbuds or even as a pair of basic fitness buds.
Huawei’s MatePad SE is an affordable, everyday use table that has surprising bang-for-buck, even a year on after its release. With marketing focused on its 10.4-inch display and a “family theatre in your palm”, we found more reasons for it to be…your Mate of choice!
Design
Sporting a matte black finish with clean aesthetics, the Huawei MatePad SE 10.4 has a metal chassis surrounded with a brushed metal coating. While it is a magnet for fingerprints, the device feels really comfortable to hold in hand, even for long periods. This is helped by the ergonomic design with rounded edges. For a 10-inch tablet, the build is rather compact, with minimal bezels surrounding its 83% screen-to-body ratio display. Even with its light weight of 450g, the build quality of this tablet feels surprisingly good and robust.
Performance
The MatePad SE 10.4 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset with an Adreno 610 GPU. Surprising for Huawei to forgo their Kirin chipset but the inclusion of Snapdragon is a smart addition to the MatePad line. While being of an older generation, the Snapdragon 680 is a fairly powerful chipset with an emphasis on energy efficiency thanks to its 6nm process. This coupled with a 5100 mAh battery results in impressive battery life for a tablet of its price bracket. With regular day-to-day use of web surfing, watching videos and the occasional navigation, I found myself only needing to charge the tablet every two to three days.
Great performance from an older but power efficient Snapdragon 680
The powerful processor is also supplemented by 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. With this combination, general use of the tablet is very snappy and switching between apps is a breeze. The performance during multitasking is pretty decent too with some interesting productivity features. Using Huawei’s Multi-Window mode, I regularly opened several tabs in the Browser and the Email app in split screen while having the Notepad app float as a bubble to intermittently take notes. And never once did I experience an app crash, lag or stutter. In fact, large swathes of this review were written on the MatePad SE 10.4 itself!
Good multitasking and productivity with Multi-Window mode
Gaming
Gaming performance has its limitations, however. The display size is comfortable enough to access the on-screen controls while also being large enough for visual clarity. Mobile Legends handled well at medium settings with no stuttering or lag. I did notice some sluggishness and dropped frames in PUBG Mobile at Balanced settings, but it was intermittent enough to not be a bother. In both cases, after hours of gaming, there was no drop in performance and there was no significant overheating either, so that is a plus for gaming comfort and reliability. That being said, the battery life does drop rather quickly when gaming. So overall, the MatePad SE 10.4 is suitable for some light gaming.
Good but not great gaming performance
Display and Audio
Huawei’s postured the MatePad SE 10.4 as family-friendly entertainment tablet, with its centerpiece being its 10.4-inch IPS display. The display has an FHD+ resolution of 2000 x 1220 pixels, at 225 pixels per inch (ppi). It has passed both TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light and Flicker Free certifications, making it easy on your eyes for long-term viewing. We spent hours on Netflix and YouTube (for display performance testing of course) and were impressed. The brightness and image fidelity were good, despite the non-flagship grade pixel density. Visibility was great in dark environments however, it suffers in direct sunlight or brightly lit environments. The color reproduction and contrast were not the greatest but did not put us off.
Furthermore, the audio quality on this device is a pleasant surprise. Thanks to its dual speaker system tuned with Histen 8.0 technology, the tablet emulates surround sound well enough for immersive viewing. The display also comes with specialized modes such as Eye Comfort to filter out blue light, eBook mode to replicate paper-like texture and my personal go-to, Dark Mode; making viewing on this a tablet very easy on the eye. Overall, the display performs really well for a tablet of this price range and brings a great viewing experience at home or indoors.
Camera
The camera is probably the weakest element of the Huawei MatePad SE 10.4. It sports a 5MP main rear shooter and a 2MP front shooter. Image quality is rather poor, with fuzzy edges and poor contrast being the biggest issues. When zoomed in, there is obvious increasing pixelation starting at 2.0x and becoming unbearable even at 5.0x for the main shooter. Images also suffer from overbrightness when taking snaps outdoors. Huawei seems to have prioritized economical options in this aspect and I can’t fault them for that, being one that doesn’t use tablets for photos anyway.
Image by main camera at 1.0xImage by main camera at 2.0xImage by main camera at 2.0x
Software
User Experience
The MatePad SE 10.4 ships with HarmonyOS 3 out of the box, which should feel familiar to long time Huawei users. As a first-time user of HarmonyOS, I truly appreciate the “clean” and minimalistic aesthetic of this OS.
Drop down control panelOS interface in Settings
All non-Google affiliated apps can be downloaded through Huawei’s own AppGallery. The tablet comes preinstalled with Petal Search as its default search engine service and Petal Maps, analogous to Google’s own proprietary services. The apps themselves work well in their own right, with Petal Search offering both Voice typing and Image search functionality. The interfaces are also very intuitive for those familiar with their Google counterparts. All-in-all, there is very little lost from the lack of Google apps, with perhaps the most significant being the lack of Google Assistant.
LightHouse app
For those put off by the lack of a Google Play Store, fear not as the LightHouse app will satisfy those needs. This app provides a gateway to access Google Play Store apps via Huawei’s AppGallery. To do so, you simply need to install two apps from the AppGallery first; LightHouse and LightHouse Ex. Once done, you will be able to download your favorite Google apps directly from the AppGallery. We tested out Google Maps, GMail and YouTube and all apps installed fairly easily. When trying them out, they worked as you would expect on any other Android-based device.
Google Maps installed through LightHouseYouTube installed through LightHouse
The Verdict: A daily Mate for you and your wallet
The Huawei MatePad SE 10.4 shines in terms of multitasking performance, battery life and build quality. With its attractive price tag, it will serve well as a daily use tablet for the light to heavy user, with focus on web surfing and entertainment. It is also great as a family tablet with kid-friendly features. The MatePad SE 10.4 currently retails starting at RM799 for the 6GB RAM+64GB with WiFi variant and RM999 for the 4GB RAM+128GB storage with WiFi variant. All purchases from the Huawei Malaysia site now will come with a Flip Cover as a free gift.
We always thought that the mid-range smartphone segment is the most competitive segment in the entire industry. While that much is true, we tend to forget as well that the entry-level smartphone segment is a rather competitive one too. As smartphones’ prices reach a high never seen before, cheaper devices are becoming more popular as viable choices for not just first-time smartphone buyers. They become an even more appealing prospect over flagship and mid-range devices since they are rather inexpensive to own and even replace.
You have plenty of choices in the entry-level space too. You get the usual Xiaomi, OPPO, realme, VIVO, and even Samsung in the space. In some sense, you are spoilt for choice still in the entry-level segment. There is a new kid on the block to add to your list of choices in the segment – FreeYond.
The FreeYond M5
FreeYond kicks off their Malaysian chapter with two smartphone devices. One of it is the FreeYond M5. The new M5, currently, is their most powerful smartphone device to hit the Malaysian shores.
The Android 12 device comes with a Unisoc T606 system on a chip (SoC). The eight-core integrated processor comes with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage to ensure that Android 12 runs as smooth as it can be even with multiple apps open at the same time. You want the large storage too with a 50-Megapixel main camera out the back supported by an 8-Megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-Megapixel macro camera. If that is not enough, you get to expand your storage with a microSD card to up to 1TB.
It does not come with 5G connectivity, unfortunately. If you think about it though, 4G LTE connectivity is more than enough at this point of time. You can still thoroughly enjoy Netflix, YouTube, or even Prime Video via the 6.52-inch IPS display offering 720p HD+ resolution. To keep you enjoying your contents the entire day, you have a large 5,000 mAh battery that charges at 18W via USB Type-C.
The FreeYond F9
You need a secondary device, a cheap smartphone to keep your work separate from your life. You need something that does not hurt your pockets too much, yet something reliable. You need the FreeYond F9.
The budget entry-level device still comes with an octa-core processor that clocks at 1.6GHz. That powerful SoC is paired with up to 3GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You can even expand your storage with up to 1TB MicroSD card if you want.
The Android 12 Go OS is displayed in all its glory via the 6.52-inch iPS display that offers up to 720p HD+ resolution still. The display is also where you see the results of the 13-Megapixel main camera that works together with a 2-Megapixel camera. Above the display, you can find an 8-Megapixel selfie camera. You can even keep all of these things running for longer than a day with a 5,000mAh battery within the compact body of the FreeYond F9.
Price and Availability
The FreeYond M5 will be available in Malaysia July 2023 onward. The FreeYond F9 on the other hand is now available for purchase via Shopee. The FreeYond M5 starts at MYR 699 while the F9 starts at MYR 499.
HUAWEI has now spent more than 3 years outside the Google ecosystem. Since 2019, HUAWEI has launched the HUAWEI Mate 30 series without Google’s Play Store installed. They have also launched the HUAWEI P40 series, Mate 40 series, and P50 series.
Ever since HUAWEI stopped sporting Google’s Play Store too, they have been developing their own App Gallery to fill the gap left by Google’s app marketspace. The App Gallery is not exactly new for HUAWEI devices though, even before 2019. The HUAWEI App Gallery, while has been running alongside the Google Play Store for a while, was not a fully matured platform just yet.
This was 3 years ago. HUAWEI’s App Gallery has grown quite a lot since then. HUAWEI has done everything it can to push and even attract new developers for their platform. They have collaborated with anyone willing to develop on their platform. This means that HUAWEI’s App Gallery is now the third-largest app marketplace in the world.
Does that mean that HUAWEI devices are now worth a look? Should you consider running a HUAWEI secondary driver, or even a primary one? We attempt to answer all of that with the HUAWEI Nova 8.
Design
The HUAWEI Nova 8 is built of similar materials you find on any modern smartphones. You have two pieces of glass that sandwiches an aluminium frame. The top and bottom of the device features a flat taper. The flat sections are flat enough for you to stand your Nova 8 on its own – we tried.
The glass back is nothing special in terms of materials too. The device looks rather pretty though. The Blush Gold on this Nova 8 makes it feel a little more special than it is though.
At the same time, the device is built to a premium standard. The way the metallic side of the device tappers seamlessly to the display helps the illusion of a single solid piece. Even the milled holes on the device looks precise albeit some alignment issues. The only indication that this is still a mid-range device would be its NOVA branding at the glass.
The oval camera housing is a nod to the older HUAWEI devices like the P30 series. While the main camera takes up nearly half the module, it does not look imposing. They arranged the three other smaller lenses in a way that complements main camera.
Hardware
As mentioned, the HUAWEI Nova 8 is a Kirin device. You have HUAWEI’s own Kirin 820E System on a Chip (SoC) powering the HUAWEI Nova 8. It is still a highly respectable ARM Cortex-A76 and Cortex-55 blend in today’s smartphone standard.
The HUAWEI Nova 8 does not come with HUAWEI’s Harmony OS 2. Instead, it is the trusty EMUI 12 based on Android. This is also their third iteration of EMUI since losing Google Play Store.
While the iterations of EMUI have not changed a lot in terms of look and feel between the HUAWEI devices, there are differences between 11 and 12. If you look closely, HUAWEI Nova 8’s EMUI 12 does not feature an “Android Version” category anymore in the About Phone submenu. That does not mean that the HUAWEI EMUI 12 is a completely different breed of Operating System (OS) though, they are still Android based, as far as we can tell anyway.
HUAWEI App Gallery
You still do not have access to Google’s curated apps. HUAWEI’s App gallery has grown tremendously though. With HUAWEI’s Petal Search integration, the App Gallery now searches the web for alternatives or APK files of your searched app. Either that, or you access a web version of apps like Google Drive.
You can use apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Facebook, and even Instagram. They are not natively supported by HUAWEI App Gallery though. The only good news from that is that because HUAWEI’s EMUI 12 is essentially still Android, APK files works. The bad news is that you cannot transfer WhatsApp data between devices via cloud.
The HUAWEI Nova 8 does not have Google’s Mobile Services Framework, which also means it will not be able to unlock the use of Google’s suite of apps like Google Maps, for example. We tried installing Google Maps as an APK file, but it refuses to launch after.
The good news is that Malaysia is a big supporter of HUAWEI’s App Gallery. That also means that plenty of the local banking and e-wallet apps are available from HUAWEI App Gallery. You even have the MySejahtera COVID tracking app on HUAWEI’s AppGallery.
Always-On Display
Always-on display can find its roots in Samsung’s implementation of Android in TouchWiz. But because it is a function loved by users, Google made always-on display a feature on their own smartphones and eventually the function makes its way into other Android devices.
On the HUAWEI Nova 8, the always-on display is a clever system that keeps your battery life optimised when not in use. That also means that the always-on display is not constantly on. It only turns on when you interact with the device by tapping its display once.
Other than showing just time, we configured the always-on display to show date, battery percentage and other notifications. The time, date, and battery percentage show up nicely. Notifications will show up too, provided you have not seen any of it yet.
The only customisation you get is choosing how your clock looks in the always-on display menu. The always-on also displays a snippet of your notifications, including snippets of your WhatsApp, Telegram, or messages, just before you unlock your device and access the apps.
Separating Notifications and Quick Settings Access
HUAWEI EMUI 12 system, while still an Android overlay, feels a little different. HUAWEI now divides the notification bar into two sections. On the left side is the notification center, where all the latest updates to your apps, missed calls, messages gets displayed. When you swipe down from the right side, you get all your quick settings toggles. You also access the settings menu from here now.
It takes some getting used to, admittedly. Once you get used to it though, you start wondering why other Android devices do not implement similar features. It makes accessing the quick settings menu one gesture quicker.
We do have to say though that the quick settings menu does feel and look very much like what you get on an iOS. While it may not be a carbon copy of one, it still feels very much like it especially with the media player, WiFi, and Bluetooth widgets being standalone toggles.
No App Tray – Business as Usual
HUAWEI’s famous overlay of Android comes with no app tray like all of the EMUI that came before it. All its apps are organised on its home screen. You can hide apps you do not use very often, but you cannot find an app tray to access it later.
You can still add widgets and folders to the homescreens though. With EMUI 12 you simply pinch on the display and a menu will pop out at the bottom for you to add widgets, homepages, and even a folder. You can also group apps together now in enlarged folders for quicker access to the apps you want and to keep things tidy.
Performance
Modern mid-range devices like the HUAWEI Nova 8 are more than capable at running apps as smoothly and as fast as flagship device. Modern hardware has improved so much that performance differences between two classes of device are not quite apparent these days.
Call Quality and Connectivity
We solely relied on Yes 4G for the HUAWEI Nova 8 throughout our tests. On Yes 4G’s network the HUAWEI Nova 8 can make and receive VoLTE calls, which helps with call fidelity and quality of conversations. Of course, your call quality depends on the network strength as well.
There have not been any major dropped calls with the device. Even when the network is a little on the weak side, calls have come through and gone without hiccups until you lose the network completely. Data speeds may vary though in these instances. On the subject of data speeds, that is more a network provider issue than anything else.
Gaming
While the device has less power on paper than a flagship device, it does not necessarily mean it is that much worse. In fact, the HUAWEI Nova 8’s Kirin 820E is capable of running Mobile Legends: Bang Bang at its highest graphics settings without breaking too much of a sweat. The heat build up is never anywhere near uncomfortable in our time of use too.
Of course, a fast display helps very much in terms of immersion and experience in games. The games load smoothly and quickly when on the HUAWEI Nova 8. They even look pretty good thanks to the vivid colours of the OLED panel.
Multitasking and Productivity
Modern smartphones have been optimised to cope with multitasking instances on any given device. We had more than 20 tabs open in the HUAWEI Nova 8’s native browser and still keep do other things on the device without too much of an inconvenient lag.
Opening apps never felt sluggish or slow as well in our tests. At some point we were installing multiple apps from HUAWEI’s App Gallery at the same time, and still scrolling through the App Gallery without any issues. We also left multiple apps running at the same time without having to close any of the apps when we need to jump to another app.
Battery Life
HUAWEI’s legendary battery life status is down to their clever battery management system. The battery management system in the latest EMUI on the HUAWEI Nova 8 is cleverer and more sophisticated than the old system. It does not turn off selective apps anymore, but it still somehow ekes out as much life out of the 3,800 mAh battery as possible.
The HUAWEI Nova 8 on standby can last up to four days on a single charge. On a typical usage, with the device jumping between relying on WiFi and 4G networks, the device still lasts up to two days. A typical use in our case consists of some light WhatsApp texting, watching videos on YouTube (web), playing quick games of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, taking and making a few calls, and taking a few photos as well.
It also comes with a charger in the box. It charges up to 66W with the provided charger and USB Type-C cable. Most of the time, we charge the device when the battery hits 20%. In those cases, we get a full charge in just below two hours.
Display
The HUAWEI Nova 8 features a Full HD+ 6.7-inch OLED panel with up to 90Hz refresh rate. They did not mention its response rate, but do you really care? We do not, in this case at least.
OLED is known for its vivid colours that translates well on the HUAWEI Nova 8. The display is really bright, which also means you get to see some extra details when working with the device. The brightness also helps with visibility when you are outdoors.
While it produces very vivid colours, it does not match the colour standards of the newer flagship devices like the HUAWEI P50 series and the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra. Unless you use your smartphone to colour grade your videos, edit your photos, or any other work with accurate colour requirements, you hardly notice that much in difference.
90Hz Smoothness
The HUAWEI Nova 8 shows that you do not need a display that refreshes at 120Hz. A display that refreshes at 90Hz is more than enough to make the smartphone feel snappy and smooth. While 90Hz is nothing to shout about, it is a reminder that high refresh rate displays could be overrated.
If you are a casual mobile gamer, you really are not missing out on a lot between 90Hz to 120Hz. You see as much as the next gamer with 120Hz in games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, or even Garena’s Free Fire. The differences are so marginal that in most cases, you hardly notice it.
Camera
The HUAWEI Nova 8 is a testament to how good the modern smartphone camera technology is. While it may not be representative and does not offer the best that the smartphone camera technology has to offer, it is not that far off.
You get a 64-Megapixel shooter that is capable of shooting RAW photos in Pro mode. In Pro Mode you get more granular controls to your ISO, shutter speed, AutoFocus metering, exposure, and manual focus.
In regular photo mode, the camera only takes 16-Megapixel photos instead of the full 64-Megapixel it is capable of. You only access all 64-Megapixel that your device can offer in Pro mode with RAW settings, or the high-res mode. You lose the AI function in either modes though.
You have more than enough for social media purposes though. At the same time, with AI on, the camera captures great looking photos with a lot of details and amazing looking colours.
We find that the most stunning camera feature from the HUAWEI Nova 8 is the Night Mode. Photos that look dark and grainy in regular mode looks bright and properly detailed. Of course, you can see that the details are softer once you zoom in.
The HUAWEI Nova 8 – Another Great HUAWEI Device, still a HUAWEI Though
The HUAWEI Nova 8 is a pretty device. As expected from a HUAWEI device, the build quality of the device is premium. At MYR 1,899, the HUAWEI Nova 8 is a compelling device too.
There is not much wrong with EMUI 12. It feels smooth, intuitive, and still works like other Android devices with HUAWEI’s usual tweaks. It feels so smooth and snappy on the 6.7-inch 90Hz display it feels like a flagship device.
It is not a 5G ready device. There are devices at lower price points that will sport 5G, which makes the HUAWEI Nova 8 a little of an anomaly in the sea of smartphones in the market. That is a relatively minor issue though.
The big issue is that it does not come with Google’s Play Store. You will not be able to work with Google Apps at all. You can use WhatsApp but you cannot transfer your chats via cloud. You do not get access to Netflix app as well.
At MYR 1,899, the HUAWEI Nova 8 is a worthy contender in the mid-range smartphone segment. Although, you must remember you cannot access and run Google’s suite of apps. Otherwise, you are getting a great mid-range smartphone that is more than capable as your daily driver, play any of your mobile games, and perform like any modern flagships.
