Huawei Nova 4e Hands-On

After nearly a month since Huawei unveiled its middle-range Nova 4, the first hole-punch handset, the Chinese phone maker plans to launch another Nova smartphone in the Malaysian market. The handset is dubbed the Nova 4e or the P30 Lite in other markets. The Huawei Nova 4e was fairly impressive when giving much more value for money over its predecessor.

One of the highlights of the last year's Nova 4 is the hole-punch camera and it was among the first devices with this design that we have ever seen. However, this feature is not available in this new Nova 4e.

The device as the Nova 3e’s successor is created to offer more affordable price which just ranks under the Nova 4. That’s why the device features more watered-down specifications than its predecessor.

In terms of the display, the Huawei Nova 4e is different from the Nova 4 when sporting a smaller 6.15-inch screen housing a waterdrop notch, which is smaller than the big hole-punch display on the Nova 4. Therefore, the device is not very obstructive. But, the device’s side bezels seem larger although I cannot say it for sure without making a side-by-side comparison between these two models. However, it is not a big problem because the screen still offers a sharp Full HD+ resolution with solid brightness and viewing angles as well.

As for the hardware, the heart of the Huawei Nova 4e is a HiSilicon Kirin 710 SoC paired with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage, which is identical to the Honor 8X and the Nova 3i launched last year. The largest difference when owing to this smartphone is that you will have more upgraded features and RAM.

In this fields, it is almost identical to the Huawei Nova 4 since that device also has a processor with the predecessor. So how is its effect on daily performance? It is difficult to say without any full review, however, my time with the demo units did not see any lag spikes.

In spite of featuring same internals, the smartphone is upgraded in several other fields, especially in the photography capacity. When taking a look at the phone’s rear panel, you will see a triple rear camera setup which has very similar functions like the setup on the Huawei Nova 4.

This setup comprises of a 24MP f/1.8 wide-angle primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide secondary sensor, and a 2MP depth sensor. In the demo field, these cameras were not impressive. However, when we consider lighting conditions, I think it is not a fair test at all. But, I will still note its camera actually feels a bit snappy and I absolutely highly evaluate its ultra-wide sensor to a tele sensor alternative.

Because it is a selfie-focused smartphone, the Huawei Nova 4e features a 32MP front-facing camera, which is even higher than that of the Huawei Nova 4. However, the low-light conditions are once again not ideal for this photography testing. But, the device’s camera features 4-in-1 pixel binning in order to improve the photography capacity in the low-light conditions.

As for the battery, I was a bit disappointed though. Although its 3,340mAh battery is higher than that of the Huawei Nova 3e and is similar to the one on the Huawei Nova 3i. However, I still would like to see a larger battery capacity. This year is 2019, the year of smartphones with large battery capacity.

Furthermore, another important matter at all is the performance of the battery in real life, and it is a bit difficult to forecast with my short time with this device. But another highlight of the smartphone is that it features the 18W fast charging solution through a USB Type-C port. It is good that Huawei still equipped this technology from the Huawei Nova 3e to this smartphone.

Another thing impressing me was the build. I still remember that the Huawei Nova 3e has a rather good build. However, in my opinion, the Huawei Nova 4e kicks things up a notch. The device has gently-curved edges on the back, therefore, when holding it, I feel so comfortable. In addition, the handset also has a glossy metal band, which brings an expensive look. Also, the smartphone offers pretty color options like the Peacock Blue.

After all those things, the most typical highlight of the handset is still the price. Although it is not most value for money device in the market, it has the starting price of RM1,999 (around Rs. 20,700) on the launch date of March 16, 2019, a good price for its specifications, which is RM200 less than the price of the Huawei Nova 3e.

Therefore, if you have wanted to buy the Huawei Nova 4, don’t hesitate to trade the flagship chipset in for a discount of RM700, and then the Huawei Nova 4e is probably a choice for you.