Huawei Nova 10 Pro review

Huawei’s telephone enterprise is probably not what it as soon as was, however the firm hasn’t stopped releasing telephones regardless of market challenges which have seen it pressured to supply its personal OS and stick with 4G. 

For probably the most half it’s the corporate’s flagships which have grabbed consideration over the previous couple of years, corresponding to the brand new Mate 50 Professional or foldables together with the Mate Xs 2. However it’s releasing just a few extra reasonably priced telephones too, together with this: the Nova 10 Professional. 

Launched on the IFA tradeshow in September 2022, the Nova 10 Professional is a blingy telephone that pairs a… distinct aesthetic with a give attention to highly effective front-facing cameras – a transparent play for the social media savvy selfie crowd. However are these cameras highly effective sufficient to beat shortcomings elsewhere? 

Design & construct 

• Glitzy black and silver designs with gold accents 
• Slim and pretty light-weight 
• No IP score or Gorilla Glass 

You couldn’t accuse Huawei of phoning within the Nova 10 Professional’s design, and its designers clearly picked an aesthetic early on and ran with it.

Accessible in both black or silver, the telephone is adorned with a shiny end and gold accents across the emblem and digital camera. I can’t say I’m a fan of the model, however there’s no accounting for style – this might be proper up your avenue. 

The upside both approach is that the Nova 10 Professional is slim, at simply 7.9mm thick, and feels fairly light-weight too. The curved display and body full the impact, making this a slender, premium machine that each seems to be and feels costly, which is clearly what Huawei goes for. 

It could look a bit like a flagship, however be warned that a few of these similarities are surface-level. Not like dearer telephones this has no IP score – a assure of safety in opposition to mud and water – and doesn’t use Gorilla Glass or any equal toughened coating.

Which means it is a telephone you’ll positively wish to put in a case, and possibly a harder one than the lavatory normal clear plastic one included as a freebie. 

Display & audio system 

• Giant 6.78in show 
• Curved OLED with 120Hz refresh price 
• Typical high quality stereo audio system 

It’s an excellent factor that the Nova 10 Professional is slim, as a result of the 6.78in show is larger than common even by fashionable Android requirements. That can in fact be an excellent factor for a lot of, however bear it in thoughts if you happen to favor telephones you’ll be able to comfortably use with one hand. 

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It’s an excellent display at the least: a vibrant, OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh price. Colors are punchy, and the height brightness is ample to maintain the telephone usable in direct daylight. There’s principally not a lot to complain about right here. 

The curved edges aren’t so aggressive as to be annoying, and palm detection prevents most unintentional touches. 

As for audio, you’ll discover stereo audio system, however they’re not a lot to put in writing house about. Sound high quality is ok, however nonetheless somewhat tinny. Normal fare for a smartphone actually – it’ll do in a pinch, or ship the products when you’re gaming, however it received’t ever blow you away. 

Specs & efficiency 

• Mid-range Snapdragon chipset 
• Below-powered for the value 
• No 5G assist 

The Nova 10 Professional is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G. That’s a mid-range chip, and a barely previous one at that. It’s completely quick sufficient for many day-to-day duties, and the telephone actually isn’t gradual to make use of, however you’ll discover extra energy for much less in different telephones – particularly in relation to graphical efficiency and gaming.

Which means energy customers and players ought to most likely look elsewhere. But when your telephone use is usually made up of social media, messaging, and taking pictures, then don’t be postpone: it will do all of that completely effectively. 

The chipset is paired with 8GB of RAM, and a alternative of both 128GB or 256GB storage – although there’s no card slot so as to add to that, so make sure that it’s sufficient whenever you purchase the telephone. 

The opposite massive caveat right here, as with every Huawei telephone, is that it’s restricted to 4G connections. This is likely one of the quirks of Huawei’s present US commerce restrictions, and the way a lot of a trouble it’s will rely in your use case.  

Most individuals nonetheless received’t see an enormous soar in efficiency from transferring to 5G, however if you happen to count on to be streaming a whole lot of high-res video, taking video calls on the go, or taking part in on-line video games whenever you’re not on Wi-Fi, then being restricted to 4G could change into a frustration. After all, that every one relies on the supply of 5G connections and plans the place you reside, so it might be a moot level anyway. 

Digicam & video 

• Twin selfie digital camera with uncommon zoom lens 
• Succesful 50Mp rear digital camera 
• Disappointing rear ultrawide 

Cameras have all the time been one among Huawei’s sturdy fits. The identical as true right here, albeit with a twist: the Nova 10 Professional’s focus is on its front-facing cameras, not its rear ones. 

And sure, that’s digital cameras. There are two lenses on the telephone’s entrance: a 60Mp major lens paired with an 8Mp telephoto. That’s an uncommon pairing to say the least, particularly since that major digital camera is technically an ultrawide, providing you with a zoom vary from 0.7x by means of to 2x optical, and as much as an additional 5x with digital zoom. 

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There’s good and unhealthy right here. It offers you an enormous vary of selfie taking pictures choices, from group selfies and expansive landscapes by means of to tight zooms on particular parts.  It defaults to a large angle, with a second choice to crop in barely, earlier than you crop in additional to the 2x telephoto lens.

The wide-angle is smart – and isn’t so uncommon – however how usually do you actually need to zoom in on a selfie? The default 2x setting right here signifies that I want to carry the digital camera at full arm’s size simply to suit my complete face in body, and something additional is simply good for taking close-ups of my nostril – or, I suppose, utilizing the selfie mode to in face surreptitiously take a zoomed-in shot of one thing behind you. 

Unusual because the setup could also be, I can’t deny the outcomes. This is likely one of the finest selfie cameras available on the market, with the primary 60Mp digital camera delivering remarkably crisp, detailed pictures with vibrant, wealthy colors and wonderful dynamic vary.

The 8Mp telephoto impresses rather less, however principally simply because the autofocus right here typically struggles discover its topic, that means just a few of my selfies got here out surprisingly comfortable. The wonderful major selfie digital camera remains to be spectacular sufficient to make up for this barely pointless add-on. 

As for the rear lenses, you get three: a 50Mp major digital camera, 8Mp ultrawide, and bonus 2Mp depth sensor. 

The primary digital camera is usually nice, as you’d count on from Huawei, although the HDR clearly wants some tinkering – I had a pair pictures the place it misfired, leading to aggressive sharpening in some instances and even ugly inexperienced and pink artifacting within the sky in a single notably unhealthy case. This appeared notably unhealthy in dimmer or fading daylight – a lot for golden hour producing the very best pictures.

The ultrawide is an actual disappointment. Photographs are washed out and sometimes blurry, particularly in decrease lighting. Even in optimum lighting, the algorithm’s over-aggressive sharpening renders some pictures downright terrible as quickly as you zoom in even somewhat. Pictures will nearly cross the look take a look at on social media, however not any nearer inspection. 

One perk of the telephone is you could file 4K video with each the back and front cameras, which isn’t all the time the case even in dearer telephones. The digital camera app’s vlogging part additionally offers you an array of potential layouts to file video with a number of lenses directly, whether or not that’s one on both sides or utilizing completely different lenses in the identical course. 

Battery & charging 

• Greater than a day’s battery life 
• Quick 100W charging 

The Nova 10 Professional is provided with a 4500mAh battery, which is fairly typical of telephones this dimension. Precise battery life impresses although – I’ve discovered the telephone to comfortably final a full day of use, with battery left into the following. 

I don’t suppose it’s fairly more likely to ship two full days of use apart from very mild customers, however there ought to be no want for battery anxiousness if you happen to can slot in a every day cost. 

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That charging is quick, with a 100W USB-C charger included with the telephone. In my testing that was sufficient to revive 60% of the battery in simply quarter-hour – most likely about sufficient for a day’s use – with a full cost taking lower than half an hour. 

The one actual draw back is that there’s no wi-fi charging assist. That’s not too uncommon for a mid-range telephone, however that is nearly costly sufficient that I might most likely count on to see wi-fi charging included. 

Software program & updates 

• No assist for Google apps or providers 
• Ready to make use of most – however not all – regular apps 
• No agency dedication to ongoing software program assist 

Huawei’s Google issues are well-documented, however to reiterate in short: due to US commerce sanctions, the corporate is unable to formally license Google Cell Companies for Android.  

That signifies that whereas the Nova 10 Professional nonetheless runs EMUI, Huawei’s working system initially primarily based on Android, it doesn’t assist the Google Play Retailer – the de facto Android app retailer. 

As a substitute, apps are accessible by means of two means. AppGallery is Huawei’s Play Retailer rival, an official portal that features a small however rising proportion of the general Android app library. You’ll discover formally supported apps together with TikTok, Snapchat, and Telegram right here, however not each app has been formally ported over. 

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For these, you’ll have to make use of Huawei’s Petal Search instrument to manually set up .apk recordsdata for different apps – primarily a technique to entry them unofficially. With this you actually can get virtually all the things you’d have on some other Android telephone, however there stay limitations. 

For one, the official Google apps nonetheless received’t work this manner. There are actually some fiddly workarounds to entry Google providers by means of shell apps, however I’ve by no means managed to make them work with out horrible lag and stuttering. The most effective strategy is saving internet shortcuts to the browser variations of Gmail or Google Calendar, however these are nonetheless deeply compromised experiences. 

You’ll additionally discover a handful of third-party apps that merely don’t work, as a result of they depend on Google providers to offer sign-in or just run the app. It’s uncommon, however it’s important to settle for that from time to time an app simply received’t work. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Lastly, even for these apps that do work, updates are a bit fiddly. They’re not absolutely automated, and whereas Petal Search does its finest to flag when updates can be found, what truly occurs whenever you replace is it uninstalls the app and re-installs a more moderen .apk. That will get you the newer model, however it takes longer and sometimes forces you to signal into apps over again after every replace. 

As for the OS itself, the telephone runs EMUI 12. This nonetheless seems to be and feels an terrible lot like different Android telephones, albeit with Huawei’s distinct aesthetic and pre-installed apps (of which there are lots). 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There are some intelligent technical integrations with different Huawei tech corresponding to laptops and tablets, which is perhaps sufficient to tempt you right into a Huawei telephone if you happen to’re already embedded within the ecosystem, however in any other case there’s little that EMUI does higher than Android correct. 

One factor Huawei hasn’t completed is publicly decide to a sure variety of years of software program assist for the Nova 10 Professional, so we don’t understand how lengthy it will likely be stored updated with new options or safety patches. 

Worth & availability 

The Nova 10 Professional was formally launched in early September, however on the time all Huawei mentioned was that the telephone would go on sale “within the coming months.” 

To date that hasn’t occurred but, and it’s nonetheless not clear precisely when or the place you’ll be capable to purchase a Nova 10 Professional. A UK launch is probably going although, as Huawei did announce pricing in each UK and European forex: £629/€699. 

That’s simply above what we take into account a mid-range telephone, on the low finish of the flagship house, the place it’s up in opposition to the likes of the Google Pixel 7, Samsung Galaxy S22, and Xiaomi 12. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Maybe extra interesting than the Professional is the £429/€549 common Nova 10. It’s fractionally smaller, and has slower (however nonetheless spectacular) charging at 66W. The largest distinction although is that it drops the 2x zoom selfie lens, however that’s a bit garbage anyway – you wouldn’t miss it. Try our rating of the very best Huawei telephones for extra choices from the corporate.

Verdict 

On a pure {hardware} degree the Nova 10 Professional holds its personal in opposition to the competitors for probably the most half, particularly due to the wonderful major selfie digital camera and slender design, although the dearth of wi-fi charging or an IP score does sting somewhat, and the rear digital camera positively lags behind the competitors.

The software program constraints and lacking 5G harm extra although, and finally make this difficult to suggest – there’s merely not sufficient this telephone does that others can’t to justify the drawbacks. 

If it price rather less, the Nova 10 Professional might have been an reasonably priced flagship various, however at this value you’re higher off sticking with a mainstream Android model. 

Specs 

• EMUI 12 
• 6.78in, 120Hz, FHD+ OLED show 
• Snapdragon 778G 4G 
• 8GB RAM 
• 128/256GB storage 
• 4500mAh battery 
• 100W wired charging 
• Digicam: 
  • 50Mp, f/1.8 major digital camera 
  • 8Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide digital camera 
  • 2Mp, f/2.4 depth sensor 
  • 60Mp, f/2.4 selfie digital camera 
  • 8Mp, f/2.2 2x zoom selfie digital camera 
• 4G 
• Wi-Fi 6 
• Bluetooth 5.2 
• 164x74x7.9mm 
• 191g 
• Starry Silver, Starry Black