Mid-range Mayhem: Does the Huawei Nova 3i Rule the Roost?

Can I just say? “Ang hirap hawakan ng phones ng ganito, guys!”

Is the Huawei Nova 3i the Mid-range King?

The Huawei Nova 3i is finally here. The successor to what was arguably one of the best mid-range phones of 2017 has finally landed on our shores and I bet that a lot of you are pretty curious to see how it stacks up against the competition. Well, we’ve got you covered.

On hand, we’ve got some of the big names that Huawei mid-range contender is up against. You’ve got the OPPO F7, the vivo V9, and the Samsung Galaxy A6+.

Let’s see if the Huawei Nova 3i can lay claim to the throne in its segment.

Cameras Produce Punchy Colors and AI Brightens Photos

Let’s tackle camera performance first.

Each of the phones we’re comparing the Nova 3i to definitely has its strong suits and we got the team together to get a consensus on what each one brings to the table. For example, the photos from the Samsung Galaxy A6+ has more color accuracy. The OPPO F7, on the other hand, has a tad bit more sharpness and the photos from the V9 has a little more contrast to it than the others.

Like other Huawei devices, the cameras on the Nova 3i get a bit of help with AI scene detection that can help tweak the settings depending on your subject. This also gives the colors on the photos from the device a nice pop by making them more vivid and brightening up the shadows as well.

Understandably, this might not be for everyone and you can easily toggle of the AI assist after the fact to make colors look a bit more natural. You still get a bit of a pop if that’s your cup of tea though.

We’re curious to see what you guys prefer, so drop a comment down below. You can also see more camera samples from the Nova 3i in our full review.

It Has The Most Onboard Storage

Looking at all four phones, one area that the Huawei Nova 3i clearly wins out on is storage. While the OPPO F7, vivo V9, and the Samsung Galaxy A6+ do have a generous amount of space for apps and media, Huawei has packed their mid-range contender with double the storage at 128GB. There’s room for expansion if you’re the type to really hoard apps, movies, and photos on your phone but you’ll have to choose between that and a secondary number. That’s one thing that the competition has over the Nova 3i — a triple slotted tray.

Nonetheless, it’ll be awhile till you fill up the onboard storage on Huawei’s new mid-range phone so you can delay that decision if you do decide to pick it up.

Its Build Quality and Design are Stellar

Not to say that the other phones are shoddily put together.

vivo stepped up their game this year compared to the previous iteration of their mid-range phone. Samsung has stuck to their guns with a metal unibody build that looks good and is sturdy to boot. While OPPO employed the use of materials really well to give us one of their best-looking smartphones yet.

However, it’s hard to deny how far Huawei’s mid-range device has come compared to the Nova 2i last year. As many of you have seen the Huawei Nova 3i fits in nicely with the rest of the company’s product line with a glass back and metal frame that makes it look and feel really premium. A huge plus for us is, of course, that Iris Purple colored variant because it just looks fantastic.

Ultimately, it boils down to preference and there is a lot to be said about the whole metal vs glass debate but it’s nice to see that Huawei has trickled down the aesthetics that were previously reserved for flagship phones and given it to its mid-range contender.

It Has a Notch But You Can Hide It

In terms of display quality, Samsung takes the cake. After all, the Galaxy A6+ is rocking a Full HD+ Super AMOLED display; one of the best panels in the business but there is a huge barrier to entry here — the price of the A6+. The four phones are pretty much on par when it comes to screen size and the difference in pixel density is quite negligible.

Huawei does have something over OPPO and vivo in this department though. The ability to hide the notch; a neat trick for those who might not like the 2018 display trend.

It Has a New Kick-Ass Mid-range Processor

Under the hood of the Nova 3i is brand-spanking new SoC from Huawei — the Kirin 710. This is paired with 4GB of RAM and the aforementioned 128GB of storage. The internals are more than enough for the typical apps we use on the regular and even a bit of gaming as well.

How does it stack up to the other phones in this comparo? Quite well actually.

The benchmarks scores have the OPPO F7 and Huawei Nova 3i nearly neck and neck with the vivo V9 coming in third and the Samsung Galaxy A6+ trailing behind it.

It’s Priced Really Competitively

One of the things that made the Huawei Nova 2i such a winner when it came out last year was that it was packed with a lot of features for its price tag of Php 14,990. We’re glad to see that Huawei has been able to keep within arm’s length of the Nova 2i price tag despite all the improvements they’ve made for their mid-range contender this year at Php 15,990.

Each phone we’ve compared it to definitely has its merits but it should go without saying that the price plays a huge role when we’re on the hunt for a new device. Ultimately, it’s the consumer who decides who rightfully sits on the mid-range throne but the Huawei Nova 3i definitely has a legitimate and compelling claim to it.

To check out our thoughts on the Huawei Nova 3i, check out our review in the link below.