Huawei Nova 10 Pro Review: Selfie-Obsessed

Worth When Reviewed

Not accessible within the US

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 persist with 4G. 

For probably the most half it’s the corporate’s flagships which have grabbed consideration over the previous couple of years, comparable to the brand new Mate 50 Professional or foldables together with the Mate Xs 2. But it surely’s releasing a number of extra inexpensive 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 concentrate on 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 ranking 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.

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Obtainable in both black or silver, the telephone is adorned with a glittery end and gold accents across the emblem and digicam. I can’t say I’m a fan of the type, however there’s no accounting for style – this could 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. In contrast to dearer telephones this has no IP ranking – a assure of safety towards mud and water – and doesn’t use Gorilla Glass or any equal toughened coating.

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

Display & audio system 

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

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

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It’s an amazing display no less than: a vibrant, OLED panel with a 120Hz refresh fee. Colors are punchy, and the height brightness is enough to maintain the telephone usable in direct daylight. There’s mainly not a lot to complain about right here. 

The curved edges aren’t so aggressive as to be annoying, and palm detection prevents most unintended 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 a bit of tinny. Commonplace fare for a smartphone actually – it’ll do in a pinch, or ship the products whilst you’re gaming, nevertheless it gained’t ever blow you away. 

Specs & efficiency 

• Mid-range Snapdragon chipset 
• Below-powered for the worth 
• 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 definitely isn’t gradual to make use of, however you can see extra energy for much less in different telephones – particularly with regards to graphical efficiency and gaming.

Which means energy customers and avid gamers ought to in all probability look elsewhere. But when your telephone use is generally made up of social media, messaging, and taking pictures, then don’t be delay: this may do all of that completely properly. 

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 be certain that it’s sufficient while you purchase the telephone. 

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

Most individuals nonetheless gained’t see an enormous leap in efficiency from shifting to 5G, however if you happen to anticipate to be streaming a number of high-res video, taking video calls on the go, or enjoying on-line video games while you’re not on Wi-Fi, then being restricted to 4G might turn into a frustration. In fact, that each 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 digicam with uncommon zoom lens 
• Succesful 50Mp rear digicam 
• Disappointing rear ultrawide 

Cameras have at all times been one in all 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 digicams. There are two lenses on the telephone’s entrance: a 60Mp fundamental lens paired with an 8Mp telephoto. That’s an uncommon pairing to say the least, particularly since that fundamental digicam is technically an ultrawide, providing you with a zoom vary from 0.7x by way of to 2x optical, and as much as an extra 5x with digital zoom. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There’s good and dangerous right here. It provides you an enormous vary of selfie capturing choices, from group selfies and expansive landscapes by way 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 sensible – and isn’t so uncommon – however how typically do you actually need to zoom in on a selfie? The default 2x setting right here implies that I would like to carry the digicam at full arm’s size simply to suit my complete face in body, and something additional is barely 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 among the finest selfie cameras in the marketplace, with the primary 60Mp digicam 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 generally struggles discover its topic, which means a number of of my selfies got here out surprisingly gentle. The wonderful fundamental selfie digicam continues to be spectacular sufficient to make up for this barely pointless add-on. 

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

The primary digicam is generally nice, as you’d anticipate from Huawei, although the HDR clearly wants some tinkering – I had a pair photographs the place it misfired, leading to aggressive sharpening in some circumstances and even ugly inexperienced and pink artifacting within the sky in a single significantly dangerous case. This appeared significantly dangerous 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 infrequently blurry, particularly in decrease lighting. Even in optimum lighting, the algorithm’s over-aggressive sharpening renders some photographs downright terrible as quickly as you zoom in even a bit of. Pictures will nearly go the look take a look at on social media, however not any nearer inspection. 

One perk of the telephone is you can report 4K video with each the back and front cameras, which isn’t at all times the case even in dearer telephones. The digicam app’s vlogging part additionally provides you an array of potential layouts to report video with a number of lenses without delay, whether or not that’s one on all sides or utilizing completely different lenses in the identical path. 

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 subsequent. 

I don’t assume it’s fairly prone to ship two full days of use aside from very gentle customers, however there must be no want for battery nervousness if you happen to can slot in a day by day cost. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

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 – in all probability 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’d in all probability anticipate 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 briefly: because of US commerce sanctions, the corporate is unable to formally license Google Cell Companies for Android.  

That implies 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 way 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. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

For these, you’ll have to make use of Huawei’s Petal Search instrument to manually set up .apk information for different apps – basically a approach to entry them unofficially. With this you actually can get nearly all the pieces you’d have on every other Android telephone, however there stay limitations. 

For one, the official Google apps nonetheless gained’t work this manner. There are actually some fiddly workarounds to entry Google providers by way of shell apps, however I’ve by no means managed to make them work with out horrible lag and stuttering. The very best 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 supply sign-in or just run the app. It’s uncommon, however it’s a must to settle for that every so often an app simply gained’t work. 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

Lastly, even for these apps that do work, updates are a bit fiddly. They’re not totally automated, and whereas Petal Search does its finest to flag when updates can be found, what really occurs while you replace is it uninstalls the app and re-installs a newer .apk. That will get you the newer model, nevertheless it takes longer and infrequently forces you to signal into apps once more 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 so much). 

Dominic Preston / Foundry

There are some intelligent technical integrations with different Huawei tech comparable to laptops and tablets, which is likely to be 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 performed is publicly decide to a sure variety of years of software program assist for the Nova 10 Professional, so we don’t know the way lengthy it is going to be saved 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 stated was that the telephone would go on sale “within the coming months.” 

Thus far 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 foreign money: £629/€699. 

That’s simply above what we think about a mid-range telephone, on the low finish of the flagship area, the place it’s up towards 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. Take a look at our rating of the very best Huawei telephones for extra choices from the corporate.

Verdict 

On a pure {hardware} stage the Nova 10 Professional holds its personal towards the competitors for probably the most half, particularly because of the wonderful fundamental selfie digicam and slender design, although the dearth of wi-fi charging or an IP ranking does sting a bit of, and the rear digicam 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 value rather less, the Nova 10 Professional might have been an inexpensive flagship different, however at this worth 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 fundamental digicam 
  • 8Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide digicam 
  • 2Mp, f/2.4 depth sensor 
  • 60Mp, f/2.4 selfie digicam 
  • 8Mp, f/2.2 2x zoom selfie digicam 
• 4G 
• Wi-Fi 6 
• Bluetooth 5.2 
• 164x74x7.9mm 
• 191g 
• Starry Silver, Starry Black