Huawei at IFA 2016: Nova, Nova Plus and MediaPad 3 hands-on

Introduction

Huawei is launching a new smartphone series at IFA 2016 and it's called Nova. Whether it'll shine brighter than the competition to catch the eyes of potential customers is yet unclear, but it seems that Huawei has perfected its formula for midrange devices and is happy to share it with the world.

The ingredients for the full Huawei midrange recipe are solid - 1080p resolution and aluminum build for enhanced visual representation. Add in some extras like a fingerprint sensor and ample batteries, and you've got yourself a bunch of very competitive products.

Here's what's important to know about the Huawei Nova and Huawei Nova Plus.

Huawei Nova Plus at a glance

• 5.5", IPS LCD display of 1920x1080 pixels resolution, 411ppi
• Airplane-grade full aluminum unibody design
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset, octa-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 506 GPU, 4GB RAM
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Emotion UI 4.1, featuring Knuckle gestures
• 16MP camera with dual-color LED flash, hybrid autofocus, PDAF+ contrast detection; 4K video recording
• 8MP front-facing camera with Perfect Makeup mode
• 3340mAh Li-Po battery
• SIM + microSD card compartment (up to 128GB)
• USB Type-C for charging and data transfer
• Available in Prestige Gold, Titanium Gray and Moonlight Silver

Huawei Nova at a glance

• 5", IPS LCD display of 1920x1080 pixels resolution, 452ppi
• Airplane-grade full aluminum unibody design
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 chipset, octa-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A53 CPU; Adreno 506 GPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Emotion UI 4.1, featuring Knuckle gestures
• 12MP camera with 1.5µm pixel size, hybrid autofocus, PDAF+ contrast detection; 4K video recording
• 8MP front-facing camera with Perfect Makeup mode
• 3020mAh Li-Po battery
• SIM + microSD card compartment (up to 128GB)
• USB Type-C for charging and data transfer
• Available in Prestige Gold, Titanium Gray and Moonlight Silver

On top of that, Huawei seems not to be giving up on the tablet market and has also revealed its MediaPad M3 tablet. It builds on its predecessor's high-end specs and here's what it's all about.

Huawei MediaPad M3 at a glance

• 8.4", IPS LCD display of 2560x1440 pixels resolution, 349ppi
• Airplane-grade full aluminum unibody design
• HiSilicon Kirin 950 chipset: octa-core CPU (4xCortex-A72 @ 2.3GHz plus 4xCortex-A53 @ 1.8GHz), Mali-T880 MP4 GPU
• Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with Emotion UI 4.1
• 8MP main camera, 1080p video recording
• 8MP front-facing camera with Perfect Makeup mode
• 5100mAh Li-Po battery
• Stereo speakers with Harman Kardon certification