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Interface and reliability
- Android 7.0 with EMUI 5.1
- Huawei's custom UI is well polished
The Huawei Nova 2 Plus runs Android 7.0 Nougat, with Huawei's own Emotion UI (EMUI) 5.1 layered on top. While we weren't expecting the phone to run Android 8 Oreo, we were surprised to see it not equipped with Android 7.1 which is found on most new phones.
Instead you have to make do with Android 7.0. It's not a deal breaker, but it's a shame it's not more up to date. We're also not satisfied with Huawei's lack of software updates for its previous phones released in the Middle East.
That being said, you do get the latest version of EMUI which is 5.1 and was released with the Huawei P10 earlier in the year. It's quite a departure from stock Android which can be a good thing in making your product stand out.
Although previous version of EMUI (4.x and below) haven't necessarily been great, Huawei stepped up with EMUI 5.0 that was launched with the Huawei Mate 9 last year and then tweaked it further with the launch of the P10 and EMUI 5.1.
In some ways, EMUI reminds me a bit of iOS which could be a good thing for some users- especially the ones that have used an iPhone in the past. That being said, that's just how it looks by default and Huawei allows for lots of customization.
For instance, you can chose between having all your apps appear on the home screen or have an app drawer instead with only a few of you most used apps and widgets taking up home screen space. You can also change themes and icons through the Huawei themes app.
The UI itself is very smooth to navigate. You can easily switch between apps or scroll through long lists and web pages without noticing any stutter. Huawei's decision to equip the Nova 2 Plus with 4GB RAM really helps with that,
Where we do have an issue with Huawei devices is with updates, or the lack of them in the Middle East. While other parts of the world get newer builds from Huawei frequently, Middle East units lag severely behind and, judging from previous experience, you'd be lucky to get any updates on the Nova 2 Plus.
Movies, music and gaming
- Great audio hardware
- Can't handle demanding games
Huawei has a dedicated video player app for watching videos stored on the device such as the ones created using the camera or on your built-in storage/SD card. It's a clear and functional app that also offers the ability to watch videos in a window layered over the home screen, allowing you to navigate and open apps in the background.
One of the key aspects of the Nova 2 Plus is Huawei's decision to adopt the AK4376a HiFi chips along with HUAWEI 2012 lab’s unique audio algorithm called Huawei Histen.
These technologies help minimize distortion and other disturbances with audio processing to keep music clean, crisp and true. The Nova 2 Plus also supports aptX wireless Bluetooth technology for lower latency.
Huawei has also worked with Rainer Maillard, a Grammy award-winning musician for mixing the device’s key sounds.
Needless to say, but you will need a good pair of headphones to enjoy audio at it's fullest on the Nova 2 Pro. The lonesome bottom-mounted speaker to the right of the USB-C port is reasonably loud and produces better audio than many phones, but doesn't do justice to what the phone is capable of. Neither does the generic bundles pair of earphones.
Huawei has its own Music app that allows you to play music stored on the device but there really isn't much reason to use this over apps such as Anghami, Google Play Music or even Apple Music that allow you to stream music.
In fact, we're a bit surprised that Huawei didn't partner up with the likes of Anghami in the region considering the strong focus on the audio capabilities of the Nova 2 Pro.
While audio is a great selling point for the Huawei Nova 2 Plus, it isn't necessarily well equipped to tackle the demands of the latest games. The Kirin 659 chipset is good for casual and less demanding games, but newer games don't run as smoothly and we noticed frame drops as well as sluggish response to controls.
The Nova 2 Plus also got noticeably warm when playing high-end games and running benchmarks, but not to the point of being uncomfortable to hold. If you want a phone that plays demanding games, you're better off buying something else.
Specs and benchmark performance
- Good overall performance
- Kirin 659 isn't meant for high-end performance
Expectedly, the Huawei Nova 2 Plus doesn't come equipped with the company's flagship CPU which is the Kirin 960 that is reserved for the likes of the Huawei Mate 9 and the Huawei P10 Plus.
Instead, the phone runs on the mid-end Kirin 659 which offers performance levels of the Snapdragon 625- the same CPU found on the first generation of the the Huawei Nova.
The chipset is tuned more for general performance and coupled with 4GB RAM, that is evident by the smooth UI experience on using the phone. However when pushed with demanding apps and games, the CPU struggles to keep up.
The Nova 2 Plus's average Geekbench multicore benchmark score of 3,258 is barely higher that the previous generation of Nova which scored 3,105 with it's Snapdragon 625 CPU. It's also quite a bit lower than the Kirin 960 that averages over 6,600 in Geekbench.
