Here’s what to expect with the gorgeous Huawei nova 8i that’s coming to Malaysia
Midrange phones are very much still in demand as not everyone needs a top of the line blower or have the pockets deep enough to own one. In that regard, Huawei has had quite a history in creating an array of affordable yet decently powered phones with their nova series.
Here’s a walk down memory lane of notable models in their nova series line-up as well as what we know so far about their upcoming nova 8i that will be arriving globally and in Malaysia in the near future.
A walk down memory lane with the nova series – from nova 2 to nova 8i
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Originally created as an adjunct, affordable alternative to their higher end P-series and Mate-series phones, the nova series were circa sub-RM2,000 phones that leveraged on the materials design and tech that are typically deployed first in the aforementioned higher end phones. There are, of course multiple variants based on region so an exhaustive historical look at every nova series phone would be out of the scope of this feature – instead, here’s a highlight of the most popular ones year on year from its earliest years in Malaysia as all the way to what will launch soon.
nova 2i
The nova 2i stood out in 2017 as it had dual cameras on both its front and rear. The rear had a 13MP+2MP camera array like the nova 2 lite but upguns the front with a 16MP+2MP depth sensor for selfies. The display was a 5.99-inch FHD+ panel with the phone running on a Kirin 659 chip with 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage. At RM1,299 it was cheaper than many other midrangers in the market at the time.
nova 2 lite
The nova 2 lite came at RM799 which was a steal for its time with a 5.99-inch display, a Snapdragon 430 CPU, 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage and a rear 13MP+2MP dual camera with an 8MP front camera. That and a swanky metallic blue finish which was posh for 2018.
nova 3i
The nova 3i marks the start of notched displays in the nova range with a 6.3-inch FHD+ display up front, a midrange Kriin 710 chip, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage and a dual rear camera setup with a 16MP+2MP array while the front features a dual 24MP+2MP array for selfies. Launched near the tail end of 2018, the nova 3i retailed at RM1,249 which was a pretty decent price tag for the era.
nova 4
The Huawei nova 4i debuted in early 2019 and made headlines as one of the first phones in the country to have a punch hole cutout in the 6.4-inch FHD+ display for the 25MP selfie camera. The hardware was a Kirin 970 SoC with 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage while the rear had a triple camera setup with a 20MP primary, a 16MP wide angle and 2MP depth sensor. The price was also bumped up to RM1,899 which was a bit of a markup.
nova 5t
Launched in August 2019, the nova 5T pared the price down to RM1,599 and came with quite a bit of value for what you paid for. You have a large 6.26-inch FHD+ display with a punchhole for the 32MP selfie camera, a Kirin 980 SoC which was notable for being one of the growing processors at the time with a neural processing unit, 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. The rear camera array consists of a primary 48-MP camera F/1.8 camera, a secondary 16-MP F/2.2 with a wide angle lens, a 2-MP F/2.4 camera with a bokeh lens and a 2-MP F/2.4 macro lens for close-up shots at 4cm distances.
nova 7i
The nova 7i pares the prices of the phone down even further to RM1,099 when it debuted early last year in time for Valentine’s Day in 2020. The Nova 7i has a 6.4-inch FHD+ IPS display with a punchhole for a selfie camera, a Kirin 810 octacore processor running their own EMUI user interface sans Google services, 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage. The rear features a a 48-MP, an ultra wide angle camera, macro camera and depth sensor.
nova 7
The nova 7 is their most recent phone released in mid-July 2020 last year and packed quite a bit of punch though it came at RM1,999. It has a 6.53-inch OLED display, a Kirin 985 SoC with a 5G modem, 8GB RAM and 256GB of storage. The rear had a 64MP camera, an 8MP wide angle, an 8MP with 3x optical zoom and a 2MP macro camera which is one of the most powerful mounted in the nova series which goes quite aways to justifying its lofty markup. The front sported a 32MP selfie camera and acts as a midway point short of the flagship P40 which debuted in the same year.
Huawei nova 8i – What we know so far
Huawei has revealed several details in an official statement for their next midrange phone that has been designated as the nova 8i along with a released image of the rear of the phone. The nova 8i will have what they call a 6.67-inch Edgeless display that has a 94.7% screen-to-body ratio and a 180Hz touch sampling rate.
The rear features what the brand calls a non-conductive vacuum metallisation (NCVM) process and a 4D curved design to have superior ergonomics with a rear quad camera array housed in a circular housing in the upper quadrant.
The quad camera on the rear is built around a 64MP main camera, an ultra wide angle camera, a macro camera and a depth camera with what Huawei calls Super Night Shot 2.0’ for good shots in low light settings.
Under the hood, the nova 8i is slated to appear with a Snapdragon octa-core processor of what vintage hasn’t been stated yet though it will likely be an Snapdragon 662 chip. Storage configurations according to Huawei consist of either a 6GB or 8GB RAM and 128GB of storage.
Barring these details, not much yet is known about the phone – we’ll keep you posted the moment we get any updates about the nova 8i.
Follow us for more updates and in the meantime, take a gander at Huawei Malaysia’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/HuaweiMobileMY