HUAWEI nova 11 unboxing: First impressions and quick review

HUAWEI launches its latest mid-range nova 11 series in the Philippines. The lineup consists of the nova 11i, nova 11, and nova 11 Pro.

The handsets debuted in China last April, so you might have heard of them already. But in this article, we’re focusing on the nova 11, the “middle child” of the lineup.

Inside the Box

The HUAWEI nova 11 comes in a clean white box with the HUAWEI and nova branding. The packaging includes the usual set of accessories, including the 66W fast charger.

• HUAWEI nova 11 unit
• Silicone case
• Fast Charger
• USB-C cable
• SIM eject tool
• Documentation

Initial Setup

Setting up the HUAWEI nova 11 for the first time is like any other HUAWEI phone experience. If you’ve previously come from another HUAWEI device, you can just log in using your HUAWEI ID and sync your contacts and files.

You’re also going to get your fair share of third-party apps, which you can just delete as per usual. It does slow down the initial setup but at this point, it no longer bothers me.

For those new to HUAWEI phones, they don’t come with Google services and apps, including the Play Store. So for apps, we have the AppGallery. The AppGallery is HUAWEI’s app distribution platform. It has most of the popular apps used today, including most social media, banking, and shopping apps, as well as most games.

As for Google apps, well, AppGallery can handle that too but it relies on another app called GBox. In a nutshell, GBox is a platform that can install and run apps that rely on Google Mobile Services (GMS), including Google apps like YouTube, Gmail, Maps, and more, and Netflix, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, among others. It should be safe to use, considering it passed HUAWEI’s safety standards.

First Impressions

The HUAWEI nova 11 is a sleek and stylish device that combines a light weight of 168 g and a thinness of 6.88 mm with a flat-edge design. Our review unit is in the green color variant with a frosted matte finish, which gives it a simple and refined look.

One of the highlights of the phone is its stunning 6.7-inch OLED display, which has a full HD+ resolution and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate. It also supports P3 wide color gamut, 1,440 Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, and HDR for a vivid and immersive viewing experience. The display has ultra-thin bezels of 1.75 mm on the top, 1.98 mm on the bottom, and 1.59 mm on the sides, resulting in a remarkable 93.4% screen-to-body ratio.

The display impresses with its vibrant and punchy colors and its decent brightness level. The high refresh rate also ensures smooth and responsive animations. And as a huge bonus, it has good-sounding stereo speakers as well.

Another highlight of the phone is its camera setup. It has a 60MP front camera with a wide 100-degree angle that fits in a tiny hole punch at the top center of the screen.

There’s also a dual camera setup on the back that consists of a 50MP Ultra Vision camera with an RYYB Colour Filter Array for enhanced light sensitivity and an 8MP ultra-wide macro sensor for close-up shots. It also has a laser focus sensor and a 10-channel color temperature sensor for accurate autofocus and white balance.

Camera Samples

The nova 11 runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 4G processor, which is a powerful mid-range chip that has four ARM Cortex-A78 cores and four small ARM Cortex-A55 cores with an Adreno 642L GPU. It can handle casual and graphics-heavy games with ease, as well as provide smooth daily performance.

The phone also comes with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It also has a large 4500mAh battery that supports 66W fast charging, which can fill up the battery in just 31 minutes, according to HUAWEI. The phone runs on EMUI 13.

That wraps up our first impressions of the HUAWEI nova 11. It is a stunning and powerful device that has a lot to offer. Stay tuned for our full review, where we will explore more of its features and performance.

Price

The HUAWEI nova 11 is priced at P24,999. It will be available online on June 21 to 29, and offline on June 23 to 29. It is bundled with a free Watch Fit new worth P4,999.

Also read: HUAWEI nova 11 Series launches in the Philippines: Now available for pre-order

The phone is coming to authorized retail outlets, and online on Shopee, Lazada, and the SM Malls Online App.

HUAWEI nova 11 Specs