Huawei Nova 12i Review: Affordable Power with Style and Performance

The Huawei Nova 12i is a stylish and affordable mid-range smartphone that delivers a great balance of design, performance, and features. As part of Huawei’s popular Nova Series, this device aims to provide users with a premium-like experience without breaking the bank. Whether you’re a social media enthusiast, a content creator, or someone who needs a reliable phone for daily tasks, the Huawei Nova 12i has something to offer. In this review, we’ll dive deep into the phone’s design, performance, camera quality, battery life, and overall value to determine if the Nova 12i is a good choice for your next smartphone.

Overview of the Huawei Nova 12i

The Huawei Nova 12i is positioned in the mid-range segment, offering a combination of powerful features typically found in more expensive smartphones. With its sleek design, impressive camera capabilities, and solid performance, the Nova 12i is designed to cater to consumers who want a high-quality smartphone at an affordable price. Its standout features include a high-resolution display, fast charging, and AI-driven cameras, making it a strong contender in the competitive mid-range smartphone market.

Design and Display

The Huawei Nova 12i boasts a modern and attractive design, with a premium glass back and a metal frame that gives the device a sleek and polished look. Available in multiple color options, the Nova 12i provides an aesthetic appeal that will attract users who value both style and functionality.

The phone features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display that offers vibrant colors, decent contrast, and sharp details. While it may not have the OLED technology of higher-end devices, the IPS LCD screen provides an excellent viewing experience with good brightness levels, making it suitable for daily use such as social media browsing, video streaming, and web surfing. The Full HD+ resolution ensures that images and text are crisp, even when viewing content from a distance.

While the refresh rate is capped at 60Hz, the display still performs well in everyday tasks. For users who are accustomed to high refresh rates (e.g., 90Hz or 120Hz), the 60Hz refresh rate might feel a bit slow when scrolling through apps or browsing. However, this is not a dealbreaker given the phone’s price point.

Performance and Software

Under the hood, the Huawei Nova 12i is powered by the MediaTek Helio G85 chipset, which provides reliable performance for a variety of tasks. While the Helio G85 may not compete with high-end processors such as the Snapdragon 888 or Kirin 9000, it’s more than capable of handling day-to-day tasks like social media browsing, web surfing, and casual gaming. The phone comes with 4GB or 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, offering sufficient memory and space for apps, photos, videos, and other files. The storage can be expanded using a microSD card, which is a handy feature for users who require extra space.

The Huawei Nova 12i runs on HarmonyOS 2.0, Huawei’s custom operating system, which is designed to deliver a seamless, user-friendly experience. HarmonyOS provides a clean, intuitive interface and supports a variety of smart features like split-screen multitasking, app cloning, and a smart assistant. However, one of the key challenges for non-Huawei users is the lack of Google services and access to the Google Play Store, which may limit the availability of some popular apps. Instead, users can rely on Huawei’s AppGallery, which continues to grow in terms of app availability, but may still be a limitation for some.

Camera Performance

The Huawei Nova 12i comes equipped with a 48MP primary camera and a 2MP depth sensor for portrait shots. The primary camera captures sharp, detailed photos with vibrant colors and good dynamic range. Thanks to AI-enhanced photography, the camera system is capable of automatically adjusting settings to suit the scene, allowing users to take better photos with minimal effort.

While the camera setup is straightforward, it’s more than adequate for users who enjoy taking social media photos, casual shots, and family portraits. The 2MP depth sensor helps create a more natural bokeh effect in portrait shots, enhancing the overall image quality. The phone also supports a variety of shooting modes, including Night Mode, which improves low-light photography by brightening up images and reducing noise.

For selfies, the Huawei Nova 12i features a 16MP front-facing camera, which performs well in most conditions. The AI beauty mode can smooth skin tones and enhance facial features for flattering selfies, and the camera captures sharp, vibrant details in well-lit environments. However, the selfie camera may struggle a bit in low-light situations, resulting in grainier images.

In terms of video, the Nova 12i supports 1080p video recording at 30fps. While it doesn’t support 4K video, the 1080p recording is perfectly adequate for everyday use, offering smooth and clear videos for social media or personal vlogs.

Battery Life and Charging

The Huawei Nova 12i features a 5000mAh battery, which offers excellent endurance for a mid-range smartphone. Under typical usage, including browsing, texting, and occasional video streaming, the phone easily lasts a full day without the need for recharging. Even with more intensive use, such as gaming or media consumption, the battery holds up well and can last a significant amount of time.

Another major highlight of the Nova 12i is its fast charging capability. The phone supports 40W fast charging, allowing users to charge the device from 0% to 50% in just about 30 minutes. Full charging takes a bit longer, but the fast charging speed is a big advantage, ensuring that you won’t spend too much time plugged into the wall. Unfortunately, the phone does not support wireless charging, but the wired fast charging feature more than compensates for this limitation.

Connectivity and Additional Features

The Huawei Nova 12i supports 4G LTE connectivity, which is sufficient for most users in regions where 5G networks aren’t yet widely available. It also supports dual SIM functionality, which is great for users who want to manage two phone numbers on the same device. Other features include Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 5, and NFC for contactless payments and easy pairing with compatible devices.

For security, the phone offers face unlock and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner for quick and secure access to the device. The fingerprint scanner is responsive and works well, even with wet or slightly oily fingers.

Conclusion: Should You Buy the Huawei Nova 12i?

The Huawei Nova 12i offers an impressive set of features for its price, including a solid 48MP camera, a large 5000mAh battery, and 40W fast charging. Its modern design and AI-driven photography make it a strong contender in the mid-range smartphone market. While it lacks some of the high-end features found in flagship models, such as a high refresh rate display or 5G connectivity, the Nova 12i excels in delivering reliable performance for everyday tasks.

For users who are not dependent on Google services, the HarmonyOS offers an interesting alternative to traditional Android, with seamless integration into Huawei’s broader ecosystem. If you’re looking for an affordable smartphone that doesn’t compromise on style, camera quality, or battery life, the Huawei Nova 12i is definitely worth considering.

In conclusion, the Huawei Nova 12i is an excellent option for budget-conscious consumers who want a reliable, stylish phone with a great camera and long battery life. It’s a well-rounded device that offers great value for money, making it one of the best mid-range smartphones available today.