Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro Smartphones Review – Huawei released the Nova 11 and 11 Pro series of smartphones on April 27, 2023. The Nova series of smartphones from the house of Huawei has always focused on the design and aesthetics part of the smartphone and that hasn’t changed with the Nova 11 and 11 Pro smartphones. If you are someone who prefers smartphones with attractive designs, then you will find these two new smartphones quite attractive.
That’s because the new smartphones bring an exciting new design that’s different from the same-old boring designs that every other smartphone seems to have. But design is just one aspect of what makes a great smartphone. The two new smartphones must be able to do well in the other aspects as well to become desirable choices of smartphones for a consumer. Let’s answer this question for you with a detailed review of the two smartphones. With that said, let’s head toward the Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro review to find out more details about these phones.
Table of Contents
Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro Smartphones Review
Highlights
- The Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro features a 6.7 and 6.78 inches OLED display respectively with 120Hz refresh rate support.
- Both smartphones are powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 4G chipset for smooth and fluid performance.
- The smartphones are running on the latest HarmonyOS 3.0, which is a fork of Android.
- The smartphone also features a dual-camera system with 50MP rear camera and a 60MP selfie camera.
- A Li-Po 4500 mAh battery powers both the Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro with 66W and 100W fast wired charging support respectively.
Design and Display
The Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro smartphones feature a new design that’s very sleek. In fact, the Nova 11 smartphone is quite slim at just 6.9mm and very lightweight at 168 grams. The Nova 11 Pro, on the other hand, is still slim at 7.9mm and also lightweight with around 188-193 grams.
The first upgrade that the Nova 11 Pro gets is the upgrade in display size. The Huawei Nova 11 has a 6.7-inch OLED display, while the Huawei Nova 11 Pro has a slightly larger 6.78- inches OLED display. Both display panel has support for 1 Billion colors support, HDR10, and 120Hz refresh rate support. The display of both smartphones is excellent and has great color accuracy. Both smartphones have the same color availability with Black, Green, Gold, and White options.
The Gold and Green colors, in particular, look exceptionally beautiful. The Nova 11 sports a flat design, with a flat display and flat back glass, while the Nova 11 Pro sports a curvier design with a curved display, sides, and back panel. The Nova 11 Pro can also be purchased in the eco-leather variant and both smartphones’ displays are protected by Kunlun glass.
Memory and Internal
The Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro smartphones are powered by the 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 778 4G chipset. Since they are using the 4G variant of the chipset, there’s no support for 5G on this smartphone. Besides this, the chipset is quite powerful and it can easily handle all the apps and games that you use on a day-to-day basis.
The Adreno 642L GPU will allow you to run all the popular games in the Android PlayStore. The smartphone comes with the latest HarmonyOS 3.0, which is based on the Android OS. Apart from that, the Nova 11 smartphone starts with 128GB of internal storage for the base variant, while the Nova 11 Pro starts with 256GB of internal storage for the base variant. You can also go for higher variants that come with 512GB internal storage.
Camera
Both smartphones have dual rear camera sensors on the back. The first one is the main 50MP wide sensor, which manages to take some exceptionally good pictures for the price with a wider dynamic range, excellent saturated colors, and stunning details. The second sensor is the 8MP ultra-wide sensor that can capture pictures with a 112Ëš ultra-wide field of view.
All in all, the rear cameras provide excellent camera performance considering the price it asks for. Even during the night, the cameras can capture some great pictures, thanks to the color sensor and night mode. For selfies, the front camera of both smartphones is equipped with a 60MP sensor that can take exceptional selfies with a good amount of detail, thanks to the availability of AutoFoucs.
The Nova 11 Pro has an additional 8MP selfie lens that the non-pro model doesn’t have and that’s the portrait sensor. It is capable of capturing decent portrait selfies with even skin tones. When it comes to video recording, the Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro can shoot up to 4K videos @30fps from both the main rear camera and the selfie camera. The footage recorded from both cameras is quite stable as they feature gyro-EIS.
Battery and Others
Both smartphones have Li-Po 4500 mAh battery that can last the smartphone for about 2 days with general usage. But, if you play a lot of games, you will need to charge again at the end of the day as gaming consumes a lot of power. Speaking of charging, the 11 and 11 Pro supports 66W and 100W of fast-wired charging respectively.
With the 66W fast charger, the Nova 11 can be charged up to 50% in just 31 minutes, while the 100W fast charger can charge the Nova 11 Pro up to 50% in 15 minutes. Such charging speeds will come in handy when you are late for the office and need to quickly top off the battery. Apart from that, you also get Wi-Fi 6, an under-display fingerprint sensor, Bluetooth 5.2, stereo speakers, NFC, GPS, and USB Type C port for charging. The price of the Huawei Nova 11 smartphone starts at $399 (Rs 32,799 in India) approx. while the Nova 11 Pro starts at $539 (Rs 44,199 in India) approx.
Huawei Nova 11 Pro Pros and Cons
Huawei Nova 11 Pro Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Huawei Nova 11 Pro smartphone.
| Specifications | Huawei Nova 11 Pro |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Announced | April 2023 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.47 x 2.93 x 0.31 inches |
| Weight | 188-193 g |
| Size | 6.78 inches |
| Display | OLED 1B colors HDR10 120Hz ~429 PPI density |
| Protection | Kunlun Glass |
| Resolution | 1200 x 2652 pixels |
| OS | HarmonyOS 3.0 |
| Chipset | 6nm – Qualcomm SM7325 Snapdragon 778G 4G |
| CPU | Octa-core 4×2.4 GHz Kryo 670 4×1.8 GHz Kryo 670 |
| GPU | Adreno 642L |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Internal | 256GB, 512GB |
| Camera | 50 MP (wide), PDAF, Laser AF 8 MP (112° ultrawide), AF LED flash, panorama, HDR Max – 4K, gyro-EIS |
| Selfie | 8 MP (portrait), AF 60 MP (100° ultrawide) AF HDR Max – 4K@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| Loudspeaker | Yes (Stereo speakers) |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/a/6, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct |
| Bluetooth | 5.2, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS (L1), BDS (B1I+B1c+B2a) GALILEO (E1+E5a), QZSS (L1+L5), NavIC |
| NFC | Yes, NFC-SIM, HCE |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0, OTG |
| Sensors | Under display fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro compass, color spectrum Virtual proximity sensing |
| Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh 100W wired Reverse Wired |
| Colors | Black, Green, White, Gold |
| Expected Price | $539 (Rs 44,199 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Huawei Nova 11 and 11 Pro smartphones not only provide a great design but also provides the right specs for every aspect of OLED displays to exceptional cameras, there’s very little to complain about. Sure, the smartphones lack official IP rating or wireless charging, but you can’t expect that at these prices anyway, at least not for the Nova 11.
However, Nova 11 Pro is quite a bit costlier than the Nova 11 non-pro and for that, we did expect the company to include either an official IP rating or wireless charger. Also, both devices lack support for 5G connectivity. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE smartphone seems like a better alternative. Not to mention, in many countries, Huawei smartphones may not be available. Though you get a decent set of specs, still there are better options available in the market at this price segment.
