Huawei Nova 12 SE Smartphone Review – Huawei Nova 12 SE was announced in March 2024 and later on sale in the first week of April 2024. Huawei has announced that the smartphone will launch globally and will be available in a few countries. This smartphone is designed to be an affordable alternative smartphone with an elegant design that impresses anyone who looks at it.
So, features a very premium and gorgeous design but the same cannot be said about the internals. There had to be some compromises to fit the budget price tag and unfortunately, it had to be the chipset. The chipset that they put in has no 5G modern, so there’s no 5G connectivity here. However, Huawei claims it’s a very impressive smartphone for its price tag. So, let’s begin with a detailed review of the Huawei Nova 12 SE smartphone and see if this smartphone is worth purchasing.
Table of Contents
Huawei Nova 12 SE Smartphone Review
Highlights
- The Huawei Nova 12 SE smartphone features a 6.67-inch OLED display with a refresh rate of 90Hz.
- This smartphone features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G chipset that is capable of reaching clock speeds of 4×2.4 GHz.
- The Huawei Nova 12 SE comes loaded with EMUI 14 without any Google apps or Google Play services.
- This smartphone has a 108MP triple rear camera setup with a 32MP selfie camera.
- The Huawei Nova 12 SE has Li-Po 4500mAh and supports a 66W wired fast charging.
Design and Display
The design is the one area where the Huawei Nova 12 SE excels. Huawei wanted to impress its users with the design and they did way more than what we expected it to. It features a flat design with chamfered edges that provide a more comfortable grip. The body of the smartphone is made of polycarbonate and glass materials and it feels solid in hand.
The flat design also makes the phone non-slippery and easy to hold for hours. On the front, you get a 6.67-inch OLED display with a 90Hz high refresh rate for a better user experience. This display panel features an FHD+ resolution with up to 1 Billion colors, so watching content on the screen will be quite the experience. The smartphone comes in two colors, Green and Black.
Memory and Internal
The Huawei Nova 12 SE adopted the Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G chipset, which is a budget chipset and has clock speeds of up to 4×2.4 GHz. It features an octa-core CPU configuration and is capable of running all your favorite apps and games flawlessly. Also, the heat is kept under control most of the time, so the chipset can flex its wings and deliver solid performance.
Whether that’s browsing the web, running multiple apps, or gaming, the chipset breezes through every task. Speaking of gaming, the Adreno 610 GPU can run all your games, including PUBGm, Summoners War, CODm, and even Genshin Impact but may not be at high graphical fidelity. But at lower graphical settings, the smartphone will provide decent framerates.
The smartphone is available for purchase with only 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. The smartphone also comes loaded with EMUI 14 without any Google apps or Google Play services. They are replaced by Huawei’s homegrown apps and services.
Camera
The Huawei Nova 12 SE features a 108MP triple rear-camera system. The main camera has a 108MP sensor, which is properly optimized to capture more light than usual. So, it takes some great shots with a high dynamic range, higher detail levels, and saturated colors. This level of performance level can also be seen during night photography.
The sensor optimization along with the night mode algorithm allows the camera sensor to capture amazing shots during the night. So, the rear camera performance won’t disappoint, whether that’s during the day or night. However, the same cannot be said for the ultrawide camera, which has an 8MP sensor. It takes average shots at best and compared to the main camera, its detail levels are not up to par and the color tone looks out of place.
On the front, there’s a 32MP selfie camera that is quite decent and the selfie taken from it has great details and colors. For video shooting, the phone manages to shoot up to 1080p@30FPS from both the back and the selfie camera. To keep the video footage stable, the main rear camera has gyro-EIS, which is not as good as OIS, but it’s better than nothing.
Battery and Others
There’s a decent Li-Po 4500 mAh battery inside the Huawei Nova 12 SE, which should easily last for around 1 – 3 days depending on your usage. If you are a light user and mainly use it for camera, music, and a bit of social media, then the smartphone may last up to three days. But if you are a heavy user and play a lot of games, then the battery will drain a lot faster and won’t even last a full day.
However, the smartphone supports 66W fired fast charging, which can fully charge the smartphone in just 32 minutes, which is quite astonishing. Apart from that, the smartphone has support for dual-band Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, NFC, and a USB Type-C connector for charging. The smartphone will start at $287 (Rs 23,999 in India) approx.
Huawei Nova 12 SE Pros and Cons
Huawei Nova 12 SE Specifications Detail
Down below you can see the full specifications of the Huawei Nova 12 SE smartphone.
| Specifications | Huawei Nova 12 SE |
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G |
| Announced | March 2024 |
| SIM | Dual SIM |
| Dimensions | 6.39 x 2.97 x 0.29 inches |
| Weight | 186 g |
| Size | 6.67 inches |
| Display | OLED 1B colors 90Hz 20:9 ratio ~395 PPI density |
| Protection | No |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| OS | EMUI 14, no Google Play Services |
| Chipset | 6nm – Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 4G |
| CPU | Octa-core 4×2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 4×1.9 GHz Cortex-A53 |
| GPU | Adreno 610 |
| Card slot | No |
| RAM | 8GB |
| Internal | 256GB |
| Camera | 108 MP (wide), PDAF 8 MP (112Ëšultrawide) 2 MP (macro) LED flash, HDR, panorama Max – 1080p@30fps, gyro-EIS |
| Selfie | 32 MP (wide) Max – 1080p@30fps |
| Loudspeaker | Yes |
| 3.5mm jack | No |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band |
| Bluetooth | 5.0, A2DP, LE |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS, QZSS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Infrared port | No |
| Radio | No |
| USB | USB Type-C 2.0 |
| Sensors | Side-mounted fingerprint, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Li-Po 4500 mAh 66W wired 5W reverse wired |
| Colors | Green, Black |
| Expected Price | $287 (Rs 23,999 in India) approx |
Conclusion
The Huawei Nova 12 SE is a smartphone that is designed to impress people and it surely does with beautiful craftsmanship and design. You could even say it’s an 8/10 in terms of pure looks, but we can’t say the same about the internals. It has a decently good display but it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Other smartphones in the same price range provide a much higher refresh rate.
The same goes for the chipset, battery, and charging capabilities, which are far better in other smartphones. That’s not to say that the ones in this smartphone are bad, it’s just that the competition is a lot better and has better prices. The only main selling points of this smartphone are its design and camera and they are good.
For all that it provides, is the pricing of this smartphone justified? No, but if you can find the smartphone at a discount, then it could be worth it. The best alternative to this smartphone would be the newly launched Samsung Galaxy M55. It comes with a little high pricing but provides a better display, processor, cameras, and even battery. It is a better smartphone in every way. However, the final decision is up to you, so it is better to choose a smartphone based on your needs and requirements.
