Huawei Nova – Camera

Camera tech is another area in which the Nova falls behind. The 12-megapixel rear camera isn’t terrible, but it just doesn’t match the performance of rivals, such as the Vodafone Smart Platinum 7 and OnePlus 3.

It works well enough in decent lighting. In such conditions the camera is fast, although the autofocus can take a millisecond longer than I’d like to kick in. The camera doesn’t oversharpen photos and captures fairly accurate colours, meaning photos are good enough for use on social media.

In even moderately low light, however, the camera all but falls apart. In dim conditions the autofocus goes haywire and regularly refused to focus on my intended subject. Even when it did noise crept in and the captured photos were unusable. In true low light things become worse, with the Nova’s camera failing to match phones close to half its price, such as the Moto G4 Plus.

The poor low-light performance is a shame since the Nova comes with some pretty cool camera modes designed for night-time photography. The coolest of these is light painting.

Light painting instructs the camera to continue shooting until the user manually instructs it to stop. The resulting effect is an artistic photo displaying moving light – like an extended exposure shot on a DSLR. The setting has never been 100% reliable, even on Huawei’s flagship P9. But it’s particularly troublesome to use on the Nova and generally leads to pixellated blurry messes.

The 8-megapixel front camera is more than good enough for selfies in regular light, but again, fails to impress in low light. If you plan on capturing selfies with buddies in bars or clubs, the Nova isn’t a great choice.

In regular light the camera is usable

It doesn’t oversharpen, although colours are a little dull

But it struggles in even slightly challenging conditions

In dark conditions, the autofocus gives completely

The front camera also isn’t great in low light