Huawei has been on a tear of late when it comes to launching new phones for the mid-range and entry-level spaces. So much so that you could get a little lost by the sheer volume of options that the Chinese manufacturer has brought to our shores of late.
This coupled with the swathe of new mid-range phones that have entered the market of late means that there are plenty of options to choose from, but for companies like Huawei, it becomes increasingly difficult to stand out from the crowd.
The latest device vying for attention from Huawei is the Nova Y70 Plus, but does it have enough about it to leave a lasting impression?
We spent the past couple of weeks with the Nova Y70 Plus to find out.
Nova core
Starting as always with design and Huawei has not gone for anything too drastic here.
There is indeed the look and feel of a Nova series, but the camera housing and frame of the device is a little more understated than what we have seen to date. Said frame is still metal, but the back cover is hardened plastic with a high sheen to replicate the look of glass.
All in all it is a fairly premium feeling device with its 6.75″ HD+ display (1600×720), although there are a few elements that are normally seen on slightly older devices.
On this front a fingerprint sensor is embedded into the power button instead of under the display like most P series phones. Added to this is a dewdrop-esque screen notch, which is also a design element from some of Huawei’s older devices.
As such, given the price point of the Nova Y70 Plus there are a few concessions to be made and some general give and take in order to offer a solid all-around smartphone.
Looking at some of the other key specifications of the device, an octa-core processor is present delivering 1.70Ghz and 2.0Ghz, each over four cores. Added to this is 4GB RAM and 128GB onboard storage.
The mix yields a relatively solid in-hand experience in terms of speed and responsiveness, with no real sluggishness being encountered. That said, multitasking was a little less rapid than we had hoped, but not enough to frustrate or cause concerns.
In terms of our benchmarking, unfortunately the AppGallery only affords access to GeekBench, with no availability for 3DMark, which we regularly use in benchmarking phones for review too.
As for the GeekBench results, it garnered single-core and multi-core scores of 295 and 1 294 respectively. To give you an idea of comparable performance, the Huawei Nova Y9a and Vivo Y33s were only slightly better.
One area that the Nova Y70 Plus punches above its weight is the battery, with a massive 6 000mAh unit present. Normally the peak is 5 000mAh in this price range, but the extra on offer here means two full days of use was more than easily achieved during our review period.
Much like the Huawei smartwatches that are known for their fortnight of battery life, the Nova Y70 Plus is capable of outclassing similarly priced phones.
A spotty OS
We now shift to the software and the fact that Huawei has turned to its own HMS ecosystem to deliver the experience on this front should be well known.
There are still some growing pains to this aspect of the phone, with the issues not only limited to the Y70 Plus but many of the newer Huawei phones launched of late too.
Here we need to highlight the frequency with which we need to toggle off personalised ads and tailored experiences on HMS. We understand that this is the norm across all mobile operating systems, but on the Y70 Plus it simply feels a little overwhelming, especially when setting up the phone.
Added to this is a mammoth amount of bloatware, with the UI trying to force as many new apps on you as possible. It definitely reminds of the days when every manufacturer use to skin their own version of Android and push a lot of unnecessary elements your way.
While most can be ignored or uninstalled, it does mean that instead of trying to get to know the UI of HMS, your first couple of hours with the phone will be spent on admin cleaning up the device as needed.
Then there is course the elephant in the room, one we have mentioned on more than one occasion on recent Huawei phone reviews, a lack of full support for the Google ecosystem.
There are ways around this like the APK downloading functionality, and if you have the inclination to learn some of the workarounds, you can indeed get a rich phone experience.
The problem really comes down to how much you like the brand and whether you have the will to try something that is not necessarily straightforward.
One area that is not a concern is the camera performance, with Huawei squeezing every bit of quality from the trio of lenses on the rear – 48MP primary, 5MP ultra-wide and 2MP depth sensing.
Rapid while capturing solid images in a variety of conditions, on this front, the Y70 Plus punches above its weight, delivering a good photography experience.
Final verdict
At R5 499 (RRP) the Huawei Nova Y70 Plus is one of the better options available in the mid-range space locally.
At any other time it would be a wise pick up, but given the sheer volume of great mid-range phones on the market of late, for a little extra money you can pick up a better alternative.
Added to this is HMS and the AppGallery, which continues to find its feet and needs to iron out some kinks as far as UI and user experience are concerned.
When weighed against the similarly priced and specced options out there that don’t need workarounds to deliver the full Google experience, the Nova Y70 Plus is a little off the pace.
