OPPO F9 v/s Huawei Nova 3i: after using both devices for a while, here’s our experience

Above are the on paper different between two mid-rangers from two different Chinese Manufacturer. Both the Huawei and Oppo are marketing their device Nova 3i and Oppo F9 in the Nepalese market. Though you can see the comparison between both the devices on the basis of their specification but can know how both of them perform actually in the day to day life. So here is our view on the comparison between the devices based on our usage.

Design and Built

Design of is device is the key component for marketing, as a result of the mid-rangers looks not less than the premium range devices. Same is with both devices, both Nova 3i and Oppo F9 looks great. But in hand experience is somewhat different between two devices, where Oppo F9 uses the plastic body and the Nova 3i is sandwiched between glasses on front and back with some visually pleasing colors like iris purple.

On the display side, both the devices use same 6.3-in IPS LCD Display. Though both devices use similar display, in our experience with the devices, we found Nova had upper hand with a slighter better display. And yes, both the devices have notches, where Nova 3i have bigger notch then the raindrop notch on Oppo F9. But the bigger notch holds two lenses and other sensors, which raindrop notch of Oppo hold only one camera and all the sensors on them.

To devices these days, notches are essential part not matter big or small, one definitely comes with the device. In up to the user to go for smaller or bigger notch or dual camera or a just single lens.

Performance

Both the devices packs similar type of SoC, where Nova 3i packs in-house Hisilicon Kirin 710 chipset and Oppo F9 packs Mediatek Helio P60 chipset. The Kirin 710 is an octa-core processor with four Cortex-A73 2.2GHz cores combined with four Cortex-A53 1.7GHz cores and MediaTek Helio P60 is an octa-core processor with four Cortex-A73 2.0GHz cores combined with four Cortex-A53 2.0GHz. Both the chipsets are built on the 12nm FinFET process, but in real life, the performance of Kirin 710 with the company’s GPU Turbo Technology is comparatively better than Helio P60.

The Oppo F9 has 4GB RAM coupled with 64GB ROM, while Nova 3i comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, which means storage will not be an issue on the Nova 3i. Lack of the DRM L1 certificate on Oppo F9, due to which you can’t stream media at FHD resolution over platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Plus, the lack of Dual-band Wi-Fi makes even the connectivity a bomber, the presence of which gives the Nova 3i another set of pros.

One of the major factors for the enhancement of any devices is the OS of the device. Though, both Nova 3i and Oppo F9 runs on Android 8.1 (Oreo), both of them have custom skins on the top of Android OS. The Oppo F9 runs on ColorOS 5.2 whereas Nova 3i runs on EMUI 8.2. Both the skins, bring tons of several functionalities like face unlock, App Lock, Dual Apps, etc. but EMUI takes the lead with a better user experience over the ColorOS which feels half-baked.

Camera

Both the device uses dual camera setup for the primary photography, whereas for selfies, Nova 3i uses the dual camera and Oppo F9 opted for the only lens on the front to adopt is raindrop notch. On the rear Oppo F9 packs a 16MP primary sensor with a 2MP depth sensor and the Nova 3i have a dual setup of a 16MP primary camera and a secondary 2MP dedicated depth sensor. Though the Oppo F9 has wider lenses for better low light shots the with an aperture of f/2.2 and inbuilt AI on the lenses, Nova 3i captures better photos.

The Nova 3i has dual 24MP + 2MP cameras on the front and Oppo F9 has a single 25 MP cameras in the front. Though both the devices have features like portrait mode, pro mode, panorama, 3D emoji, AI scene detection etc., the extra sensor on the front makes difference for Nova 3i with better shots.

 Battery

On the battery department, the Oppo F9 has the advantage over the Nova 3i. With the Oppo F9, the company packs 3400mAh which are bigger than 3340mAh battery on the Nova 3i. Along with the bigger battery, the Oppo F9 has one of industry’s fastest charging technology VOOC charging. Although, both devices can last the entire day easily with battery packed inside them.

Verdict

No matter was the comparison results are, with the head to head results between them its ultimately up to the customer itself. Nova 3i has taken design and performance category and Oppo F9 having upper hand on the battery sides, price is last base for the difference between them. With Nova 3i costing Rs.38,900 and Oppo F9 costing Rs.41589, Nova 3i is a better price for the value over Oppo F9.