The Mate 50 Pro may be getting a lot of attention following its recent launch, but Huawei actually released another device for the entry level market that is just as interesting.
We are talking about the Huawei nova Y61.
Yes, the nova and Y series, has now been streamlined to provide an even more compelling option for the Gen Z crowds looking for a new smartphone.
Last year we saw the beginnings of the new HUAWEI nova Y series, which fuses the ultimate pursuit of beauty of the HUAWEI nova series with the HUAWEI Y series’ battery performance and fast-charging capabilities.
This genesis marks HUAWEI’s ever-evolving mission to bring more diverse and trendy products to its younger consumers.
The result is the HUAWEI nova Y61—a fusion of technology with practical features like an improved camera technology, smooth user experience and battery life– and fashion with its exquisite design and appearance.
Does the nova Y61 live up to the legacy of the two popular series and Why Seek One? (get it?)
WHAT’S IN THE BOX?
The Huawei nova Y61 comes in a white box with a render of the product in front and branding. Inside you’ll find the smartphone unit, paper documents, clear jelly case, sim tray ejector tool, and USB-C cable.
Our review unit didn’t come with the wall adaptor but Huawei says the retail units will include a 22.5 Fast Charger.
DESIGN AND BUILD:
The Huawei nova Y61 measures 164.28mm x 75.8mm x 8.94mm, which is about the standard size of smartphones and still relatively lightweight at 188g. Its slim profile makes it quite portable and just the right size for daily use as it can still easily fit your jeans pocket.
The structural design according to the brand is inspired by modern architecture. The boxy frame will immediately draw comparison with the iPhone and a lot of this year’s Android offerings but on top of its grand design concept, the delicate yet minimalist rims give the device a modern touch.
The back panel wraps around its entire frame and Huawei calls this finish the Star Effect design which is a tribute to the universe much like the rest of the nova series. When placed under light, the back panels glow exquisitely reminding us of a bright shimmering star in a distant galaxy.
It is available in 3 brand new colorways; Midnight Black that is reminiscent of a quiet night sky full of stars; Sapphire Blue like the precious gemstone often seen on royals and glamourwear and the one we have is the trendy Mint Green a light, pastel green hue inspired by the colors of nature.
The Mint Green might as well be the favorite as its quite unique and refreshing compared to other colorways in its price point. The matte finish also prevents unnecessary smudges and fingerprints.
Exploring the phone’s ports and buttons, you’ll find the volume rocker and power button / fingerprint scanner on the right side. While on the left is the hybrid SIM card tray where you can either have two nano SIM or one nano SIM and MicroSD card. Located on the bottom is the mic, USB type-C port, and 3.5mm audio jack. The loud speaker occupies the top of the phone.
Overall, the Huawei nova Y61 is a well-designed and well-built phone that’s slim, comfortable to hold and looks more premium than its price tag.
DISPLAY
The HUAWEI nova Y61 comes with a 6.52-inch screen with a resolution of 1600x720p with HD+ built in. Its got nice colors, decent viewing angles and our viewing experience watching HUAWEI videos was quite enjoyable. What deserves mention is that on top of this high-definition viewing experience, it also has a few new features like the 8x Ultra High-Resolution Touching Control and Intelligent Dimming Control. This touch control is powered by Huawei’s THP algorithm scheme and TP super resolution technology resulting in pixel-level precision and a smoother touch experience. The touchscreen is now 8 times more stable, which spells good news for those who enjoy shooter games.
Huawei’s unique 10,000-level dimming technology on the other hand allows the screen brightness adjuster to be more sensitive and smoother and can be extended from 4,096 to 10,000 levels. It can even record your dimming preferences in different lighting environments and generate benchmarks for their preference.
For those who love reading books, it also has a built in e-book Mode for a paper-like reading experience for a more comfortable and focused viewing experience.
Users can also turn on Eye Comfort Mode to reduce the blue pixels of the image, effectively reducing the proportion of blue light, providing better eye protection.
CAMERAS:
The Huawei nova Y61 has a triple rear camera layout headlined by a 50MP AI Camera +2MP depth + 2MP Macro camera. All of which are contained in a slightly protruding square island with the camera layout again resembling a similar pattern to the iPhone. As for the front camera, it has a 5MP selfie camera.
There are several camera modes you can access like Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Aperture, Slow-Mo, Panorama, Light Painting, Time-Lapse, Moving Picture, Stickers, Super Macro, and High-Res modes. I do like that it already has a QR scanner which you can access by tapping the icon in the upper left corner in Photo mode. Besides QR codes, the AI Lens can also do instant translation, shopping suggestions and even recognize food items and show you the calorie content.
If you’ve ever used a Huawei phone then you know you can expect a set of capable cameras.
Here are some photo samples taken using the Huawei nova Y61:
Photo quality is good enough for its price range but to get the best results, outdoors and brightly lit environments are the best places to take photos.
Quality suffers indoors but you can still get usable shots because it switches to NightMode to allow the camera produce a brighter image. You do need a steady hand as it will take about 5 seconds to capture an image so its best to use a tripod.
To use the full 50MP camera, you need to select High-Res mode. This results in even better photo quality with much sharper details.
As for the two other cameras, it’s easy to dismiss them as spec stuffers, but the depth sensor actually works in tandem with the 50MP main shooter to produce an acceptable blurred bokeh effect that separates your subject with the background. It’s good when it works but it can be a hit or miss so better take several photos every time just to be sure. I also tried the 2MP macro lens and was able to get okay results outdoors.
Now, I do have a bit of love/hate with its 5MP selfie camera, not because it’s bad, but because even if I maxxed out the beauty level, it still couldn’t mask the allergies on my eyes. Unlike other phones which already turn you into KPOP looking wax figures at level 7, so I guess the AI on the Huawei nova Y61 isn’t as aggressive. Switching to portrait mode also shows decent background separation.
REAL 6GB RAM
You’ve probably heard about virtual RAM or how other phones use remaining storage to augment its RAM well the Huawei nova Y61 has a real 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage to keep everything running smoothly without eating up on your precious storage space. With 6GB of RAM on tap, opening apps or games and switching between them is seamless. This also means you can keep multiple apps open without having to worry about losing progress even on resource-intensive ones like streaming apps, navigation, and web browsing.
This also makes casual gaming a breeze and you can enjoy most games without lag because the 6GB RAM is more than enough to handle a lot of the top games without stutter. We tried Asphalt 9, Mobile Legends and some shooter games and didn’t encounter any slowdown on its default settings.
It ships with Huawei’s proprietary EMUI 12 which gives you a lot of customization options. Navigation is also quite intuitive and easy to get used to. The control panel and notification bar are separated, you can access the control panel by pulling down on the top right side and the notification bar on the top left side. Swipe down on the center to access the global search bar which I really like because you can find results from your several categories such as your device, the web, shopping, news images, apps videos so you don’t even have to open a browser.
MEET THE GBOX
Now the question that’s probably on your mind is where do I download apps and games since Huawei has no Google Play store. Well, the answer is from its ever-growing APP Gallery. You’ll find most if not all the apps you need simply by accessing the APP Gallery on your phone or by using Petal Search to find more app sources.
Petal Search is the default search engine you can find on your home screen. Huawei has also developed Petal Maps which is an alternative for Google Maps, there’s also a default Email app where you can llog in to your Microsoft Exchange, Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or your custom email. Huawei Docs lets you create and edit docs, presentations, spreadsheets, and memos which you can save on your own Huawei Drive.
What about Google Apps?
When I reviewed Huawei’s previous smartphones I used an app called GSpace to download Google’s suite of apps. For the Huawei nova Y61, I discovered a new alternative called GBox.
It’s not yet available in the APP Gallery but you can easily download it at https://www.gboxlab.com/
Installing it lets you access the Google Playstore where you can download Google apps like Drive, Meet, Classroom, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Photos, Google TV and Gmail.
It’s not perfect but it’s continuously being updated and we are hoping that it could provide an even better Google Suite experience real soon.
Last but certainly not the least, is the Huawei nova Y61’s strong Battery performance. The HUAWEI nova Y61 packs a maximum 5,000mAh battery and offers 22.5W smart and safe fast charging solutions—another feature that isn’t available in other similarly priced smartphones.
This smart battery capacity assistant has a built-in detection algorithm so it can intelligently detect the battery capacity, identify the status of the battery, and send out battery capacity reminders to consumers. It can even learn the users charging habits through AI and is protected with total of 20 layers of charging protection, fast charging protection, and USB port overheating protection.
During our tests it was able to easily last us a day of moderate use, that involves taking photos and videos, checking emails, light photo editing for social media and watching clips on Huawei video. According to HUAWEI a 30 minute charge would be enough to last 4.3 hours of gaming, 11.3 hours of phone calls, 6.1 hours of web surfing, and 6 hours of video streaming, which by the way is better than other phones. Do remember that you can only reach 22.5W by using the charger and cable that came in with the package.
FINAL WORD:
With just a few weeks before Christmas, you are probably in the middle of shopping for gifts. If you are eyeing a smartphone to gift younger loved ones the Huawei nova Y61 presents several pretty convincing features for an entry-level phone.
So Why Seek One again?
Because the Huawei nova Y61 has a trendy design, has capable internals for a smooth day-to-day experience, a good set of cameras for capturing those important memories and a long-lasting battery that could keep up with them way past the busy holidays.
The Huawei nova Y61 is priced at PHP 7,999 and those who buy now at offline and online HUAWEI Stores, authorized retail outlets, and leading e-commerce sites Shopee and Lazada will get a free mug worth PHP 999.
