Jason Vargas asks, “Which is better: Huawei Nova 2i or ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie”
This battle is between two smartphones with a little price difference but with different main features. Let’s go!
The Huawei Nova 2i is the company’s latest mid-range smartphone with a good display. It has a 5.9″ IPS LCD display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and 2160 x 1080 resolution, a Kirin 659 chipset, a 64GB internal storage, a 4GB RAM, a 16MP + 2MP rear cameras LED flash, a 13MP + 2MP front cameras, and a 3,340mAh battery.
The ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is slowly becoming a community-favorite for comparison purposes. It has a 5.5″ IPS display with 1280 x 720 resolution, a Snapdragon 430 chipset, a 64GB internal storage, a 4GB RAM, a 16MP rear camera with LED flash, a 20MP + 8MP dual front camera, and a 3,000mAh battery.
Here are their detailed specs.
| Huawei Nova 2i | ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie | |
|---|---|---|
| Display | 5.9-inch 18:9 IPS LCD display @ 2160 x 1080 pixels | 5.5-inch HD IPS display @ 720×1280 pixels |
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 659 2.36GHz octa-core | Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 1.4GHz octa-core |
| GPU | Mali-T830 | Adreno 505 |
| Memory | – 64GB internal storage – 4GB RAM |
– 64GB internal storage – 4GB RAM |
| Camera | – 16MP+2MP rear cameras with LED Flash – 13MP+2MP front cameras |
– 16MP rear camera with LED Flash – 20MP + 8MP dual front camera |
| Battery | 3,340mAh Li-Ion battery | 3,000mAh Li-Ion battery |
| OS | Android 7 Nougat with Huawei EMUI 5.1 | Android 7.0 Nougat with ASUS ZenUI |
Here are their benchmark scores.
| Huawei Nova 2i | ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie | |
|---|---|---|
| Antutu | 62,964 | 43,322 |
| PC Mark | 6,029 (work 1.0) | 4,970 (work 1.0) |
| 3D Mark | 413 (slingshot extreme) | 297 (slingshot extreme) |
| Geekbench | 920 (Single-core), 3,636 (Multi-core) | 662 (Single-Core), 2,250 (Multi-Core) |
| Battery Life | 8 hours and 46 minutes | 12 hours and 30 minutes |
Here are the advantages of each smartphone:
Huawei Nova 2i
+ Larger screen size
+ Higher screen resolution
+ Higher aspect resolution
+ Better performing CPU
+ Slightly better-performing GPU
+ Dual rear cameras
+ Slightly larger battery capacity
ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie
+ Higher front camera resolution
+ Longer battery life
For the display, the Nova 2i clearly has the upper hand in terms of viewing experience with its larger screen size, aspect ratio, and screen resolution. Aside from that, it has a slim-bezel design which gives more impact to users. The display specs for the Zenfone 4 Selfie is the “standard” setup which is alright but since the former’s main feature is the 18:9 aspect ratio display, the latter will be easily outmatched in this aspect.
In terms of CPU and GPU, Zenfone 4 Selfie’s processor belongs to low-tier smartphones which are not really a viable candidate to battle a mid-tier processor that the Nova 2i has. We can also see from their benchmark scores that the latter has a significant gap to the former. This simply means that the Kirin 659 has a better performing CPU and has a better gaming potential than the Snapdragon 430 and Adreno 505 GPU.
For the camera department, the Nova 2i has quad-cameras which means that it has dual rear and dual front cameras. You can check out our sample photos here. The Zenfone 4 Selfie boasts its high resolution dual front camera feature which provides good qualities for selfies. We took sample photos from the smartphone which you can view here.
In terms of battery, the Zenfone 4 Selfie lasted longer even though it has a smaller battery capacity because of its smaller screen size, aspect ratio, and resolution. The advantage of having smaller display components mostly give positive results on battery life performance of smartphones.
For overall performance, the Nova 2i is definitely the winner here based on the benchmark scores alone. Zenfone 4 Selfie has decent specs but the former is more leaning on viewing experience and processing speed which sealed its win on this aspect.
Huawei Nova 2i is priced at Php14,990 while the price of ASUS Zenfone 4 Selfie is at Php13,995.
Which smartphone would you pick? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
