Premium phones keep being launched.
The price keeps going up.
$1000.
$1500.
$2000.
And people keep buying them.
After all, you don't want to miss out on the latest tech right? But what if you could have all the bells and whistles for a lot, lot less?...
$699. There, I said it. No point in beating around the bush. The Huawei nova 5T is only $699. If you're considering spending $1500 or more on a phone, don't. Well, at least read this first.
Whatever you've heard about the future of Huawei devices given the current trade impasse between China and the U.S,, none of that applies to the nova 5T as it was already ready for market before any bans or embargoes came into effect. This is great news, because it's a great phone.
I mean, just look at it. Sure you can get it in black, but the limited edition Midsummer Purple is not just eye-catching, it's stunning. The picture above doesn't do it justice - the clever nova logo you can see in silver (it looks a bit like two stick figures hugging) is in fact replicated in purple in a repeating pattern right across the rear casing. Hard to describe, easy on the eye.
Flip the nova 5T over and the flagship hits keep coming. Although the device feels relatively small in the hand and slides very easily into my pocket, the screen itself is surprisingly large, measuring up at a very respectable 6.26 inches, stretching from top to bottom, side to side with virtually no bezels whatsoever.
There's no notch either. The 32MP selfie cam peeps out through a punch-hole in the top left corner of the display, which is undoubtedly the best position for a hole in your screen, as it's basically unnoticeable, down in the bottom left-hand corner when you watch video holding the phone in landscape. In saying that, most apps will just blank out a whole strip along the left side by default unless you tell them not to in the display settings.
The screen looks great, by the way. It's only LCD, not OLED like those much pricier phones, but I still found image quality to be sharp as. Of course, there's also the option to tweak the colour temperature to your preference too. Unfortunately, there's no dark mode on the nova 5T, although you can download a selection of dark themes that'll just about do the same thing. There's a "colour inversion" setting, but while it turns the annoying white settings menu to a nice, comfortable black, it also changes every other colour in every app to its opposite, so it's not really very useful.
Let's talk cameras. The Huawei P30 Pro really set the standard for smart phone photography when it came out early this year, with it's unprecedented rear-facing quad-camera. Well guess what? This $699 phone also has four sensors on the back, although it's swapped out the Time-Of-Flight lens for a macro camera, which let's you take shots at just 4cm away or less. In good light, these pictures are incredibly clear close-ups.
Speaking of light, there's a night setting that admittedly, can take several seconds to take a single shot, but the results are definitely worth the wait - extremely bright and clear. Obviously the camera is not the world-changing setup we saw on the P30 Pro, but it's not far off. I've been especially impressed with the wide angle shots that definitely stack up against the ones I've taken with some of those so-called "premium" phones. There are AI options everywhere, front and back, selfies look crisp and accurate and if you want to replace your head with that of an AR robot to create hilarious GIFs, more power to you.
The 3750mAh battery is by no means large by 2019 standards, but thanks to Huawei's combination of software-based power optimisation and the relatively low energy demands of the Kirin 980 octa-core processor, I usually coast through a long work day without falling below 33%. You read right, by the way - the nova 5T uses the Kirin 980, the same CPU as the P30 Pro. And also like the P30 Pro, there's 8GB of RAM to play with so this phone absolutely flies. You simply will not find another device in this price range with the same amount of processing power.
There's no IP water/dust-proof rating, nor is there wireless charging, but then, that's not unusual for a sub-$1000 phone. The USB Type-C SuperCharger is fast enough, without offering some of the insanely quick charging speeds we've come to see from other devices recently.
Interestingly, there's still a notification light at the top of the device - somewhat of a rarity these days. Some people like these, but I hate stupid lights and always turn them off. Unfortunately, this light also doubles as a charging indicator which can't be deactivated. Just something else I have to drape a black cloth over on my bedside table so it doesn't keep me awake at night.
Like many other late model phones, there's no headphone jack on the nova 5T, but this doesn't bother me at all because I've found the connection with both my bluetooth earbuds and headphones to be strong, stable and clear. There's also a USB Type-C headphone adapter included in the box, so don't let the no-jack thing put you off giving this fantastic phone a go.
I almost forgot to mention my favourite feature; the side-mounted fingerprint sensor on the power button. This is, without a word of a lie, the fastest, most reliable sensor I've ever used, in the most practical position it could be. Yes, in-screen fingerprint sensors are more in vogue and yes, they're gradually getting quicker and more consistent but the sensor on the nova 5T is so good, I don't ever want to go back to another type of fingerprint scanner. There's also the option to face unlock and I've found this to be fast and effective too - in either portrait or landscape.
This is absolutely an A-grade smart phone experience for $699. The nova 5T looks stunning, offers an impressive range of multi-lens, AI-assisted camera options and it has processing power to burn, resulting in a super-fast and silky-smooth user experience. Unless you've decided you can't live without wireless charging, or you definitely need your phone to be waterproof, you must at least pick up a nova 5T and give it a try.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Huawei nova 5T.
Peak phone.
Not a thing. Never will be.
Oh sure, there may have been a time some people thought phones couldn't get any better... but they did. I'm convinced they always will - until they're just a chip in our brain.
Even then, there's always a better chip.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 9, which came out about this time last year, was a phone of unprecedented power and functionality and if someone gave you one today, I'm confident most people would still think it was the best phone they'd ever used.
Now there's a new one...
The Galaxy Note 10+ has more grunt under the hood than an American muscle car and it's better looking too.
It comes in 256GB and 512GB versions - yes, the base storage size is 256GB, which you can expand out by a whopping 1TB via microSD. The Note 10+ also packs a huge 4300mAh battery and an insane 12GB of RAM.
Those would be impressive stats for a laptop, let alone a phone. So it's no surprise you can use this phone as a laptop. Samsung's desktop option, or DeX mode has come a long way in a short time. You can now plug the Note 10+ into just about anything with a screen and start using the phone via DeX's Windows-like interface. This is more useful than ever, due to Samsung strengthening its partnership with Microsoft. Integration of Office365 apps is seamless, fast and efficient. More and more apps have been optimised for the DeX experience and even if they haven't, most function well enough when you force them to via the DeX Labs option.
But of course, adding a keyboard and a mouse isn't the only alternative method of controlling the Note 10+. A Note isn't a Note without its stylus. To be honest, there aren't exactly a host of new stylus-based operations, after all, it already did a hell of a lot. As before, not only can you make notes, edit and overwrite pictures and documents, capture, copy and send text and images, you can also just use the thing as a bluetooth remote, controlling the camera, media playback and presentations. What is new, is the stylus now supports air gestures, allowing you to flick through slides or raise and lower the volume just by waving it in the air like a magic wand. If Harry Potter had a phone, it'd be a Note 10+. You can also translate text just by hovering the stylus over the word or phrase in question. There's even the option to convert your handwriting to text, although, because I have the handwriting of a dyslexic chimp with no fingers, this didn't work particularly well for me.
All of this witchcraft happens in real time, due to the Note 10+'s aforementioned suped-up processing power.
This also comes to the fore when filming. The Note 10+ now offers a Live Focus (or Bokeh) video option. This means the same blurred-background effect we've come to love for our portraits, selfies and food shots can also be applied to our vids. It works brilliantly and can still be used in conjunction with filters and other effects. One such effect that's another new edition is the AR Doodle. Using either the stylus or your finger, you can highlight or sketch over faces or objects and your artistic additions (monocles, false moustaches, buck teeth etc) will stay in place while you shoot your clip. This is thanks to the new time-of-flight sensor, which means the phone can tell how far away something is and apply 3D effects accordingly.
Other than that, the rear-facing camera configuration is similar to what we saw on the Galaxy S10+ earlier in the year - with a fantastic wide-angled lens for impressive outdoor shooting and vastly improved night-time performance. Interestingly, Samsung has stuck with a single lens selfie camera on the Note and they've moved the punch-hole to the centre, as opposed to the right-hand corner position on the GS10. I actually can't remember what that second front-facing lens was supposed to do, as the pictures and video I've shot with the Note definitely stack up. If the photo quality on this phone isn't the best on the market, it's definitely right up there. Some handsets may be able to out-perform it in terms of zoom-power and shooting in the dark, but not by much and the fast, smooth performance of the software just about makes up for any of those shortfalls.
As I just mentioned, the 6.8inch Infinity-O display has relocated the punch-hole to the middle, which is a great move as it turns out there's often something important in the top right-hand corner. This is because the top right-hand corner becomes the top left-hand corner when you hold the device in landscape for watching video content. If that content happens to be sport, the score is often shown in that corner, so on the Note 10+, you'll actually be able to see it. If you think watching sport on a phone seems ridiculous, remember, this is a Samsung screen and it's huge. Don't knock it till you've tried it.
Cosmetically, this is the most edge-to-edge, bezel-less Note we've ever seen - and the fact Samsung has released a big Note and a little Note this year obviously means they've conceded the traditionally more square, more bulky device has never been as appealing to certain portions of the flagship market and 2019 has meant a makeover of sorts.
Certainly the curved edges and the prism effect of the Aura Glow colour option pictured here make this Note the prettiest ever, no contest. Don't worry, faithful Note nerds - just because they've made it beautiful, doesn't mean they've compromised with any other features. It's still IP68 water and dust resistant and it still charges wirelessly, in fact faster than ever in conjunction with the new Wireless Charging 2.0 stands now available. There are some pretty clever covers to choose from too, featuring stands, notification displays and even programmable LED options.
Okay, one thing is missing - Samsung has finally made that most controversial of decisions and removed the headphone jack. I still don't really understand why this matters so much, I'm a bluetooth guy and have been for years, but I guess some people will never let go... of their cords.
As you can tell, I'm an unashamed Note 10+ fanboy and I truly find this device almost faultless. Almost. There's one thing about it that doesn't just bother me, I actually hate it. For some inexplicable reason, a small notification appears at the bottom of the screen when you put the Note 10+ on to charge. It simply tells you it's charging and how long till 100%. Then when it gets to 100%, it tells you it's reached 100%. And keeps telling you. All night long. This is all with the screen off. And with the screen-off-display off. In my dark bedroom. Which is no longer as dark as it was, because of this stupid notification I didn't ask for and can't turn off. It's such a small thing. But man I hate it. Fix it now, Samsung. I'm begging you. Fix it and you might just have a perfect phone, worth every cent of its premium price tag.
It's too easy to criticise the Note 10+ for being "not that much better" than the 2018 version, but when that phone was amazing, even incremental improvements mean this year's is amazinger.
Click here for more information and pricing on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+.
