Xiaomi MI MAX 2 VS Huawei Nova 2 Design, Hardware, Battery, Camera, Review

With smartphone components price increasing, different kinds of manufacturers can’t earn the profits among those 150usd smartphones, the they have to release some mid-range smartphones over 2,000 yuan, $333 to meet their needs to earn profits. Recently, there are two smartphones released with good design, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 and Huawei Nova 2. Do you know which one to choose?

Design

Xiaomi MI MAX 2 and Huawei Nova 2 both adopts metal body, back fingerprint scanner, curved molding antenna, compared with Xiaomi MI MAX 2 with 6.44 inch, Huawei Nova 2 will be more suitable for holding in one hand. It has 2.5D screen and mid-frame which look natural, better holding feeling. As for interface, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 will support split-screen function, it adopts USB Type C port, speakers on both sides at the bottom in symmetrical design. Compared with last generation, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 has been improved a lot. The whole back adopts metal unibody, about antenna part, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 uses U style, on the top and down edges.  However, Huawei Nova 2 adopts U style and all metal body on the back, It has two rear camera in paralleled align, fingerprint scanner on the back, according to comparison, they have similar back layout except different camera. If you like two rear camera and smaller design, Huawei Nova 2 can win, otherwise, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 can be a good phablet.

Hardware

Xiaomi MI MAX 2 is powered by Snapdragon 625 Octa core processor, 14nm processing, in power consumption and heat issue, it is better than Snapdragon 652 processor , 28nm processing, which is also the reason that Xiaomi MI MAX 2 has long battery life. According to Antutu Test, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 has got 64,023 points, in terms of Geekbench, it has got 870 points in single-core score and 4216 points in multi-core score.

Xiaomi MI MAX 2 VS Huawei Nova 2 Geekbench

Xiaomi MI MAX 2 VS Huawei Nova 2 AndroBench

However, Huawei Nova 2 is powered by Kirin 659 processor, Octa core, 2.36Ghz, 16nm processing. In addition, Huawei Nova 2 has RAM 4GB ROM 64GB internal storage to keep system running smoothly. Although we haven’t got its Antutu test, but from Geekbench, it has got 904 points in single-core score and 3553 points in multi-core score.

Both smartphones belong to mid-range level, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 single core performance is a little worse than Nova 2, but its multi-core score is better, they both are eMMC 5.1 , so their speed will be similar.

Camera

As for camera, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 uses Sony IMX386 sensor, 12MP back camera, similar to that of Xiaomi MI6, the main advantage of Xiaomi MI MAX 2 is that the single pixel inch reaches 1.25um, light-in amount is larger, improving night shooting experience to make the image more pure.

under Strong Light

Open HDR

At close distance

Under Backlight

Under Dim light

According to its sample, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 camera under the enough sunshine, it can focus fast, restoring color accurately, the edge of the object sharpens very highly. Under the backlight, it has high analysis, not over eposure. it keeps the dark shadow. Lack of sunshine, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 sample shows obvious noise, but the general image quality is in the acceptable range.  

Optical Zoom

Open HDR Mode

About Huawei Nova 2 camera, it is the first dual camera phone but not a flagship. It has dual rear camera, 12MP+8MP, F1.8 aperture, 12MP camera is for wide viewing angle, 8MP is for long distant focus. We ususally use wide angle to take photos, when we zoom, we will use long focus. Two rear cameras will cooperate well.

Huawei Nova 2 supports optical zooming, after zooming twice about the distant building, the image still is very clear, which can compete with SLR camera.

In color restoring, Huawei Nova 2 has high color saturation,

Under backlight, launch HDR mode, the bottom of the building can also capture the details, soft light, good image brightness. In addition, Huawei Nova 2 has also add watermark function.

In night mode, Huawei Nova 2 has proper image brightness, control the glare well, looking very pure, less noise. It has no OIS, when taking photos at night, it needs to hold at stable posture.

In addition, Huawei Nova 2 has also added super night function, it is combined many photos to realize, whose effect can compete with Night-vision goggles, due to no OIS,  it required high about its stability at night, if you use with tripod, the effect will not let you down.

In all, Xiaomi MI MAX 2 camera has better quality than Huawei Nova 2, but Nova 2 uses dual rear camera, which will bright more entertainment.

Battery

Xiaomi MI MAX 2 is built in 5,300mAh battery, which can play 3 to 4 hours games, watch 2 hours video, searching the Internet, sleep mode for 6.5 hours, it has used 23 hours from 83% power to 26% power. And it can charge 68% power in one hour.

Huawei Nova 2 is only equipped with 2,950mAh battery, supporting Quick charge technology, 18W power rate, under the situation of 0% power, 50% brightness, close Wifi and clear the background, not inserting SIM card, HUAWEI Nova 2 quick charge is amazing, it can charge 85% in only one hour, charging full in 83 minutes.

As for battery life, under the situation of 50% brightness, 50% voice, playing Huawei apps videos, 100% power, after one night discharging, playing 11 episodes, it has left 20% power, We can see Huawei Nova 2 battery life is out of expectation, thanks to Kirin 659 power consumption control.

Conclusion

Xiaomi MI MAX 2 performance is good, and it has been improved in camera, craftsmanship, and screen quality. If you like large screen, you can consider it. Huawei Nova 2 is the low version of Huawei P10, it has its own advantages, if you like small screen and dual rear camera, you can try Nova 2.