Huawei Petal Search Widget and AppGallery on the Nova 7 SE 5G - Android

For starters, the Huawei Nova 7 SE comes with 5G connectivity. With its price tag of only Php19,990, it owns the title of being the cheapest 5G phone and the first 5G-equipped midrange device in the Philippines.

The 5G coverage in the Philippines is already starting to cover the main areas in Makati and BGC, but it will soon cover more areas and spots.

Those who live in places with 5G, especially in urban cities, can enjoy the ultra-fast speeds of 5G connectivity on the Nova 7 SE by using their existing SIM card and phone number.

READ: 5G smartphones in the Philippines

Simply turn on the 5G icon on the control center so you can enjoy the fast 5G speeds immediately, even if you are a Globe prepaid/postpaid, or Smart postpaid user.

Upon real test, the current Globe and Smart 5G speeds in Metro Manila reaches around 200Mbps. Those who live in places with 5G, especially in urban cities, can enjoy the ultra-fast speeds of 5G connectivity on the Nova 7 SE.

You can do more than just stream movies and play games without lag. For one, you can upload and download files in an instant to work faster, upload your latest YouTube video in a snap, update large game files fast, and more.

The best part is, for a price of Php19,990, the Nova 7 SE is currently the most affordable 5G smartphone in the market. That’s a 5G phone for a 4G phone price.

Enabling its 5G connectivity is the brand new Kirin 820 octa-core processor. Other than 5G, it also brings dual-band WiFi and the latest Bluetooth 5.1 standard on the Nova 7 SE 5G.

The processor is partnered with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You’d be using Huawei’s NM card to expand the storage, which has increased in availability and became cheaper since it was introduced a few years ago.

Side-mounted fingerprint scanner

With the Kirin 810 topping AnTuTu’s midrange list a few months ago, we weren’t expecting less on the Nova 7 SE. Thankfully, it did deliver.

Everything is just fast and seamless on this device. From multitasking, taking pictures, browsing the web, and whatever task you throw at it. It’s also great for gaming, as most triple A titles run smoothly at high graphics settings. You can check the Huawei Nova 7 SE 5G benchmark scores below.

Keeping the lights on is a 4,000mAh battery, which should easily last you for an entire day of light to moderate use. But if you’re a heavy user, you might have to reach for the charger before the day ends.

The best part is, charging this device should only take an hour or less thanks to its 40W Huawei SuperCharge. That’s the same charger found in flagships like the Huawei P40 Pro, which is more than twice its price.

On the front, we have the large and almost bezel-less 6.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels. There’s a punch-hole on the top left for the 16-megapixel selfie camera that takes good selfies, even in low-light.

The Huawei Nova 7 SE has a quad-camera setup on the back, sitting in a single glass on a vertical orientation, the camera placement looks very distinctive.

It consists of a 64-megapixel main shooter with a bright f/1.8 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide, 2-megapixel depth sensor, and 2-megapixel macro camera. Huawei phones are known for their great camera quality, and the Nova 7 SE is no exemption. You can check the samples below and see it for yourself.

64-megapixel main camera

64-megapixel main camera

8-megapixel ultra-wde

2-megapixel macro

16-megapixel front camera

Of course, you can’t miss that flamboyant design on the back. The unit that we have, the Midnight Summer model, has a Blue and Purple color gradient. With the Nova signature white logo on the back, and tons of smaller opaque logos populating the entire back.

A Space Silver color offers a cleaner look, while the Crush Green option has a giant Nova logo printed on the bottom. All three models have 3D glass surface with a unique shining reflection.

As you know, the Huawei Nova 7 SE still lacks Google Mobile Services. But in the last few months, the tech giant has done a lot of improvements on its own Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), especially in their AppGallery, which is know the third biggest app store in the world.

The apps offered in the AppGallery keeps on growing and growing. Plus, it has unique features like a four-layer detection security, wishlists, and rewards systems. These are features that we went on detail in a special video that you can watch below.

The lack of GMS doesn’t mean you can’t access Google apps on this device. This is where the Huawei Nova 7 SE’s new Huawei Petal Search Widget comes in, your gateway to million apps.

Complete with a search tab widget, it’s basically an alternative to Google Search, which also lets you easily download apps that are yet to arrive in the AppGallery.