Huawei Nova vs. Samsung Galaxy Note8

Phone Comparison, Reviews and Tests

In depth comparison and review of Huawei Nova and Samsung Galaxy Note8. Compare sizes, cameras, batteries, memory, and other important specifications and features to easily choose the right phone for you. Our goal is to help you uncover differences between the products and find the phone that will best fit your needs.

Phone Specifications Comparison

Huawei Nova vs. Samsung Galaxy Note8 Comparison Chart
DESIGN AND DIMENSIONS Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Product Type Smartphone Smartphone
Manufacturer Model Number - SM-N950F/DS
Form Factor Touch Touch
Height 141.2 mm 162.5 mm Samsung Galaxy Note8 has greater height than Huawei Nova.
Width 69.1 mm 74.8 mm Samsung Galaxy Note8 has greater width than Huawei Nova.
Depth 7.1 mm 8.6 mm Huawei Nova is narrower than Huawei Nova.
Weight 146 g 195 g Huawei Nova is lighter than Huawei Nova.
Body Colour Prestige gold | Mystic silver | Titanium grey Deepsea blue | Gold maple | Midnight black
Body Material Aluminium-magnesium alloy -
Protection - Dustproof, splashproof, waterproof
Waterproof (Water-resistant) - Yes Samsung Galaxy Note8 is waterproof.
IP rating - IP68
SAR Value 0.94 W/kg (body), 0.99 W/kg (head) 1.29 W/kg (body), 0.173 W/kg (head)
Integrated Components - Heart rate sensor
Connector Type USB Type-C - 24 pin USB-C
Headset jack - mini-phone 3.5mm
USB Type-C - 24 pin USB-C
Headset jack - mini-phone 3.5mm
SIM Card Type (Size) Nano SIM Nano SIM
SIM Card Qty Dual-SIM (SIM1 and SIM2/MicroSD slots) Dual-SIM
SIM Card Configuration Details Nano SIM + nano SIM/microSD Nano SIM + nano SIM/microSD
DISPLAY Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Display Type LCD display OLED display
Display Technology IPS Quad HD+ Super AMOLED
Screen Size (Display Size) 5" 6.3" Samsung Galaxy Note8 has larger screen size than Huawei Nova.
Screen Resolution (Display Resolution) 1920 x 1080 pixels 2960 x 1440 pixels Samsung Galaxy Note8 has better screen resolution than Huawei Nova.
Display Format Full HD -
Pixel Density 443 ppi 521 ppi Samsung Galaxy Note8 has better pixel density than Huawei Nova.
Max Brightness 450 cd/m² -
Colour Depth 16.7 million colours 16.7 million colours Both phones have the same color depth.
Contrast Ratio 1500:1 -
Display Features 2.5D Glass Always-on display
PROCESSOR Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Processor Type (CPU) Qualcomm Samsung Exynos
Processor Number MSM8953 8895
Clock Speed 2 GHz 2.3 GHz Samsung Galaxy Note8 has higher clock speed than Huawei Nova.
Processor Core Qty 8-core 8-core Both phones have the same number of phone cores.
64-bit Architecture Yes Yes Both phones have 64-bit architecture.
Graphics System (GPU) - Mali-G71 MP20
MEMORY Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
RAM 3 GB LPDDR4 SDRAM - 6 GB Samsung Galaxy Note8 has more RAM than Huawei Nova.
Internal Memory Size (Storage Capacity) 32 GB 64 GB Samsung Galaxy Note8 has more internal memory than Huawei Nova.
User Memory 22 GB 51.2 GB
Supported Flash Memory Cards (Expandable Memory) microSDHC, microSDXC - up to 128 GB microSDHC, microSDXC - up to 256 GB
CAMERA Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
MAIN CAMERA
Number of Main Cameras 1 2
Sensor Resolution 12 Megapixel 12 Megapixel Both phones have the same camera resolution.
Sensor Size - 1/2.55"
Lens Type - Wide-angle lens
Lens Aperture F/2.2 F/1.7 Samsung Galaxy Note8 has better lens aperture than Huawei Nova.
Lens Construction - 6-element
Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) - Optical Image Stabiliser (OIS) Samsung Galaxy Note8 has optical stabilisation.
Focus Adjustment Automatic Automatic, manual
Optical Zoom - 2x
Digital Zoom - 10x
Self-Timer Delay - Yes
Special Effects - Motion effect, HDR, Stamp, Bokeh effect, Grid Line, Stickers
Camera Modes Beauty mode, low-light shots Panorama, Slow motion mode, Pro mode, Timer mode, Virtual Shot, HYPERLAPSE, Food mode
Face Recognition (Face ID) - Face detection Samsung Galaxy Note8 has face detection.
White Balance - Custom, automatic
Light Source LED light LED light
Video Resolutions 3840 x 2160 (4K) 1920 x 1080 (1080p) at 30 fps, 1920 x 1080 (1080p) at 60 fps, 1280 x 720 (720p) at 30 fps, Slo-mo video 1280 x 720 (720p) at 240 fps, 3840 x 2160 (4K) at 30 fps
Camera Features (Functions) Phase Detect Auto-Focus (PDAF) Selective Focus, Quick Launch, Playback zoom, Tracking Focus, Dual Pixel technology, Motion photo, Exposure, Shutter speed, geotagging, RAW image capture, VDIS (Video Digital Image Stabilisation)
SECOND CAMERA
Sensor Resolution (2nd Camera) - 12 Megapixel
Lens Type (2nd Camera) - Telephoto lens
Lens Aperture (2nd Camera) - F/2.4
FRONT CAMERA
Number of Front Cameras 1 1
Sensor Resolution (Front) 8 Megapixel 8 Megapixel Both phones have the same front camera resolution.
Sensor Size (Front) - 1/3.6"
Sensor Type (Front) - CMOS
Lens Type (Front) - Wide-angle lens
Lens Aperture (Front) - F/1.7
Focus Adjustment Focus free Automatic
Special Effects (Front) Beauty Make-up 2.0, Beauty Skin 3.0 -
Camera Modes (Front) - Wide selfie mode
Camera Features (Front) - Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS)
BATTERY AND CHARGING Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Battery Capacity (Battery Size) 3020 mAh 3300 mAh Samsung Galaxy Note8 has larger battery capacity than Huawei Nova.
Wireless Charging - Yes Samsung Galaxy Note8 can be charged wirelessly.
Wireless Charging Standards - WPC, PMA
Standby Time 420 hours -
Talk Time 1980 minutes 1320 minutes Huawei Nova has longer battery life when making calls than Samsung Galaxy Note8.
Run Time Details Talk (3G): up to 1980 min
Standby (GSM): up to 380 hrs
Standby (3G): up to 400 hrs
Standby (LTE): up to 420 hrs
Standby (dual SIM): up to 240 hrs
Talk (3G): up to 1320 min
Active online usage (3G): up to 12 hrs
Active online usage (4G): up to 13 hrs
Active online usage (Wi-Fi): up to 14 hrs
Playback (audio (Always On Display On)): up to 47 hrs
Playback (audio (Always On Display Off)): up to 74 hrs
Playback (video): up to 16 hrs
Battery Technology Lithium polymer -
CELLULAR Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Technology WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM TD-SCDMA / WCDMA (UMTS) / GSM
Mobile Broadband Generation 4G 4G Both phones have the same mobile network generation.
Operating System Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) Android 7.1.1 Nougat
User Interface HUAWEI Emotion UI 4.1 -
Intelligent Assistant - Bixby
Payment Technology - Samsung Pay
Navigation GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo
COMMUNICATIONS Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Data Transmission GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, LTE, FDD-LTE, TDD-LTE GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, FDD-LTE, TDD-LTE
2G Band 850 GSM, 900 GSM, 1800 GSM, 1900 GSM 850 GSM, 900 GSM, 1800 GSM, 1900 GSM
3G UMTS Band - Band 1, Band 2, Band 4, Band 5, Band 8
3G UMTS Frequency - 2100, 1900, 1700, 850, 900
4G LTE Band Band 1, Band 3, Band 7, Band 8, Band 20, Band 38 Band 1, Band 2, Band 3, Band 4, Band 5, Band 7, Band 8, Band 12, Band 13, Band 17, Band 18, Band 19, Band 20, Band 25, Band 26, Band 28, Band 32, Band 38, Band 39, Band 40, Band 41, Band 66
4G LTE Frequency FDD 2100, FDD 1800+, FDD 2600, FDD 900, FDD 800 DD, TDD 2600 FDD 2100, FDD 1900 PCS, FDD 1800+, FDD 1700 - 2110 AWS, FDD 850, FDD 2600, FDD 900, FDD 700a, FDD 700c, FDD 700b, FDD 800 lower, FDD 800 upper, FDD 800 DD, FDD 1900+, FDD 850+, FDD 700 APT, FDD 1500 L, TDD 2600, TDD 1900, TDD 2300, TDD 2500, FDD 1700 - 2110 AWS-3
Wireless Interface IEEE 802.11b/g/n IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, ANT+/ANT
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Bluetooth 5.0 LE
NFC - Yes Samsung Galaxy Note8 has NFC reader for mobile payments.
Messaging Services SMS, MMS SMS, MMS
MEDIA Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Supported Digital Audio Standards WAV, AAC, AMR, MP3, FLAC, OGG, M4A, MP4, MID WAV, WMA, PCM, AMR, MP3, FLAC, XMF, OGG, MIDI, M4A, apt-X, DSF, DSD, MXMF, IMY, RTTTL, RTX, OTA, DFF, MID
Supported Digital Video Standards MKV, MPEG-4, 3GP, WebM MKV, FLV, AVI, MPEG-4, WMV, ASF, 3GP, M4V, WebM, 3G2
Sound Enhancements - Acoustic Overload Point
FEATURES Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Phone Functions Speakerphone, voice control, call timer, conference call, flight mode, voice dialing, vibrating alert Speakerphone, voice control, call timer, conference call, flight mode, voice dialing, vibrating alert
Sensors Ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, digital compass, gyro sensor, hall sensor, gravity sensor Accelerometer, proximity sensor, barometer, gyro sensor, hall sensor, RGB sensor, heart rate, pressure sensor, geomagnetic sensor
Security Devices Fingerprint reader Fingerprint reader, eye scan
Additional Phone Features Dual microphones, DTS Headphone:X, Fingerprint 3.0 Face Unlock, Wi-Fi Miracast, MU-MIMO technology, Fast Charging, Samsung KNOX
OTHERS Huawei Nova Samsung Galaxy Note8
Included Accessories Headset, USB cable, power adapter, SIM card removal tool Power adapter, tweezer, SIM card removal tool, USB Connector (USB-C), micro-USB connector, AKG headphones, USB-C cable, S Pen, Pen nibs
Compliant Standards - IP68, HAC (Hearing Aid Compatible)
Other projects: