As expected, Huawei Mobile Kenya has taken the wraps off its latest device, the Huawei Nova 5T.
The device, which is not new as it has been available in several markets since last year, starts selling in the country on January 31st.
Until then, though, the device can be pre-ordered at select outlets across the country.
According to Huawei, those who pre-order it will be gifted a free pair of the Band 4, Huawei’s fitness-focused smart band and tracker.
The arrival of the Huawei Nova 5T marks the first time that the Chinese device maker has availed the budget/mid-range (the latter, not the former, is more like it) lineup in the country.
Now, it adds to the flagship P series and the other budget smartphone range, the Y series. There is the Mate series, as well but the ultra-premium smartphone market is one that Kenya is not known for and remains slim despite being a channel for high returns among smartphone makers.
Huawei has traditionally launched a budget device in the country at this time of the year to kickstart the year and set the pace.
The Nova 5T has the burden of being the device that sets the pace for a brand whose expansion is pegged on its ability to convince customers in more markets like this one, to part with their hard-earned money in exchange for a device in a sea of other Chinese device makers.
The Huawei Nova 5T has a number of things going for it. It has 4 cameras at the back, for instance, to assure users of quality snaps in all conditions and backs them up with a 32-megapixel selfie shooter. There is Huawei’s proprietary super-fast charging (Huawei SuperCharge) and the same chipset as the one that powers the company’s 2019 flagship smartphone, the P30 Pro.
Other features include 3D audio, courtesy of the Huawei Histen 3.0 which Huawei claims has support for 9.1 channel surround sound, 8GB memory and 128GB onboard storage. The latter is necessary because the device lacks a microSD card slot. It also lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack.
This feature-set, while impressive, does not come cheap. The Huawei Nova 5T costs a whopping Kshs 42,000. That puts it in a class of its own, competing with devices that are not what immediately comes to mind when the term “budget” is thrown around and putting it in the same league as premium offerings from other brands like Xiaomi.
The Huawei Nova 5T arrives with Google apps and services pre-installed (for anyone worried that the ban would affect their experience) and is powered by Android 9 Pie under EMUI 9.1. The device is earmarked for an upgrade to Android 10 under EMUI 10 soon.
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