Huawei debuts its mid-tier Nova series with two new handsets

Huawei kicked off its IFA keynote this morning by debuting Nova, a new mid-tier line of handset line offering up solid specs on a budget. The line kicks off with two devices, the simply named Nova and Nova Plus.

The two handsets are largely the same, though the Plus, as the name pretty clearly implies, is the larger of the two, at 5.5 inches to the Nova’s five inches. It’s also got a larger battery inside, 3340mAh vs. an already solid 3020 — the latter of which, the company points out, will give you five hours of Pokemon Go usage (yeesh) — or 48 hours of regular use.

The company spent a fair amount of time at today’s event talking design, saying the products were “inspired by architecture,” and indeed, the handsets are pretty nice looking, with rounded corners and a curved back designed to fit more comfortably in the hand. That’s bolstered by a large screen to body ratio, thanks in part to narrow 1.8mm bezels.

The Nova features an impressive 445ppi, along with improved color over past models and an Eye Protection mode for that filters out blue light and auto adjusts brightness for night time viewing. Inside is a 2GHz octa-core processor, a dual-SIM slot and expandable storage. On the bottom, naturally, is a USB-C port. The fingerprint reader has been improved as well, with added security, now up to five levels.

The Nova Plus comes in three colors and the Nova comes in four, including a Rose Gold option, a bright pink that lead the audience to audibly gasp when the thing hit the screen. The new phones hit Europe this month, priced at 399 euro and 429 euro, respectively.