Home » NOA H10LE – An Android Powerhouse in a sleek package

NOA H10LE – An Android Powerhouse in a sleek package

NOA is a Croatian handset manufacturer. While relatively unknown in the UK, they have produced great phones at budget prices. The NOA H10LE is a recent upgrade on one of their offerings. It will be presented at IFA 2017 this year, and it has already won the EISA Best Product award. Other phones from NOA will also be on offer.

NOA H10LE: Features and Specs

The device comes with a seriously impressive set of specs:

  • MTK Helio X27 Ten core 2.6GHz 
  • 5.5” AMOLED display 1080*1920 
  • 4GB RAM 
  • 64GB 
  • 3800 mAh 
  • Android 7.1.1
  • 13MP front camera / 2x13MP rear camera
  • Front fingerprint sensor
  •  4G LTE
  •  GPS + A-GPS
  •  Dual SIM
  •  USB Type-C
  •  154*76*7.1 mm

All this comes to you at €419, shipped directly from Croatia.

Look and feel

The NOA H10LE is one beautiful device. The design is somewhere between the iPhone and the Galaxy S8.

A shiny red back shows off the aluminium unibody build, which is supposed to come with drop proof tech. The back also hosts the dual cameras as well as the flash.

The front has a home key at the bottom and physical navigation keys on either side of it. They do not light up, so you do not know what you are pressing till you build muscle memory. However, the option for soft buttons also exists on the device. Also present is the AMOLED screen and the front facing camera.

The sides feature the rocker/power keys as well as the SIM slot.

The bottom has the USB C port as well a couple of speaker grills.

The headphone socket sits on the top.

Overall, the device looks brilliant and sits well in your hand. The red has definitely attracted the public and a lot of people have asked me about the phone. We all know that red makes things faster!

Fast!

Oh yes, there was absolutely no doubt about the performance of this device when it popped on my desk. 4GB RAM and a 10 core processor mean that you can throw pretty much anything at it and it will handle it without a worry.

With 64 GB of RAM and almost stock Android 7.1.1, you can easily load it up with apps, run as many of them as you like, and still see it do its thing.

Software

As already mentioned, the NOA H10LE features almost stock Android. The version we are trying is running 7.1.1, bringing it in line with the likes of the Nexus and Pixel range. The security update applied to the device is June 2017, which may seem a bit out of date but is better than many out there. I have had one software update so far.

When I asked them about updates, NOA replied that the policy is to update in case of bugs, not just Android updates.

Being stock Android meant that everything was where I expected it, and while some settings are missing (such as WiFi calling), you generally are at home with this as soon as you boot up.

The Camera

The Camera app probably lets down what seems to be a brilliant set of cameras. I guess I am a bit spoilt with the Huawei range of cameras, such as the ones found on the P10 Plus. Having said that, the cameras themselves seem to work brilliantly once the conditions favour them.

Let’s start with the Radcliffe Camera on a sunny morning in Oxford.

As you can see, the colours are captured almost perfectly.

No camera test is complete without a few cat pictures:

Also included in the device is a Bokeh effect, which makes great use of the dual lenses to let you adjust the f numbers. This can be great for portraits and lets you blur out the background.

Sorry about that!

It can also be used wrongly:

As is obvious, there is a lot of software compensation that goes in the process, which has clearly gone a bit wrong in the one above.

Like all cameras though, you need a bit of practice with this one.

Battery life and charging

Somehow, despite being very thin, NOA have managed to squeeze in 3800mAh of battery power. This means that you can easily rummage through your day without worrying about putting it on charge.

You can always abuse it, but generally, it works just fine.

I did notice that charging seemed to be a bit funny on this. Works a treat on the charger that came with the device (EU Plug, but mine was a sample). However, with other chargers, it has the odd occasion where it doesn’t charge, just does the ‘plugged in, not charging thing’. This is super annoying as there is no indication for this. The fact that restarting the device solved this made it even worse. Hopefully something that can be resolved in a future software update.

No NFC

For the sake of completion, it must be mentioned that the device comes with no NFC. This means that you cannot use this to make payments with Android Pay or other such services.

More information

  • More information on the NOA H10LE can be found on the Noa website.
  • It retails for €419 and comes in red and black.
  • The device is available for purchase in all EU countries via their web store.
  • Free shipping service for orders received from European countries.
  • Premium Care Element Warranty – 2 years of full warranty for all Noa Element smartphones – more details at http://noa-mobile.eu/pcw.
  • EU warehouse – Noa devices are delivered from Croatia.
  • EU aftersale support – an authorized service is provided for all EU countries.

Verdict

At around £400, this is an absolute powerhouse of a device. Yes, there may be an odd niggle or two in the software, but what Android doesn’t have those! If you’re in the market for a powerful device and don’t want to spend a lot, the NOA H10LE is the device for you!

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