The Huawei P10 can be seen as a smaller Mate 9 with some key differences here and there. Though the P10 shares the same dual-camera system and very capable processor as the Mate 9, the P10 does have some new camera features as well as a Leica-branded front-facing camera; it’s actually a pretty decent selfie shooter. In comparison to its predecessor, the P10 also packs a slightly bigger 3,200mAh battery over the P9’s 3,000mAh cell, but this doesn’t exactly translate to a huge difference in battery life.
Display:
The P9 itself is already a well-built smartphone, but the P10 definitely feels like a class above in my hands. I also like the fact that the plastic antenna lines at the bottom of the P10 curves outwards to the bottom portion of the device. it’s a familiar design, yes, but that doesn’t make it any less appealing. That said, the P10’s design could definitely use some work, especially by today’s standards. Just look at the Xiaomi Mi Mix, the LG G6 or even the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8 devices: they all have very minimal bezels with high screen-to-body ratios. In contrast, the P10 still has these sizeable top and bottom bezels. If Huawei could minimise the bezels of the Mate 9, it wouldn’t be far fetched to assume that the company can do the same with the P10 as well. The Huawei P10 is a slippery little device. While the matte finish of the P10’s back panel doesn’t attract fingerprints easily, it also makes the P10 one of the most slippery phones I have used.
It’s worth noting that this applies to the Mystic Silver variant of the P10 we have for our review: the Dazzling Blue and Dazzling Gold models of the P10 have a more. nail file-like finish, while the Ceramic White variant has a glossy and more grippy back panel. Aside from that, the fingerprint sensor of the P10 is as excellent as ever. Huawei phones are known to boast some of the fastest and most accurate sensors in the market, and it’s no different with the P10. A quick, light tap on the sensor is enough to unlock the device, and rarely does it fail to recognise my fingerprint accurately.
KEY FEATURES:
- 5.1-inch 1080p display (P10) 5.5-inch 2K display (P10 Plus)
- Kirin 960 CPU
- 20MP monochrome sensor + 12MP RGB sensor
- F/2.2 lens
- 8MP front camera
- 3,200mAh battery (P10) / 3,750mAh (P10 Plus)
- EMUI 5.1
- 4GB RAM
- Manufacturer: Huawei
Camera:
The Leica built dual lens camera that sits inside the body of this Chinese smartphone.On the back there are two Leica f/1.8 lenses and, predictably, two sensors. One is a 20-megapixel monochrome one and the other is a 12-megapixel one for colours. The larger monochrome one is specifically designed for drinking in light and detail, while the other one will handle the colour reproduction. Huawei touts the low light prowess and the hybrid zoom of the P10 Plus which, during testing, both appeared to work very well indeed.
It has laser autofocus, optical image stabilisation, 4K video capability, two tone flash and just about every other photographical feature it’s possible to pack into a smartphone. I took a few different shots on the P10 Plus and compared it the Google Pixel XL, which claims to have the best smartphone camera on the market and is a direct competitor to the P10 Plus in the market.And with the Huawei P10 (and P10 Plus) that means photography. I was really impressed with the abilities of this phone and I’m nowhere near a professional photographer. Of particular note is the selfie portraits which can add cool, blurry backgrounds to make your shots look extra artistic.
Performance:
The Huawei P10 features the proprietary Kirin 960 octo-core processor with four Cortex A53’s at 1.8 GHz sitting next to four A73’s at 2.4 GHz. The smaller cores handle the day to day tasks like handling calls, messages and background processes, with the faster ones kicking into gear whenever you are doing something more intensive like shooting video, playing games or taking pictures. The P10 rattles off stills with an impressive speed. Even HDR stills, which can slow down underpowered phones, are virtually instantaneous. Jumping between different shooting and video modes is also nippy and seamless. As well as this, the theory is that this dynamic memory allocation process places less strain on the 3,200mAh battery, so you get more use out of each charge.
In the short time that we have had the P10, we are unable to say how well this process works over several months, but we were able to easily get through the day and end it with 40-50 per cent left in the tank. Our experience with the Mate 9 indicates that performance should improve once the phone really gets a handle on how often you use your favourite apps. During our battery drain test, we managed to get 5 hours 15 minutes of streaming a video over 4G at full screen brightness, which should give you an idea of the P10's Netflix binge power. Charging it back up again took 1 hour 40 minutes with the supplied SuperCharge mains adapter.
Huawei P10 ships with Android 7.0 Nougat right out of the box. The bad news, though, is that Huawei’s EMUI-laden overlay still gets in the way a bit too much for my liking.Sure, the differences aren’t quite so polarising nowadays and EMUI doesn’t look quite so bad. However, Huawei persists in replacing Google’s pull-down notifications menu with its own space wasting effort, and the lack of a proper app drawer is very irritating. Android's three default navigation keys have survived the move from mostly being hardware buttons in the old days to mostly being software buttons now. But they may not survive my favourite of the Huawei P10's software innovations.
It's simple: you use the fingerprint sensor to do all three tasks that the nav keys would usually do. A short tap goes back, a long press goes home and a swipe brings up recent apps. No need for software keys taking up space on the screen, and once you have mastered it a far more efficient approach in general. Some people who have tried it hated it straight away, but I love it and can’t imagine going back to the standard three button format. All those wasted extra finger movements! The horror! That aside, you get a reasonably subtle take on Android 7. Huawei's EMUI 5.1 has been criticised in the past for getting in the way of Android, but it mostly lurks in the background here. You can choose the standard Android app locker format or Huawei’s default choice of cramming all of your apps on to multiple homescreens, but unless you’re an absolute masochist you really shouldn’t go down this route. There are a few other peculiarities, such as the option to have a floating dock, but these are all easily ignored.
The only particular issue I did have with the P10’s software was its inability to display an entire notification on the lockscreen. You get one line of text but can’t swipe down to see the whole thing without unlocking the device, which is just stupid. The only other notable software feature on the P10 is the Highlights app. This lives in a tab on the Gallery app and has been developed together with GoPro. The idea is that it groups various pictures by location or event, then mashes them together to create a video which can then easily be shared. You can even add music from your own library.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- The best thing about this phone is the display which features a 1440 x 250 pixels resolution paired with a curved glass. The display is very sensitive and protected with gorilla glass.
- The powerful octa-core processor paired with Adreno 430 GPU makes it an ultimate device for gaming and multitasking.
- Along with Octa-core processor, it comes with 6 GB of which is more than enough to make all the processes smoother and lag free.
- 12 Megapixel camera and dual camera along with Flash makes photography awesome using this phone.
- The monster sized 3000mAh battery last for 1 day with a single charge.
Cons:
- The 5.5-inch screen is good for watching videos and playing games but very difficult to do one hand operations.
- Nowadays every smartphone has front flash for better selfies which this phone doesn’t have.
- The battery is good but it is not removable that means if there is any issue with the battery you have to visit service centre carrying the whole handset.
Verdict:
The Huawei P10 is a solid all-round smartphone, offering smart hardware that's elevated by some well designed software. If you are after a particular feature or looking to tweak some part of the user experience, chances are the P10 will allow you to do it. there's no massive leap here compared with earlier handsets such as the Huawei P9 or Mate 9. No killer feature which absolutely demands an upgrade from one of Huawei's 2016 mobiles. So while I had happily rock the Huawei P10 as my full time phone for the rest of 2017 and beyond, it's difficult to recommend an upgrade if your chosen blower still does the job.
We are yet to test the P10 Plus, but that handset certainly seems to offer a more fulfilling flagship experience compared with the P10. You get an improved screen, better camera tech, a bigger battery and even faster performance, so we reckon that might be the one to look for if you are considering an upgrade.
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