In 2017, Huawei aims to attract buyers who cannot afford the flagship models with the P10 Lite. Deciding to no longer boast of a Leica dual camera and high-performance hardware, the Chinese company equipped the smartphone with a mid-range processor and a single main 12-megapixel image sensor, thereby reducing the price to $ 350. These are not the only changes made by Huawei, so you should carefully study the characteristics of the model before deciding whether it deserves attention.
Design
Reviews of the mobile phone Huawei P10 Lite are called attractive and fully consistent with the style of the manufacturer. But it does not look like a real member of the P10 family, since it has a much greater resemblance to last year's P9 Lite.
The model still has rounded corners and a metal chassis, but otherwise everything has changed. The P10 / P10 Plus phones feature an all-metal design with a glass back. This does not mean that the new smartphone looks cheaper or less comfortable in the hand, but the user will have to carefully choose where to put it, since any not-so-flat surface will slide. After purchasing this model, you will need to get a cover.
In addition, the smartphone differs from the flagship prototypes in the absence of a dual camera and a hardware button for switching to the home page, the position of a fingerprint sensor and the use of a Micro-USB port for charging.
The fingerprint sensor is conveniently located on the back of the device at a safe distance from the lens. Unlike some expensive high-end Android phones, the user does not run the risk of dirtying the optics every time he tries to gain access. In addition, Huawei has taken care of installing a very fast and reliable scanner.
On the right side is a textured power off button and volume control button, and on the left is a hybrid tray for two Nano-SIM cards, one of which can be replaced with a Micro-SD card. On the lower edge there is a Micro-USB port and speaker grill, and a 3.5 mm headset jack is at the top.
In terms of size, the P10 Lite is taller, wider and thicker than the P10. In part, this can be explained by the fact that the display of the Lite model is slightly larger than the flagship Huawei 2017.
The package also includes a 2-amp charger, a micro-USB cable, in-ear headphones, information brochures and a pin for ejecting a SIM card.
Screen
The smartphone is equipped with a 5.2 ”LCD display with a resolution of 1080 × 1920, providing a decent pixel density of 424 dpi. The maximum and minimum brightness levels are 539 and 4 nits, respectively, providing good readability in the sun and in the dark and a contrast ratio of 1: 1616.
Other characteristics are not so comforting. The color temperature of the display is very high (9400 K). This means that most of the color shades will appear bluish. If this is a concern, then go to the display settings and try to balance the situation by changing the color temperature settings.
In addition, the screen of the Huawei-P10-Light smartphone, according to reviews, has a tendency to oversaturation throughout the entire color scheme. Since most people like bright colors, this is not a big problem.
Interface and Functionality
Like almost any recently released Huawei phone, the P10 Lite comes with EMUI 5.1 user interface on Android 7.0 platform. Working with it is identical to P10, except that there is no physical button to go to the home page that acts as a multi-function navigation key.
Users who are used to EMUI prior to version 5 and who do not like the new software can give it another chance. Despite the fact that the interface still looks like a copy of iOS, Huawei has made sure to include some features that will make Android users feel more comfortable.
By default, there is no application box, but you can enable it in the "Homepage Style" section of the settings menu. If you don’t like the location of the on-screen navigation keys by default, you can choose from 4 different combinations.
“Huawei-P10-Light”, according to experienced users, attracts with great EMUI configuration capabilities. However, this can undermine the confidence of newcomers or seniors who will find it difficult to cope with them. In this case, a simplified mode will come to the rescue, which can be activated in the Advanced Settings tab.
All this suggests that EMUI is one of the heaviest Android add-ons, and although it is true, the transition between pages, sections and screens of the P10 Lite interface actually occurs without noticeable delay. This may be due to the fact that EMUI 5 trains the smartphone to monitor and allocate hardware resources to the applications that need them most. If this function in P10 and P10 Plus was difficult to verify due to their high specifications, then in the case of Lite with its less efficient hardware, everything is different.
CPU and memory
Half the performance of the P10 at half price - that's what Lite offers, at least on paper. The cell phone is equipped with a Kirin 658 chipset, consisting of 8 A53 cores. Half of them operate at a clock frequency of 2.36 GHz, and the rest at 1.7 GHz.
Residents of the Asia-Pacific, West European and North African regions have the opportunity to purchase P10 Lite with 4 GB of RAM. The rest can count on a version with 3 GB, but this configuration works surprisingly well.
Although Huawei-P10-Lite, according to reviews, in AnTuTu or Geekbench tests can not be compared with the new flagships, it manages to cope with the vast majority of everyday tasks without problems. Interface navigation is impeccable, and even demanding 3D games work without delay. Of course, playing with a frame rate of 60 fps will not work, but in general the result is satisfactory.
As for the internal storage, its volume is 32 GB, regardless of where the phone was purchased. If you need extra space for multimedia, there is a microSD card slot.
Connectivity options
P10 Lite supports most standard frequency ranges. The connectivity options are wide - from NFC, GPS and Bluetooth 4.1 to the latest WiFi standards, etc.
Smartphone cameras “Huawei-P10-Light”: characteristics and reviews
One significant difference between the P10 Lite and its high-performance prototype is that it does not have an attractive dual camera. Although this is certainly regrettable, it should be noted that Huawei had to make sacrifices to offer the phone at a more affordable price. Nevertheless, shooting with Lite will be a pleasure, since its only 12MP sensor with f / 2.2 lens functions quite well.
The camera of the Huawei-P10-Lite phone, according to reviews, copes with its task, especially with proper daylight. Photos are detailed, with adequate color reproduction. Frames shot in low light have some graininess, which is not surprising given the size of the sensor. However, this problem is smaller than one would expect, due to the large pixel size of 1.25 microns.
I had to refuse additional functionality, such as OIS and laser autofocus, but the camera of the Huawei-P10-Light smartphone (2017) is praised for the extensive application, which is almost identical to the one installed on the P10. Many features, filters, and modes are available, including panorama, HDR, subject tracking, light painting, full focus, and time-lapse photography. Photo enthusiasts will also be pleased to know that manual parameterization is possible.
The video quality is acceptable, but not impressive. There is no 4K support, so the camera can only record in fullHD quality at a speed of 30 fps, and the lack of OIS means that there is no protection against vibration and some videos can be really shaky. However, there are many modes, and when recording, autofocus is pretty fast.
As for the selfie, the front 8-megapixel camera is capable of capturing high-quality images. The portrait mode, however, does not always cope. The face turns out well, but the bokeh effect quite often does not come out. Reliable and useful beauty function. The camera records images in fullHD resolution at a speed of 30 fps.
Multimedia
Huawei-P10-Lite, according to the owners, cannot count on the award in the nomination "Best Multimedia Phone", but the playback quality is not the worst. As already mentioned, the LCD panel has extremely inaccurate color reproduction. However, the phone slightly compensates for this with sound quality. The speaker located below is quite loud (79 dB) and does not crack, like some budget rivals, but of course it lacks depth. Unlike other manufacturers, Huawei has not given up the 3.5 mm jack, so using your favorite wired headset will provide the best sound.
Call quality
Reviews of the smartphone Huawei P10 Lite indicate that there are no problems with audibility during phone calls. The speaker is quite loud, the sound quality is decent. At the other end of the line everything is heard well and the need to repeat what has been said does not arise.
Battery life
In terms of battery life, the phone does not disappoint. According to users, a 3000 mAh battery can withstand testing for 8 hours 23 minutes. This is better than the results of the P10 / P10 Plus and some other modern flagships, except for the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017), which remains out of reach with its 11 hours 9 minutes.
There are reserves for increasing the charging speed, since it takes 138 minutes to fully restore the smartphone. If the battery level is low, a quick 20-minute session will provide enough energy, but 100% is reached too slowly.
Conclusion
“Huawei-P10-Light” reviews are called one of the most intriguing mid-range phones. For about $ 330, the user gets a slim body with excellent design, adequate performance, a good battery, decent cameras and the latest software.
On the other hand, the display has a blue tint and is unbalanced, the main camera is devoid of functions such as optical image stabilization and recording with UHD resolution, and a phone will need a protective cover to ensure a long life.
So is it worth buying the P10 Lite? If the EMUI user interface and the design of Huawei are more attractive than the offers of competitors, then certainly yes. According to reviews, the price of Huawei-P10-Lite is significantly lower than the cost of the functionality it offers, which makes the phone a profitable purchase.