At the moment, Huawei gadgets have proven pretty good. The manufacturer implements various technologies in its smartphones. You can not keep silent about the design. Devices from the Middle Kingdom look stylish and modern, which attract the attention of most buyers. Also an indisputable advantage is a rather powerful hardware, due to which devices can compete with other brands.
In early 2016, the company introduced a new model of the inexpensive smartphone Huawei GR3. The price at the start of sales reached 15,000 rubles, but now it’s realistic to buy it for 10,000, or even cheaper. The device has expanded the niche of budget devices. The manufacturer in it implemented all the necessary options. Of course, the "stuffing" can not be compared with the flagships, but it is quite enough to perform everyday tasks.
The packaging design is concise. On it, in addition to the main name, an alternative can also be used - TAG-L21. Huawei GR3 comes with a paper clip for the tray, a charger (USB-cable and adapter). There is an instruction in Russian. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not provide headphones, which disappointed some buyers. However, such a modest set of accessories for the budget segment has long been considered the norm.
So, let's take a closer look at the technical characteristics of the gadget, its capabilities and features.
Appearance
We will not depart from generally accepted traditions and begin the review of Huawei GR3 with a description of the appearance. The dimensions of the phone (143.5 × 71 × 7.6 mm), according to most users, are optimally selected. The case made of aluminum looks solid and reliable. The corners are slightly rounded, but the side faces are even, but this does not cause inconvenience during use. The mass of the smartphone is small - 135 g, so that the hand will not get tired even with long conversations.
What do users say about design? Although the phone is discreet, it looks quite elegant. There are no extra elements on the case that could spoil the look. The only thing to complain about is the frame that frames the camera lens. Some users believe that it does not fit into the general concept, but this is a purely individual opinion.
The color palette is limited to three models. There are silver, gold and gray options. The latter is more preferred by men. It looks stylish, but strict. Women liked the Huawei GR3 Gold. Tenderness and greatness are simultaneously combined in this version. No less popular is the device with a silver case. It can be safely called universal.
The front panel is framed as standard. It makes no sense to dwell on all the elements, since they are identical to other models. The only thing I would like to focus on the screen frame. Most users complain that the bottom is dysfunctional. There is a company logo there, although a fingerprint scanner would have looked better. But, unfortunately, nothing can be changed, so you have to be content with what is already there.
Huawei GR3: screen specifications
On the front panel of this smartphone model flaunts a 5-inch screen. The IPS matrix provides wide viewing angles - up to 180 degrees. Users noticed that the image practically does not change at different angles of inclination. The color and brightness levels are optimally selected. The picture is displayed moderately rich and realistic. The manufacturer has provided sensors for ambient lighting and proximity. In the sun, the screen behaves well. There are practically no glare, the picture does not fade.
As for the "state employee", Huawei GR3 features decent. Resolution is 1280 × 720 px. The color depth is 24 bits. The pixel density is 294 ppi, which is not bad for an inexpensive gadget.
Separately, it is worth noting that the user can adjust the screen settings individually, choosing the optimal level of contrast, color temperature, saturation.
Hardware equipment
In Huawei GR3, the performance characteristics are quite consistent with the segment to which it belongs. The model is based on a processor from MediaTek. This is a fairly common practice. Even though the MT6753T chipset is not very powerful, it provides stable operation of the device. Computing elements Cortex-A53 only eight. The row is 64 bits. Each core is capable of overclocking to 1500 MHz. The manufacturing process is 28 nm, which is currently not the best solution. The tri-core accelerator Mali-T720 MP3 was chosen as the coprocessor. This video card operates at a frequency of 450 MHz. Two gigabytes of RAM supplement the performance characteristics, which is pretty good. The size of native memory is limited to 16 GB. Expandable with a memory card. It is installed in a hybrid slot instead of the second SIM card.
What do users say about performance? Pretty good. Of course, the gadget will not pull modern “heavy” games, but it will cope with average ones with a bang.
operating system
The Huawei GR3 smartphone is running the fifth version of the popular Android OS. It is worth noting that by now it can be considered obsolete, as the "seven" has already appeared. The Android device is not presented in a “pure” form; on top of that, the proprietary Emotion UI 3.1 Lite interface is used. The style of application design is no different, but in this model there is no longer a separate service menu.
Users noted the possibility of using gestures to control the phone. For example, if you draw a specific letter on the locked screen, the corresponding application will start. There is a quick access function, as well as the ability to choose the purpose of the navigation buttons.
Camera features
Smartphone Huawei GR3, like all modern gadgets, has two optical modules. The main camera is the one located on the back of the case. It is based on a 13-megapixel sensor. The type of matrix is CMOS. There is also a flash in this model, with which you can take photos in low light. The developers have not forgotten about autofocus. The maximum resolution of images is 4160 × 3120 px. In video mode, the device works with Full HD quality.
The front module has a small resolution - only 5 megapixels. There is no flash. Photos, frankly, are pretty mediocre. Low color rendering, insufficient sharpness, there are noises. The maximum size of pictures is 2981 × 1677 px. The menu provides all the standard settings that are implemented in most gadgets.
Autonomy
What are the battery life characteristics of the Huawei GR3? This issue is the most discussed. And this is not surprising, because a mobile device should not be “tied” to an outlet. Unfortunately, this model is not equipped with the most powerful battery. Its capacity is only 2200 milliamps per hour. If you take into account the screen resolution and the characteristics of the hardware platform, then you should not count on a long life. In combined mode, the device on a single charge will be able to function for about 9 hours. With an increase in load (Wi-Fi, games), this time will be reduced by half.
Huawei GR3 Reviews (2016)
It's time to find out what users think about the GR3. Unfortunately, the owners did not highlight a large list of benefits. They praise the beautiful design, robust housing, good system performance. And it's all. But there were much more shortcomings. The first thing they pay attention to is a weak battery. There are such users whose phone does not "live out" until the evening. Many comments were made about the sensor. It does not work well, there are glitches. The keyboard is very uncomfortable, you have to enter words several times. This nuance is important for those who correspond a lot. Unfortunately, the camera did not perform well. Although the manufacturer indicated high characteristics, in fact the photos are rather mediocre. According to many, they barely reach the 5-megapixel resolution. There are those who have problems with communication. The Internet is turned on only after some manipulations: switching from 4G to 3G, and vice versa.
Updated version of the GR3 model
If you review this model, it’s worth a little talk about the updated version. Huawei GR3 (2017) was released recently. It is slightly different from its predecessor. First of all, the gadget has become a little bigger. Now its dimensions are 147.2 × 72.94 × 7.6 mm. The mass of the apparatus increased by 12 g. There was also a convex glass 2.5D. It gave the smartphone an unusual look, thanks to which the overall design only won. Now the GR3 model (2017) is easy to confuse with premium gadgets. There are new colors. The phone is sold with a white, blue, black and gold case. The developers did not make changes to the location of the main elements. The only thing that has been added is a fingerprint scanner. It is displayed on the back.
Main characteristics
The updated Huawei GR3 phone has a 5.2-inch display. The picture is displayed in high resolution Full HD. Detailing is excellent, as evidenced by the density of pixels (424 ppi). The “brain” of a smartphone is a proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 655 processor. It has 8 Cortex-A53 cores. With an increase in load, four of them can accelerate to 2100 MHz, while the maximum of the rest is limited to 1700 MHz. The process index has decreased, now it is 16 nm. Implemented and quite powerful graphics card Mali-T830 MP2. During operation, the clock frequency increases to 900 MHz. The 2017 Huawei GR3 is equipped with a lithium polymer battery. Its capacity increased by 800 mAh compared to its predecessor. There are also two cameras. The front one received a resolution of 8 megapixels, and the main module - 13 megapixels. There is a flash, digital zoom, autofocus. The smartphone is based on Android 7.0 Nougat. On top of the OS installed proprietary shell Emotion 5.0.
Particularly noteworthy are the characteristics of memory. In the updated version, the RAM increased by one gigabyte. Now users are offered instead of 2 point 3 GB. The type of RAM is LPDDR3. The number of channels is two. Frequency - 933 MHz. For some reason, the manufacturer did not expand the integrated memory storage, so you will have to be content with 16 GB.
Advantages and disadvantages of the new version
In reviews of Huawei GR3 (2017), owners discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the gadget. Let's look at the indisputable advantages:
- Stylish design.
- Reliable and high-quality body materials.
- The presence of a scanner.
- New OS version.
- Great sound.
- Support 4G.
- High-quality assembly.
- Screen resolution.
But, as usual, there were some minuses. The list of shortcomings is not very large, but there is still something to talk about. Like its predecessor, the most comments are addressed to the battery and sensor. Although the manufacturer installed a more capacious battery, the battery life did not increase, as other characteristics, for example, screen resolution, increased, the platform became more powerful. Unfortunately, the sensor does not work well. Developers urgently need to improve the optics. The resolution of the cameras, although not low, however, the quality of the pictures is frankly lame. And the most unexpected thing that users encountered was a malfunction of Google Play, which is completely beyond explanation.
Conclusion
The Huawei GR3 review has come to an end. Summing up, we can say that this model has good characteristics, especially considering its budget. Of course, the manufacturer has something to work on, and, as the updated version shows, not all the flaws are still fixed. But the ratio of price and quality in this gadget is optimally maintained.