Huawei’s P10 is the latest in a series of fine smartphones from the Chinese firm, yet it still feels like a bit of a letdown. It’s a good -looking device that does the job perfectly well, but offers only minor upgrades on what came before.
While the P10’s dimensions are virtually identical to those of last year’s P9, Huawei has this time rounded off the edges, giving it an uncanny resemblance to the iPhone 6. It’s a pleasant (albeit borrowed) design that gives the P10 a more premium feel than its predecessor.
The fingerprint scanner has also been moved from the rear to the front, an odd move given that Huawei’s Mate and Honor ranges all have their sensors on the back.
The P10 has the same full HD display of the P9. Colours and definition are perfectly fine on the trailer for Alien: Covenant, but performance inevitably still falls short of the (pricier) Quad HD displays of the likes of the LG G6 and Galaxy S8.
The P10’s big update is its Leica-lensed camera system, ported in from last year’s Mate 9. As with the Mate 9, a 12MP colour sensor and a 20MP black and white sensor work together to produce nicely detailed images in the daytime, with some cool “Bokeh” effects via the wide-aperture mode. Low-light performance, however, leaves a little to be desired, as was the case with the Mate 9.
Also new is a portrait mode, which claims to map facial features for better focused portrait shots. It’s a fun feature, albeit one that gives subjects a slightly airbrushed look. The 8MP front- facing camera takes decent selfies.
At Dh1,899, the P10 isn’t intended to compete directly with the likes of the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S8. But while it’s decent value, its design and camera tweaks don’t make it a particularly compelling upgrade over the P9.
It’s a fine upgrade for those who’ve had their devices for two years or more, but it might feel a little average compared with the more dramatic forward leaps taken by the Galaxy S8 and the LG G6.
q&a power-packed for its size
John Everington expands on what Huawei’s new P10 smartphone has to offer:
The P10 looks a bit small compared with some of the big-screen beasts that have just come out.
You could always try the Huawei P10 Plus. Not only does it have a 5.5-inch screen, it’s also a Quad HD display that gives more vibrant colours. It won’t come cheap, however, costing you Dh2,599, at which point it might be worth going for the G6 or Galaxy S8 instead. Alternatively you could always opt for the Huawei Mate 9, which packs a full HD 5.9-inch screen and retails for Dh2,299.
How does it fare battery wise?
The P10 packs a very impressive 3,200 mAh battery, which is average for what is a relatively small handset. Some benchmarks have it lagging behind its peers, but it has enough juice to get through a full day of use.
What other specs should I know about?
Unlike the Galaxy S8 and the LG G6, the P10 doesn’t run Google Assistant, the (very capable) Android competitor to Apple’s Siri, a feature I sorely missed when testing it. There’s a generous 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage as standard, expandable to 256GB.
And the colours?
For the moment, the P10 is available in “dazzling” gold, “dazzling” blue and, erm, “graphite” black. Huawei also unveiled models in “ceramic” white, “mystic” silver, “greenery” and our old favourite “rose” gold at the P10’s official launch in Barcelona in February, so watch this space for potential new hues later in the year.
jeverington@thenational.ae
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