Huawei p10 plus problems and disadvantages of the smartphone. Review comparison of Huawei P10 and P10 Plus - which flagship smartphone is better. Different sensors perform different quantitative measurements and convert physical indicators into signals that can be recognized by the brain.

Huawei can be called the “Chinese Apple”, because they are similar in many respects: work on design and inner shell, investing in technology, promoting their brand around the world, etc. And also - loyalty to traditions. Will Huawei P10 Plus be able to become an innovative competitor in terms of design? Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6?

Equipment

Perhaps the best and most beautiful flagship set for 2017. Firstly, a beautiful box that opens up in the center. Even with this element, Huawei tried to stand out. The smartphone itself is tightly packed, so you don’t have to worry about its condition if you order by mail. And then the typical configuration for Huawei awaits us. You immediately feel like you are unpacking an expensive item.

Contents of delivery:

Smartphone (already with a perfectly glued protective film)
power unit
Type-C wire
Headphones
Transparent bumper
A bunch of different documentation

Very few manufacturers can make such a generous package. Even in Moscow, finding a suitable glass or bumper for it is quite problematic (I speak as one of the owners).

Of course, it is possible to order from Chinese online sites or the Huawei brand store, which operates throughout Russia. But in the first case, we will be faced with long delivery, and in the second, with a poor assortment and inflated prices.

The boxes of the P10 and P10 Plus are identical, so here is a GIF with the unboxing of the youngest smartphone

GIF picture of the configuration from standard version perfectly demonstrates all the beauty. The configurations of both versions do not differ in any way.

Design

Our editor-in-chief, Konstantin Gagarin, expressed his opinion on the standard version of Huawei P10 that the design of the smartphone is completely imperfect and has a large number of flaws. I still adhere to the point of view that the design, of course, is a little outdated compared to the ones that came out and, but remains at a premium level. The solidity of the device is felt.

Now budget options are coming up - Doogee MIX, Ulefone F1, UMIDigi Crystal / Crystal Pro, Maze Alpha, and then it’s not far from the flagship, which is also promised to have smaller vertical frames. Geeks, which I consider myself to be, will instantly lose interest in the P10 and P10 Plus (I’m already looking at buying a Doogee MIX, if only to simply feel the freshness and novelty of using mobile technology). So all hope in terms of design on the Mate 10.

The side frames are quite narrow. Without using a bumper, you can often get phantom clicks when using one hand. The older model does not have this problem due to the larger width of the device.

The frames on top and bottom are very disappointing in their size. In the standard version this is not so noticeable, but in the older version they have grown in proportion to the height of the display. My previous review was on. And I am surprised that in a device for $170-180 these same frames are much narrower, especially the top one.

Under the screen of the Huawei P10 Plus there is a multifunctional sensor that recognizes three gestures: a normal press, a long press and a swipe from left to right and vice versa. The problem is that Huawei has installed it perfectly symmetrically in the center of the bottom frame. As a result, it turned out that I always reached with my thumb, although for ideal ergonomics it is not enough to install the sensor a couple of millimeters higher.

Above the display there is a front camera and a speaker output (talk + regular).

At the top end there is an IR port and a microphone for noise reduction. On the bottom there is a 3.5 mm port, a Type-C input, a speaker and a microphone.

On the left there is only a combined tray for a SIM card and memory card. Right: The volume rocker and power button are highlighted in red and have a jagged surface.

The back side deserves a special mention. This is a real evolution of Huawei's P-series. For me, the back side makes up for all the design issues. There is a dual camera on the side, followed by a dual flash and laser focusing. And according to tradition, the inscription “Leica” and the optics parameters with the name of the lens “Summilux-H”. It's all covered with 5th generation Gorilla Glass.

Huawei P10 is available in the following color options: Ceramic White, Graphite Black, Glossy Gold and Regular Gold, Rose Gold, Grass Green, Royal Blue and Silver. Versions that have a glossy finish back panel, the texture resembles vinyl. And here user opinions differ. Some people like this texture, while others are wary of the roughness of the back cover. But this version of the back panel does not collect fingerprints.

Sanded surfaces look much simpler, cheaper and less practical. They collect hand marks and are quite susceptible to damage. I still haven’t seen white ceramics for sale anywhere.

Display

The Huawei P10 Plus has a 5.5-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (2K resolution). The matrix is so gorgeous that even with the resolution reduced to 1920 x 1080 pixels in order to reduce power consumption, it is impossible to see the pixels upon close inspection. In principle, you can always walk with this setting. No matter how much I tried and tried, I couldn’t see the difference between Full HD and 2K resolution. And consumption is reduced by 15-20%.

5.5 inch IPS screen
resolution 2560 x 1440
534 dpi
Gorilla Glass 5th generation

Immediately after turning it on for the first time, I noticed that the color rendition was very different from mine. There is a shift to blue and greenish tones, but, thanks to the advanced screen settings, it was possible to completely replicate the transmission of shades on the Huawei P10 Plus (in the photo below it is on the right).

The picture also remains perfect at different angles. I can say for sure that the display matches the quality of a flagship smartphone. Another thing is that screens can come from different suppliers.

The screen is covered with 5th generation Gorilla Glass, and there is also a protective film installed on top. I think that this step was due to the defect of the Corning company, which makes Gorilla Glass. And the first batches were left without oleophobic coating.

In general, I see no reason for general “hate” towards Huawei. Most people will only thank the company for installing additional screen protection.

Specifications

Kirin 960 processor with 4 Cortex A73 cores with a frequency of 2.4 GHz and 4 other Cortex A53 cores operating at a frequency of 1.8 GHz
Mali-G71 MP8 graphics
RAM 4 GB LPDDR4 (after reboot free 2291 MB)
built-in memory 32 or 64 GB (approximately 50 GB available to the user)
Micro SD card support in place (combo slot with SIM card)
IPS display with a diagonal of 5.5 inches and a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels (534 ppi)
8 MP front camera (f/1.9 aperture, 6 lenses, FHD video recording, digital image stabilization)
main camera 20 MP – monochrome sensor plus 12 MP - RGB matrix (f/1.8, optical stabilization, dual LED flash, 2x hybrid zoom, PDAF, CAF and laser focusing, 4K recording at 30 fps)
battery 3,750 mAh + fast charging SuperCharge
ports USB connections Type-C 2.0 (OTG works), 3.5 mm audio output (supports 192 KHz and 24-bit audio)
OS Android 7.0
EMUI 5.1 shell
sensors: accelerometer, light and proximity sensors, fingerprint scanner, gyroscope, compass, Hall sensor
Dimensions: 153.5 x 74.2 x 6.98 mm
weight 165 grams

I would like to immediately clarify the situation with the memory card and RAM. Mine uses LPDDR4X (in the review that exists, the RAM is LPDDR4) and UFS2.0 at least, based on the speed results. Huawei P10 Plus has LPDDR4 and UFS2.0. Although in some foreign reviews there were screenshots where the memory card gains more than 700-750 MB/s in reading. This means that there is definitely UFS2.1 there.

There are no complaints about the performance of the smartphone. definitely more powerful than the Snapdragon 820 and its power will last for a long time. Even the video chip from Mali does not spoil the impression of use. Playing World of Tanks Blitz at maximum graphics settings, the smartphone does not drop FPS very much. Initially it runs at a stable 50-55 frames per second, but after about half an hour or an hour it drops to 30-40 FPS. Simultaneously with frame drops, you will feel strong heating of the smartphone at the top.

You will encounter the same problem when you keep the camera on for a long time. Therefore, if there is no activity for a short period of time while the camera is running, the phone will automatically go into hibernation.

Differences between Huawei P10 and P10 Plus
	Huawei P10	Huawei P10 Plus
Screen	5.1 inches with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution	5.5 inches with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels
Sound	the only speaker is located at the bottom end	stereo sound: one speaker at the bottom + sound from conversational dynamics above the display
Battery	3200 mAh	3750 mAh
Camera	Leica SUMMARIT-H and f/2.2 lenses	Leica SUMMILUX-H and f/1.8 lenses
Moisture protection	No	according to IPx3 standard

Photo and video

We come to the main features of the flagship, namely the cameras and their capabilities. For many years now, Huawei has been positioning its flagship solutions as camera phones. And I can say with accuracy, it has every right say so. Just a couple of weeks ago, the P10 Plus received an award from the independent international Technical Image Press Association (TIPA) for the best photo smartphones of 2017. Let's go in order.

Main camera

two modules: 12-megapixel Sony IMX286 (color) and 20-megapixel Sony IMX350 (black and white). Currently, only Huawei has the right to use these sensors.
Leica Summilux-H lenses
f/1.8 aperture

At first glance, it may seem that the main sensor is a little outdated. After all, it was already used in: / / (released a little later than Huawei P10), / Mate 9 Pro. Nevertheless, the company relied on photo processing algorithms and complete optimization of camera software.

Camera Features

wide aperture mode
hybrid zoom
portrait mode
night mode

It is these modes that I will talk about in a little more detail.

Wide aperture mode. Huawei cameras take multiple pictures at the same time as they measure depth of field. The blurred background effect is achieved by changing the aperture (from f/0.95 to f/16). But changing this parameter without certain knowledge and skills will simply lead to the pictures being blurry and with big amount software errors in processing.

Classic blur in black and white

Classic blur

Wide Aperture Mode

Software processing “ate” the needles from the cactus. This can happen quite often, so it is worth choosing more suitable objects for shooting.

Wide aperture

Auto mode

Appeared big noises in the window

Wide aperture mode helped hide this problem

Auto mode

Wide aperture

Hybrid zoom. Another “trick” of the main camera of the Huawei P10 Plus is the hybrid digital zoom, with the help of which, when zoomed in twice, the picture practically does not lose any level of detail. This feature only works in 12 megapixel shooting mode without any filters enabled. Here's what regular and zoomed photos look like:

Portrait mode. Perhaps the best feature and most successfully implemented in the Huawei P10 Plus. Portrait mode will only work when it detects a face in the frame, so it will be difficult to take such a picture from different angles. Separately, I would like to note the portrait mode from the black and white sensor. I can say with confidence that the processing algorithms there are slightly different and of higher quality.

Portrait mode is available for both the main and front cameras. Photo enhancement is also available in the Huawei P10 Plus camera settings. But frankly speaking, I don’t recommend using either photo enhancement or a portrait lens for your selfie camera. Simply because it looks very bad. Blurring occurs very randomly. It's easier to use the main camera for selfies, the results will be amazing.

Night mode. If you have Huawei P10 or Huawei P10 Plus in your hands, just forget about automatic mode filming at night. Always use night mode with minimum shutter speed. Image stabilization works well, so even when shooting handheld, the image will remain sharp with a high level of detail. It is also possible to manually adjust the ISO settings, but here it is better to leave the settings to the camera itself.

These photographs were taken handheld during a terrible May snowstorm with very strong gusts of wind that covered Moscow at the beginning of the month. To my surprise, the footage came out very clear. And we must also remember that they were made with a shutter speed of 1/4.

Otherwise, I would also like to note the high focusing speed. Cars passing quickly remain clear in the photos.

Macro photography can surprise you with beautiful background blur with a natural bokeh effect. This is one of the distinctive features of lenses from Leica - SUMMILUX-H

An example of ordinary daytime photos:

Panoramas are created with fairly high detail in all areas of the frame. Even the cars passing by turned out to be of high quality; they were not cut off or fancy shapes were used.

Front-camera

To write especially about front camera nothing. Certainly not about portrait mode, which works purely using software processing

resolution 8 megapixels
aperture f/1.9
6-element lens
Full HD video recording at 30 frames per second
software image stabilization (EIS)

The front camera is truly one of the best today in terms of image quality. The camera produces a nice picture with little noise even in poor lighting.

Video shooting

Huawei P10 Plus supports:

4K resolution / 30 fps
FHD 1080p / 120 fps (slow motion mode)
FHD 1080p / 60 or 30 fps
HD 720 / 120 fps (slow motion mode)
HD 720 / 60fps

Video examples below:

EMUI 5.1

Huawei P10 Plus runs under Android control 7.0, combined with Emotion UI version 5.1, which is largely similar to previous versions, but this time the developers relied on performance and optimization. EMUI 5.1 brings two new options - Ultra Memory and Ultra Response.

Ultra Memory - optimization function random access memory through data reuse. The smartphone learns your habits, how you use your phone, and speeds up the launch of your favorite applications.

Ultra Response - new feature speeds up response to user actions using new drivers. The screen responds faster, and the smartphone remembers finger movement patterns and predicts the user’s actions. Huawei developers claim that the screen of the new P10 has become as responsive as the iPhone.

In addition to standard modes guest access and multi-user mode shipped with Android 7.0, the P10 Plus offers the ability to create a separate secure area accessible by another fingerprint. Data locked in a protected area is not available to other users. You can only create one protected area on one device. Our hero also supports simultaneous access to social networks for two accounts, i.e. creating clone applications.

But I can say with confidence that Huawei was inspired operating system from Apple. I'll just give you a couple of screenshots for comparison:

As we can see, the copying of the interface and design is almost 100%. In fact, I'm glad that there is such a beautiful and stable shell on Android based. Even without root rights, we have much greater opportunities than on a system from a company from Cupertino. Why pay to turn off advertising and automatically connect to Wi-Fi in the metro, if you can download just one program from Play Market? And it will work better than these same paid services.

Also, just the other day there was an update to the applications of the social network VK, where music became paid and with advertising while playing tracks. I simply turned off updating this program and continue to use track caching, and if something happens, I simply download the APK file of the version I need from the Internet.

Battery life

Behind autonomy of Huawei P10 Plus The answer is a battery with a capacity of 3,750 mAh, non-removable. Comes with Charger with proprietary Huawei SuperCharge fast charging technology with current characteristics of 5V/4.5A, 4.5V/5A and 5V/2A with a maximum power of 22.5 W. I did a little research on this topic and I will tell you that in terms of power there is only one competitor - Oppo's VOOC fast charging.

For myself, I realized that this is one of the most important advantages of modern flagships. Charging from zero to 60-65% will take a little over half an hour, and a full charge took me around 80-90 minutes. And you can still use your smartphone! In this case, fast charging is not disabled, as in the Samsung Galaxy S8. The device also does not heat up at this moment.

Regarding energy consumption itself, I will say two things. Firstly, the EMUI 5.1 system provides a lot of options for setting up the battery. There is a whole section with optimization, where the system will tell you in detail what is turned on or off on the smartphone, which applications are allowed to run in the background, and so on.

Since receiving the Huawei P10 Plus, I have turned on the resolution reduction feature to make the device last longer. But the difference is still mostly not noticeable. The battery consumption of the display has decreased by approximately 20-25%.

Secondly, the smartphone lasts from morning to morning, then it needs to be recharged in an hour and a half and again works quietly for a whole day. This fast charging speed compensates for the problem that the flagship can only withstand a day's use, but don't forget that everyone's smartphone usage is different.

I believe that I put quite a lot of stress on the battery during the day, because I listen to music through VK for several hours, YouTube can work for about the same amount of time, and about another full 5-6 hours of surfing the Internet.

Bottom line

I believe that smartphone Huawei P10 Plus It will turn out to be an excellent continuation of the P-series. There are no too loud innovations, there is a smooth evolution of devices. Yes, we have already seen most of the “chips” in Huawei Mate 9 and Mate 9 Pro, but buying these models in Russia is quite problematic, because... they have not officially reached us.

The main advantages include: classic premium design, advanced power consumption settings and one of the best charging technologies currently available on the market, a beautiful display, the proprietary Emotion UI shell, which has become an excellent addition for Android Nougat, and coolly implemented 2nd generation Leica cameras, in particular portrait mode.

Huawei review P10 Plus is the most premium Huawei smartphone of the first half of 2017. The device turned out to be interesting, but there were some annoying shortcomings. Find out what's wrong with the Huawei P10 Plus and whether it's worth taking in this review.

The review was written based on the use of Huawei P10 Plus 4 GB RAM 64 GB ROM (VKY-L29), black.

Technical characteristics of Huawei P10 Plus:

Display: IPS LCD, QHD 2560x1440 pixels, density 543 ppi, 2.5D protective glass Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Chipset: Hisilicon Kirin 960, 16nm process technology, eight-core (four 2.4 GHz Artemis A73 cores and four 1.8 GHz Cortex A53 cores), Mali-G71 MP8 video accelerator (8 cores)
RAM: 4 or 6 GB
Built-in memory: 64 or 128 GB UFS 2.0
Main camera: Main - dual, 12 MP color + 20 MP monochrome, f/1.8 aperture, dual LED flash, hybrid laser autofocus, optical stabilization, SUMMILUX-H 1:1.8/27 lenses. Front camera - 8 MP, f/1.9 aperture
Communications: 4G LTE, 3G, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS, Bluetooth 4.2, 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n, 2.4G/5G, NFC
Connectors and Sensors: 3.5mm, USB-Type-C 2.0, Fingerprint Sensor, G-Sensor, Gyroscope, Compass, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Infrared Sensor
Battery: 3750 mAh, Huawei SuperCharge fast charging
Case material: aluminum, glass
Colors: Ceramic White, Dazzling Blue, Dazzling Gold, Graphite Black, Silver, Rose Gold, Grass Green
Operating system: Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 shell
Dimensions: 153.5 x 74.2 x 6.98 mm with a weight of 165 grams
Protection: no

Design. We've already seen this somewhere

When I look at the Huawei P10 Plus, I have a distinct feeling of “I’ve seen this somewhere before.”

No, I don’t think that Huawei designers stupidly copied the iPhone 7 Plus. Rather, they borrowed the concept or overall design vision from the guys from Cupertino.

Compared to the previous generation, the P10 and P10 Plus focus on minimalism and simple shapes. No shiny edges, polished bevels or logos.

Compare Huawei P10 Plus and Sony Xperia X

It is clear that Huawei engineers tried to remove all the “flashy” elements, replacing them with something less flashy.

Smooth aluminium case, 2.5D glass and a minimum of parts. The easiest way to describe Huawei P10 Plus is this.

Even the signature glass strip above the cameras began to look less noticeable. The texture was removed - now there is just black glass with rounded edges.

Do I like this approach? Rather yes than no. Huawei P10 Plus looks like a premium A-brand smartphone, and not another faceless “rattle” from China.

The Huawei logo on the black metal of the case is barely noticeable. If you don't know mobile market, then you won’t even understand that you’re holding a Huawei in your hands.

Do I like it appearance Huawei P10 Plus? More likely no than yes. In pursuit of minimalism, Huawei designers forgot to add some zest to its appearance.

I would like to add a bright detail to the body of the Huawei P10 Plus. For example, paint the glass insert red or make the Home button matte.

Huawei P10 Plus is stylish, but it lacks something.

Now about the P10 Plus buttons. Huawei has removed the fingerprint scanner from the back and moved it to the front. A strange decision to please Chinese trends - they ran away from the “Chinese” design, but made the button like all the “Chinese” ones. For what?

It looks like an oval Home button, but it's just a touchpad. The scanner speed is amazingly fast, working 10 out of 10 times. But there are questions about ergonomics, more details in the next paragraph.

In keeping with the P series tradition, the metal power button has an intricate design. Red chamfer color and ribbed texture. Huawei designers really love this element in the Huawei P10 Plus case. The volume control key was made invisible, but it is also metal.

The USB Type-C port and the 3.5 mm jack are located at the bottom end, where one of the stereo speakers is also located. At the top end there is an infrared sensor and an additional microphone. Let's look at the gallery with all the ends:

Ergonomics

Due to the case thickness of 7 mm and the smooth shape of the case, the grip is comfortable. But not everything is so good.

The smooth aluminum and lack of edges made me constantly fear for the safety of the phone. The Huawei P10 Plus is very slippery, so you had to squeeze it harder than usual to hold it firmly. I was really afraid of dropping it on the street. Therefore, you need to use Huawei P10 Plus carefully and only with dry hands.

I was disappointed by the multifunctional Home button, which is actually just a touch pad with gesture capabilities. Press it once and you'll go back; if you press it for a long time, you'll go to the desktop; swipe left or right and you'll be taken to the menu of open applications.

It sounds simple and convenient, but it’s not. There is vibration feedback only when pressed for a long time, which is why I sometimes didn’t understand whether the button worked or not.

Plus, there are limitations at the software level. If you use the Home button instead of the usual Android on-screen keys, then forget about the split-screen function. Well, or use an awkward gesture with your knuckles.

You can't help but go through the ridiculous film on the screen. How did it happen? Such serious efforts for promotion, so much effort in the development of smartphones, but they forgot to make an oleophobic coating on the screen. And when they remembered, it was already too late. Therefore, they pasted a film to somehow cover this jamb.

But the problem remains, because the oleophobic coating of the film is also not of high quality, which is why the P10 Plus screen always looks dirty. I would immediately peel off such a film and replace it protective glass with a grease-repellent layer.

Screen. Top LCD

I scolded the ergonomics, and now I’ll praise the screen of the Huawei P10 Plus. Moreover, there is a reason for it.

Screen with a diagonal of 5.5 inches, IPS technology with QHD resolution (2560×1440), density 543 ppi. The screen quality is at the highest level. High contrast, uniform illumination, no side glare. The maximum brightness is 500 nits; there will be no problems with readability in the sun.

I will also note the realistic color rendition, no eye-catching colors of AMOLED screens, everything is fair.

There is no question of fading of the picture or inversion at angles. Huawei P10 Plus has a reference LCD screen with excellent characteristics.

The only criticism is that the temperature is a little cold. This was noticeable in my Huawei P10 Plus, but if you don’t like cool colors, go to the screen settings and change it to your heart’s content. I prefer the warm temperature of the screen, while others, on the contrary, prefer a colder one. A matter of taste, in general.

Camera. Leica + f/1.8 = cool shots

Huawei P10 Plus has a dual Leica camera from Huawei Mate 9 (). 12 MP color + 20 MP monochrome. The camera is worthy of a flagship.

The only difference lies in the new lenses. The Huawei P10 Plus cameras were equipped with new SUMMILUX-H 1: 1.8/27 lenses with f/1.8 aperture, while Huawei Mate 9 and Huawei P10 received the “old” SUMMARIT-H lens with f/2.2 aperture. That's the whole difference.

Huawei P10 Plus shoots exactly the same as its brothers P10 and Mate 9, but in some scenes it can set a lower ISO value, which means there will be a little less noise.

In automatic mode, I couldn't tell the difference between the Mate 9 and P10 Plus cameras, except when shooting at night, and then not always. But if you dabble with manual mode, then the Huawei P10 Plus camera can do a little more.

The pictures are obtained with an artistic effect; the algorithms of Huawei and Leica perfectly understand how to “draw” a picture so that the user likes it. And even if the photos come out noisier than those of competitors, who cares if they turn out much more “alive”.

I believe that the cameras in Huawei flagships have become more convenient for mobile photographers. It is universal and powerful tool. True b/w shooting, the most convenient manual mode and RAW support.

What else does? Oh yes, a telephoto lens, like the iPhone 7 Plus, but Huawei has a 2x “lossless” zoom, the quality of which is not much inferior to the iPhone.

cof

Example video (FHD, 60 fps):

A small fly in the ointment - for some reason, Huawei P10 Plus removed 240 fps video shooting, leaving only 120 fps. The Mate 9 has 240 fps, but the P10 Plus and P10 do not. Is Mate 9 more of a flagship than the P series? 😉

The camera application is absolutely the same as that of other Huawei flagships, so you can take a look at my review of Huawei camera software. Pro mode, portrait mode and all camera functions are described in detail there:

Software EMUI 5.1 and Android 7.0 Nougat

Huawei P10 Plus is based on Android 7.0 Nougat with the proprietary EMUI 5.1 shell, which is no different from EMUI 5.0.

It’s these very clumsy icons that cause me and my colleagues the most questions. The fashion for voluminous icons went back to the days of iOS 7 and Android 6.0 Marshmallow, but Huawei is still nostalgic for these times.

Huawei's shell is not bad, it is fast and functional. It works stably, bugs are difficult to find.

All the possibilities and conclusions about the EMUI shell can be found in my review:

Performance + autonomy

Huawei P10 Plus is based on the Hisilicon Kirin 960 chipset, which is produced using the 16nm process technology. This is an eight-core processor (four 2.4 GHz Artemis A73 cores and four 1.8 GHz Cortex A53 cores), a video accelerator with the latest Mali-G71 MP8 (8 cores).

In my Mate 9 review, I already said that the Kirin 960 is the most underrated processor on the smartphone market. The chipset is powerful and easily handles complex calculations and cool games. Here are the benchmark results:

And here are the speed tests of the built-in memory of the Huawei P10 Plus (right) compared to the Mate 9 (left).

There were rumors circulating online that Huawei was inserting different versions memory to their flagships, somewhere UFS 2.0, and somewhere UFS 2.1. Whether this is true or not, we won’t know, but I was completely satisfied with the speed of the ROM in the P10 Plus.

Autonomy.

The battery life of the Huawei P10 Plus was a bit disappointing. I expected more from the 3750 mAh battery. In fact, it turned out that the smartphone lasts about a day in my usage scenario: a lot of YouTube and social networks, few calls, music via Bluetooth. On average, about 3.5-4 hours of screen time. My Mate 9 lives much longer, at least 20-30%.

The likely culprit for this average battery life is the QHD screen, which unnecessarily strains the processor.

Communication, sound, competitors

I couldn’t find fault with the quality of Network reception in the Huawei P10 Plus. I never tire of repeating that Huawei is doing fine in terms of speech transmission and audibility. The metal case does not interfere with reliable reception mobile internet. Plastic antennas a la iPhone 7 work flawlessly.

The stereo speakers of the Huawei P10 Plus surprised me. They're not as loud as the Mate 9, but they're better quality. Noticeably less distortion when listening to music at maximum volume.

The arrangement of the speakers is as follows: in front there is a high-frequency speaker, and at the bottom end there is a CB speaker with a hint of low frequencies. The sound is great.

I rated the sound quality in the headphones as average. The Kirin 960 does not have a Hi-Fi chip, so audiophiles may be disappointed. On the other hand, most Snapdragon 820/821 smartphones, unless they have a separate DAC, sound almost the same. Therefore, this cannot be considered a disadvantage.

Competitors.

Huawei now plays in the major league, which means they have more than enough competitors. In the class of premium 5-5.8″ smartphones at a price of 40-45 thousand rubles, I can immediately pick up several dangerous rivals. The average prices of Yandex Market are indicated.

Galaxy S7 Edge — 43,300 rubles
LG G6 — 45,000 rubles
Xperia XZ Dual — 40,000 rubles
Google Pixel 32 GB — 44,990 rubles

In Yandex.Market, Huawei P10 Plus 4 GB RAM 64 GB ROM costs an average of 40,000 rubles. it's begging to become the main competitor for the P10 Plus. Personally, I would look in his direction.

Conclusion

Before the test, I seriously thought about changing my Huawei Mate 9 to P10 Plus. I really liked it during the announcement at MWC. But after a lot of communication, I am skeptical about this idea.

Everything is spoiled by the strange multifunction button and the slippery body. It’s not cool when a 5.5″ phone is less convenient to use than a 6″ giant.

Still, I liked the Huawei P10 Plus. The shortcomings are annoying, but the smartphone is really beautiful, and the advantages in the form of faster optics and a high-quality screen have not gone away. The phone turned out neat and stylish.

I am 100% sure that the regular P10 will have wonderful sales, which cannot be said about its older brother. It seems that Huawei marketers have never been able to explain why to buy the more expensive P10 Plus when there is a cheaper P10.

What do you think about the P10 Plus? Write in the comments!

Huawei, as part of its presentation at Mobile World Congress 2017 in Barcelona, presented new flagships and ideological successors to the P-line: Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus. Over the year, not only the filling of the devices has changed, but their appearance has also changed: new colors have appeared, and the body has become less “square”.

In today's test, we will get acquainted with the phablet of the flagship Huawei P10 Plus line, and also compare the photographic capabilities of the Plus version and the regular one. This is relevant because the difference between the P10 and P10 Plus is not only in the body size and display diagonal; The P10 Plus features the new Leica Summilux-H F1.8 lenses. For comparison, the regular P10 has lower aperture optics - Leica Summarit-H F2.2. Is this so critical? We'll figure it out later.

Huawei P10 Plus is enclosed in an all-metal body with small and almost invisible inserts (if you take the smartphone in black). In our country you can also find a blue version with a specific laser cut on the back wall. Thanks to this, the surface is slightly rough and the smartphone does not slip in the palm.

We especially note that there is no Huawei logo on the front, and on the back, in black version, it is practically invisible. In the blue version, the logo on the back wall is a little more noticeable.

There is another significant change in the smartphone compared to the previous generation (P9/P9 Plus) - the fingerprint scanner has moved from the rear wall, and has now also become a touch key. Interestingly, the company's engineers made this key a kind of touchpad that performs three functions at once, standard for on-screen Android keys. Short press - home, long press - open applications, swipe from right to left - back. If desired, you can return the on-screen buttons and use the key only as a fingerprint scanner.

Unfortunately, due to the sensor being moved forward, the screen was left without an oleophobic coating. Therefore, even though it comes with a protective film from the factory, it gets dirty pretty quickly.

But the most important thing for us in the Huawei P10 Plus is the Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro Edition dual camera unit. There are two sensors installed here: color with a resolution of 12 megapixels and monochrome with a resolution of 20 megapixels. We saw a similar solution in last year’s Huawei Mate 9 smartphone, but here they updated the software and, of course, added new, faster Leica Summilux-H optics with an F1.8 aperture.

This is the main difference from the P10, which features the Leica Dual Camera 2.0 with last year's F2.2 Leica Summarit-H lenses.

The Leica Dual Camera 2.0 module is installed in both smartphones, but the lenses are different:
Summarit-H F2.2 for P10 and Summilux-H F1.8 for P10 Plus

The P10 Plus camera has optical image stabilization and hybrid autofocus, which uses phase detection, contrast detection and laser focusing. In addition, either engineers or marketers (most likely they) announced a fourth type of focus, hitherto unknown in the art of photography - depth focus. The principle of its operation, to be honest, is not yet clear to us. The camera is also equipped with a two-color flash.

The Huawei P10 Plus smartphone is equipped with an 8 MP front camera and Leica lenses with F1.9 aperture. This is the first time a selfie camera is being made in collaboration with Leica and it's really exciting.

Huawei P10 Plus is a controversial smartphone. After several fashion flagships with the prefix P in the name, the company left the focus on the camera, not the design... and almost got lost in the background latest Galaxy and MiMix.

Exterior - glass and aluminum

In front view the phablet resembles iPhone Plus seventh and eighth generations: symmetrical screen frames, sensor position. Huawei even spared the aesthetics of the front panel, leaving it without a logo. The neighboring Honor line has not been so lucky so far. The back side is almost entirely metal. Only the glass insert in the upper part is knocked out - the creators focused on the block with cameras.

Depending on the color scheme, back cover or matte texture (for example, P10 Plus in black), glossy (in white) or pearlescent (in blue, light green, gold and pink) - polishing methods differ. With Nova and Honor, the vendor adheres to the same shades of the palette.

The 2018 flagships with their trendy 9:18 aspect ratio screens and the P10 Plus have the most noticeable difference - the latter’s greater width. It is difficult to reach the top curtain without intercepting the device. But the main problem is not the size of the case, but the non-solid aluminum series. If you carry a smartphone in tight trousers and sit while the “plus” is in your pocket, it will definitely bend like a crescent.

Strengths

Power off and lock button. Corrugated and with a red edging - easy to find blindly, difficult to confuse with the volume rocker.
Fingerprint scanner under the screen - to unlock the device, you don’t have to pick it up. Another advantage over the Honor family. What is important is that the button is not mechanical, but touch-sensitive, like the iPhone of recent years. It supports swipes and can replace on-screen navigation keys.
They didn't get rid of the 3.5 mm jack.

Weaknesses

Hybrid slot for nanoSIM and microSD. Something will have to be sacrificed: either a working number or an additional 256 GB - this is the maximum capacity of supported memory cards.

What is in the box?

The Huawei 10 Plus has a royal set:

Adapter for fast charging SuperCharge (Apple's nod to forcing you to buy an accessory with a higher amperage separately);
USB Type-C cable;
A headset very reminiscent of EarPods - with a call button;
Translucent cover cover. Not the most convenient: with it, the Huawei becomes slippery, thick, and dust gets stuck in the gaps under the plastic.

On copies from individual batches there is a protective film already glued to the screen. This is how the vendor justified himself for the lack of oleophobic coating. Later versions have a protective coating.

Inside - excellent cameras and decent hardware

Screen

The “plus” has a 5.5-inch IPS matrix with a resolution of 2560 by 1440 pixels. Density - 534 dpi: higher than the human eye can discern from the distance at which phones are usually held.

The brightness reserve is enough for a spring day (under direct rays, readability still drops). White color has a bluish tint, but the temperature of the palette can be adjusted to suit your preferences. Black fades somewhat in the dark at an angle - IPS features, so it cannot be counted as a disadvantage.

Performance and Features

P10 Plus, like its predecessors, received Huawei's own Kirin processor with 64-bit architecture. Here they used an eight-core “960” chip with clock frequency up to 2.4 GHz and Mali-671 MP8 graphics chip.

In AnTuTu, Huawei P10 Plus scores 164 thousand points - for comparison, the result of the flagship Mate 10 Pro and Honor V10 is 213 thousand. To play demanding arcade games or Tanks, it is better to set the settings to medium and enjoy 55 fps, otherwise the frame rate drops to 35 fps. Almost every review separately notes how quickly the P10 Plus heats up under loads in the upper part of the case, but cools down just as quickly.

pros

4 antennas and support for LTE Cat.12 (up to 600 Mbit/s received). Provides communication where competitors barely show one bar on the reception indicator.
Loud stereo speakers. The role of the second is played by the conversational one. For comfortable listening indoors, 70% power is enough.

Autonomy

Under the aluminum of the Huawei P10+ lies a non-removable battery with a capacity of 3750 mAh. And although the Kirin 960 has four energy-efficient cores, it is difficult to classify the smartphone as a long-liver. Its norm is a day with brightness below maximum, social networks and web surfing.

Fast charging works as promised on the official website: in half an hour the “plus” is restored by half, for 100% it will take 90-95 minutes.

Cameras

And here it is main reason study Huawei P10 Plus reviews and ignore the more affordable and new Honor. The hero of the review is the fruit of a collaboration between a Chinese company and the German Leica, known for its photographic equipment for more than a century.

In addition to branded optics, the phablet is interesting in its image processing technology. It has two camera modules. The first, a 20 MP Sony IMX376 sensor, shoots in black and white and is responsible for details. An additional one is also from Sony, but 12 MP IMX286, works with color. Algorithms combine two photos and squeeze maximum edge sharpness and objective color rendition out of the P10+ duo.

It’s rare to find smartphones that leave a negative impression when you first meet them, and after a long period of use you don’t want to part with them. One of these devices was the Huawei P10 Plus, which looked very interesting in the renderings, but was unpleasantly surprising in real life at first.

First impression

When we first met, the smartphone really disappointed us, because The screen does not have an oleophobic coating. For a device costing 45,000 rubles, this is simply unacceptable. All fingerprints, stains and greasy marks are visible always and everywhere. The glass can be wiped, but a couple of touches will return everything to normal.

The manufacturer tried to somehow compensate for this jamb with something already pasted “out of the box” protective film, but firstly, it also gets dirty easily, and secondly, just visually a smartphone with it doesn’t look so attractive. Isn’t that why the front panel was made monolithic with a recess for the fingerprint scanner, so that later it could be ruined with film?

The back panel is mostly made of metal, which also collects fingerprints well. The scale of the disaster is no longer the same as with the display, but nevertheless, the traces will be noticeable. The most protected place from contamination was the glass insert in the area of the main chamber. However, it is still worth wiping it before shooting, so as not to spoil the photo with dust particles accidentally falling into the frame.

If you close your eyes to the dirtyness, there is absolutely no fault with the Huawei P10 Plus in appearance. It has a fairly comfortable body with rounded ends, due to which it fits perfectly in the hand. By dimensions model much more compact the same iPhone 7 Plus with the same 5.5‑inch screen: 153.5x74.2x6.7 mm versus 158.2x77.9x7.3. In addition, Huawei P10 Plus is also 20 grams lighter.

By choosing metal, the manufacturer solved the problem with communications using time-tested veins that mask the antennas exposed outside. The main one is located at the bottom; in the black version of the case it is not at all noticeable, but rather looks like a stylish “emphasis”. And, by the way, it also blurts out.

The traditional ribbed power button with a red rim remains in its place on the side, on the bottom edge - USB port Type-C, microphone, speaker grille and audio jack. An IR transmitter was placed on top for control household appliances and an additional microphone.

In general, the design of the smartphone with all the mentioned details forms a certain already established Huawei style, albeit with a hint of Apple. Year after year, the company's new products look better and better, and even if there are very few external adjustments in the new models, they absolutely change the design for the better.

Fingerprint scanner

The front scanner is very convenient to use, recognition occurs as quickly as possible. The slightest touch is enough to unlock the screen. The sensor also serves as the main navigation button: short press is “back”, holding – return to the home screen, horizontal swipe – goes to the screen of active processes.

From Google it is launched by swiping from the bottom frame up to the display. If desired, all these actions can be disabled by returning to the usual on-screen navigation and selecting the most convenient set of buttons. In this case, the scanner remains a simple unlock scanner and nothing more.

Screen

Again, if you turn a blind eye to the dirtiness, the front panel of the Huawei P10 Plus will delight you with a black frame that merges with the inactive screen. At certain angles, the borders of the display are simply invisible.

Huawei P10 Plus has a gorgeous WQHD display with a wide range of brightness

The smartphone has a 5.5‑inch LTPS panel with a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels. The colors are expressive and saturated, the brightness reserve is suitable for any situation: at minimum it will be comfortable to read books/tapes/documents in complete darkness, and at maximum the picture will remain easily distinguishable even in very bright sun.

Viewing angles are quite wide, there is no shift in shades to warm or cold. The settings allow you to adjust the color temperature, and there is also a vision protection mode that reduces the harmful effects of blue light, while the picture takes on a light sepia effect.

Performance

The phablet received a proprietary 64-bit eight-core Kirin 960 processor, which includes four Cortex-A73 cores with a frequency of 2.4 GHz and four Cortex-A53 with a frequency of 1.8 GHz. Complementing all this is the i6 coprocessor and graphics accelerator Mali-G71 MP8. The amount of RAM is 4 GB, the built-in memory is 64 GB, there is support microSD cards up to 256 GB.

All this is the baggage of a true modern flagship that can cope with any task. The main thing is proper optimization of the hardware, with which Huawei is completely fine. Any games, heavy tasks in browsers, high-definition online videos and other difficulties will not be a problem for the P10 Plus.

The smartphone can only disappoint fans of benchmarks, where the device is far from the leaders. In AnTuTu, it scores 134,279, which is close to the results of last year's flagships, the Galaxy S7 and LG G5. On Geekbench, it scores 1,850 in the single-core test and 6,079 in the multi-core test.

System

The smartphone runs on Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 on top. I described this duet in detail back in, so I won’t go into detail about the features of the system here. Everything is exactly the same.

I’ll just note that the P10 Plus is somewhat superior to its “younger brother” in terms of speed and smoothness of the interface itself. Many services and applications launch noticeably faster, especially when opening them again from the background.

Cameras

A separate section was devoted to my impressions of the main Leica camera, in which I tried to explain why I liked it much more as a photographic solution. It’s funny, but after the publication of this article with complaints about low detail on the P10 Plus, a rather weighty update arrived, aimed, among other things, at optimizing the camera’s performance. This update did improve the sharpness situation a bit.

In the front camera, Huawei used Leica optics for the first time, previously used only in the main photo modules. The sensor resolution was 8 megapixels and the aperture was f/1.9. The manufacturer claims that 200% more light is now captured. In fact, there was no “wow” effect. The camera is not bad, but not revolutionary.

photo with bokeh effect (left) and without it (right)

Separately, I would like to note that when you launch the selfie camera, the background blur mode is always activated by default, which is incorrect. It’s worth offering this option right away only when it will work perfectly, but now there are problems with separating the foreground from the background. The silhouette is outlined more or less correctly only when there is a very noticeable difference in color or a large distance to the background.

Sound

Huawei P10 Plus is equipped with stereo speakers, one of which is located at the bottom end, and the second plays the role of a speaker above the screen. The sound is clear and quite bassy even at above-average volumes.

The transition to stereo mode occurs when the smartphone is oriented horizontally.

You will be able to appreciate the quality of the speakers not only in music and films, but also in games - the effects you are familiar with and just the audio will sound in a new way. The sound is good in headphones, but the standard player will not allow you to customize it to certain styles.

IR transmitter

The IR transmitter located at the top end is used to control household appliances. For this purpose, your smartphone has a special “Virtual Remote” application, in which you only need to select the device type and manufacturer. After which the program will select the most optimal set of signals.

It was very easy to pair such a remote control with a Samsung TV, but it didn’t work with the Ballu air conditioner. Manual setup with memorizing signals from the original remote control and programming buttons did not work either. But it’s strange, Ballu is far from a newcomer to the climate control equipment market.

Autonomy

The smartphone has a 3,750 mAh battery - this is a good indicator for the owner of a 5.5‑inch display and a very thin body. However, high screen resolution makes significant adjustments to autonomous operation. WHQD matrix is very power hungry, so the period of operation without recharging greatly depends on the brightness of the display and the love for mobile games. The latter drain the battery quite quickly (in an hour, on average, 25% of the charge disappears).

In a mixed mode of use with constant Wi-Fi and LTE activity, the smartphone can easily last a day with 3-3.5 hours of screen light. This is slightly less than average for flagships. However, in defense of the P10 Plus, I will say that with a fixed display brightness, battery discharge is always predictable without dubious “eating” processors in the background.

Also, the situation with autonomy is partly compensated by SuperCharge fast charging, with which you can replenish 90% of the charge in about an hour. But for such a speed you need both a compatible cable and a compatible charger, that is, only the supplied ones will do.

Conclusion

As I said at the very beginning, the Huawei P10 Plus does not make the best impression at first glance. The soiling of the case simply cannot be ignored and this is a real problem, a kind of greasy fly in the ointment. And this spoon will play its role for many users.

I would advise anyone who is really interested in the phablet to go to any store where it is available “touch” and evaluate with your own eyes consequences of abandoning the oleophobic layer. If the accumulation of fingerprints on the screen does not scare you, then the P10 Plus will definitely not disappoint, because it simply has no other obvious shortcomings.

pros

nice design
gorgeous screen
powerful filling
fast fingerprint scanner
good cameras
stereo sound
fast charging

Minuses

soiling
soiling
soiling

Specifications of Huawei P10 Plus:

OS: Android 7.0 + EMUI 5.1;
processor: eight-core Kirin 960 with a frequency of 2.4 GHz;
RAM: 4 GB;
built-in memory: 64 GB + microSD slot;
screen: 5.5‑inch LTPS with a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels and 2.5D protective glass;
main camera: dual 12 + 20 megapixels with f/1.8 aperture, dual LED flash, laser focusing and optical stabilization;
front camera: 8 MP with f/1.9 aperture;
communications: Wi‑Fi (a/b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.2, DLNA, NFC;
navigation: GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BDS;
USB connector: Type-C;
Fingerprint scanner: yes, front;
battery: 3,750 mAh with fast charging;
dimensions: 153.5x74.2x6.7 mm;
Weight: 165 grams.