Reviews of Huawei P10 and P10 Plus. Huawei P10 review: amazing camera and design Huawei p10, is there an oleophobic coating?

In 2017, many worthy devices were released, but some of them were deprived of attention, and in vain. The Huawei P10 smartphone and the Plus and Lite versions of the P-line have received good characteristics: an excellent dual camera, high performance, nice design and a powerful battery. However, there was a fly in the ointment, but more on that later.

P-ruler positioning

Huawei is systematically moving towards its cherished goal: to become one of the A-brands. They pay a lot of attention to materials, design, device features and their positioning. If the Chinese manufacturer continues these trends, the moment when it will become a competitor to Samsung is not far off. In the meantime, the Chinese manufacturer creates very high-quality and decent devices, but still does not reach the level of the South Korean corporation.

In 2017, the company introduced three P-line smartphones: Huawei P10, P10 Plus and P10 Lite. They are positioned as devices with balanced characteristics and are aimed at consumers who have high demands on the quality of cameras. The optics of the devices were developed in collaboration with Leica. And this has borne fruit: the cameras of P-line smartphones shoot at the level of the latest flagships.

Today we decided to compare Huawei P10 and other P-series smartphones. Let's figure out how the devices differ, find out their strengths and weaknesses, and determine which smartphone is worth paying attention to if you are considering purchasing a new device.

Characteristics of Huawei P10 and other versions of the P-line

For the convenience of readers, the main characteristics of smartphones are presented in the form of a comparative table.

	5.1 inches, IPS, 1920×1080 pixels	5.5 inches, IPS, 2560 x 1440 pixels	LTPS LCD, 5.2 inches diagonal, resolution 1080×1920 pixels
CPU	Hisilicon Kirin 960, 8 cores	Hisilicon Kirin 960, 8 cores	HiSilicon Kirin 658
RAM
Storage device
Main camera	dual, 20-megapixel monochrome and 12-megapixel color, f/2.2, dual-tone flash	two modules – 20/12 MP, f/1.8, dual LED flash, laser focusing, optical stabilization	12 MP, f/2.2, phase detection autofocus, LED flash
Front-camera		8 MP with autofocus
Operating system (at time of announcement)	Android 7.0 Nougat, EMUI 5.1 shell	Android 7.0 Nougat, Huawei EMUI 5.1 shell	Android 7.0 Nougat, EMUI 5.1
Battery	3200 mAh, support fast charging	3750 mAh, support fast charging	3000 mAh, support fast charging
Interfaces	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, NFC, USB Type-C, USB OTG	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2, USB Type-C (USB 2.0) connector for charging/syncing, 3.5 mm headset jack, DLNA, NFC	Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, microUSB connector (USB-Host) for charging/syncing, 3.5 mm jack for headset/headphones, NFC
Additionally	Fingerprint Sensor, G-Sensor, Gyroscope, Compass, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor	Fingerprint Sensor, G-sensor, Gyroscope, Compass, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity Sensor, Hall Sensor, Infrared Sensor	fingerprint scanner, accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor
Dimensions	145.3x69.3x6.98 mm	153.5 x 74.2 x 6.98 mm	146.5 x 72 x 7.2 mm
Housing materials	metal, glass, plastic	metal, glass, plastic	metal, glass

Special processor

The flagships use an 8-core Kirin 960 processor, the younger model received the HiSilicon Kirin 658 chipset. According to the manufacturer, the processor was designed specifically for the P10 Lite.

Huawei P10 received 4 GB of RAM, the Plus version has two modifications: with 4 GB and 6 GB of RAM. Based on benchmark test results, smartphones can easily compete with flagship devices. In any case, the P10 Plus (version with 6 GB of RAM) overtook the AnTuTu benchmark according to the LG G6 testing results, scoring 138,311 points against the opponent’s 135,032 points.

The devices have no performance problems: performance-demanding games run perfectly, the system does not freeze, and no lags have been noticed. There is a slightly noticeable heating of the case, barely noticeable, as if the phone was warmed by the warmth of the palm.

The younger version also behaves quite decently: the device is fast and practically does not heat up under load.

What's mediocre about all three devices is the battery life. Even the more or less capacious battery of the P10 Plus gives a standard result - 12-14 hours of active use. Fast charging works flawlessly - the battery is fully charged in about 1.5 hours.

Appearance - stylish but ordinary

Huawei can be called a conservative company - it does not make bold experiments and adheres to a recognizable style. The P-line is similar in design to previous models. Many people blame the company for the fact that the P10 and its brothers are similar to Apple products. In fact, almost all the latest smartphones with rounded edges can be suspected of imitating iPhones.

P10 is one of the company's most successful image devices. This is an elegant device with a thin all-metal body, a surprisingly organic combination of sizes, materials and colors. The sides are polished smooth, and the back panel has a different structure: there are models with a rough finish, sandblasted and glossy. The device lies comfortably in the hand and practically does not slip.

A definite plus of the smartphone is the amazing variety of body colors. The eyes literally run wild, one option is better than the other, and they will all find their users. A controversial option is the green color of the body. He is handsome, but, as they say, not for everyone. They mostly praise the color blue, which has become a trend.

A larger device, compared to other models in the line, in a thin all-metal case. Its edges are noticeably rounded, the body does not have sharp transitions. The smartphone seems wide, but fits comfortably in the hand. Despite its apparent massiveness, it is not that heavy. The matte metal surface is pleasant to the touch, but slippery. Protecting your device definitely won’t hurt. The build quality is at an excellent level, there is nothing to complain about here - the body is solid and reliable.

In general, the older version looks strict and expensive. There are also a lot of color options for the case - you can choose from six options.

The front panel is protected by impact-resistant glass with sloping edges. At the top, according to tradition, there are sensors, an event indicator and a front camera.

There is a fingerprint scanner under the display. By the way, this is not a regular button, but a recess in the glass. The scanner works great, recognition is fast.

On the back panel you can see dual camera modules.

Among the features of the mechanical buttons, it is worth noting the corrugated and additionally colored power key.

The older P-series models received a stylish and attractive design, but without any special features. And here is the promised fly in the ointment - neither the P10 nor the Plus version received an oleophobic coating. How this is possible in the case of flagship devices is beyond explanation. One small nuance spoils the perfect picture of almost flawless Huawei devices. Another unpleasant fact: to hide the absence of a grease-repellent layer, protective films were glued to smartphones, and of very mediocre quality. This clumsy attempt to hide one’s shortcomings for the company looks somehow undignified.

The design of the Huawei P10 Lite, which we are reviewing today, is similar to the Honor 8: the device form factor, screen diagonal and body materials are the same. The arrangement of the elements is also largely identical. This is a thin device with an elegant glass body with a metal rim around the perimeter. It fits comfortably in the hand and does not slip out. The downside is the modest oleophobic coating. Glass panels become covered with fingerprints almost instantly.

The dissonance in the design of the device is also caused by the large headset jack, located off-center. With it, the smartphone looks, frankly speaking, sloppy and ugly.

The back panel of the smartphone is interestingly designed. The fingerprint sensor has a square shape, which is quite unexpected. The element looks nice.

There are no complaints about the assembly: the body is monolithic and feels reliable.

The device entered the market in four body colors: black, white, gold and blue. All variations look attractive due to the matte substrate under the glass surface.

Screen: size and quality

The P10 has a 5.1-inch IPS display with a resolution of 1920×1080 and a pixel density of 432 ppi. The frames around the screen are quite thin, but the device cannot be called frameless. The brightness can be adjusted automatically or manually, and there is a blue filter. The latter can be configured to turn on at a certain time. The display can be operated with gloves. The matrix is ​​of high quality, with good detail and excellent viewing angles. In the sun the screen is readable normally. Color rendering is also okay, although the balance is slightly shifted towards the cool spectrum. In the menu, this can all be solved in a few touches.

The P10 Plus features a 5.5-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560 x 1440 pixels and a pixel density of 540 ppi. There is a fairly effective anti-reflective coating. Otherwise the screen is the same as the P10.

The younger version of the P-series received a 5.2-inch IPS screen with a resolution of 1920×1080 and a pixel density of 423 ppi. The brightness and color rendition are good; in the sun at maximum brightness the screen is readable well. There is an eye protection mode that helps prevent eye fatigue by reducing the level of UV radiation from the display.

Cameras

The main feature of the P10 and P10 Plus is the cameras, in the development of which engineers from Leica took part. Without exaggeration, the older P-series models received one of the best cameras among the latest smartphones today. This is a huge success and a big step forward for Huawei.

The P10 is equipped with a dual rear camera with a 20-megapixel monochrome lens and a 12-megapixel color lens. The f/2.2 aperture has a dual-tone flash, 2x zoom, optical stabilization and fast autofocus. During the day and in good light in the evening, the camera takes excellent pictures. At night, the quality of the images is a little worse; the photosensitivity of the matrix is ​​clearly lacking. But even with the minor shortcomings, Huawei has done a great job with the optics.

The Huawei P10 Plus has two main camera modules with the same characteristics as the P10: a black-and-white one with a resolution of 20 megapixels, and a color one with a resolution of 12 megapixels, but the aperture here is already f/1.8.

The older models of the P-line received the same 8-megapixel front module with autofocus.

The P10 Lite smartphone is equipped with a 12-megapixel main camera with f/2.2 aperture and a front-facing module with a resolution of 8 megapixels. Surprisingly, the rear camera shoots well both during the day in the sun and in low light conditions, almost at the level of the Huawei P10.

The front camera, although it does not have autofocus, is capable of good pictures.

Branded shell and software version

At the time of the announcement, all three models ran Android 7.0 OS with EMUI 5.1 shell. The user has access to many functions: gesture support, Knuckle Sense technology, virtual buttons, dual-window mode and much more.

Pre-installed applications in smartphones include a file manager, a health tracking program, a device manager, a proprietary music player (instead of a traditional FM radio), Yandex services (for the Russian market), and the Opera browser.

Among A-brands, the closest competitors of Huawei P10 are LG G6, and. The smartphone from Huawei is cheaper, but in terms of workmanship and characteristics it is in no way inferior to the above-mentioned flagships. Today you can purchase the device for 29,990 rubles in the manufacturer’s official online store.

The smartphone will be of interest to users who value devices with a good camera, balanced characteristics and a pleasant appearance.

Huawei P10 Plus now costs 40,990 rubles. Unfortunately, there are only two body colors available: blue and black. The price is quite high, considering that the smartphone also has weaknesses in terms of not the best performance and poor autonomy. Competitors: Google Pixel and Pixel XL, LG G6, Samsung Galaxy S8 and last year's flagship Huawei Mate 9.

The smartphone is suitable for photography enthusiasts and those who like devices with a large screen.

The cost of P10 Lite at the time of writing the review was 15,990 rubles. For this price, the user gets a stylish device that looks much more expensive than its cost, with balanced technical characteristics and a good camera for its level. It may well give a head start to more expensive devices based on Snapdragon 435, MediaTek Helio and Snapdragon 625. At the same time, the only drawback of the P10 Lite is its average battery life.

P10 Lite's competitors are Huawei Nova and Honor 6X.

As part of MWC 2017, Huawei P10 is my main smartphone. Six months is quite enough time to understand all the nuances and fully test the device under different operating conditions. Actually, it’s the little things that are important to me that “surfaced” during use that I’m going to talk about in this material. You might want to read the separate one first. .

To begin with, the P10 replaced the Nova Plus, which I also used for about six months. There was no similar operating experience about Nova Plus for a banal reason - it suited everyone and the idea of ​​​​writing “like it, everything is fine” again seemed boring. In turn, there is something to tell about the flagship, both good and not so good. Let's begin.

Wear resistance of the case and accessories

Even in the first days of use, I managed to leave a few scratches on the case, and taking into account the fact that before this I managed to break the screens on a couple of smartphones, I decided to use a case. Fortunately, most “bumpers” do not make the compact 5.1-inch flagship too large.

In the case of the black P10, the main “but” is that the scratches on its body look a little worse than on other smartphones. I was also confused by the possible appearance of abrasions on the glass protecting the cameras, which appeared on the P9 if you carried the smartphone without a case.

Perhaps this is why the company immediately puts a simple “bumper” in the box - with it, both the body and the screen will definitely be more intact. Unfortunately, the simple appearance, dust getting under the case and insufficient protection of individual edges quickly led to the idea of ​​​​buying something better.

If you go to the official Online Store Huawei for China, you might be surprised how many additional accessories and other equipment the company has. However, of the same original cases for P10 in Ukraine, you can easily buy only fabric book and Leica leather bumper . The first one didn’t suit the form factor (I find “books” inconvenient), the second one seemed too expensive, so I had to look further.

I didn’t consciously consider Nillkin and other Chinese manufacturers; I wanted something more interesting and of higher quality. A search showed that there are only a couple of models available for the P10 from Spigen, UAG and perhaps others.

In the end I settled on Spigen Liquid Crystal - an inexpensive classic option that does not “cover” the design of the smartphone and at the same time provides a good level of protection. In such a case, all the keys can be pressed perfectly, there is practically no dust getting under it, and although the device becomes thicker and wider, it feels very grippy.

Around the same time, the local office donated the original fabric cover. It looks like the cover case we sell (but without the cover), has a pleasant “velvety” plastic sidewall, and boasts a built-in metal plate - it can be used in a car with a magnetic holder. The fabric is not overly wear-resistant, so I use it periodically depending on my mood.

As a result, we can conclude that the situation with basic accessories for the flagship is still at an average level - there is a huge assortment on the market for the iPhone, less for Samsung, and even less for Huawei. The company itself can be given a “plus” for the variety of branded cases and a “minus” for their small range in Ukraine.

"Artificial intelligence" and speed

Huawei P10 entered the market running on the new version of EMUI 5.0. Talking about updating the proprietary interface, the company talked a lot about the fact that there is some kind of “artificial intelligence” inside, which is responsible for defragmenting files, identifying frequently used applications and maintaining excellent operating speed even after a year of use.

Having used the device a lot, I can say that these statements are close to the truth - my P10 is still fast and responsive, in terms of everyday performance there are no comments about it. At the same time, the previous Nova Plus on EMUI 4.0 became a little less efficient after a couple of months.

Huawei P10 and Galaxy S8

I guess we can add that the P10 is not the fastest flagship, although it maintains its speed. For about two or three weeks, and immediately after switching back to Huawei, it seemed to me that Samsung was a little more productive. Another thing is that after a couple of hours this feeling disappeared, and in general I think that today mid-high segment devices built on Snapdragon 625 and more powerful SoCs provide excellent operating speed. The flagships are faster, but the difference cannot be called huge for a long time - they differ primarily in cameras and unique “tricks” like frameless screens.

Screen and oleophobic coating

Soon after the P10 entered the market, it became clear that the company had glued a protective film to the screen for a reason - there was glass under it without an oleophobic coating. There was a slight noise and in the next batches the defect was corrected and the film was abandoned. The first customers were offered to apply an oleophobic coating at service centers, although this concerned primarily China and certainly not Ukraine.

I removed my film quickly enough and began to use the smartphone “as is” - without film or glass, which always does not cover the entire front panel, the device looks better. The absence of an oleophobic coating was a little embarrassing, but did not cause enormous discomfort - unlike plastic, the finger still slides on glass, and fingerprints can be wiped off, although the process took longer.

I didn’t intend to glue film or glass, but I decided to try alternative methods of dealing with fingerprints. On sites like Amazon, eBay and Aliexpress you can buy various “liquid screen protectors” that promise to restore the oleophobic coating; some simply advise using car and furniture polishes. I settled on the nano liquid option for a couple of dollars from Aliexpress, but the product showed zero effectiveness.

Therefore, the last method to solve the problem was a visit to a service center (in China). Fortunately, a trip to the presentation of Meizu Pro 7 in Zhuhai has just arrived. There, the service center accepted the device, first cleaned the glass with a regular damp cloth, then used a cotton ball soaked in a special compound to apply an “oleophobic coating” to the screen, told me to wait 20 minutes and returned the smartphone.

Unfortunately, the result of the service cannot be compared with factory coating. The screen still collects about the same number of fingerprints, but it has become better at clearing them while it's just sitting in your pocket.

I think that after such an experiment the company will apply an oleophobic coating to the screens of most of its smartphones. At the same time, there is nothing to say about the screen itself - an excellent IPS matrix, the characteristics of which I am completely satisfied with. Gorilla Glass 5 also performed well - only a couple of small scratches appeared in six months.

Camera from Leica, Galaxy S8 and Sony RX100 III

With the release of Huawei P9, the company's smartphones began to shoot noticeably better, and the P10 also saw a jump over the year. I haven't used the P9, but comparing vacation photos taken with the Honor 8 (similar to the P9 without the Leica inscription) and the P10, I was surprised at the progress that has occurred over the year. Over the entire period of use, I took several thousand frames with my smartphone and I can say the following.

The P10 is a good device in terms of cameras, but only if we are talking about artistic photography. This is a great camera for everyday use, weekends, and vacations, but I hardly ever use it for work. Last year, while I was walking around with the Galaxy S7 for a month, I would often take it into the studio, set up the lights, and take a couple of additional photos for review on my smartphone. With the P10, this number does not work - I don’t fully like the result in terms of color rendition, detail, and some other nuances, although the shooting takes place in ideal conditions.

I can’t call the photos I get bad; moreover, all the photos in the reports are from I did it exclusively on the P10, but for now I will use a separate camera for work. As an illustration, here are two photos from the Meizu presentation, one taken on the P10, the other on the Sony RX100 III:

Sony RX100 III (first 2 photos) VS Huawei P10 (last 2 photos)

“For myself” I even made a small comparison with the Galaxy S8 Plus. In it, Huawei didn’t lose face and I like some of the shots better, but overall the Samsung camera seems more versatile, even if the algorithms make the pictures too sharp.

Photo order: Huawei P10 - Galaxy S8 Plus

The capabilities of blurring the background, portrait mode and shooting with a monochrome module are practically not in demand in my case, but the 2x zoom without loss of quality turned out to be very useful when traveling and at some events when you use the camera for yourself.

Flashing

Geeks don’t choose Huawei very often, so unlike other companies, topics about P10 on w3bsit3-dns.com and xda are not full of instructions and custom firmware. However, everything I needed was found. It turned out that a second NanoSIM fits into the memory card slot of my single-SIM P10 without any problems, and from a hardware point of view, many versions of the flagship and other Huawei smartphones are identical.

The second SIM is usually needed when traveling abroad and sometimes in Ukraine, but I don’t use a memory card, because for now the 64 GB built-in is enough. Therefore, after spending a couple of hours without any problems, we managed to turn the VTR-L09 into a dual-SIM VTR-L29.

Opening hours and again about accessories

Reading about the oleophobic coating, the small selection of third-party accessories or the nuances of the camera’s operation, you might think that I see the device’s shortcomings in them, but no. After Nova Plus, the main disadvantage of the flagship for me remains the operating time.

In fact, since writing the review the situation has not changed - in my hands the P10 works all day from morning to late evening, showing four hours of active screen. By the standards of flagships, the result cannot be called terrible, but after the “strong average” Nova Plus, autonomy is not enough, because its stable 6-7 hours of display resulted in a day of very active use or two days of measured work.

One of the record results for active screen time on P10

In the case of the P10, it’s enough to use the camera a little more actively or watch a couple of extra videos on YouTube on the way to the office, and the smartphone may not last for an overnight charge. In such cases, a branded power bank with fast charging “saves”, but I would like to do without it.

Interestingly, the company knows that their flagship is not the most autonomous, but has not yet been able to finally optimize the performance of Android 7.0 paired with Kirin and even Qualcomm processors (on EMUI 5.0). The list of changes to the latest test firmware for the device promises an increase in operating time for the second time - we'll see...

Eventually

Am I ultimately satisfied with the flagship? In general - yes, about 85%. I like the appearance and ergonomics of the model, the speed of operation, the quality of the screen, speakers and camera. I even like EMUI 5.0 due to the ability to call up a global search within the system by swiping down on the desktop and the presence of a program menu. Perhaps if I had used a smartphone not from the first batch (with a normal oleophobic coating), I would have liked it even more.

In terms of the device’s shortcomings, I’m very interested in what the Huawei Mate 10 will be like. There is a trend on the market for the existence of “wow” flagships and simpler flagships. The main player among the former is the Galaxy S8 (Plus), and the P10 and P10 Plus seem to be no worse, but still simpler (and cheaper). Therefore, it will be very interesting to evaluate the design of the new product, the capabilities of the new Kirin 970, made using the 10 nm process technology, and camera changes. I am sure that Huawei wants to catch up and overtake Samsung, will it work?

But we need to come back to the present and answer the last questions - would I buy the P10 for myself? Who would you recommend? It’s easier with advice - if you just need a small flagship and photography can be called your hobby, then the P10 is definitely worth taking a closer look at. Having used the device, I came to somewhat unexpected conclusions. Hoping for some special impressions from the performance and cameras of the flagship, I came to the conclusion that I overestimated the importance of these functions for myself personally. The capabilities of an abstract mid-segment smartphone are enough for me, and Huawei P10 in this context looks like a purchase with extra features that will not be fully in demand.

The Huawei P10 marks a big step forward for the P series, but a very small step compared to the Mate. The recently announced P10 builds unnecessarily on the P9 introduced last year - the beautiful design is still stunning today, the first-class screen is better, the balanced performance is amazing and, of course, Leica's iconic dual camera has received a massive upgrade.

If you're coming from the Mate series, the P10 probably isn't the breakthrough you were hoping for, but there are a few other features worth noting. For starters, the P10 offers an upgraded front-facing camera with Leica's new Smart Mode and effects, including Portrait mode with some simulated effects. There is also a new front-facing fingerprint scanner that becomes part of the multifunctional Home button. And the new design and variety of finishes will help you choose the ideal companion among the Huawei P10.

Huawei has dropped the Ascend moniker from the P series, but that hasn't stopped the smartphone from ascending the flagship ranks. The Huawei P9 laid an incredibly strong foundation with its Leica dual camera, which not only shaped the future of flagship smartphones, but also shook up the mobile market, forcing other manufacturers to turn to brand-name dual cameras.

The Huawei P10 uses the same Leica 2.0 dual camera we saw on – it features a 12-megapixel color sensor and a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor, OIS, 4-in-1 auto focus, x2 hybrid zoom, among other new features. The almighty 8-core Kirin 960 and the active Mali-G71 remain unchanged. Of particular interest is the new selfie camera from Leica and its portrait mode, which we will be testing quite soon.

HUAWEI P10: AT FIRST LOOK

• Frame: Full metal (aluminium), Gorilla Glass 5 (2.5D);
• Screen: 5.1-inch IPS-NEO LCD (1920 x 1080) – 432 PPI;
• Camera: 20 MP monochrome / 12 MP color sensors, f/2.2 (27 mm), 4 in 1 hybrid auto focus (phase / laser / contrast / depth sensing); dual LED, 2-tone flash; hybrid magnification x2; video capture 2160p and 1080p at 30/60 frames per second;
• Selfie camera: 8 MP, f/1.9 (26 mm); 1080p video capture at 30 frames per second;
• OS: Android 7.0 Nougat with Huawei EMUI 5.1 interface;
• Chipset: Kirin 960 – 8-core processor (x4 Cortex-A73 2.4 GHz + x4 Cortex-A53 1.8 GHz), i6 coprocessor, 8-core Mali-G71 GPU;
• Memory: 4 GB RAM; 64 GB system memory; MicroSD;
• Battery: 3200 mAh Li-Po (sealed); Quick Charge;
• Connections: Dual-SIM; LTE-A; USB-C, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS / GLONASS / Beidou / Galileo; Bluetooth 4.2; NFC;
• Miscellaneous: Fingerprint's scanner;

Main Disadvantages

• No Leica Dual 2.0 Pro camera with f/1.8 lens;
• No protection against water and dust;
• No stereo speakers;
• Non-removable battery;
• No FM radio;

The Huawei-Leica partnership is probably the best thing to happen to the manufacturer, and it's also Huawei's smartest move in recent memory. The risk paid off with an excellent dual camera with plenty of creative modes, and all these shooting features don't require any advanced photography knowledge. We don't know, maybe the "P" in the Huawei phone series means "Photo", whatever it is, the manufacturer has done a lot of work in this direction.

Unfortunately, the Huawei P10 uses the same camera as the Mate 9, there are no updates at all, and this may disappoint some Huawei fans. There's also a P10 Plus model that offers the new Leica Dual Camera 2.0 Pro sensor. And while the camera remains unchanged, it updates the sensor with a new f/1.8 lens. And this is the only update we would like to see on the original P10.

Apart from the missing Pro camera, the P10 looks like a carefully designed and beautifully presented Huawei flagship smartphone. How true is this? Let's get a look.

Unboxing Huawei P10

Huawei P10 comes in a paper box whose lid opens up like a clamshell. Both parts of the lid are magnetic and fit together nicely. Our dazzling blue Huawei P10 was waiting inside, but it wasn't the only contents of the box.

There you will also find a Huawei charger plug with support for Super Charging (high current at low voltage) and a proprietary USB Type-C cable. This cable is also compatible with regular USB Type-C ports, so it's not just for your smartphone.

There is also a headset similar to EarPods and a transparent case. The case is made of plastic that snaps tightly around the P10. The matte finish of the case takes away some of the shine from the blue P10.

The Huawei P10 measures 145.3 x 69.3 x 7mm – making it almost identical to the P9, only 1.5mm narrower. The Huawei P10 smartphone has reduced its screen diagonal by 0.1 inches. It weighs 145 grams - about the same as the P9.

Design

Huawei knows how to make attractive and unique smartphones. Just look at the history of Huawei smartphones - the razor-thin (for its time) Ascend P6 with a SIM connection into the audio jack; Ascend P7 and its dual glass panel design; The P8 has a thin metal body and a stylish glass frame around the main camera. For the signed Leica P9, Huawei decides to keep the design of the P8, upgrading it with 2.5D glass and a thin screen bezel.

Today we see an iteration of this design on the Huawei P10 again, but relative to the P9 we get improvements in build quality, finish and camera. There is a better way to bring a design to life than to offer it in different colors and different metal textures.

Huawei offers the P10 in Ceramic White, Dazzling Blue, Dazzling Gold, Prestige Gold, Graphite Black, Mystic Silver, Rose Gold and Greenery. The Dazzling colors (Blue and Gold) use a new back panel finish that closely resembles the surface of a vinyl record. The finish looks amazing, but our office editors are divided on the rough grooves. At least the panel won't attract fingerprints. In addition, the finish appears to be very durable.

Traditional models look cheaper than their Dazzling counterparts, and you might also expect them to be more prone to smudges and fingerprints. Finally, there is a ceramic white model that impresses with a completely glossy finish, as long as it doesn't stain.

And while we're on the topic of color, Green and Dazzling Blue were selected from Pantone's exclusive color gamut, with Green chosen as this year's color. You can count on the exclusivity of these two options since no other smartphone will use them.

The front panel of the P10 is completely covered with fancy Gorilla Glass 5 in 2.5D form and it looks great. The white panel looks great, but the black panel is eye-catching and that's a big plus for the Graphite Black paint job.

Huawei has chosen a rounded shape for the P10's frame, but the manufacturer has also revised the antenna bands. The top strip now extends over the Leica camera block, while the bottom strip wraps around the frame and therefore offers a virtually seamless design.

Thus, the appearance of the Huawei P10 is both fashionable and surprising, although a little familiar. But the build quality and finish are equally superb.

The P10 finish feels great in the hands, and the review Huawei P10 in Dazzling finish allows you to enjoy your smartphone every minute of the day. Matte finish options don't offer the same charm, but can look even more stylish and move away from industrial forms, making them just as attractive. Huawei offers a great selection, a variety of not only colors but also finishes, a good step.

Smartphone review

The 5.1-inch IPS-NEO screen takes up a significant part of the front panel, but it is not alone here. Above the screen panel there is an earpiece speaker, which cannot act as a second speaker this time. The 8 MP selfie camera is located nearby, along with a pair of sensors and LED notification lights.

Below the screen is a new multifunctional Home key. The button has a built-in (lightning fast!) fingerprint scanner that supports gestures. And while the key is not clickable, you can use it as a three-way controller, that is, with a single button you can implement the functions of the Home, Back and Multitasking buttons.

If you don't like the new control mechanism, you can display the standard Android navigation buttons in the Settings menu.

The volume and lock/power keys are on the right, while the SIM slot flap is on the left side. The P10 uses a hybrid slot where you can fit two Nano-SIMs or a SIM card and a MicroSD memory card.

The secondary microphone is located on the top of the Huawei P10. At the bottom of the smartphone there is a main microphone, USB Type-C, a speaker grille, and an audio jack.

The Lecica Dual Camera 2.0 on the back of the phone is highlighted by a glass strip and the corresponding Leica lettering. Dual Tone flash, as well as a laser sensor to assist autofocus.

Display

As mentioned earlier, Huawei P10 is equipped with a 5.1-inch IPS-NEO screen, which is 0.1 inches smaller than the screen of Huawei P9. The resolution remains unchanged (1080p), but the pixel density increases to 432 pixels per inch. And this is enough for very high screen sharpness.

The Huawei P10's panel is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 with 2.5D edges, this reinforced glass should be enough to prevent any scratches. Some regions of Russia may receive a pre-applied screen protector, as is the case with our review model.

Huawei promises a maximum panel brightness of 600 nits for the P10's screen, and in our tests we found that the company delivered on its promise. The IPS-NEO screen panel is supposedly capable of offering deeper blacks than usual. We have already seen similar statements, but Huawei P10 showed an excellent result. Excellent contrast at 1423:1.

In terms of color accuracy, the P10's screen isn't as good, with an average DeltaE score of 6.5. Some colors are a little cooler than they should be, and you can achieve better color accuracy (DeltaE: 4.8) by changing the P10's screen settings.

The P10's display showed great potential for use outdoors and in sunlight.

Battery life

Huawei P10 is powered by a 3200 mAh battery, tightly sealed, as expected. The phone comes with an excellent charger capable of delivering 5W/4.5A, 4.5W/5A and 5W/2A, with a maximum output of 22.5 volts surpassed only by Oppo.

Now, similar to Oppo phones, to achieve these crazy numbers you need to use the native P10 charger along with the P10 USB cable. Swap the cable for a different one and you'll be limited to 5W/2A, which is still not the worst option - change the charger and you might end up with the base numbers, 5W/1A.

So, if you use what Huawei included in the box with the P10, you'll get from 2% charge (that's the lowest battery charge, at the 2% mark the phone shuts down) to 55% charge in just 30 minutes.

Huawei P10 showed excellent battery life, both at the stage of practical review and in tests, including video, calls, and Internet connection. This rating means that the smartphone can last more than three days if you use it for one hour of talking, an hour of web browsing, and an hour of video playback every day.

It's worth noting that some apps like Chrome, Messages, Phone automatically lower the brightness even if you manually set the slider to 200 nits. Thus, it was necessary to adjust the brightness specifically for these applications. This is the first time we have seen such inexplicable behavior on a phone.

Huawei P10 Software

Huawei P10 runs on Android 7.0 Nougat. As usual, you get a heavily redesigned version of Android 7.0 Nougat with Emotion UI or EMUI. The proprietary interface is an all-new 5.1 version that takes many of the previous iterations but focuses on improving efficiency.

EMUI v5.1 introduces two new features - Ultra Memory and Ultra Response.

Ultra Memory is a new algorithm with an emphasis on recycling and thus frees up RAM faster. The algorithm remembers your habits and speeds up applications, including launching and unloading, freeing up space for what you consider important.

Ultra Response, on the other hand, speeds up touch response thanks to a new driver. The screen will experience lower latency as the driver adds support for predictive finger tracking. According to Huawei, their screens are now as fast and accurate as those on the iPhone, and based on our Huawei P10 review, the manufacturer may be right. The funny thing is that we've never found iPhone screens to be more accurate than competitors at the same price, but we won't argue with the engineers.

Another addition to EMUI 5.1 is new support and capabilities for the Home button. You can get rid of the back and multitasking touch keys to use the home button for the same functions. You can tap for Back, hold for Home, and swipe for Multitasking. There is also enhanced support for Home key gestures, where possible, you will also be able to use some custom gestures.

The lock screen is one of the elements that hasn't changed in the new version, but it was already quite functional. Unlocking your smartphone greets you with new wallpapers every time, they are loaded when you access Wi-Fi, with the ability to delete those that are older than three months.

The lock screen is designed in a minimalist style, limited to a large clock with a date and quick access to the camera. You can also quickly launch the camera by double-pressing the volume (down) key, with the option to immediately take a photo or simply go into the app.

Back to the Lock Screen, you can pull down a menu from the bottom of the interface where you get a ton of functionality. The top part allows you to manage wallpapers - you can delete some, add others to your favorites, change wallpapers or pause the rotation of wallpapers on the current option. In addition to this, you get a number of convenient keys for based applications - voice recorder, calculator, flashlight, timer and QR code reader.

Now you probably won't see the lock screen most of the time because the fingerprint scanner unlocks your smartphone so quickly that the lockscreen becomes redundant.

You also get guest user support that comes standard with Android, and you can set up a so-called private space that can be accessed using a different fingerprint. The data is available in this zone independently of each other in encrypted form, Huawei promises, it is not available to other users. Only one private space can be set up per device.

In addition to this, you can run two instances of social media apps, for example, so that two users can access their own accounts from one phone.

We've gotten a little carried away talking about data privacy, but let's get back to basics. Immediately after the lock screen, a pleasant surprise awaits us - above Huawei's usual arrangement of all applications on desktops, the manufacturer offers a standard two-level Android interface with traditional home screens, an application drawer, and so on. Huawei allows its users to choose – a prestigious move.

The App Tray is a vertically scrolling list of all your apps, 4 in a row, with a search field at the very top.

Themes are available again. Themes allow you to change your desktop wallpaper, lock screen style, overall system style and application icons, system font, color, and even system sound profile. You'll also be able to customize things like home screen transition effects.

The notification area is a 50/50 cross between pure Nougat and Emotion UI. Huawei has already tweaked the appearance of the quick panel toggle switches and included an automatic brightness switch, which Google stubbornly continues to ignore. Notifications look exactly the same as on the Pixel.

For some scenarios, like when you're using your Huawei P10 in the car, you can switch to a simplified home screen mode that shows a larger tile for easily selecting items. The solution isn't particularly consistent, however, you get simplified versions of some menus but not all - the dialer function is the same size as in normal mode.

Throughout the interface, you get context menus with relevant options right at the bottom of the screen above the navigation bar - an extremely convenient solution, especially for one-handed use. The universal app drawer that you pull out from the left side is much better suited for left-handed use than right-handed use, even for left-handers some elements will be located too far away.

You will find battery saving modes in the Power Manager, two of them. You should understand that power saving modes impose some minor restrictions on the phone's hardware and software. There's an Ultra saving mode that essentially compresses your P10's functions to just six shortcuts on the home screen. You can work with either of them, but it's still a psychological deterrent.

Huawei estimates the latest power saving mode should triple battery life. There is no task switcher in this mode, so you can only use one app at a time and judging by the loading speed, the app resides in RAM. Screenshots are disabled.

You can enable the so-called “Floating Dock” - this is a virtual key that you can move anywhere on the screen, which allows you to expand the functions of the primary Android keys - “Back”, “Home”, “Multitasking”, “Lock” and “ Close all applications." This solution will help you control your phone with one hand.

Gesture and motion controls also retain a significant role on the Huawei P10, as on previous Huawei phones. There are traditional gestures, including pinch, then tilting the phone, as well as detecting the fist gesture. There are a lot of gestures, most of them can be customized to your liking.

You can start recording video at any point in the user interface by tapping the screen twice with two knuckles. Tapping twice with one knuckle will trigger the screenshot capture.

Voice control allows you to control your P10 completely hands-free. Functionality comes down to your ability to remember all the voice commands, which work even if the phone is locked and its screen is turned off.

Huawei implements the voice search feature through a “Start Phrase”, which by default becomes: “Okay, Amy.” Once started, the phone wakes up and awaits further voice instructions, be it to start a call or something else. Speech recognition can also be customized. The voice activation phrase can be changed, and you can train the device to better recognize your voice.

PerformanceHuaweiP10

The Huawei P10 is powered by the same Kirin 960 SoC that we first saw on the Mate 9. It is developed in-house by the company, Huawei Hisilicon. Kirin chipsets have been around for a while, but they are still new to the market. New Huawei chipsets are built primarily on new ARM cores and a new GPU.

The main processor of the chipset consists of four Cortex-A73 cores in one cluster clocked at 2.4 GHz, and there are four Cortex-A53 cores in a smaller cluster clocked at 1.8 GHz. The Cortex-A73 cores boast 30% more power efficiency than previous A72s, and they also promise improved performance.

The P10 processor is the main novelty of the phone, so it will be the first to go to the Geekbench tests. Indeed, the A73's single-core performance is better than any other processor we've tested on Android devices, but Apple's Hurricane cores are still the best.

Get all four cores of the A73 to work, however, and you'll have the best processor in terms of performance in the mobile market.

GeekBench 4 (Multi-core):

The Mali-G71MP8 was chosen as the graphics for the Kirin 960, which can offer a huge improvement over previous Hisilicon chips and is finally worthy of a flagship. From what we've seen so far, the graphics work great with 1080p content, so the P10 promises to be great at gaming.

BaseMark X is the perfect showcase for GPU performance at 1080p, and our Huawei P10 aced the test.

BaseMarkX:

The Huawei P9 had to struggle in the graphics department, but the Huawei P10 reigned supreme in almost all tests. The Kirin 960 is one of the most powerful processors on the market currently, and the P10 brings out its power. The smartphone's graphics skills are also impressive, as evidenced by excellent scores in graphics tests. Indeed, the Huawei P10 is more than adequately equipped for its flagship status.

There are some problems that we simply cannot ignore, however. The P10 never reaches uncomfortable temperatures under maximum load, and there's a reason for that - performance suppression. We noticed that the P10 suffers a 30% drop in performance as soon as it gets hot. You probably won't encounter this problem in traditional use, but it's worth noting.

CamerasLeicaDualv2.0: Again

The new collaboration with Leica brings dual cameras to the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro and Huawei P10. The cameras include a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB sensor, each with an individual f/2.2 aperture lens. Optical image stabilization is only available for the color camera.

And while the resolution of the 20-megapixel and 12-megapixel cameras are not the same, Huawei engineers came up with an ingenious solution on how to use the two cameras in hybrid mode.

When you take a color photo, the P10 blends the frames from the black-and-white sensor with the frame from the color camera to produce a better-quality image. The high-resolution 20-megapixel monochrome camera, as the manufacturer explains, captures most of the fine details, while the lower-resolution color camera covers detailed images with color. So you can take color photos at 20 megapixels, a big jump in resolution from the default 12-megapixel sensor.

Not only that, but the cameras capture multiple variations of each pixel in HDR+. Leica engineers did not specify the exact number of frames stacked, unlike Google, which claimed that its optics could capture 9 frames simultaneously.

In addition to the variable aperture effect, the P10 introduces a portrait mode that combines a variable aperture and some add-ons that can offer some pretty decent shots. You won't find a live preview for the main camera, but there is a preview with the front camera. The front-facing camera has been improved on the Leica with an f/1.9 lens, and while the front-facing camera doesn't have a second lens, Huawei skillfully produces pleasing pictures here too.

The camera interface complicates the situation somewhat. It's not the most chaotic interface, but it is awkward. There are two panels with options that can be called up from the left/right edge of the viewfinder. The left one offers a mode selector, and the menu on the right is a set of settings. We called the interface inconvenient. Because these two panels don't just slide out at the first gesture, you have to drag them halfway across the screen before they lock, which is something you can't do on the first try without getting used to it.

You'll also have to jump between these panels, for example, to set the resolution and color mode. Let's say, for example, you like to take 20-megapixel black-and-white and 12-megapixel color photos using both cameras at their native resolution (which needs to be controlled manually). Now, going from a 20-megapixel monochrome photo to a 12-megapixel color photo requires switching the color on the left, and then the resolution on the right.

Plus, given that this is a phone with a 20MP monochrome camera, you'd expect the P10 to offer a black-and-white photography switch right from the viewfinder, but no—the shooting mode is in the left pane. Instead, viewfinder shortcuts include variable aperture mode, portrait mode, color saturation selector, and filters!

Photo quality

The Huawei P10's photography hasn't improved since the introduction of the cameras on the Mate 9 phablets, but photos were beautiful on the Mate 9. Colors are vibrant but as realistic as possible - they're not oversaturated until you select Leica's special color mode.

The abundance of detail helps create the most natural textures, but ultimately, a 20-megapixel color image doesn't match a 20-megapixel monochrome image with more detail. At first we thought that the camera was “stretching” the colors of a 12-megapixel photo onto a 20-megapixel image, but, apparently, the situation is much more complicated.

The dynamic range of color photography is amazing, even better than black and white photography. We suspect that the manufacturer uses automatic HDR to achieve this effect.

The 12-megapixel color photos turned out very well - lots of detail, little noise, accurate colors, wide dynamic range, and excellent sharpness. Native 12-megapixel photos are among the best on a smartphone.

20-megapixel hybrid photos fail to benefit from increased detail and sometimes look compromised by the 12-megapixel sensor. On the other hand, hybrid photos share all the benefits of the 12MP sensor, but since you can't extract more detail from high-resolution photos, we suspect this mode will be rarely used.

Finally, the P10's black-and-white photos are extremely difficult to beat in terms of dynamic range, but its monochrome camera remains a very specialized tool and unless you're too keen on monochrome photography, you won't be using the phone's 20MP camera on its own. The 20-megapixel sensor produces photos with a huge amount of detail, much more detailed than 12-megapixel color cameras. This camera is ideal for dramatic effects and creative street photography, but you need to choose the right composition to capture a quality monochrome photo.

As we mentioned earlier, there are automatic HDR features that apply when needed, so manually setting HDR is largely pointless, no matter the situation. But it's not so bad.

This time around, Huawei (and potentially Leica) are implicitly acknowledging that Leica's conservative photography vision isn't shared by everyone, so the manufacturer includes an option to choose the color reproduction method (Vivid or Smooth), which again isn't such a bad thing. This option is easily accessible, rather than being buried in mountains of menus, so you can change settings from shot to shot.

As for the photo quality at magnification - from 2x to 3x - the image is excellent, with virtually no loss in detail. Further magnification, however, will significantly affect the quality of the image.

Camcorder

Compared to the Huawei P9, the Huawei P10's camera currently captures 4K video, which is a welcome and big upgrade. Just like the Mate 9, the Huawei P10 encodes 4K video using the H.265 codec. The consequence is compression by half. The upside is that the bitrate of 30Mbps is very low for 2160p resolution and hence the files take up less space. The downside is the fact that YouTube still doesn't offer support for this standard.

We also observed some minor artifacts—the effects of compression—when we examined video of the P10 during our review. In real life you won't notice any problems.

At 1080p / 30 FPS the video has a fairly standard bitrate (17 Mbps), while at 1080p / 60 FPS the bitrate is twice that. Surprisingly, you get larger file sizes in 1080p/60FPS mode with the P10 than in 4K mode. But this is expected, since 1080p video is encoded with H.264.

The sound is recorded in stereo at 192 kbps, which is also very good.

4K video is clear and detailed, with good contrast and pleasing colors. The dynamic range is also quite decent.

As is usually the case with 1080p video, the picture is just good and nothing special. The good news is that the smoother 60 FPS mode doesn't come at the expense of detail.

The only limitation that the P10 imposes on video is that video stabilization only works at 1080p resolution, and is not supported at 2160p. Digital stabilization is available in both cases, but optical stabilization in 1080p resolution ensures very smooth images.

Final thoughts...

The Huawei P10 is a major update to the P9 - we get a new and vibrant design, a huge leap in hardware with a Kirin 960 chip, as well as a new Leica 2.0 dual camera. If we had to predict the sequel to the Huawei P9 a year ago, we couldn't imagine anything better than the P10.

In fact, every P9 owner will probably want to upgrade their phone. If you loved the first generation of Leica cameras, you'll love the new camera even more. The new optics provide high resolution, lossless photos with x2 and x3 magnification, as well as 4K video capture. The front camera has also become much better.

The dazzling choice of colors is another important aspect of the P10, which will be a favorite for some. But if you're not interested in industrial design, you can use traditional finishes.

Finally, one of the most notable issues we had with the P9 - GPU performance - has turned into a strength for the P10, offering lightning-fast performance. And we couldn't ask for a different processor.

KEY FEATURESHUAWEIP10

The only downside to the key features of the Huawei P10 is that we have already seen them on the Mate 9. The Kirin 960 chipset featured on the Mate 9, although still modern and powerful, the camera settings of the Leica 2.0 are repeated. The only thing that made the P10 stand out - Huawei's proudly touted selfie effects - turned out to be a disappointing failure. If it weren't for the P10's attractive design, you might call it the Mate 9 Mini.

Adding a pinch of salt to all that sweetness, Huawei has kept things new for the P10 Plus, just like it did last year. Stereo speakers were not present on the original model, nor was the wide f/1.8 lens of the main camera. That said, unless you're upgrading to a flagship from the Mate 9 or Mate 9 Pro, you'll probably love the P10. And despite our criticism, in the end, the smartphone impressed us.

We've already mentioned its big brother, the Huawei P10, in our review, and if you like the idea of ​​a larger screen with a higher resolution, stereo speakers, and a better camera lens, you should probably take a look at the Plus model.

Offers a much larger screen and stereo speakers while everything else remains the same. There is also the Mate 9 Pro with a curved AMOLED screen and Quad HD resolution. If you want to enjoy the Leica creative experience, you could opt for a phablet.

The upcoming one has not yet been officially revealed, but it will undoubtedly make the P10's existence more difficult. The S8, just like the S7, will be waterproof, use a flagship chipset (Snapdragon/Exynos), and have a premium design. The P10's dual camera setup promises to be an advantage over the Galaxy, as Samsung relies on the single cameras of the S7 and S8.

The newly announced one is a real threat to P10. It offers higher resolution screens, is waterproof, and also offers a slightly better chipset. The secondary wide-angle camera promises a real pleasure to use. Regular and wide-angle cameras take excellent pictures and videos, and while this is the choice of less creative people, cameras are better suited for travel and vacations.

And finally, the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are the choice of Apple fans. If you have no interest in Huawei cameras, the original iPhone 7 is a good choice, but the 7 Plus model promises much more strengths. Apple has done a good job with portrait photography, the photos look absolutely stunning, so Huawei will have to cheat to achieve the same level of quality in portrait photography. Again, normal photos aren't anything special as they lack dynamics, and the P10 does better in many situations. Ultimately, the choice is yours, weigh the pros and cons.

The Huawei P10 is a carefully designed smartphone keeping in mind the legacy of the P9, and it is one of the most worthy offerings in recent times. At least from the point of view of P9 owners. Mate users should probably look elsewhere. And, of course, everyone else - Huawei P10 is a beautiful smartphone with good performance and a decent camera. Just don't expect it to take perfect selfies. We'll probably have to wait for the Huawei P11 for that.

Probably the most anticipated smartphone in my life over the past few years. This is because I’m really hooked on smartphones from this Chinese manufacturer, in particular, I’ve been using the P9 for almost a year as my main device. My level of satisfaction with this product is very high, so I hoped that the P10 would be even cooler, it would correct all the shortcomings and errors of the previous flagship, which still has some shortcomings. Did Huawei manage to meet my expectations, do I see the P10 as a worthy replacement for the P9, and will I exchange my old smartphone for a new one - you will find the answers to these and other questions in this review.

I must note that my testing of the Huawei P10 is accompanied by mixed impressions - admiration gives way to disappointment and then admiration comes again. Perhaps because my expectations from a smartphone were somewhat too high?

I deliberately delayed writing this text so as not to allow the first emotions to influence the content. After several weeks of using the device, we got used to each other and now I can quite objectively tell you everything I think about the Huawei P10.

Technical characteristics of Huawei P10:

Huawei P10 video review

Thanks to TOLOKA coworking for the space for filming:

Design, materials, assembly

The appearance of the Huawei P10 is the first ambiguous point. The fact is that I have a matte black version of the device on test, which, upon quick inspection, seems very ascetic compared to its brighter gold, green and blue brothers. For example, I even rather like such simplicity and minimalism, but those around me - ordinary people far from the world of IT - are not impressed by the smartphone. Let's face it - the wow effect is completely absent. Is it good or bad? It all depends on the motivation when buying. If a smartphone is a fashion item for you, it’s better to pass by or pay attention to other color options - they look more impressive and original. Although if you look closely, the black version is actually very good, in my opinion.

• Typical reaction of the average person: “Oh, what do you have, MEIZU?”
• Reaction of an iPhone owner: “What, I like it, they outlined it well...”

One of the trends of the current year is the refusal of manufacturers to place the company logo on the front of the device. Huawei P10 doesn't have it either. After all, this is exactly what you all wanted (and so did I). On the other hand, it is now generally difficult for an ordinary buyer to understand what brand of smartphone he is holding in his hands. In the case of a black smartphone, the situation is even more interesting - here and at the back the logo is visible only slightly and at a certain angle.

Personally, I like the design of the Huawei P10. The smartphone has become “rounded” and more streamlined compared to the P9. He got rid of the sharp edges and polished chamfer between the back of the case and the side edges. On the front, along the perimeter, the contrasting shiny chamfer has been preserved; it emphasizes the smooth contours of the case and hints that the structure is made entirely of metal.

And although the general design concept of the P9 seems to have been preserved, the P10 looks and feels completely new. Perhaps largely because the fingerprint scanner has moved from the back of the smartphone under the screen. The manufacturer also eliminated the design of horizontal stripes under the glass elements on the front and back of the P10. By the way, I liked them...

The black version of the smartphone, in my opinion, is especially good, since when the screen is turned off, the front panel looks absolutely solid, and in this state the rather large margins above and below the screen are practically invisible.

In front, the eye clings to the fingerprint scanner, made in the form of a shallow smooth recess in the glass, which only emphasizes the general concept of the Huawei P10 - absolute symmetry (in front, the upper and lower fields are the same in height), smoothness of shape and tactile softness. Yes, it is by touch that a smartphone is best known - it is absolutely devoid of sharp edges and protruding parts. Everything is so “sleek” or something... With the exception of the buttons - but here the problem is the opposite - they simply must protrude and be easy to touch.

There are no complaints about the materials of the smartphone, which is already traditional for Huawei flagships - noble metal and glass. The plastic antenna inserts on the bottom are copied from the Apple device; they are gray, and in the P10 version with a black body they are almost invisible.

The assembly of the Huawei P10 is also almost perfect, with the exception of one annoying little thing that runs through all the manufacturer’s models - microscopic play in the volume key. Why this point cannot be eliminated is completely unclear to me. But overall it's just great. The smartphone feels absolutely solid in the hand.

Layout of elements

In fact, apart from the scanner layout, almost nothing has changed in the Huawei P10 compared to the P9. Nevertheless, we will carry out a traditional external inspection of the device.

At the front we have a screen with small frames on the sides and fairly large margins at the top and bottom. Yes, these fields are slightly larger than last year's flagship. Despite the fact that the dimensions of the smartphones are almost the same in height, the screen diagonal of the new product has decreased from 5.2 to 5.1 inches. This is probably the fee for the “button”, which is located under the screen. Above the screen is a small speaker grille, to the left are light and proximity sensors, a front camera and an LED indicator, almost invisible in the black version of the smartphone.

On the right side there is a large volume key - smooth with a white polished chamfer. Below is the power button - corrugated with a crimson chamfer. Due to this color indication, the location of the button is visually striking when it comes into view. By the way, the first time I came across such a solution was in .

On the left there is only a slot for two SIM cards in Nano format. The second slot is traditionally hybrid and can accept a microSD memory card instead of a SIM card.

On the bottom edge we have a USB-C port in the middle, a conversational microphone and a 3.5 mm audio jack to the left, and a main speaker grille to the right. At the top is only the hole for the second microphone.

On the back side of the case at the top there is an insert made of Gorilla Glass 5 with two cameras on the left, then a dual LED flash, a laser focusing unit, LEICA inscriptions and optics characteristics - SUMMARIT-H 1: 2.2/27 ASPH.

Ergonomics

As I already said, Huawei P10 is very pleasant to the touch. And it fits well in the hand due to its rounded shapes. The width of the new smartphone is slightly smaller than that of the P9, which means it has become even more convenient to operate it with one hand. The mechanical power and volume buttons are in the right places, easy to feel, and pressed clearly, with a characteristic click.

The multifunctional touch “button”, also known as a fingerprint scanner, located under the screen, also does not cause problems. In general, in terms of ergonomics, no shortcomings were found.

The only thing that is typical for all all-metal devices is the slippery body when you take the smartphone with a dry hand. There are high chances of dropping it at this moment. If you don’t want to take risks, then a bumper or cover is traditionally recommended.

Display

Let me remind you that the new smartphone uses a 5.1" IPS matrix with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. The pixel density is 432 ppi. Viewing angles are traditionally good.

Compared to the P9, the display in the Huawei P10 has become warmer, approaching the “reference” color reproduction of the iPhone. At first the screen seemed too “yellow” to me. But when I got used to it, the Huawei P9 display began to look blue. In addition, it seemed to me that the manufacturer slightly reduced the color saturation, and they became more natural.

In the screen settings, you can turn on the eye protection mode (analogous to the night mode on the iPhone) and you can adjust the color temperature.

Also, the brightness range in the P10 has expanded. The minimum brightness has become even lower. And the maximum has increased slightly. This improves the display performance of the Huawei P10 compared to the previous model, which I previously found to be excellent. It is still good, but in a direct comparison I still prefer the screen of the new product.

On the front, the display is covered with 5th generation Corning Gorilla Glass. There is no air gap between the glass and the display, which is of course excellent - the image on the screen looks cool. In addition, the P10 retains a mode for improving display in intense lighting by further increasing brightness, contrast and changing color temperature on the fly. This mode works really effectively - the screen remains readable on the brightest sunny day.

However, upon examination of the front part, perhaps the main drawback of the device is revealed, which is expressed in the complete absence of an oleophobic glass coating. I don't know exactly why this happened. Company representatives never gave me a clear explanation, other than that the scanner, which is actually integral with the glass, would stop working at lightning speed if it was covered with an oleophobic layer. So-so excuse...

I have a test sample of Huawei P10 in my hands marked “not for sale”. I don’t know exactly how things are with serial devices that go on sale. But judging by the reviews on the Internet, they are sold with a protective film glued to the screen, which the manufacturer does not recommend removing.

UPDATE: Internet whining worked! The Huawei office confirmed the information that new batches of smartphones contain an oleophobic coating.

In addition to the fact that the screen of the Huawei P10 quickly gets dirty and the finger begins to glide across the screen poorly, I often encounter the following problem. When the glass is very dirty and my hands are cold and dry, the touch panel sensor perceives the pad of my finger as a knuckle, and turns on the screenshot mode of part of the screen (you need to circle some element) - it starts drawing blue lines instead of scrolling a list or answering a call. And it's very annoying. In general, I had to disable this function completely, fortunately there is an opportunity to do this in the settings and it’s good that I don’t use it, so I didn’t lose anything.

Overall, I'm pleased with the screen. The progress compared to the P9 is undoubtedly noticeable. The Huawei display is certainly not perfect, but it performs just fine in real-life use and provides a positive user experience in all lighting conditions. Also, the auto-brightness mode in the smartphone works correctly and quickly.

Hardware and performance

Huawei P10 is equipped with a new proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 960 processor, which we already met in the review. The Mali-G71 accelerator is responsible for the graphics. All current Android games run on the smartphone without problems at maximum graphics settings.

To be honest, I'm already so tired of describing the performance of flagship smartphones... Over the past 3 years, they have reached such power that they can handle the Android system without any questions at all. And it is simply impossible to notice a noticeable difference between devices in operating speed by eye. What about flagships... Even mid-level devices and often state-priced devices now provide decent performance in ordinary user tasks. The only moments where differences between smartphones can be noticed by eye are games and the speed of interface animation, but here everything depends more on the manufacturer - how much they complicated these animations and how long they took. Even with a direct comparison, you can see the difference in the speed of launching programs and switching between tasks. In general, user satisfaction with the speed of a smartphone now depends more on optimizing the firmware and software.

However, if any of you are interested in the raw numbers of the results of synthetic benchmarks, here they are:

Interface smoothness test - FPS measurements in typical tasks (for those who know what it is):

A little about heating. In ordinary tasks it is simply absent. The device gets warm when playing games, but only slightly. The heaviest heat is observed when using the camera, especially when shooting 4K video and turning on the wide aperture effect. But it is also not critical for using the device - no camera shutdowns due to overheating occurred, no matter how long I did not shoot.

Autonomy

In this regard, purely quantitatively, the Huawei P10 shows an improvement - compared to the P9, the battery has increased from 3000 mAh to 3200 mAh. But in practice, I did not see any difference in autonomy between the new and old flagship. Same day of work from early morning to late evening and 4-5 hours of active screen with my usual use of the device.

But the fast charging mode, of course, pleases. It’s really cool that you can recharge your smartphone in 20-30 minutes to work for 6-8 hours. With Huawei P10, I switched from night charging to morning charging. In an hour it charges approximately 80-90%, and in principle I don’t need more. And for the battery, this mode is more gentle, it seems to me.

Cameras

Compared to the P9, the Huawei P10's cameras have seen some major changes. If previously both main modules were 12-megapixel, now a 20-megapixel black-and-white sensor and a 12-megapixel color sensor are used. The main module received an optical stabilization system, laser, phase and hybrid autofocus.

Let me remind you how 2 cameras work in Huawei P9/P10. The main black and white module is responsible for detail and wide dynamic range. And color data is superimposed from a second color camera. You can also take gorgeous monochrome photos that imitate photos from black-and-white film cameras and use the shooting mode with a wide aperture (beautiful bokeh), as well as post-focusing previously taken frames.

Briefly about the improvements - the photos have become clearer, the light sensitivity has increased slightly - compared to the previous model, the P10 camera takes brighter pictures. But there is a nuance here - the default camera settings are set to 12 megapixel shooting mode. Therefore, you need to switch to 20 megapixels to see the effect of improved detail compared to P9. Also, the white balance is set more correctly - the color rendition of the pictures has become closer to real. In some cases, in difficult lighting, the P9 tilted colors towards blue or pink. There are no such problems with Huawei P10.