VERDICT – This photographer’s companion is a powerful Android handset and worthy upgrade to the P9.
The Leica-branded Huawei P9 (Shopper 342) was a pleasant surprise when it launched last year. Much of that was down to its dual rear cameras, which Huawei has wisely decided to carry over unchanged to the new P10.
It also raises the issue of what’s actually new, especially since the P10 is pricier than the P9 was on release. The biggest difference lies in the P10’s improved physical appearance, which is uncannily iPhone 7-like in design. Huawei has tossed away the easily scratched all-metal silver back of the P9 in favor of a smooth, matte black rear that’s far easier on the hands (and pocket).
THUMB AND GAMES
The fingerprint sensor has also moved from the rear to the front, where it’s now integrated with the home button. We did prefer the sensor in the P9’s more index finger-friendly position, but since it has such extra abilities as swiping left or right to switch apps; it can at least be used for speedy navigation as well as unlocking. Just below, on the bottom edge, you’ll find a USB Type-C port, with a SIM and microSD slot on the left edge.
The biggest update comes in the form of an octa-core, 2.4GHz HiSilicon Kirin 960, paired with 4GB of RAM. This propelled the P10 to Geekbench scores of 1,940 in the single-core test and 6,299 in the multicore test; not only are these big improvements over the P9,but they put the P10 on a par with the flagship Huawei Mate9(Shopper 349) and even the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7.
It’s clearly no slouch, but graphics performance is particularly impressive. The P10’s stellar 50fps in GFXBench Manhattan shatters the P9’s 12fps, and we could play effects-heavy games such as SkyForce Reloaded without a single dropped frame. This power boost hasn’t hurt battery life, which is also up on the P9.Lasting 13h 12m in our video playback test, the P10 is roughly on a par with most £400-£500 Android handsets, although it falls short of top-end devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy S series.
INTERFACE TRANSPLANT
As you might expect (and hope for), the Huawei P10 ships with Android 7.0Nougat right out of the box. The bad news is that Huawei’s EMUI custom skin still gets in the way a bit too much for our liking.
True, the differences between this and stock Android aren’t as stark as they have been in previous version of the software, and visually, EMUI generally doesn’t look bad. However, the removal of the apps tray continues to irritate, and Huawei persists in replacing Google’s pull-down notifications menu with its own effort, which offers no real benefit in exchange for wasting additional screen space.
The screen itself is a5 .1in, 1,920x1,080 IPS panel. It’s bordered by seriously thin bezels on either side, and text and images look perfectly sharp and crisp. According to our tests, it can display 99.9% of the sRGB color gamut, and a high peak brightness of 497cd/m2 will serve you well on sunny days outside. The 1,219:1 contrast ratio also does justice to photos captured by the dual cameras.
The rear cameras haven’t changed since the P9 –one camera shoots color images at up to 12 megapixels, while the other uses a monochrome sensor that captures up to 200% more light than the other, and images from both are combined for better shots. They still hold up, though, producing wonderfully detail-rich photos anywhere there’s plenty of light.
In low light, the small f/2.2 aperture in both sensors hold the P10 back, and objects can end up looking poorly defined, with noticeably blurred edges and visible noise. Color reproduction remains effective, however, and in good lighting, lavish details are enhanced by bright, punchy colors.
Rather strangely, the 8-megapixel front-facing camera has an f/1.9 aperture, and as a result, we found it performed slightly better in low light than the rear cameras. This actually is an all-new addition, and unlike the P9’s front camera, seems to be another collaboration with Leica.
ONE UP
With the P10, Huawei has delivered yet another great-quality smartphone. The dual Leica cameras are a real treat, and while this could have just meant it was worth sticking with the older, cheaper P9, improvements to the physical design, performance and battery life make this the one to go for–out of these two models, anyway.
There is an argument for the OnePlus 3T (Shopper 349) being a better buy overall: it’s not quite as powerful, but at £399 is much cheaper, while still offering high-caliber specs. The brilliant, if now replaced, Samsung Galaxy S7 has also dropped in price, to the point where it matches the P10. Neither of these phones, we should also point out, suffer from the overbearing EMUI Android skin.
Even so, the Huawei P10 is commendably well made, and in hardware terms, it can keep pace with some of the big flagships. If you find it turns your head, you won’t be disappointed.
The Leica-branded Huawei P9 (Shopper 342) was a pleasant surprise when it launched last year. Much of that was down to its dual rear cameras, which Huawei has wisely decided to carry over unchanged to the new P10.
It also raises the issue of what’s actually new, especially since the P10 is pricier than the P9 was on release. The biggest difference lies in the P10’s improved physical appearance, which is uncannily iPhone 7-like in design. Huawei has tossed away the easily scratched all-metal silver back of the P9 in favor of a smooth, matte black rear that’s far easier on the hands (and pocket).
THUMB AND GAMES
The fingerprint sensor has also moved from the rear to the front, where it’s now integrated with the home button. We did prefer the sensor in the P9’s more index finger-friendly position, but since it has such extra abilities as swiping left or right to switch apps; it can at least be used for speedy navigation as well as unlocking. Just below, on the bottom edge, you’ll find a USB Type-C port, with a SIM and microSD slot on the left edge.
The biggest update comes in the form of an octa-core, 2.4GHz HiSilicon Kirin 960, paired with 4GB of RAM. This propelled the P10 to Geekbench scores of 1,940 in the single-core test and 6,299 in the multicore test; not only are these big improvements over the P9,but they put the P10 on a par with the flagship Huawei Mate9(Shopper 349) and even the Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 7.
It’s clearly no slouch, but graphics performance is particularly impressive. The P10’s stellar 50fps in GFXBench Manhattan shatters the P9’s 12fps, and we could play effects-heavy games such as SkyForce Reloaded without a single dropped frame. This power boost hasn’t hurt battery life, which is also up on the P9.Lasting 13h 12m in our video playback test, the P10 is roughly on a par with most £400-£500 Android handsets, although it falls short of top-end devices such as Samsung’s Galaxy S series.
INTERFACE TRANSPLANT
As you might expect (and hope for), the Huawei P10 ships with Android 7.0Nougat right out of the box. The bad news is that Huawei’s EMUI custom skin still gets in the way a bit too much for our liking.
True, the differences between this and stock Android aren’t as stark as they have been in previous version of the software, and visually, EMUI generally doesn’t look bad. However, the removal of the apps tray continues to irritate, and Huawei persists in replacing Google’s pull-down notifications menu with its own effort, which offers no real benefit in exchange for wasting additional screen space.
The screen itself is a5 .1in, 1,920x1,080 IPS panel. It’s bordered by seriously thin bezels on either side, and text and images look perfectly sharp and crisp. According to our tests, it can display 99.9% of the sRGB color gamut, and a high peak brightness of 497cd/m2 will serve you well on sunny days outside. The 1,219:1 contrast ratio also does justice to photos captured by the dual cameras.
The rear cameras haven’t changed since the P9 –one camera shoots color images at up to 12 megapixels, while the other uses a monochrome sensor that captures up to 200% more light than the other, and images from both are combined for better shots. They still hold up, though, producing wonderfully detail-rich photos anywhere there’s plenty of light.
In low light, the small f/2.2 aperture in both sensors hold the P10 back, and objects can end up looking poorly defined, with noticeably blurred edges and visible noise. Color reproduction remains effective, however, and in good lighting, lavish details are enhanced by bright, punchy colors.
Rather strangely, the 8-megapixel front-facing camera has an f/1.9 aperture, and as a result, we found it performed slightly better in low light than the rear cameras. This actually is an all-new addition, and unlike the P9’s front camera, seems to be another collaboration with Leica.
ONE UP
With the P10, Huawei has delivered yet another great-quality smartphone. The dual Leica cameras are a real treat, and while this could have just meant it was worth sticking with the older, cheaper P9, improvements to the physical design, performance and battery life make this the one to go for–out of these two models, anyway.
There is an argument for the OnePlus 3T (Shopper 349) being a better buy overall: it’s not quite as powerful, but at £399 is much cheaper, while still offering high-caliber specs. The brilliant, if now replaced, Samsung Galaxy S7 has also dropped in price, to the point where it matches the P10. Neither of these phones, we should also point out, suffer from the overbearing EMUI Android skin.
Even so, the Huawei P10 is commendably well made, and in hardware terms, it can keep pace with some of the big flagships. If you find it turns your head, you won’t be disappointed.
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