Mobile phone Huawei P8: reviews. Mobile phone Huawei P8 Lite: reviews, review, description and specifications Smartphone Huawei p8 champagne color

Design modern smartphones became as similar as possible for all firms. If a couple of years ago, companies were trying to bypass competitors in this matter, now they began to adhere to a certain technology in production, which made all gadgets "incubator". Huawei P8 Lite, reviews of which will be discussed below, is also not far from this tradition. And yet it has its own indisputable merits. In addition to the two active SIM cards that have already become standard.

A few words about the company

Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was founded in 1988 in China. And it is one of the largest multinational telecommunications providers. Many Russians still remember the landline phones of this company, which were very popular in the 2000s. Today Huawei is considered one of the most popular smartphone and tablet companies in the world. And now many people prefer to buy a Chinese smartphone from a trusted company at a stable and affordable price, than to overpay for the brand and name of the device.

About the P8 Lite

The average cost of this gadget on the Russian market is about 14-18 thousand rubles. Today it can be safely called a budget model with flagship "manners". Huawei P8 Lite, reviews of which are quite positive, is well worth the money. And there are several objective reasons for this, which we will discuss below.

Design

The first thing that people pay attention to when buying is the appearance. Smartphone Huawei P8 Lite, reviews of which are striking in the number of admiring epithets, looks stylish, fashionable and very solid. The classic case with a non-removable battery makes it convenient for daily use (there is no need to change the back panel when it comes off and loosening). Matt back cover does not slip in hands, imitates metal. The chrome piping adds solidity and style to the look. It is a perfect design gadget for a business person, be it a woman or a man.

About the screen

Huawei P8 Lite, whose screen reviews are only positive, is equipped with a ten-finger multitouch. The diagonal of five inches is already familiar in the modern world, so it looks appropriate in any hands. Matrix type - IPS with 16.78 million colors. Pictures and photos look "unrealistically cool", judging by the reviews of the owners. By the way, the Huawei P8 Lite, which has only positive reviews on the responsiveness of the sensor, has good viewing angles and brightness. Therefore, on a sunny day, using a smartphone will not cause difficulties - everything is clearly visible and readable, you don't have to strain your eyes. Many buyers are captivated by this, because not all modern models from other manufacturers are equipped with such a good screen.

Cameras: external and front

The Huawei P8 Lite phone, reviews of which will be detailed below, amazed many users with its cameras. In particular, external. Despite the fact that the model is considered a budget model, it shoots no worse than the top flagship of Samsung or iPhone. The external camera shoots with a clarity of 13 megapixels, but the Chinese manufacturer did not save on the matrix. Shooting starts as quickly as possible. Some users note that it is lightning fast. Shooting has three modes (unexpected for a budget model): photo, video and time lapse. The latter is meant to capture some quick moment. For example, the sunset on the horizon or the jump of a person. The output is crisp and vivid accelerated video (or "gifs" as computer users call them). 13 megapixels is a very standard figure for modern smartphones, but the main quality still depends on the camera matrix. And Huawei P8 Lite, the reviews of the owners about which are mostly positive, is equipped with a sufficiently high-quality module. It is no worse than the original P8, albeit simplified. There are fewer functions and "chips", but all this can be solved if you have a good photo editor. The original images of the main camera still remain at their best even in the dark. Macro shooting is also very high quality, without blur, autofocus is smooth and stable. 5 megapixels perfectly copes with selfies and video calls. Although in low light, the picture still turns out to be somewhat yellowish and blurry. But eminent brand flagships also sin with this.

Communication standards

This is a sore question for many city dwellers, because the coverage areas of 4G and LTE are increasing every day, but not all smartphone manufacturers have time to follow this. Fortunately, the Huawei P8 Lite Black smartphone, whose connection quality is approving, supports all modern standards: 2G, 3G, 4G, LTE, LTE-A Cat 4. Naturally, how stable the connection will work depends on which the operator to use and in what coverage area to be. Major cellular giants (Megafon, MTS, Beeline) are expanding the boundaries for new standards.

CPU

How well and stably the gadget will work depends on it. The described model is equipped with a new generation HiSilicon Kirin 620 processor, 1.2 Hz. And it is enough for basic tasks: phone mode, games, application performance. The latter, by the way, according to users, simply "fly". No lags, freezes or glitches were noticed even in multitasking mode (when it works in many applications). The smartphone fully justifies itself - it works clearly and stably, without causing discomfort to the user. An octa-core processor, of course, is no longer surprising in modern conditions, but still pleases. For example, the most "heavy" popular games (NFS, WOT and others) work even at maximum settings stably and without brakes. Fresh "Android 5.1" allows you to dive into the magical world of applications and toys to the fullest.

Memory: operational and main

The Huawei P8 Lite Black smartphone, reviews of which are mostly positive, in this regard is very standard for 2015. is 16 GB, which is quite enough for games, applications, and information storage. If necessary, it can be expanded with an SD card (micro) by another 64 GB. The operative memory is 2 GB. And this is also enough for full-fledged games and applications. Even in multitasking mode, it works easily in background many applications. At the same time, the device does not slow down or buggy, which is pleasant for users. The smartphone replaces many other gadgets: you can listen to music, play, read, surf the Internet, communicate on it. And it all works quickly and smoothly.

Battery

The "Android" devices have an unpleasant property - "eat" the battery in huge quantities. And here, unfortunately, Huawei P8 Lite Black, reviews of which in this are not too positive, remains in the red. The 2200 mAh battery is not enough. Daylight hours, of course, the smartphone will work, but you will have to deny yourself something. On the other hand, many users note that with proper calibration and running several "discharge-charge" cycles, the gadget still does not require a constant presence near the outlet. But an additional power source (powerbank) is still better to purchase.

Color spectrum

The company released the smartphone in several colors: white, black, silver. The "filling" is the same for everyone, but the appearance still looks different. So, Huawei P8 Lite Black, reviews of which among men are the most positive by this criterion, is more suitable for the stronger sex. He's more serious and brutal. The silver color is considered neutral, therefore it is suitable for both ladies and young people. But the white smartphone is just made for a woman's pen. It's perfect, cuddly and very stylish even without the extra accessories. Huawei P8 Lite White, the reviews of which among women are only pleasant, thanks to plastic case not easily soiled, remains white and clean for a long time even when used without a protective cover.

Accessories

The good thing about Chinese models is that many firms quickly and massively begin to produce additional jewelry and accessories. The almost flagship Huawei P8 Lite is no exception. It can be easily matched with a back panel with a fashionable design or print. In addition, headsets and headphones will also work with any 3.5 mm plug. Girls especially like to choose stylish and fashionable cases and covers for the phone, which make the gadget even more interesting and beautiful.

Male look at smartphone

Many representatives of the stronger sex, who often use the phone for "heavy" and serious games, were satisfied with the model. They like high productivity and stable performance. Many people solved the problem with a low-capacity battery due to a charging case and an external powerbank. Appearance The gadget in black was liked by most of the men, and some did not even immediately recognize the imitation of metal in the case.

Women's opinion on the smartphone

The girls were also pleased with the device. Especially the picture quality and multitasking. Some were pleased with both voice and gesture control, when you don't need to touch the smartphone at all. We can safely say that the device is suitable for both serious ladies and teenage girls who do not go out of social networks neither day nor night.

Brief conclusion

Lite, reviews of which are mostly positive, liked both girls and guys. It can be safely recommended to those who are looking for a reliable smartphone for daily tasks for relatively little money. And by the way, the gadget justifies them completely. Fast and powerful processor ensures stable operation, and a high-quality camera allows you to take beautiful pictures at any time of the day and in any environment. Active SIM cards work without interruption, one does not "jam" the other when you call. Therefore, a modern person can afford to combine work calls with personal ones right on one device, without purchasing an additional one for himself. Micro SIM cards are supported, for which you need to prepare in advance (although many operators have already switched to dual-sim: those that you can choose by yourself).

Huawei P8- a phone from a Chinese manufacturer, the production of which began back in 2015. The smartphone has an up-to-date mid-range processor, beautiful design and high-quality assembly. Due to the rectangular shape, it may not be convenient to hold in the palm of your hand, the corners will abut and cause inconvenience with prolonged use. The device is made of a monolithic metal body, covered with a matte finish. On the top there is a headphone and microphone input, on the bottom there is a speaker, a second microphone and a micro USB port for charging and pairing with other devices.

Two cameras with a high-quality matrix (8 megapixels front and 13 megapixels main) allow you to shoot photos and videos in high resolution. The Huawei P8 has optical video stabilization, which will reduce camera shake when shooting. 64-bit, 8-core mid-range HiSilicon Kirin 930 processor, 4 cores 2.0 GHz + 4 cores 1.4 GHz. The Mali-T628 MP4 video accelerator will allow you to run undemanding applications and games at medium graphics settings. Enough performance for comfortable use.

The antenna of the device is hidden behind a plastic insert; modern communication standards and LTE (4G) are supported. The front panel is covered with a protective glass and a 5.2-inch FullHD display with maximum viewing angles and a margin of brightness, which will allow you to see the picture in sunlight outdoors. Modifications are available with 16 and 64 GB of internal memory, microSD (128 GB cards are supported), as well as 3 GB of RAM.

The disadvantage of the device is a battery with a capacity of 2680 mAh, which will allow you to work with the device for no more than a day at an average rate of use, if you apply the energy saving mode, then more than a day, but with limited functionality. Also, don't rely on vendor support for firmware updates. The package is standard: a USB cable for charging and connecting to other devices, a charging adapter and a headset.

Huawei P8 continues the glorious tradition of the flagship smartphone line. This gadget was announced in a big way in April 2015. He successfully preserved the design developments of his predecessors, and also acquired a completely new hardware.

Appearance and ergonomics

Huawei P8's high-quality all-metal body immediately inspires respect. Huawei designers claim to be inspired by hand-made bookbinding. It turned out to be a kind of classic with a modern twist. And if the front of the smartphone looks recognizable, then the back has undergone changes. Rear panel lost glass, but improved ergonomics thanks to slightly roughened aluminum. Now prints will not actively collect on the case. Emphasis was placed on practicality and elegance at the same time. At the same time, the device is as compact as possible, and the build quality is at a truly high level. P8 dimensions: height - 145 mm, width - 72 mm, thickness - 6.4 mm, weight - 145 g. Case color: silver, champagne, black.

Display

The Huawei P8 uses a 5.2-inch IPS screen. The viewing angles are maximum here, and the picture quality is always excellent. Almost natural colors are pleasing to the eye, and the Full HD resolution at this size creates amazing detail. You can adjust the colors yourself. It is pleasantly surprised by the automatic brightness control, which does an excellent job with its duties. The anti-glare coating is not satisfactory, since the information remains readable in the sun.

Iron and performance

Smartphone Huawei P8 is equipped with a progressive 64-bit Kirin 930 processor with eight cores (Cortex-A53) and a maximum frequency of 2000 MHz. It uses the Mali-T628 MP4 graphics accelerator, as well as 3 GB of RAM. The user is given only 16 GB for file storage, which is very small for a flagship. At the same time, only 10 GB is actually available. MicroSD cards up to 256 GB can be used. EMUI 3.1 acts as an exclusive shell, and the smartphone is controlled using the very popular Android 5.0 OS.

The filling turned out to be quite productive. So, in the AnTuTu test, the P8 gadget manages to score 45,000 points. The speed of the device is felt not only during everyday use, but also when launching serious games. For example, projects of the AAA class (WoT, GTA, Asphalt 8) work with high speed and maximum effects. In Ice Storm Extreme, the device scores 5700 points.

Communication and sound

It is worth noting that Huawei P8 supports all domestic bands of LTE networks. It can also work in HSDPA and GSM networks. Of the wireless modules, Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b / g / n 2.4 GHz stand out. The device receives a signal very confidently, and any network is well received. Able to please and the clear sound of the spoken speaker. As for the multimedia speaker, its volume is not the most impressive, but the sound is clear and clear.

Camera

During the presentation of Huawei P8, a lot of attention was paid to the new generation 13-megapixel camera. Sony's sensor is now four-color (RGBW). Optical stabilization appeared, which was not available in smartphones of this series. A special DSLR processor is dedicated for this. Aperture 2.0 is useful for night shooting. The camera menu is extremely convenient, there are a lot of useful modes. The focus point can also be changed. There is an interesting mode "Drawing with light", which is relevant in the evening. The camera boasts great macro. Even at night, the smartphone takes great pictures, and even more so in the daytime. You can only record videos in Full HD, since 4K is not supported. The front 8-megapixel camera with a fixed focus distance will also delight. Mode "Beautification" will help get rid of skin imperfections.

conclusions

The Huawei P8 may not turn out to be a perfect flagship, but it has stepped forward much further than its predecessor in literally everything. For 30,000 rubles (at the start of sales), the user gets a truly beautiful smartphone with a good filling and two excellent cameras. This is the optimal solution for those who still do not have enough or feel sorry for money for top-end solutions from Samsung and Apple.

Pros:

• Performance.
• Screen.
• Cameras (front and main).
• Build quality.
• Price.

Minuses:

• Lack of NFC.
• Little internal memory.

Specifications Huawei P8

General characteristics
Model	Huawei P8, GRA-UL00, GRA-TL00, GRA-CL00, GRA-L09, GRA-UL10, GRA-TL10, GRA-CL10
Date of announcement / start of sales	April 2015 / April 2015
Dimensions (edit)	144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4 mm.
The weight	144 BC
Body colors	Titanium Gray, Mystic Champagne (16 GB model) Carbon Black, Prestige Gold (64 GB model)
Number and type of SIM cards	2 nano-SIM, alternating mode
Operating system	Android OS, v4.4.2 (KitKat), v5.0.2 (Lollipop)
Communication standard in 2G networks	GSM 850/900/1800/1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 CDMA 800
Communication standard in 3G networks	HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO / TD-SCDMA
Communication standard in 4G networks	LTE band 1 (2100), 3 (1800), 7 (2600), 38 (2600), 39 (1900), 40 (2300), 41 (2500)
Display
Screen type	IPS-NEO LCD, 16 million colors
Screen size	5.2 inch
Screen resolution	1080 x 1920 @ 424 ppi
Multitouch	yes, up to 10 simultaneous touches
Screen protection	Gorilla Glass 3
Sound
3.5mm jack	there is
FM radio	there is
Additionally	24-bit / 192kHz audio, active noise cancellation
Data transfer
USB	microUSB v2.0, USB Host
Satellite navigation	GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS / BDS
WLAN	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, dual-band, WiFi Direct, hotspot
Bluetooth	v4.1, A2DP, LE
Internet connection	LTE, Cat4; HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, EDGE, GPRS
NFC	Yes
Platform
CPU	HiSilicon Kirin 930/935 Octa-core (4 × 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 & 4 × 1.5 GHz Cortex-A53)
GPU	Mali-T628 MP4
RAM	3GB RAM
Inner memory	16/64 GB
Supported memory cards	microSD up to 256GB
Camera
Camera	13 MP, f / 2.0, 28mm, autofocus, OIS, dual-LED (dual tone) flash
Camera functions	1.12 µm pixel size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face / smile detection, panorama, HDR
Video recording	[email protected]
Front-camera	8 MP, f / 2.4, 26mm, 1080p
Battery
Battery type and capacity	Li-Po 2680 mAh, non-removable
Additionally
Sensors	Illumination, approximation, gyroscope, compass, accelerometer
Browser	HTML5
Email	IMAP, POP3, SMTP
Other	- XviD / MP4 / H.264 player - MP3 / eAAC + / WMA / WAV / Flac player - Document viewer - Organizer - Voice dialing, voice commands
Equipment
Standard complete set	smartphone, headphones, charger, USB cable, instruction

Prices

Video reviews

Released in April 2015, the Huawei P8 marks the first real attempt by a Chinese manufacturer to gain a foothold in the flagship market. While the company's name is not a high-profile brand like Samsung or Apple, it hopes to entice users with its sleek design, iPhone-like aluminum casing, and a number of solid specs. For the most part, she succeeded. An octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, and a quality camera prove that Huawei is keeping pace with the market leaders. The fact that the smartphone is significantly cheaper than Samsung Galaxy S6, iPhone 6 and HTC One M9 makes it a good alternative to expensive well-known brands.

Case design

Huawei P8 looks much more expensive than its price. The beautiful 144g x 72.1 x 6.4mm metal body design is clearly inspired by the iPhone 6 and Sony Xperia Z3, but looks more angular.

Nice little things set the smartphone apart from the competition, including the flat rectangular area on the back of the phone where the camera is located. The front panel is clean, no brand name and Home buttons, there is no unsightly plastic speaker grill. Samsung should take note of this.

The chiseled, curved edges of the P8 are similar to the Samsung Galaxy S6, while the softly textured metal on the back echoes the iPhone 5. Huawei has not only borrowed designs from its competitors, it is also following the trend of referring to the colors of the models with ridiculous names. As a result, the 16GB version is available in Mystic Champagne and Titanium Gray, while the 64GB P8 comes in Prestige Gold and the less ludicrous Carbon Black. However, the finish may vary depending on the country where the smartphone is sold.

The buttons on the right side of the P8 are not only physical - they represent the only real flaw in the phone's design. The switch of the Huawei P8 smartphone is called by user reviews very small and too close to the volume rocker - because of this it is easy to confuse them. Double-clicking on the bottom half of the latter activates the camera and takes a picture when the phone is off. It's a nice feature, but it would be easier if the power button was larger, farther away, or on the opposite side.

But this small flaw does not detract from the fact that the rest of the design of the phone is of high quality and reliable. The smartphone is heavier than the Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6, but lighter than the HTC One M9 and looks as good as any of them for half the price.

Screen

The Huawei P8's 5.2 ”Full HD (1080p) 424dpi IPS screen, protected by Gorilla Glass 3, is slightly larger than the Galaxy S6. But its slim bezel keeps it from taking up too much space. And while it's not Quad HD like the Samsung S6, the Huawei P8 Black's display is one of the best in today's phones. It is large, bright and readable in all lighting conditions.

The Emotion UI includes several options for adjusting the color temperature of the screen, which will have to be used to correct the bias of the phone towards warmer tones. In the display settings, there is a sliding scale between warm and cold colors, and, according to the owners, moving the slider one position to the right restores a more natural color balance. The screen produces bright colors, but if you pay attention to the reds and purples, it becomes obvious their obvious oversaturation. But in general, the color reproduction of Huawei P8 GRA-UL00 is called satisfactory by user reviews.

Staying side by side with other flagships, the P8 still stands apart. Compared to the Galaxy S6, the P8's colors are more vibrant, but the smartphone can't match its level of detail, depth of blacks, or purity of whites. Compared to the HTC One M9, the P8 is on par with its more expensive competitor.

The screen of Huawei P8 is praised for its good viewing angles and the ability to adapt to changing light conditions. This is one of those areas where the P8 really impresses.

Camera

The P8 smartphone is equipped with a 13MP main image sensor with an f / 2 lens and optical image stabilization (OIS), an 8MP front sensor and dual LED flash. The manufacturer focused on the camera during the announcement of the model, and looking at its characteristics, you can understand why. The P8 is equipped with a 13MP Sony RGBW sensor with a dedicated image processor and lens designed to reduce noise and improve performance in low light conditions. The company also claims that the phone's OIS is significantly better than the iPhone 6 Plus. This is made possible by the fact that the OIS unit can handle movements with an offset of 1.2 °, compared to the 0.6 ° of the iPhone 6 Plus. Optical image stabilization works well in low light conditions, helps compensate for camera shake when shooting stationary subjects, but is also useful when recording high-definition video at 30 fps, ensuring relative image stability.

The Huawei P8 camera is noted for its excellent image quality, especially in good lighting conditions. It's easy to handle and responsive, but autofocus could be better. The P8 quickly detects faces and tracks them well. Focusing takes about a second, which is not too bad, but if the subject is not a face, the camera needs help to select the correct subject.

The Huawei P8 Dual is singled out for its unusual camera modes that allow you to take creative and enhanced pictures without the need for technical know-how. Light Painting is probably the most sophisticated of the phone's photo modes, and it allows you to take photos with a variety of effects, such as car headlights, moving stars or smooth water surfaces.

The mode works with slower shutter speeds, which allows the camera to receive light for extended periods of time, but does not require users to know how to set exposure times. If you hold the phone confidently enough (the manufacturer recommends a tripod), the results will be decent and experiments with light will be a lot of fun. it affordable way acquaintance with complex techniques of photography.

The front-facing 8 megapixel camera of Huawei P8 is called ideal for selfies. The built-in retouching tools help her in this, which allows her to make her face prettier. The list of "cosmetic" software features (which some may find offensive) includes teeth and skin whitening, face slimming, and eye bag removal. If you use them sparingly, the result will be more or less decent, but, of course, the natural look is more preferable.

Huawei has invested a lot of effort in image processing to improve color and clarity. The result is that photos taken with the P8 will look great on your phone screen and on social media.

Comparative images taken by the P8 and Galaxy S6 smartphones show how successful the Chinese company has been. In various lighting conditions, the photos taken by the Huawei P8 Champagne are praised for their great appeal. Of course, upon closer inspection, it becomes apparent that the S6 is in a different league in terms of color accuracy and detail, but for most users, the P8 will be more than enough.

Software

While the P8 looks a bit like an iPhone on the outside, the inside of the phone will be incredibly familiar to those who have used iOS devices in recent years. P8 works under Android 5.0, but it has its own Emotion UI, which does not even hide its similarity to Apple's OS. Copied everything from the shape and style of the icons to the gesture on the home screen that activates the Spotlight search feature. Plagiarized Huawei P8 Gold owner reviews confirm the fact that the smartphone has an Android search system, so Spotlight is redundant and enabled, probably only because Apple phones have it.

But this approach should not be immediately judged, as the manufacturer used his admiration for one of the best operating systems to give Android a fast and clean interface. For example, swiping down gives access to notifications in one tab and quick settings menu in another. it good decision to separate the two zones and make it easy to navigate in them.

True, Huawei P8 phones are criticized by user reviews for the fact that the manufacturer did not leave such Lollipop features as active application shortcuts in the style of a rotating catalog. Instead, pressing the options button brings up the old tiled browser of active apps, which allows you to select or close open programs by clicking on them or swiping up. It works, but not as attractively as it did in Android 5.0.

Original functions

In an attempt to create some subtle differences, Huawei has endowed the P8 with unique features. Some of them relate to the camera, and voice control, for example, allows you to find your phone. The default trigger phrase is "Okay, Amy", but you can specify a different, more personalized one. This feature of the Huawei P8 GRA-UL00 Champagne is called not fully functional by the reviews. It's easier to take your smartphone and press the power button. The function does not fire when required, and interrupts telephone conversations with requests to repeat what was said, as if she was waiting for an order to do something.

Another "trick" allows you to use your knuckles for additional commands and gestures, such as screen capture. The phone knows the difference between them and the pads of the fingers and, for example, instantly makes a copy of the screen if you knock on it twice. This is good for screenshots, as it is more convenient than the traditional press of the volume key and power button combination.

Performance

The heart of the smartphone is Huawei's own chipset - 64-bit HiSilicon Kirin 930, consisting of two quad-core Cortex-A53 processors in big.LITTLE configuration. One kit is overclocked to 2 GHz for intensive tasks, while the other at 1.5 GHz takes care of standard phone functions such as calling, email, web browsing and listening to music.

This solution turned out to be very effective. The work of Huawei P8 Gold is called fast by reviews - it easily copes with solving complex problems. This CPU is assisted by a Mali T628 GPU and 3GB RAM. True, there are some minor fading and lags, but proper management of open applications is intended to negate this issue.

The P8 performance test puts the smartphone on par with the HTC One M9, which uses the top-end Snapdragon 810 chipset. That's impressive in its own right, and given that Huawei's flagship is roughly $ 220 cheaper, it's even more satisfying.

Speaker and call quality

The P8's speaker and microphone are located at the base of the phone, on either side of the micro-USB port. Their location means that it can be covered with a hand when viewing videos in landscape orientation, but the grille is large enough to prevent this from happening completely.

The mono speaker Huawei P8 GRA-UL00 is called loud enough, but its sound is not very good. The owner of the phone will quickly become the subject of hate if he dares to play audio even at half volume in a public place. The range is noticeably shifted towards high frequencies but the bass can still be heard.

The earbuds on offer are made of durable plastic, but they don't fit very well with large earholes. Their volume is high and the frequency response is good in all directions, but they suffer from sound leakage that will annoy others.

In general, the audio produced by the Huawei P8 smartphone is rated somewhere between the class-leading HTC One M9 BoomSound stereo speakers and the iPhone 6 with Galaxy S6 - a decent result considering the price.

There are no problems with mobile signal reception and call quality. The smartphone shows good signal strength wherever it should be. The phone is 4G compatible and uses a special antenna design for the so-called. "Seamless switching technology" that keeps the signal consistently strong. According to users, it actually works.

Multimedia

The entry-level Huawei P8 comes with only 16GB of internal storage. This is clearly not enough today, since volumes of 32 GB and higher have already become familiar. Only 10.5 GB is available to the user, which is even more frustrating. There's a microSD card slot on the side of the phone, which allows for up to 128GB of storage, but owners would still like more internal space. Fortunately, Huawei also offers a 64GB version of the P8, but this comes at a premium.

Full HD - the display is convenient for watching videos, and the P8 comes with a dedicated app that makes it easy to find. After clicking on the video icon, a basic level player is launched with play, pause and skip buttons. It is very unassuming and easy to use.

The Huawei P8 heats up quite a bit after about 15 minutes of play, but the phone stays warm, not hot - that's good news.

Battery life

The smartphone is powered by a 2680 mAh battery. That's more than the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, but significantly less than the 4,360mAh of its larger twin, the Huawei P8 Max. Owner reviews indicate that with moderate use, the battery lasts for a day and a half. The battery level remains almost unchanged in standby mode, but it steadily drops at a rate of about 7% for every hour of watching a video or playing a game. Listening to audio doesn't affect the battery any more than the phone in standby mode, which is great for music lovers. Driving to work in the morning, checking social media, watching videos, and e-mails by noon lowers the charge by up to 85-90%. Emotion UI offers versatile power management tools, the most useful of which is power consumption monitoring showing the most power hungry applications.

The Huawei P8 smartphone is rated positively for its ability to make suggestions for optimizing battery performance, indicating which settings should be made. This is a good alternative to the standard power saving options, which simply drastically reduce the overall performance of the phone. However, they are also available and can be useful when lowering the battery power to a certain level.

The battery recharges in 3.5 hours - the S6 does it twice as fast. But in general, the battery performance of Huawei P8 is called satisfactory by the owners. It still needs to be recharged every 24 hours with moderate use, but critical battery alerts are rarely taken by surprise.

Should you buy the Huawei P8?

This option cannot be discarded. Of course, the phone is devoid of a prestigious high-profile name, but it is much cheaper and is not inferior to well-known brands, and sometimes even surpasses them. The Huawei P8 GRA-UL00 smartphone is praised by the owners for meeting all the capabilities of the flagship models, including big screen, a fast processor and a good 13 megapixel main camera. A bigger battery would make the phone unattainable, but the current time autonomous work still outperforms some big-name rivals.

All this is sold for the price of former flagships such as the LG G3 and HTC M8, as well as the mid-range phones Samsung Galaxy A5 and Sony M4 Aqua and compact versions of the flagships. Only by its technical characteristics and performance, the smartphone challenges such loud names as Galaxy S6 and HTC One M9. This is a strong argument for the P8 and certainly ranks it among the best models of 2015.

Conclusion

Mobile phone The Huawei P8 has been praised for having all the essential ingredients for top-of-the-line smartphones, but things didn't quite go according to plan in the process of putting them together. The screen, wattage, camera and battery are all the best models, but the software performance and interface inefficiencies slow down the overall Huawei P8 experience. In addition, the manufacturer should deal with firmware update issues.

At a price of $ 580, you shouldn't be too picky, as the buyer gets a lot for this money. It still feels like the phone hasn't matured to the level of Apple, Samsung, Sony and HTC, and the company will have to do a lot to get rid of the stigma of a second-rate phone manufacturer.

Another flagship of the premium family mobile devices Huawei, a smartphone called Huawei P8, unveiled in London late last spring, has finally made it to Russia. Compared to its predecessor, the P7 model, a lot has changed in the new flagship: more practical body materials have been used, a more powerful hardware platform has been installed, the amount of RAM has been increased, and the communication part has been redesigned. Of course, the developers did not bypass the issue of shooting on the camera: the latest module from Sony was installed in the Huawei P8, and the software for working with the camera was even more improved, and new shooting modes were added. At the same time, the main thing has been preserved: the flagships of the Huawei P series have always been and remain one of the most compact, thin and light expensive fashion models on the market among the top smartphones of our time. New flagship Huawei looks to be a very balanced device in most aspects, and we will analyze more specific details in this review.

First, let's take a look at the specs of the smartphone, the hardware is impressive.

Main features of Huawei P8 (UL00)

	Huawei P8	Lg g4	HTC One M9	Samsung Galaxy S6	Meizu MX5
Screen	5.2 ″, IPS	5.5 ″, IPS	5 ″, S-LCD 3	5.1 ″, Super AMOLED	5.5 ″, Super AMOLED
Permission	1920 × 1080, 424 ppi	2560 × 1440, 538 ppi	1920 × 1080, 441 ppi	2560 × 1440, 577 ppi	1920 × 1080, 401 ppi
SoC	HiSilicon Kirin 930 (8 cores ARM Cortex-A53) @ 2 + 1.5 GHz	Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 (2 cores Cortex-A57 @ 1.8 GHz + 4 cores [email protected], 5 GHz)	Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 (4x Cortex-A57 @ 2.0GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz)	Exynos 7420 (4x Cortex-A57 @ 2.1GHz and 4x Cortex-A53 @ 1.5GHz)	Mediatek MT6795T Octa-core (8 cores Cortex-A53 @ 2.2GHz)
GPU	Mali-T624	Adreno 418	Adreno 430	Mali-T760	PowerVR G6200
RAM	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB	3 GB
Flash memory	16 GB	32 GB	32 GB	32/64/128 GB	16/32/64 GB
Memory card support	microSD	microSD	microSD	—	—
Operating system	Google android 5.0	Google Android 5.1	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0	Google Android 5.0
Battery	non-removable, 2680 mAh	removable, 3000 mAh	non-removable, 2840 mAh	non-removable, 2550 mAh	non-removable, 3150 mAh
Cameras	main (13 MP; 1080p video), front (8 MP)	main (16 MP; 4K video), front (8 MP)	main (20.7 Mp; 4K video), front (4 Mp)	main (16 Mp; video 4K), front (5 Mp)	main (20.7 Mp; video 4K), front (5 Mp)
Dimensions and weight	145 x 72 x 6.4 mm, 145 g	149 x 76 x 9.8mm, 155g	145 x 70 x 9.6 mm, 157 g	143 x 70 x 6.8 mm, 138 g	150 x 75 x 7.6 mm, 149 g
average price	T-12435227	T-12466715	T-12259334	T-12259333	T-12675734
Huawei P8 offers	L-12435227-10

• SoC HiSilicon Kirin 930, 1.5 + 2.0 GHz, 8 cores ARM Cortex-A53
• GPU Mali-T624
• Operating Android system 5.0, EMUI 3.1
• Touch display IPS, 5.2 ″, 1920 × 1080, 424 ppi
• Random access memory (RAM) 3 GB, internal memory 16 GB
• MicroSD card support
• Nano-SIM support (2 pcs.)
• 2G communication: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• 3G connection: WCDMA
• Data transmission FDD LTE (Cat4, up to 150 Mbps) Band 1, 3, 4, 7
• Wi-Fi 802.11b / g / n (2.4 GHz), Wi-Fi Direct
• Bluetooth 4.1
• USB 2.0, OTG
• GPS (A-GPS), Glonass
• 13 MP camera, autofocus, optical stabilizer, LED flash
• Camera 8 MP (front), fixed. focus
• Proximity sensor, direction, lighting, accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass
• Non-removable battery 2680 mAh
• Dimensions 145 x 72 x 6.4 mm
• Weight 145 g

Contents of delivery

Huawei P8 comes on sale in a box that is completely unusual in appearance and unusual in structure. It is immediately clear that the designers have worked hard on this topic, completely revising their vision of what should be the packaging of an image model of a modern smartphone. In it, all the accessories, laid out in boxes, along with the smartphone itself, are inserted vertically, like books on a bookshelf (if you put it on one side). Outside, all this is also covered with a lacquered plastic panel with golden lettering on a black background, and the assembled box looks fresh and incredibly stylish, immediately setting you up for further acquaintance with the contents.

The package bundle is standard: the smartphone comes with a not very powerful charger(output current 5 V 1 A), connecting Micro-USB cable, wired headphones, as well as a metal key for ejecting SIM cards and thin paper instructions.

Appearance and usability

The company's developers have always paid maximum attention to the appearance of smartphones of the flagship line of Huawei P, because from the first days this line was positioned, first of all, as an image one. Some of the previous representatives of the series (P1 and P6) generally held the record for the [minimum] thickness, and even now the novelties of this family remain among the thinnest fashion models on the mobile device market. The new Huawei P8 also did not disappoint in this regard: the thickness of its all-metal body is only 6.4 mm, which makes the smartphone one of the thinnest modern flagships.

As for the design itself, there is nothing especially to admire: we have in front of us a completely ordinary rectangular bar with no frills. The corners are perhaps too sharp, and the side edges themselves are neither one nor the other. That is, either it was necessary to make them completely straight, or to fully round them, like in the same iPhone 6. Here, there is some kind of incompleteness: the edges were rounded off quite a bit, and then for some reason they were additionally chamfered from them. As a result, the case looks peculiar, and this rather wide, heavy and very thin metal plate constantly tries to slip out of the hands. By the way, oddly enough, this is facilitated by the fact that the metal surfaces here have been given a dullness and slight roughness - an ordinary smooth metal would be held in hands even more reliably.

The smartphone has no detachable parts, the case is non-separable, therefore the appropriate method of installing the cards is applied. In the side face on the right, there are two slot-like connectors, into which metal sleds with cards are inserted, and they are removed using a complete key-clip. It should be noted that one of the slots can be used either for a memory card or for a second SIM card, but not at the same time, which is depressing: the smartphone does not have so much of its own built-in memory so that you can easily refuse to use a memory card. As a result, the user is faced with a dilemma - after all, it would be nice to have both.

The camera module on the back of the smartphone does not stick out at all beyond the back surface. It is combined in a single unit with a two-section multi-colored LED flash, fixed in a mirrored non-metallic bar embedded in the body. If necessary, the flash can be used as a flashlight, which can be quickly turned on from a panel sliding from the bottom of the screen, which Huawei once borrowed from the Apple iPhone.

The same iPhone eventually contributed to the fact that most self-respecting manufacturers finally stopped bringing the speaker to the back of the smartphone - where the sound coming out is constantly covered by the table surface and directed in the direction opposite to the user - and finally moved the speakers to the lower end. The same is the case in the case of Huawei P8: two rows of holes are made in the lower end of the metal case, but the sound, as usual, comes out only through one grill, the second is set only for symmetry. Perhaps, behind it is a spoken microphone, but the sound of the speaker definitely does not pass through it (you can easily verify this by alternately covering the holes with your finger).

In the middle, between the two grilles, there is a Micro-USB connector, which, unlike the same grilles, for some reason was not centered relative to the central axis. It looks a little annoying: it is not clear why designers miss such trifles in their work. It is enough to look at the same iPhone: there is not a single element placed there that is crooked; everything is thought out to the smallest detail, and this captivates.

The same can be said for mechanical buttons - more precisely, one button, the main one, used for locking. It is clear that it is copied from Sony smartphones series Z, but even there this "find" looks, to put it mildly, not too organic. And so all the elements placed on the edges, including the caps for the slots for the cards and the volume control key, have a uniform look here, and only this button is for some reason made almost square, and even recessed into some shapeless recess cut in the metal, which no other elements. All this looks absolutely out of place and stands out from the general style. The buttons themselves have a springy, but too short stroke, they are not ideal, but you can get used to them.

On the upper end, the same picture is observed: the smoothly cut hole for the audio jack looks quite organic, but right there next to it they again missed the hole in the second, auxiliary microphone relative to the central axis. Apparently, the designer in his work was guided by something else, but not by the concept of symmetry.

The front panel is completely covered with a flat without sides protective glass... In its upper part, in addition to sensors and a front camera, there is such useful element, how led indicator events. The flashing function of this small glowing dot in the right corner when receiving new notifications can be turned off on your own in the menu section of the screen settings.

There are no hardware buttons in the lower part under the screen, all buttons are virtual, so their set and relative position can be changed to your taste in the corresponding section of the settings menu.

According to information obtained from Huawei's online store, the Russian retail smartphone will be presented in two colors: dark gray, as we have in the photos, and champagne with a white front panel, although the company photos contain images of Huawei P8 , in which the front panel is painted in this very light brown shade. Obviously, such a modification either will not go to the Russian market, or will become available later.

Screen

The Huawei P8 smartphone is equipped with an in-cell IPS sensor matrix. The screen dimensions are 65 × 115 mm, the diagonal is 5.2 inches, the resolution is 1920 × 1080 pixels. The pixel density is 424 ppi. The width of the bezel from the edge of the screen to the edge of the case is about 3.5 mm from the sides, and about 15 mm from the top and bottom.

The brightness of the display can be adjusted manually, it is also possible to enable automatic adjustment based on the operation of the light sensor. Multi-touch technology allows you to handle 10 simultaneous touches. The smartphone also has a proximity sensor that locks the screen when the smartphone is brought to the ear. Gloved screen work is supported, but double tapping in this case does not activate the screen, although this functionality was previously encountered in Huawei smartphones. Perhaps it's all about the firmware of the test sample.

Alexey Kudryavtsev, editor of the “Monitors” and “Projectors and TV” sections, carried out a detailed examination using measuring devices. Here is his expert opinion on the screen of the test sample.

The front surface of the screen is made in the form of a glass plate with a mirror-smooth surface that is resistant to scratches. Judging by the reflection of objects, the anti-glare properties of the screen are no worse than those of the Google Nexus 7 (2013) (hereinafter simply Nexus 7). For clarity, here is a photo in which a white surface is reflected in the turned off screens (on the left - Nexus 7, on the right - Huawei P8, then they can be distinguished by their size):

The screen of the Huawei P8 is even slightly darker (the brightness in the photos is 105 versus 112 for the Nexus 7). The doubling of reflected objects in the Huawei P8 screen is very weak, which indicates that there is no air gap between the layers of the screen (more specifically, between the outer glass and the surface of the LCD matrix) (OGS-type screen - One Glass Solution). Due to the smaller number of boundaries (such as glass / air) with very different refractive indices, such screens look better in conditions of strong external illumination, but their repair in case of cracked outer glass is much more expensive, since the entire screen has to be changed. On the outer surface of the screen there is a special oleophobic (grease-repellent) coating (in terms of efficiency, it is slightly worse than that of the Nexus 7), so fingerprints are easier to remove, and appear at a slower rate than in the case of ordinary glass.

With manual brightness control and with the display of the white field on the whole screen, the maximum brightness value was about 440 cd / m², the minimum - 10 cd / m². The maximum brightness is quite high, which means, given the excellent anti-glare properties, readability even on a sunny day outdoors should be at a good level. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable value. In the presence of automatic brightness control by the light sensor (it is located to the left of the front speaker slot). In automatic mode, when the ambient light conditions change, the screen brightness both increases and decreases. This function depends on the position of the brightness adjustment slider. If it is 100%, then in complete darkness the auto-brightness function reduces the brightness to 120 cd / m2 (too much), in an office illuminated with artificial light (about 400 lux) it sets to 300 cd / m2 (it could have been less), in a very bright environment (corresponds to lighting on a clear day outdoors, but without direct sunlight - 20,000 lux or slightly more), the brightness rises to 440 cd / m² (to the maximum - this is what you need); if the adjustment is about 50%, then the values ​​are as follows: 10, 115 and 440 cd / m² (ideal combination), the regulator at 0% - 10, 30 and 220 cd / m² (the last two values ​​are slightly underestimated, which is logical). It turns out that the automatic brightness control function works absolutely adequately and allows the user to customize his work for individual requirements. At any brightness level, there is practically no backlight modulation, so there is no screen flickering either.

This smartphone uses an IPS-type matrix. The micrographs show the typical IPS subpixel structure:

For comparison, you can see the gallery of photomicrographs of screens used in mobile technology.

The screen has good viewing angles without significant color shift, even with large gaze deviations from the perpendicular to the screen and without tint inversion. For comparison, we present photographs on which the screens of Huawei P8 and Nexus 7 display the same images, while the brightness of the screens was initially set to about 200 cd / m2, and the color balance on the camera was forcedly switched to 6500 K. Perpendicular to the screens is a white field:

Note the good uniformity of brightness and color tone of the white field. And the test picture:

The colors on the screen of the Huawei P8 are oversaturated and the color balance is slightly different. Now at an angle of approximately 45 degrees to the plane and to the side of the screen:

It can be seen that the colors did not change much on both screens, but on the Huawei P8, the contrast decreased to a large extent due to the strong black highlighting. And a white box:

The brightness at an angle of the screens decreased (at least 5 times, based on the difference in exposure), but the Huawei P8 has a lighter screen (brightness in the photos is 240 versus 235 for the Nexus 7). When deviated diagonally, the black field is lightened strongly and acquires a reddish tint. The photos below demonstrate this (the brightness of the white areas in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the screens is the same!):

And from a different angle:

With a perpendicular view, the uniformity of the black field is imperfect, since closer to the edge the black is highlighted in places:

And with a different arrangement of on-screen buttons:

The contrast (approximately in the center of the screen) is high - about 1400: 1. The response time for the transition black-white-black is 22 ms (12 ms on + 10 ms off). The transition between gray tones of 25% and 75% (based on the numerical value of the color) and back takes 34 ms in total. The gamma curve, plotted using 32 points with equal intervals in terms of the numerical value of the shade of gray, did not reveal a blockage in either the highlights or the shadows. The exponent of the approximating power function is 2.17, which is close to the standard value of 2.2. In this case, the real gamma curve almost does not deviate from the power dependence:

This device has some kind of dynamic adjustment of the backlight brightness in accordance with the nature of the displayed image. As a result, the obtained dependence of brightness on the hue (gamma curve) may not correspond to the gamma curve of a static image, since the measurements were carried out with sequential output of gray shades almost on the entire screen. For this reason, a number of tests - determining the contrast and response time, comparing the black illumination at angles - we carried out (however, as always) when displaying special templates with a constant average brightness, and not single-color fields across the entire screen. It should be noted that in this case the brightness correction is poorly expressed and does not have an obvious dependence on the image, but it would be better if it did not exist at all.

The color gamut is noticeably wider than sRGB:

We look at the spectra:

They are atypical, but we have already seen them in the case of, for example, the Sony Xperia Z2. Sony points out that these screens use LEDs with a blue emitter and a green and red phosphor (usually a blue emitter and a yellow phosphor), which, in combination with special matrix light filters, allows a wide color gamut. Most likely, this statement is also true in the case of the Huawei P8. For a consumer device, a wide color gamut is not an advantage, but a significant drawback, since as a result, the colors of images - drawings, photographs and films - oriented to the sRGB space (and there are the overwhelming majority of them) have an unnatural saturation. This is especially noticeable on recognizable shades, such as skin tones. The result is shown in the photo above.

The balance of shades on the gray scale is good, since the color temperature is not much higher than the standard 6500 K, and the deviation from the spectrum of the absolute black body (ΔE) is below 10, which is considered an acceptable indicator for a consumer device. At the same time, the color temperature and ΔE vary little from shade to shade - this has a positive effect on the visual assessment of the color balance. (The darkest areas of the gray scale can be ignored, since the color balance there is not very important, and the error in measuring color characteristics at low brightness is large.)

This device has the ability to correct the color balance by adjusting the hue warmer-colder.

In the graphs above, the curves Without corr. correspond to the results without any color balance correction, and the curves Corr.- data obtained after shifting the correction slider to the "warm" side until it stops. It can be seen that the change in balance corresponds to the expected result, since the color temperature approached the standard value, but ΔE, unfortunately, increased significantly and reached a critical value of 10 units. Perhaps it doesn't make much sense to perform the correction.

To summarize: the screen has a fairly high maximum brightness and has good anti-glare properties, so the device can be used outdoors without any problems even on a sunny summer day. In complete darkness, the brightness can be lowered to a comfortable level. It is also acceptable to use the mode with automatic brightness adjustment, which works adequately. Also, the advantages of the screen include the presence of an oleophobic coating, no flickering and no air gap in the layers of the screen, high contrast, as well as a color balance close to standard. The disadvantages are low stability of black to deviation of the gaze from the perpendicular to the plane of the screen and an unnecessarily wide color gamut. Nevertheless, taking into account the importance of the characteristics for this particular class of devices, the screen quality can be considered high, although it is worth getting ready for strange and not entirely natural shades.

Sound

Sounds Huawei P8, despite the extremely thin body, very high quality. There is only one external speaker, but the device produces high quality sound both through it and through the headphones for comfortable listening. This is not the level of Oppo or HTC, the smartphone does not abound in deep bass, but in terms of loudness, the Huawei P8 will definitely not yield to anyone. The sound is very loud, while the sound is clear, without wheezing and distortion, bright, rich, low frequencies are also partly present, although not fully. In conversational dynamics, the interlocutor's speech, timbre and intonation remain recognizable. There are no manual settings to control the sound quality in the proprietary player, there is only the ability to turn on or off the DTS sound enhancement technology, and then only for headphones.

There is an FM radio in the smartphone, it works only with connected headphones.

Camera

Huawei P8 is equipped with two digital camera modules with a resolution of 13 and 8 megapixels. For front-facing shooting, an 8-megapixel module with an f / 2.4 aperture lens is used, without autofocus and its own flash. Among the settings there is the ability to track a smile, as well as shooting using the hardware volume key, including when the screen is locked (to do this, you need to double-click to decrease the volume, but the shooting will be carried out on the main camera located at the back of the smartphone). For the front camera, there are also manual settings, at which you can independently set exposure, contrast, brightness. Also here we can mention a special mode "Perfect selfie" with the ability to save personal data in memory, in which you can apply additional effects to photographs (enlarge the eyes, whiten the skin, etc.).

The main camera uses Sony's new 13-megapixel sensor with four-color RGBW sensor and its own image processor. According to the developers, the RGBW sensor reduces brightness by 32% in high contrast lighting and increases it by 78% in low light levels, and the independent image processor of the DSLR camera allows you to suppress noise and evaluate shooting conditions, identifying high-contrast and low-light parts of the frame. The camera also features an f / 2.0 lens with improved OIS technology (compensates for shifts up to 1.2 °) and AF tracking. The LED flash has two multi-colored sectors.

The proprietary camera settings menu is the same as in previous models of the series, but several additional shooting modes have been added. Most of the menu functions are collected in a single vertical scroll, and additional shooting modes are selected by pressing the button in the upper right corner. In addition to the automatic shooting mode, there are several specific modes, such as Successful Photos, Decoration, Panorama, HDR and others. With the help of a separate mode, you can play around and adjust the focus on different areas of an already captured photo. Also, some may find the new entertainment mode curious. Drawing with light... This mode uses manual camera shutter control to capture various lighting effects. Developers suggest using this mode when shooting at night to capture the light pattern created by the moving lights. According to their idea, users can create their own light pictures using a smartphone as a source of illumination in the dark.

The camera can shoot video with a resolution up to 1080p, when shooting, you can use the tracking autofocus, you can also use optical and electronic stabilization, and at the same time. As a result, the shooting is really very smooth, but the image quality itself leaves much to be desired. It's a pity that there is no shooting mode at 60 fps or at least in 4K resolution. An example of a test video is shown below.

• Movie # 1 (19 MB, 1920 × 1080, 30 fps)

	The camera copes well with shooting indoors.
	At times, the work of the shumodav looks really subtle and pleasant.
	The camera is not afraid of long exposures: apparently, the stabilizer helps out.
	Quite good sharpness almost over the entire field of the frame.
	With the removal of the plan, the image becomes soapy.
	An example of a very good sharpness according to the plans.
	On the middle and long-range shots, soapiness is again felt.
	The numbers of the nearest cars are distinguishable.
	Good sharpness across the field and across plans.
	The camera copes well with macro photography.
	With the removal of the plan, the foliage merges quite smoothly.

It should be noted right away that the camera copes well with shooting in low light, much better than most smartphones. The remaining minority quite achieves this level, but the good coordinated work of the stabilizer and noise reduction is really felt here. Otherwise, the camera has no superpowers. She works out the details well, but often lathers. There are also small areas of blur, sharpness is not always uniform across the field of the frame and across the plans. Nevertheless, the camera is well suited for documentary and sometimes artistic photography.

Telephone part and communications

The smartphone operates in modern 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA networks, and there is also support for fourth generation LTE Cat4 networks, up to 150 Mbps (FDD LTE Band 1, 3, 4, 7). The frequency 2600 MHz most often used in Russia is also supported. In practice, with SIM-cards of domestic operators Megafon and Beeline, a smartphone is registered and works in LTE networks.

The rest of the network capabilities of the smartphone are as follows: there is support for Bluetooth 4.1, but only one Wi-Fi band (2.4 GHz) is supported and there is no NFC. There is Wi-Fi Direct, you can organize a wireless access point through Wi-Fi channels or bluetooth. Micro-USB 2.0 connector supports connection of external devices in USB mode OTG. The developers also assure that the smartphone was equipped with a new design of its own design, Signal +, which, in combination with fast switching technology, allows the smartphone to choose the optimal communication mode and improves the quality of the connection even while driving at high speed, for example, if the user is talking while in high-speed train.

The phone application supports Smart Dial, that is, when dialing a phone number, a search is immediately carried out by contacts. The settings provide a continuous way of entering the Swype type. For the convenience of one-handed operation, it is possible to change the size of virtual keyboards or even the entire working area of ​​the screen.

The smartphone supports dual SIM. All work with them in the menu is conveniently organized on one page, the settings are conveniently combined into groups, you just need to put a couple of checkmarks and the choice is made. Everything is clear and intuitive. Perhaps, this menu for managing work with two SIM-cards is the most convenient of all the options we have previously encountered.

Any of the SIM cards can be assigned as the main one for organizing voice calls, data transfer and sending SMS messages; when dialing a number, you can also select the desired card with the corresponding buttons. A SIM card in any slot can work with 3G / 4G networks, however, only one of them can function at the same time in this mode. To change the assignments of the card slots, you do not need to change places - this can be done directly from the phone menu. Working with two SIM-cards is organized according to the Dual standard SIM Dual Active, when both cards can work in parallel and at the same time, that is, the smartphone uses two separate radio modules - this is a very rare and, of course, very user-friendly option.

The proprietary interface traditionally changes the design and all the internal arrangement of the standard system so much that little is left of the original Android design. There is no separate application menu here, the original notification curtain with a timeline and the own menu of the latest open programs look completely different, and indeed traces of Material Design are almost invisible here. There is not too wide support for elementary gestures, and a special soft control button that brings up a pop-up shortcut menu to some frequently used applications has not gone anywhere. The bottom row of virtual control buttons can be reassigned at your discretion, it is also possible to reduce the entire working area of ​​the screen entirely.

There are not so many additional preinstalled programs; from useful ones, one can single out a file manager, as well as a set of system utilities, including the "Dispatcher" program, which includes the functions of energy saving, memory cleaning, protection against virus threats and traffic monitoring.

Performance

The hardware platform of Huawei P8 is based on the eight-core HiSilicon Kirin 930 SoC, which, along with Kirin 935, is currently one of the most powerful 64-bit platforms used by Huawei in its serial products. The configuration of this solution includes two clusters of four Cortex-A53 processor cores with a frequency of 1.5 to 2.0 GHz and a Mali-T624 GPU. That is, the Kirin 930 competes with top-tier SoCs like Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and MediaTek MT6795.

The amount of RAM of the smartphone is 3 GB. The device has 16 GB of flash memory, of which 10.5 GB is available for the needs of the user himself. The amount of memory can be increased by using microSD cards, but then, according to the established bad tradition, you will have to remove the second SIM card, which is extremely inconvenient. There are many solutions on the market that perfectly combine support for two SIM cards and a memory card at the same time, there is nothing supernatural in this. Why Huawei decided to stick with the reduced functionality option is unclear.

According to the test results, the Kirin 930 platform proved to be quite worthy of the title of a top-end SoC platform of the highest level. More specifically, in complex benchmarks, its performance is equivalent to that of competing platforms Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 and MediaTek MT6795 (in AnTuTu it is more than 45K in 32-bit and about 50K in 64-bit testing modes).

As for specialized tests, the platform is noticeably inferior to its competitors in graphical and even in browser benchmarks, and of course, is far from the current leading Exynos 7420 used in the most powerful modern devices Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. ...

In any case, Huawei P8 is currently among the most powerful and advanced modern smartphones in terms of performance, its hardware capabilities will be enough for a long time to perform any tasks.

Testing in latest versions complex tests AnTuTu and GeekBench 3:

All the results obtained by us when testing the smartphone in the most recent versions of popular benchmarks, we have summarized for convenience in tables. Several other devices from different segments are usually added to the table, also tested on similar latest versions of benchmarks (this is done only for a visual assessment of the obtained dry numbers). Unfortunately, within the framework of one comparison, it is impossible to present the results from different versions of benchmarks, therefore, many worthy and relevant models remain "behind the scenes" - due to the fact that they once passed the "obstacle course" on previous versions of test programs.

Testing the graphics subsystem in 3DMark gaming tests,GFXBenchmark, and Bonsai Benchmark:

When testing in 3DMark for the highest performing smartphones, it is now possible to run the application in Unlimited mode, where the rendering resolution is fixed at 720p and VSync is disabled (which can cause the speed to rise above 60 fps).

	Huawei P8 (Hisilicon Kirin 930)	Lg g4 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 808)	HTC One M9 (Qualcomm Snapdragon 810)	Samsung Galaxy S6 (Exynos 7420)	Meizu MX5 (Mediatek MT6795T)
3DMark Ice Storm Extreme (more is better)	6556	Maxed out!	Maxed out!	Maxed out!	Maxed out!
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (more is better)	11909	18372	20538	21204	16390
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Onscreen)	18 fps	25 fps	37 fps	30 fps	27 fps
GFXBenchmark T-Rex HD (C24Z16 Offscreen)	13 fps	35 fps	36 fps	46 fps	27 fps
Bonsai benchmark	3333 (48 fps)	3340 (48 fps)	4092 (58 fps)	4185 (60 fps)	3966 (57 fps)

Browser cross-platform tests:

As for benchmarks for evaluating the speed of the javascript engine, you should always make allowances for the fact that the results in them significantly depend on the browser in which they are launched, so that the comparison can be truly correct only on the same OS and browsers, and this possibility is available when testing not always. In the case of Android OS, we always try to use Google Chrome.

Thermal imagery

Below is a thermal image of the rear surface (top in the photo - right), obtained after 10 minutes of running the battery test in the GFXBenchmark program:

It can be seen that the heating is a little more localized approximately at the center and closer to the right edge of the device, which, apparently, corresponds to the location of the SoC microcircuit. According to the heat chamber, the maximum heating was 35 degrees, which is relatively little. Apparently, the metal body of the device contributes to the delocalization of the heating region.

Video playback

To test the "omnivorous" video playback (including support for various codecs, containers and special features, such as subtitles), we used the most common formats that make up the bulk of the content available on the Web. Note that it is important for mobile devices to have support for hardware video decoding at the chip level, since it is often impossible to process modern versions using processor cores alone. Also, do not expect a mobile device to decode everything, since the leadership in flexibility belongs to the PC, and no one is going to challenge it. All results are summarized in a single table.

According to the test results, the subject was not equipped with all the necessary decoders, which are necessary for full playback of most of the most common multimedia files on the network. To play them successfully, you will have to resort to using a third-party player - for example, MX Player. True, it is also necessary to change the settings in it and manually install additional custom codecs, because now this player does not officially support the AC3 audio format.

Format	Container, video, sound	MX Video Player	Native video player
DVDRip	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 2200 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL SD	AVI, XviD 720 × 400 1400 Kbps, MP3 + AC3	reproduced normally	reproduced normally
Web-DL HD	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 3000Kbps, AC3		video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 720p	MKV, H.264 1280 × 720 4000 Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹
BDRip 1080p	MKV, H.264 1920 × 1080 8000Kbps, AC3	video plays fine, no sound¹	video plays fine, no sound¹

¹ the sound in MX Video Player was played only after installing an alternative custom audio codec; the standard player does not have such a setting

Testing of video output features was carried out Alexey Kudryavtsev.

We did not find the MHL interface, like Mobility DisplayPort, in this smartphone, so we had to limit ourselves to testing the output of video files on the screen of the device itself. To do this, we used a set of test files with an arrow and a rectangle moving one division per frame (see "Testing technique for video playback and display devices. Version 1 (for mobile devices)"). Screenshots with a shutter speed of 1 s helped to determine the nature of the frame output of video files with different parameters: the resolution varied (1280 by 720 (720p) and 1920 by 1080 (1080p) pixels) and the frame rate (24, 25, 30, 50 and 60 fps). with). In our tests we used the MX Player video player in the "Hardware" mode. The test results are summarized in the table:

720 / 30p Great No 720 / 25p Great No 720 / 24p Great No

Note: If both columns Uniformity and Skips green ratings are set, this means that, most likely, when watching movies, artifacts caused by uneven alternation and skipping of frames will either not be visible at all, or their number and visibility will not affect the viewing comfort. Red marks indicate possible problems related to the playback of the respective files.

According to the criterion for outputting frames, the quality of video playback on the screen of the smartphone itself is very good, since frames (or groups of frames) can (but are not required) to be displayed with a more or less uniform alternation of intervals and without frame drops. When playing video files with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels (1080p) on a smartphone screen, the image of the video file itself is displayed exactly along the edge of the screen, one to one pixel by pixel, that is, in the original resolution. The brightness range displayed on the screen corresponds to the standard range of 16-235 - in the shadows only a couple of shades of gray do not differ in brightness from black, but all the shades are displayed in the highlights.

Battery life

Huawei P8 has a non-removable battery that is far from the maximum capacity for modern smartphones at 2680 mAh. As a result, the smartphone did not show any records for battery life, everything is within the normal range for flagships with a large display.

It is also worth noting that the testing was carried out without using any energy-saving functions, and with them the smartphone is obviously able to last longer. As usual, in the settings of the corporate energy saving mode Huawei smartphones come in three different tiers, from basic to the most economical.

	Battery capacity	Reading mode	Video mode	3D Game Mode
Huawei P8	2680 mAh	13h 00m	9h 00m	3h 10m
Lg g4	3000 mAh	17h 00m	9h 00m	3h 00m
Nexus 6	3220 mAh	18h 00m	10h 30m	3h 40m
HTC One M9	2840 mAh	11h 00m	8h 20m	3h 50m
Samsung Galaxy S6	2550 mAh	20 h 00 m	12h 00m	4h 00m
Meizu MX5	3150 mAh	15h 00m	11h 00m	4h 10m
LeTV One	3000 mAh	10h 30m	8h 20m	3h 50m
Lenovo Vibe X2	2300 mAh	13h 00m	6h 00m	3h 15m
Meizu MX4	3100 mAh	12h 00m	8h 40m	3h 45m

Continuous reading in the FBReader program (with a standard, light theme, without auto-scrolling) at a minimum comfortable brightness level (the brightness at the beginning of the test was set to 100 cd / m2) lasted 13 hours until the battery was fully discharged, and with continuous high-quality video viewing ( 720p) with the same brightness level over the home Wi-Fi network the device lasted 9 hours. In game mode, the smartphone operated for just over 3 hours. The full charging time is just under 3 hours.

Outcome

Huawei has already announced the imminent start of sales of Huawei P8 in Russia, the official price of the certified device will be almost 30 thousand rubles, the start of online sales is scheduled for July 24. An uncertified device can already be purchased in online stores at a price of 27 thousand rubles. Given the current realities of the market, this is a perfectly acceptable price for an image flagship smartphone with a metal body, a high-quality large screen, excellent sound, a powerful hardware platform, a decent camera and decent battery life.