Huawei P10 Review

Overview

Huawei P10 has been conceived and realised as a solid successor of the Huawei P9, which is one of the finest smartphones of the company for its time. It does, indeed pushes further the Huawei-Leica collaboration to offer a refined version of the dual-camera setup found on the previous model. It also brings the latest and most powerful HiSilicon chipset - the Kirin 960, Android 7.0 Nougat with the latest EMUI 5.1, and optimised design. So let's check how the device performs on all levels and whether it is a worthy P9 successor.

Specifications

Huawei P10 is equipped with a 5.1-inch IPS-NEO LCD display from JDI with an FHD resolution (1080 x 1920). It is protected by a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and has a 2.5D curved glass finish. The display panel has a 1500:1 contrast ratio and a typical brightness of 500 cd/m². It covers 96% of the NTSC colour space. The hardware of the model is based on the latest HiSilicon chipset - Kirin 960. This is a 64-bit system-on-chip built on the 16nm process. It incorporates four 2.36GHz Cortex-A73 and four 1.84GHz Cortex-A53 cores. They are coupled with the powerful 1037MHz, octa-core Mali-G71 MP8 GPU. The 4GB of RAM on board is LPDDR4, double-channel, clocked at 1866MHz. The built-in memory measures 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB and is of the UFS 2.1 type. The camera department features two rear LEICA shooters - a 12-megapixel RGB one and a 20-megapixel mono one, each utilising a 6-element LEICA Summarit-H lens with a f/2.2 aperture. The colour shooter is aided by OIS as well. Both cameras benefit from a 4-in-1 hybrid auto-focus, including phase detection, laser, contrast, and depth AF. Hybrid zoom and a dual-tone LED flash are provided as well. The front-facing camera packs an 8-megapixel sensor and a 5-element LEICA lens with a f/1.9 aperture. The model has a single, bottom-facing speaker and provides 192 kHz / 24 bit audio. It is powered by a 3200 mAh battery that supports Huawei's Super Charge 3.0. It arrives with a 4.5V/5A; 5V/4.5A, 5V/2A fast charger. In terms of network bands support, Huawei P10 has four versions - VTR-AL00, VTR-TL00, VTR-L09, VTR-L29. All models support 2G, 3G, and 4G networks, it is the bands that differ depending on the market. As long as it concerns satellite navigation systems, the model supports them all - GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou. NFC is supported as well, along with dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac with 2x2 MiMO, Wi-Fi Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.2, USB Type-C 2.0 with OTG. Huawei P10 runs Android 7.0 Nougat with EMUI 5.1 on top. For complete details, here is the full list of Huawei P10 specifications.

What's in the box

First-time users of Huawei high-end smartphones will be pleasantly surprised by the clever box, in which the P10 arrives. It is pristine white in colour and the lid splits in half with the two parts falling to the sides of the box. On the lid are imprinted the Huawei logo and model name. On its sides, there are stickers with basic specifications and certifications of the model. Inside, you will see the device in the top-level compartment. It is very carefully packaged including protectors for the back and front. Below the front sticker, there's a pre-applied screen protector. We usually remove pre-applied protectors of the devices we review. Below the smartphone, in separate white boxes, the following items are packaged: a plastic protective case (optional), SIM tray pin, warranty card and user manual in one box, a USB Type-C cable and in-ear headphones in a second, and a 4.5V/5A; 5V/4.5A, 5V/2A fast charger in a third. This a British Standard (BS 1363), 13 amp plug that has 3 pins and supports 220-240 V electric systems. This type of charger is used in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malta, Malaysia, and Singapore. If you live elsewhere, you'll need an adapter.