Huawei P10 Review

Design, build and controls

Huawei P10 impresses with its super-compact body made entirely of aluminum alloy. Carved out from a single slab of metal, the device incorporates an arched antenna bands design, which is one of the most stylish ones we've seen. Having in mind that our unit is graphite black, the antenna bands beautifully merge with the colour and are almost invisible. The back is sandblasted for a fine matte finish that is resistant to smudges. The rear edges are smooth and curved, while the front ones are chamfered and slightly glossy for a nice contrasting touch. They tightly encompass the display unit, which is covered with a 2.5D curved glass. All this creates the feeling that you hold one solidly crafted piece of fine machinery. With the exception of the Xiaomi Mi 5 and Vifocal, which are 69.2 and 69 mm wide, respectively, with its width of 69.3 mm, Huawei P10 is one of the narrowest smartphones on the market. The height of the device measures 145.3 mm, which is an average value for its size class, where the lowest height value is 139 mm (Meizu MX3) and the top one is 149.36 (Smartisan M1). Following Samsung Galaxy S6, which is 6.8 mm deep, the P10 is the second thinnest smartphone with a 5.1-inch display on the market. Somehow, it manages to pack in its extremely thin body a 3200 mAh battery, while the Galaxy S6 has a 2550 mAh accumulator, for example. Among the smartphones with a 5-5.15-inch display and a 3200 mAh battery is one of the lightest (145 g) models and is definitely the thinnest one. One of the most appealing features of the model is the colour palette, in which it is available. The sober and elegant design is definitely brightened by the multitude of colours, which are chosen and developed together with the PANTONE Color Institue - the global colour trendsetter. They include ceramic white, dazzling blue, dazzling gold, prestige gold, graphite black, moonlight silver, rose gold, and greenery. It is the dazzling colours that feature the hyper-diamond cut finishing, while the prestige and rose gold, black, silver, and greenery are sandblasted. Only the ceramic white device is glossy and prone to smudges. We are reviewing a graphite black unit and we must say that the colour couldn't have been named more precisely than that. The placement of controls, ports, and buttons is carefully thought out and complements in every way the minimalist design of the handset. For starters, on the left-hand side, a hybrid, dual-SIM tray is positioned. It can house a Nano-SIM and a Nano-SIM or a microSD card. On the left-hand side, you will see the volume and power buttons, both made of metal. The volume button has a classic appearance with chamfered edges, but the power one features Huawei's signature design. It is placed in a specially whittled out oval spot. The button's surface has a dotted relief and its chamfered edges are coloured in red. There's no way of missing or miss-pressing this button for sure. On the top frame, there's a single microphone hole. All else is positioned on the bottom frame - namely the 3.5 mm jack, second microphone hole, USB Type-C 2.0 port, and single speaker. There are two visible screws surrounding the USB port. On the front, above the display, the following items are located from left to right: LED notification light, front-facing camera, earpiece, light/proximity sensor. Below the display, there's a touch-sensitive home button that integrates an underglass fingerprint sensor. The latter is made by Fingerprint Cards (FPC1268) and is super-fast. The home button is designed to serve as a tool for navigation. A single tap on it equals "back", a longer touch leads you to the home screen, and a short swipe to the right activates the Task Manager. Huawei calls this feature "smart tap navigation". It is not new, but we do find it very convenient and well-thought out. In case you disagree, you can choose on-screen navigation, which can be customised as to suit your preferences better. All this can be done from the Navigation key menu. On the back, the dual-camera module is located in the top left corner right below the arched antenna band. The dual-tone LED flash is to its right, followed by the LEICA logo and lens model (Summarit-H 1:2.2/27 Asph). The Huawei logo is almost invisible in the centre of the back and at the bottom, there's the other antenna band with the CE inscription above it.