The biggest mobile extravaganza has just begun and some of the most popular names are already creating quite the buzz. Adding to the same is China’s best-selling smartphone brand Huawei, who has taken center stage to unveil their new flagship devices – the P10 and P10 Plus. It is the successor to the previous P9 smartphone series, which helped the company score massive appreciation and interest from across the globe.
Now, Huawei is back with a much better and upgraded version of this magical smartphone. Courtesy of the rumor mills, we’ve already seen this device in all of its glory – and know that it most likely looks and feels quite the same. There are minimal changes in the design aesthetics as opposed to the major internal specs sheet update. So, let’s dive in and take a closer look at the new P10 series itself.
The Huawei P10 houses a 5.1-inch QuadHD display with minimal bezels, while the P10 Plus variant includes a 5.5-inch display. This strategy is similar to company’s approach last year, where it had launched two different-sized devices. Also, Samsung surely seems to have played its part in making curved smartphone displays popular with the launch of Galaxy Edge series.
Adopting a unibody metal construction with crisp chamfered edges, Huawei’s P10 lineup now moves the fingerprint sensor from the center on the rear to the front of the device. It is now embedded into the home button, which is also a new addition this time around. But, the home button isn’t physical but a virtual one. The fingerprint is packed under the glass of the home button, which also brings along a handful of gestures.
The company has also used a new hyper diamond-cut technology to build the shiny rear panel of the device. There are million diamond cuttings on the rear panel of the device to give it the necessary grip. About this, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, said that your phone would have — “No fingerprint. No scratch. No slip.”
As for internal specifications, the P10 is powered by Huawei’s in-house octa-core Kirin 960 processor clocked at 2.3GHz. While we expected Huawei to release more than one variant, strangely, it has limited it to 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. This is further expandable up to 256 GB using a microSD card. It is juiced up by a massive 3,200 mAh battery, charged via the USB Type-C port.
The Huawei P10 Plus, on the other hand, is powered by the same processor but comes in two variants. The company provides you with the option to choose from a 64 GB/4 GB RAM variant and a 128 GB/6 GB RAM variant. It is juiced up by an even more massive 3,700 mAh battery. The company is also using machine learning to make better use of their processing power and memory storage — called Ultra Memory.
In the camera department, Huawei P10 is sticking with the tried and tested dual-camera setup developed hand-in-hand with veteran optics maker, Leica. Called Leica 2.0 Pro Edition, the smartphone includes a set of 20MP monochrome and 12MP RGB sensors on the rear to enable the user to capture photos with improved colors, clarity, and light sensitivity. It even works great in low-light, where you can really see the wide dynamic color range of the f/1.8 lens.
The camera also includes support for OIS, manual mode, macro/chrome photography, bokeh and 2x optical laser focus (faster hybrid focus) and flash. There are no 3D image capturing capabilities included in this device but you can refocus your images afterward. The front, on the other hand, includes an 8MP Leica camera lens with a large f/1.9 aperture to satisfy your selfie needs. It includes a new feature called Adaptive selfie, which allows you to accommodate more people in your photos.
The Huawei P10 lineup runs on the latest version of Android 7.0 Nougat, with their Emotion UI 5.1 on top. It includes IP68 support, which means it is water and dust resistant. There is also a nano-coating on the phone, which will protect it from scuffs and scratches during falls. It also includes fast charging support, boasting that 13 minutes of charge will provide a day’s usage.
On the connectivity front, Huawei P10 lineup is the first to support 4.5 LTE through its new dual antenna system, which provides 2x download speeds. It also supports dual SIMs, with global coverage in over 217 countries and across 1334 carriers. Other connectivity options such as Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi 802.11 02.11 a/b/g/n/ac.
The said device lineup will be made available in four different color variants, namely graphite black, rose gold, ceramic white as well as mystique silver. Further, Huawei has also partnered with Pantone Color Institute to build more colorful and eye-catching devices. The company has made available two new shades for the P10 lineup and they are Greenery (symbolic of new beginnings) and Dazzling Blue (symbolic of reliability). You also have customized color covers for your P10 as well.
As for the pricing and availability, the Huawei P10 lineup will become available to the masses next month. The smaller P10 will cost you 649 euros (approx Rs. 45,700) and the larger P10 Plus will cost 699 euros (approx Rs. 49,200) for the 4GB/64GB variant and 799 euros (approx Rs. 56,200) for the 6GB/128GB variant.
