Today is turning out to be very exciting. Fresh on the heels of the LG G6 launch is Huawei’s announcement of the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus, two greatly anticipated devices from the largest manufacturer in China.
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus are the flagships for 2017 from the Chinese manufacturer and they will be taking over from the P9 and P9 Plus from last year.
Looking at the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus and it is obvious Huawei has borrowed the best features from top manufacturers. From the underglass fingerprint scanner similar to that of the Xiaomi Mi 5s to the attractive colors that pay homage to the Google Pixel, and the superfast charging technology that has a nearly identical tag to OnePlus 3′ “a day’s power in half an hour” Dash Charge technology.
That isn’t to say the Huawei P10 and P10 Plus bring nothing new to the table. They have partnered with Leica again on the cameras and have even extended it to the camera in front. They have also thrown in water-resistance which would have been a major deal breaker if it were missing.
Huawei P10
The Huawei P10 packs a 5.1-inch 1080p display (sadly no Daydream support) with Gorilla Glass 5, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of built-in storage. There is an octa-core Kirin 960 processor and a Mali G71 MP8 GPU. It has dual SIM support with one slot doubling as a microSD card slot that takes up to 256GB cards.
Huawei continues its partnership with Germany’s Leica and they are calling it Leica Dual Camera 2.0. The rear cameras are a combination of a 12MP sensor that shoots in color and a 20MP monochrome sensor. Both have f/2.2 apertures and there is laser focus, optical image stabilization, PDAF and dual LED flash. The Leica treatment has been extended to the 8MP f/2.2 front camera too.
The Huawei P10 is equipped with a 3200mAh battery with Huawei’s SuperCharge which provides a day’s usage just by charging for 30 minutes.
Huawei has ditched the rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for a front facing one embedded under the front glass just like in Xiaomi’s Mi 5s. Swiping on it will bring up recent apps, holding it down will take you home, and tapping it will take you back.
Huawei P10 Plus
The bigger sibling is the Huawei P10 Plus and it shows it in a lot of ways. First the screen is bigger at 5.5-inches and the resolution has been bumped up to Quad HD (2560 x 1440). The P10 Plus also gets 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, though there is a 4GB/64GB variant as well. The camera sensors and the processor are the same but its Leica cameras are called Lecia Dual Camera 2.0 Pro. I guess the Pro comes into play in the f/1.9 aperture and autofocus feature of the front camera.
The phone sports a larger 3750mAh battery and this means it also weighs more at 165g compared to the 145g weight of the P10. Huawei says the “P10 Plus is the world’s first 4.5G LTE smartphone with the potential to reach up to 600Mbps on CAT12”. The P10 Plus is also water resistant.
Extra Features
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus will come with EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.1 Nougat. The new UI has a special feature that lets the theme on the phone blend with the color of your phone. EMUI 5.1 will be available to some other phones such as the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro/Porsche Design and Huawei Nova to name a few.
Both devices feature NFC, USB Type-C and have global connectivity support.
The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus are available in eight different colors. You can choose any color from Dazzling Blue, Graphite Black, Dazzling Gold, Rose Gold, Greenery, White Ceramic, Mystic Silver, or Prestige Gold.
Huawei P10 and P10 Plus Price
The Huawei P10 will sell for 699 Euros (~$738) while the P10 Plus will be priced at 799 Euros (~$844).
