Huawei P10 Plus review

 

PROS

• Much improved software
• Great, versatile camera
• Thin, well built body
• Very fast

CONS

• No oleophobic coating makes the screen a smudge magnet
• Poor standby times

KEY FEATURES

• 5.5-inch quad-HD display
• 165g
• Emotion UI 5.1
• Android 7.0
• HiSilicon Kirin 960
• 4/6GB RAM
• 64/128GB storage
• Dual 20MP + 12MP f/1.8 cameras
• 8MP f/1.9 front-facing camera
• 3,750mAh battery
• Manufacturer: Huawei
• Review Price: £649.99/7500MAD

WHAT IS THE HUAWEI P10 PLUS?

The P10 Plus is Huawei’s best phone yet. It takes the decent P10 and improves it in a variety of ways.

Its Leica camera is excellent in both light and dark scenarios, battery life is impressive and it comes with a generous amount of storage. It’s the first Huawei handset that can easily compete with big-name flagships such as the LG G6, iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7.

HUAWEI P10 PLUS – DESIGN

It's clear that the design influence here is the iPhone 7. It isn't unusual to see Android phones that resemble Apple’s flagship, but the P10 Plus takes it up a notch.

From the matte-black colour scheme, to the curved sides and flat back, the P10 Plus is almost a dead-ringer for the iPhone 7.  The P10 Plus feels great to hold; it’s thin, light and even with its 5.5-inch display I can comfortably grip the device in one hand. Initially, some may find that completely flat rear a little slippery, but you’ll quickly get used to it.

A notable change from the P9 is the placement of the fingerprint sensor. Previously, it sat just below the camera sensors on the rear of the phone; in the P10 Plus it moves to the front.

The P10 Plus isn't waterproof. If Huawei really wants to battle the likes of the LG G6, iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 – all of which are at least IP67 protected – it needs to match this most useful of features.

HUAWEI P10 PLUS – DISPLAY

In terms of resolution and quality, it excels. The 5.5-inch LCD IPS-NEO panel with a quad-HD (2560 x 1440) resolution looks superb. It doesn’t quite offer the inky blacks and saturated colours of an AMOLED panel – featured in the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, for example – but it isn't far off. The use of an IPS panel also means the P10 Plus lacks support for Daydream VR.

Out of the box, the colours on Huawei’s display are a tad on the cool side  but you can tweak them in settings to warm them up. Whites can sometimes look a little pinkish or yellow when scrolling, but this is a minor issue.

HUAWEI P10 PLUS – PERFORMANCE

The Kirin 960 processor is a real winner, and easily the quickest and most efficient of any previous HiSilicon chipset. It tops the Snapdragon 821 in general use and is likely more comparable with the upcoming Snapdragon 835, which will sit inside the Samsung Galaxy S8.

The P10 Plus offers 6GB of RAM – that’s 2GB more than the regular P10 and the LG G6 and Samsung Galaxy S7, but the same as the OnePlus 3T – and while more RAM is nice to have, it isn't a necessity.

The 128GB storage as standard is appreciated, however; it makes the 32GB in the LG G6 positively tight. In addition, there's a microSD slot supporting cards up to 256GB, if you wish to increase that amount further.

HUAWEI P10 PLUS – CAMERA

It has a dual-camera layout, with a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor and a 12-megapixel RGB version with optical image stabilisation. Having a higher megapixel monochrome sensor allows the capture of far more detail and greater light, without sacrificing speed and efficiency of the colour sensor.

The big difference between the P10 and P10 Plus is the lens that sits on the sensor. While both are co-engineered with Leica, the P10 Plus has a wider f/1.7 aperture that lets in far greater light than the narrow f/2.2 lens on the regular P10. More light means brighter shots; you should always look for a wider aperture if you take lots of night-time shots.

Low-light shots look great, with deep black sky and bright lights accurately picked out

The front-facing 8-megapixel f/1.9 camera is impressive too. Huawei has reduced its reliance on garish beauty modes and it will now automatically switch to a ‘wide selfie’ if it detects multiple faces in the shot. You’ll still get some odd results if you turn on the Portrait mode, but as with the main camera, the best results are achieved with the extra options turned off.

Video tops out at 4K at 30fps and looks good; smooth and detailed.

HUAWEI P10 PLUS – BATTERY LIFE

The P10 Plus is powered by a 3750mAh, non-removable battery – which is pretty sizeable, even for a 5.5-inch phone. The Google Pixel XL, by comparison, has 3450mAh battery and the larger 5.7-inch LG G6 has a much smaller 3300mAh cell.

In terms of real-world performance, so far this phone has lasted a full day every day for the past few weeks, even with heavy use. Screen-on time seems to hit 4.5-5 hours consistently, and an hour of Netflix streaming consumes about 7% on Wi-Fi and 9% on 4G.

Thankfully, recharging the Huawei P10 Plus via the USB Type-C port is quick. Using the charger included in the box, ‘Super Charging’ mode will kick in and fully power up the phone in about an hour. Use any other quick charger and ‘Fast Charging’ mode will take an extra 30 minutes to get you to 100%. Finally, if you plug the P10 Plus into a computer or older charger then it will charge more slowly at around three hours.

OVERALL SCORE

SCORES IN DETAIL

• Battery Life8
• Calls & Sound7
• Camera9
• Design9
• Performance10
• Screen Quality8
• Software8
• Value7