Huawei P8 review

**Our Huawei P8 review uncovers a smartphone that takes ‘premium’ to a new level. **We find exciting new features along the way that may leave you asking “Apple who?” or “Samsung who?”

But what are the standout features of Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone attempt? We take a look to find out why you should give it some serious consideration!

Huawei P8 design

It’s all about the detail

The Huawei P8 has a slightly more refined look when placed next to other premium smartphones and a lot of this effect can be attributed to the 6.4mm thin body which is also completely flat.

Achieving this characteristic on a phone this thin is no easy task and you need only look at the Samsung Galaxy S6 with its protruding camera lens as testament to this.

Just like other premium phones an aluminium unibody has been used but to avoid apparent bending issues, most commonly affecting the iPhone 6, Huawei as opted to include a special steel back cover to reinforce the phone’s structure.

Nano technology has been used to perfect the design of the Huawei P8 and this includes adding a spill resistant coating and creating a seamless plastic signal transceiver using Nano Moulding Technology techniques.

The phone’s display is visually frameless and measures 5.2 inches with a resolution 1080 x 1920 pixels which equates to 424 pixels per inch. The design has also included space for a 16GB internal memory with a 128GB memory card slot and a 2680mAh battery that delivers a full day’s charge without issue.

Huawei P8 experience

Life just got a whole lot easier

An energy efficient 2GHz Kirin 930 octa-core processor powers the Huawei P8 experience. The 3GB RAM guarantees gaming and video streaming is seamless and the 64-bit architecture ensures that you get the most out of the new Android 5.0 Lollipop operating system as well.

Huawei’s EMUI 3.1 user interface provides a good selection of themes and when combined with resizeable widgets the look can be finely tuned to suit its user. When needed the Huawei P8 can ramp up the call volume by 58 percent and the same power boost can be used to thump out your favourite tunes, making it ideal for music lovers.

Connectivity to the internet over Wi-Fi has become far easier as the Huawei P8 automatically chooses and connects to the strongest Wi-Fi signal. Wi-Fi hotspots and their locations are remembered by the phone which automatically uses this information to turn on Wi-Fi and connect to the signal whenever you come within range.

If the phone gets misplaced in the home or office then a simple voice command can be called upon on, to which the P8 will talk aloud to reveal its location. Further practical features include the option to double tap on the display to capture a screenshot or a circle can be drawn to capture a snippet of information.

Huawei P8 camera

A new era of phone photography

The Huawei P8 camera has a 13MP resolution and a DSLR-level image signal processor of the same quality found on a professional single lens reflex camera. Under low light conditions the camera reduces colour noise by 78% in real time, whilst it also enhances brightness by 32% under high contrast conditions.

For those who want to get really creative you can even opt to turn on Director Mode, under which control of 3 other Android camera phones can be set up with the Huawei P8 in charge as the view is switched between them with real-time editing.

Light Painting Mode can be used to capture unique effects from anything that emits light. This could be from a rotating Ferris wheel or from car tail-lights, glimmering water, the stars in the sky or a torch can be used to create light graffiti in the air.

Further photography features include a Time Lapse mode, Light Check Preview and Beauty Mode that highlights your most attractive features and recognises your face whenever you move into the frame. Also, A dual-tone colour flash uses warm and white light to mimic natural illumination whilst the secondary 8MP camera can be used to capture the perfect selfie, giving it a great all-round camera set-up.

So, has our Huawei P8 review convinced you that the move away from Samsung or Apple is not only possible but desirable?