Published in Mobiles

Huawei unveils P8 series flagships

by on16 April 2015


Ultraslim, all-metal design

Huawei’s new Ascend P8 is official, with a 6.4mm thin metal body and chamfered edges. 

In terms of design, the P8 looks like a cross between the Ascend P7, iPhone 5S and iPhone 6. However, it still manages to look quite original, and the thin profile makes it rather attractive.

Thanks to its 5.2-inch 1080p display with narrow bezels, the phone measures 144.9 mm x 71.8 mm x 6.4 mm, which is not bad for a device with so much screen real estate. Huawei also got a bit of flak for photoshopping press renders to make the bezels look smaller. Still, the company claims a screen to body ratio of 78.3%, trumping rivals like the Galaxy S6.

What’s under the bonnet?

The phone uses in-house silicon in the form of the Kirin 930, which is a Cortex-A53 octa-core clocked up to 2GHz. It also has 3GB of RAM and the phone will be available with 16GB or 64GB of internal storage. A microSD slot is also on board.

huawei p8 colours

 

Huawei also talked up the new camera. It’s a 13-megapixel unit, but the company says it’s the first smartphone camera with a four-channel sensor (RGBW). In addition to RGB, an additional sensor for each pixel deals with light. This allows the camera to remain compact and flush with thin body, while at the same time offering 32% more light in high contrast shots (ie more dynamic contrast), and better performance in low light.

The new sensor is backed by optical image stabilisation (OIS) and a dedicated processor that should help boost performance even more. The front camera is an 8-megapixel affair.

Accessories, pricing and more

Of course, this is a 4G LTE phone and like most Chinese phones it comes with dual SIM support. The phone has a 2680mAh battery.

The phone ships with Android 5.0 with EMUI 3.1 on top. Huawei also included a few new gestures and a new “knuckle mode” that detects when you tap the screen with your knuckle, allowing you to take screenshots with a single tap.

Our only concern is the pricing. The 16GB version is coming in May and it’s priced at €499, while the premium version with 64GB of storage will go for €599. That’s quite steep for an octa-core A53.

huawei p8 max

A phablet version is also on the way. The P8 Max boasts a huge 6.8-inch display and 4360mAh battery. However, there’s still no word on pricing or availability.

Last modified on 16 April 2015
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