Huawei has managed to release a decent number of mid-range smartphones with similar features, design, and names. Today we will get acquainted with another such novelty – Huawei P Smart Pro. The smartphone has just gone on sale and is interesting with a pop-up front camera, a large display without cutouts and a triple main camera. Let’s see what else he can do. It is worth noting an important point right away: it was not the final sample that came to our review and some points in the final version may differ.
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Huawei P Smart Pro design and materials
Huawei P Smart Pro is a large and rather weighty smartphone with a large display. The main design feature is the use of a screen with thin bezels and no cutout for the front camera. The front camera in the smartphone is moving out. In addition to the screen on the front panel, there is only a thin mesh earpiece. There is no notification indicator.
The frame is metal, with a matte finish, which adds a little bonus to the reliability of the grip. At the top end there is a pop-up front camera, an additional microphone and a tray. Bottom – USB Type-C, conversational microphone and speaker. On the right side of the smartphone are the volume rocker and the power button, which is combined with a fingerprint scanner.
The back panel is made of glass, which one is not specified. But it feels very good in the hand. There is an oleophobic coating, although it does not protect much from fingerprints. But they wash off easily. We visited the “conservative” black version. It shimmers a little in dark blue shades, looks neat and stylish. There is an even brighter blue gradient option.
The camera is placed vertically in the upper left corner of the rear panel. Below it is a flash. The camera module protrudes a little above the body, but not enough to interfere or annoy.
Out of the whole set of delivery, only a protective bumper arrived to us. It is extremely simple: made of transparent silicone.
Display
The Huawei P Smart Pro has a 6.59-inch screen without any cutouts. An IPS-matrix with a resolution of FullHD + (2340×1080), an aspect ratio of 19.5: 9 and a pixel density of ~ 391 ppi is used. Visually, the screen makes a good impression, the brightness margin is sufficient, the viewing angles are maximum.
The set of settings is standard: scale, font size, color tone adjustment, eye protection mode (blue filter) and resolution selection: there is an intelligent mode with auto-switching, as well as FullHD + and HD + options:
In natural mode, the maximum brightness is 364.721 cd/m², and the static contrast ratio is 722:1. At the same time, the color rendition goes a little into cold shades. Color gamut close to sRGB:
In bright mode, the maximum brightness is really noticeably higher: 408.182 cd / m², static contrast ratio – 799:1, respectively. But the screen is very significantly “cold”. Although the settings have the ability to adjust the color temperature, so you can tweak:
Unlock Huawei P Smart Pro
The fingerprint scanner (aka the power button) on the side panel is conveniently located: the thumb just hits it. There are no complaints about speed and accuracy. There is no face unlock (at least in our test firmware). But it would not be very practical: the front camera needs time to leave the case. Albeit a small one.
Platform and Performance
The Huawei P Smart Pro has an eight-core mid-range processor of the Kirin 710F, which is not the first freshness. Still, I would like to see something more modern at the end of 2019. For example, the 810th Kirin. The Kirin 710F is a 12nm chip that includes four high-performance ARM Cortex-A73 cores clocked at up to 2.2GHz and four power-saving ARM Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 1.7GHz. The Mali-G51 MP4 accelerator is responsible for the graphics, there is support for GPU Turbo technology, which, according to the manufacturer, provides a performance increase of 60% and a 30% reduction in energy costs. Unfortunately, the test firmware does not allow installing benchmarks (only 3DMark, AIDA64 and AndroBench were installed on the smartphone), but we have already seen this processor in Huawei P Smart Z and Honor 9X , so there will be no surprises.
The smartphone practically does not heat up under prolonged loads. The hardware in the smartphone is not gaming, but in general you can play. PUBG runs at medium graphics settings quite playably, but at times FPS drops are felt. Call of Duty Mobile only runs on the lowest settings, but runs smoothly with no stutters.
In terms of wireless interfaces, the set is not the best, especially considering the cost of a smartphone. Legacy single-band Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.2. There is no NFC for contactless payment. Navigation module: GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS, BeiDou. The smartphone has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of built-in memory. The tray is hybrid, instead of the second SIM card, you can install a MicroSD up to 512 GB:
Interface and software
The Huawei P Smart Pro (our test unit) runs Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9.1 skinned. Google services are up and running. The shell is already familiar to us from past Huawei smartphones. The interface is completely redrawn, including design and animations. There are various options for organizing the workspace: with or without a separate application menu.
There are three options for navigation. Customizable button pad, gesture control or on-screen touch button:
The application manager is made in the form of a horizontal list with thumbnails. Apps can be closed, pinned, or switched to split screen mode.
There are a number of native standard applications, including notes, a player, a compass, a file manager, and data transfer utilities.
The shell is comfortable and well optimized. There are no problems with the speed of work, there are no bugs either.
Camera Huawei P Smart Pro
The Huawei P Smart Pro is equipped with an AI-enabled triple camera setup consisting of a 48MP main camera with f/1.8 aperture and phase detection autofocus, an 8MP f/2.4 ultra wide-angle camera without autofocus, and a 2MP depth sensor camera. 16 MP front camera with support for AI algorithms. The camera application is standard for all non-flagship Huawei smartphones: the main screen has flash settings, Ai image adjustment, switching shooting modes and a button for changing the camera. It is not located very conveniently: on the side or at the bottom of the screen in the middle, far from the shutter button and you have to reach for it. Pro-mode with manual settings and HDR are placed in a submenu with additional shooting modes.
The quality of the camera significantly depends on the firmware, so it’s too early to draw final conclusions. But the main camera in the smartphone takes very good pictures. And not only during the day: the night mode is quite efficient.
The wide-angle camera is not too happy: in the evening it is extremely difficult to take a clear picture on it. In the afternoon – every other time: sometimes the automation overestimates the exposure.
autonomy
The Huawei P Smart Pro has a 4000 mAh battery, which is not very much with such a screen. But a good optimization of the system allows the smartphone to withstand a day with very active loads. And the potential audience of a smartphone (this is clearly not gamers, geeks or lovers of mobile photography) can be expected for 2 days. Unfortunately, fast charging is not supported.
