Huawei P10 Plus is the latest flagship smartphone of Huawei under the P-series. It was launched along with the Huawei P10 at Mobile World Congress 2017 comes in the phablet and high-end smartphone category.

We were trying our hands-on Huawei P10 Plus since last few weeks and in this article we are going to share a detailed hands-on review of Huawei P10 Plus with all readers of Geeky Stuffs.

This review is divided in various section to cover each aspect of the device separately and talk about the pros and cons of each part for better understanding.

Huawei P10 Plus : Hands-on Review


Retail Box and Unboxing


Huawei P10 Plus comes in a nice white clamshell retail box. The flaps of the box are magnetized to lock them perfectly when closed. Inside the retail box you will find the device, USB cable, charger, earphones, some booklets and user manual. There is a plastic bumper case with frosty finish similar to the Mate 9 case provided as well to protect minor damage and scratches to the device.

You can watch our Huawei P10 Plus unboxing video below.




Design


Huawei P10 Plus sports a premium unibody design and comes with the combination of glass and metal.. The design is quite different compared to Huawei P9 as Huawei opted to go with smoother and more curved edges this time.

On the front side, there is a 5.5-inch screen with 71.6% screen-to-body ratio that could be better for sure as we have seen around 78% screen-to-body ratio on Huawei Mate 9 . There is an 8MP front camera, fingerprint sensor and a set of sensors provided as well on the front side. The fingerprint scanner is protected by the Gorilla Glass 5 too just like the screen of the device.

At the bottom, there is the USB Type-C port and speaker grill along with the microphone and 3.5mm audio port. The SIM card slot is provided on the left. The SIM 2 slot can be used for microSD card as well. On the right, there are volume rockers and power keys. The power key comes with nice texture and red accent to make it apart from other keys.

Huawei P10 Plus : Detailed Hands-on Review and Features

At the top, there are a microphone and an IR blaster. On the back, there is the dual-camera setup at the top along with the flash, laser autofocus module and Leica branding. The entire camera module is protected by the Gorilla Glass 5 and there is not a minor bump on the back of the device due to camera. It really enhances the beauty of the device and provides a seamless design experience to user. The Huawei Logo is in the center of the back and the antenna lines are very well placed too. The top antenna lines is placed along with the camera module and is nearly hidden. The bottom antenna line is designed in a way that it improves the design of the device.

The design of the Huawei P10 Plus is really beautiful and shows the effort Huawei is making in providing better craftsmanship to consumer. The device looks premium from every angle. The bezel on the sides are pretty thin but screen-to-body ratio is not great and could be better. Overall the design of Huawei P10 Plus is great and there is nothing negative enough that you would like to point out.

Hardware Specs


Huawei P10 Plus is powered by Huawei’s HiSilicon Kirin 960 octa-core processor. It consists of a 2.4 GHz Cortex-A73 quad-core and a 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 quad-core processor. The GPU used in Huawei P10 Plus is Mali-G71 MP8. It is the combination of the most powerful Huawei SoC and the best Mali GPU currently available.



It is the same hardware that we have seen earlier on Huawei Mate 9 and so, there is nothing much changed in performance too. Depending on the variant, the amount of RAM will be 4/6 GB and internal storage 64 /128 GB.

The processor and GPU combination of Huawei P10 Plus is top notch when it comes to performance. It received the highest score ever in GeekBench 4 when it was introduced in Mate 9 earlier. We performed various benchmarking tests on our both variants of Huawei P10 Plus and the performance of the device was truly flagship in each of them. You can watch our Huawei P10 Plus benchmarking and various speed tests videos below.












The SIM 2 slot can be used as the microSD card slot too. So if you run out of storage then, you can use a memory card to expand the memory on the cost of the second SIM. Though it is a trend of having hybrid dual-SIM slots, I would personally love if Huawei start providing the dedicate memory card slot along with the dual-SIM slots. It will surely make a difference to consumers and will attract more of them but with 64/128 GB internal storage on P10 Plus, you will not feel the need of a memory card most probably.

The fingerprint sensor is a multi-purpose tool like previous Huawei smartphones. It is one of the fastest and most accurate fingerprint scanner among smartphones. It can be used to unlock the device, unlock the apps and also as the navigation keys. So user can hide the on-screen navigation keys and use the fingerprint sensor for that. It takes a bit of practice to get used to the swipe gestures on the fingerprint sensor but works like a charm once you are good on it. The placement of the fingerprint sensor is right below the screen and affects screen-to-body ratio negatively. Performance of all other sensors are really good.

The hardware used in Huawei P10 Plus is of top quality and performs brilliantly in everything. The only thing Huawei P10 Plus lacks is the proper water resistance as it comes with IPX certification and is just splash resistant.

We tried a running water test on Huawei P10 Plus and our device performed very well in it. I still do not think that P10 Plus can be used for underwater photography and survive after immersing it in water.



Software and OS


Huawei P10 Plus runs on the Android 7.0 Nougat OS and Huawei’s EMUI 5.1 is used on top of it. This brings best of both world to the device. EMUI is a very feature rich, productive and user friendly UI.

The speed of EMUI 5.1 is very nice and you will rarely feel any lag on it. You can select the UI with or without App Drawer depending on your choice. There is option to quickly search anything right from any screen with one swipe. There is Floating Window provided that provides the same option as the navigation keys and also features one-touch optimization button. Easy Mode on Huawei P10 Plus let user remove most of the feature and make it easier for elders to use the phone.

The quick toggle screen comes with lots of options as well. There are many different methods provided to capture screenshots. EMUI’s popular Knuckle Gestures are there to perform some specific tasks quickly. Settings part is reorganized well and few common settings are moved to a new section called Advanced Settings that can cause a bit confusion to users in the beginning.



There is a screen recorder provided that works okay but includes the duration counter that looks bad in the recorded video. Also the FPS is very low and if you try to record a video or fast action game using the native screen recorder app then, you will find lots of framed drops and lags in the recorded video.

There are two method of dual screen or split screen provided, one is the regular Android way and another one is EMUI’s Knuckle Gesture based and a bit difficult than the original Android method. Also, a screen recorder provided that works well but includes the duration counter that looks bad in the recorded video. User can apply themes from the Huawei Theme Store to give new look to their device and customize them a lot as well. Huawei's Health app provide detailed information about your physical activity and also shows the steps count on the lock screen.



Just like any other thing, EMUI 5.1 is not 100% perfect and comes with few minor bugs that you will hopefully never encounter until you are a tech geek who loves to play around with the device. But the features and ease of access it brings to user, make it one of the best and most productive UI for sure.

Screen and Display


Huawei P10 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch screen. As mentioned above, the screen-to-body ratio is a bit low with 71.5% and could be a bit better for sure. It sports a beautiful WQHD IPS NEO LCD screen with 2.5D curved glass, 16.7M colors reproduction.

With 1440 x 2560 pixels resolution, you will get 540 PPI. So you will not notice any pixels on the screen and will enjoy the super sharp and crisp display. It comes with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection and will protect the screen from minor impacts and damage. Surprisingly, there is also a pre-fitted oleophobic screen protector provided on the device and it is better not to remove it as few of the P10 Plus unit do not come with oleophobic coating on the screen as noticed earlier.

For people not comfortable with big screens, there is one-hand UI provided too. As mentioned earlier, there is Split Screen option as well for better productivity. Screen brightness is really nice and good enough to use the device outdoors in bright sunlight without any issue. The viewing angles are nice as well. Response to touches are quick and accurate all the time.

There is night mode provided that let user reduce the blue light being emitted from the screen and so provide an easy viewing experience in low light condition. User is also having the option to customize the color pattern according to their need.

There is slight but very noticeable blue tint on the screen, not as much as we have seen on few HTC U11 units but still you can’t miss it. Also, the color reproduction is not so great and you can blame the blue tint for that partially. As mentioned above, you can change the color pattern and warmth to fix this issue a bit.

Gaming and Entertainment


When it comes to gaming, Huawei P10 Plus performs brilliantly and the credit goes to the powerful processor and the best Mali GPU currently available. The 3D graphics rendering is smooth and graphics come with lots of details. You will not feel any lag or frame drops while playing the most high-end games on it.

Even though Huawei P10 Plus comes with a full metal body, it does not get much hot if you play high-end games for longer duration. The big WQ HD screen and stereo speakers contribute too in enhancing the gaming experience of user.



Along with the Google’s Play Music, there is also a music app by Huawei provided and it comes with some nice features. The audio output from the speakers is loud and clear. The sound quality from provided earphones is great and yeah, it comes with a 3.5mm audio jack too. While holding the device horizontally, the earpiece converts into a speaker to provide better audio experience in stereo mode.

The big screen is good to watch the videos and play games. The included Video app does not do much than compiling all videos in the device at one place and letting you trim videos. But it supports nearly every video codec and format available and you will enjoy watching videos on it for sure.



Productivity


As already mentioned, EMUI is full of productive features. The Email app is good and easy to use. The included file manager called Files is useful and comes with extra features like Safe where user can hide their files.

There is a Phone Manager app provided as well that let user lock their apps for privacy, boost the device performance by clearing RAM and let user get rid of junk files. The gallery app is feature rich and comes with one of the most powerful image editor in it. As mentioned already, the fingerprint sensor performs multiple tasks instead of just unlocking the device.





There are also many more nice and productive features provided in Huawei P10 Plus like One Hand UI, screen recorders, and you will surely find it useful as your primary smartphone and daily driver.

Battery


Huawei Mate 9 comes with 3,750 mAh Li-Po non-removable battery. The battery is big enough but so is the screen size, resolution and processor’s requirements but still battery of Huawei P10 Plus performs really good. With moderate usage, battery survives one day easily and can be managed by tweaking the options to make it last longer as well.

There are few power saving modes provided as well that reduces the device performance and restricts many hardware functionality to increase the battery life.



The SuperCharger provided in the box is capable of charging the device from 0% to 50% in just 30 minutes but the quick charging technology on Huawei P10 Plus only works with the provided USB cable and charger. If you try to use a different cable, you will get lower charging speed at 2A or even 1A sometimes.

Camera and Imaging


Huawei P10 Plus comes with a dual rear camera setup. One of them is a 20 MP monochrome lens for dedicated black and white photography and another one comes with RGB sensor and 12 MP resolution for color photography. Other specification of rear camera are f/1.8 aperture, Optical Image Stabilization, 2x lossless hybrid zoom, Leica SUMMILUX lens, phase detection and laser autofocus. There is dual tone dual-LED flash provided too. There is 4-in-1 Hybrid Auto-Focus feature in Huawei P10 Plus that is the combination of laser, phase detection, depth and contrast focus.

The UI is easy to use. Swiping right brings all photography modes and swiping left brings the settings and option. But you need to practice it a bit as simply swiping on the screen does not work well and you need to kind of pull them on the screen. On the viewfinder, user can switch between rear and front camera, image and video mode. Unnecessarily and funnily, there is Video option provided in shooting mode pane as well.

Huawei P10 Plus : Detailed Hands-on Review and Features

At the top, there are options provided to change aperture, turn on/off flash and Portrait mode, change color saturation, apply filter and switch between rear and front cameras. The option to switch between rear and front camera is placed better on the screen compared to Mate 9.

The most highlighted feature of Huawei P10 Plus camera is the Portrait mode that is basically the combination of wide aperture mode and Beauty mode. You can turn off the Beauty mode and customize the beautification level but there is no option to make any changes to the depth of field. It works nicely on both color and monochrome mode. The output images are usually great in quality but it takes slight time to focus on the subject and create the effect. Also, sometimes the edges of subject are not perfectly in focus and get blurry.

Also Check : Huawei Mate 9 : Detailed Hands-on Review, Features and Specs

What I love the most about Huawei smartphone camera is that it comes with are lots of nice photography mode like HDR, Audio Note, Good Food, Document Scan etc. Panorama mode works only horizontally, not vertically but performs nicely with lots of details and great quality stitching. Time Lapse in Huawei P10 Plus is still limited to 720p resolution like Mate 9 but produces great quality video. One major drawback of Time Lapse mode in Huawei P10 Plus is that it does not offer the option to adjust the playback speed of the video. By default, it is set to 15X and you can’t make any changes to it.

Slow Motion video recording
works good and editing of the videos recorded in these modes is easy. User can record slow motion videos in either 720p@120 fps, a downgrade from @240 fps of Mate 9 camera slow motion video recording, or 1080p@120 fps and the output quality is really nice. But the Slow Motion mode records audio as well. So when you watch the slowed down the video, audio slows down as well and it sounds really dramatic and funny.

Light Painting mode is very easy to use and produces great result without any pro-level photography skills. It includes four different modes ( Tail Light Trails, Light Graffiti, Silky Water and Star Track) in itself to provide the accurate result. Below are few of the picture samples captured on my Huawei P10 Plus. Pro mode is accessible from the viewfinder itself for both color and monochrome photo mode and video mode as well. It let user do lots of manipulation with settings manually and provide great output for photography enthusiast. There is dedicated Night Shot mode is available as well where user can select the shutter speed and ISO as high as 30 seconds and 3200, respectively.

Talking about the performance of the camera, Huawei P10 Plus does a brilliant job. The monochrome mode captures great amount of details. Colored images are captured natively in 12 MP but can also be captured in 20 MP in which monochrome and RGB sensor outputs are overlapped on each other. Wide aperture and Portrait mode work very nicely and provide good shallow depth of and bokeh effect. The hybrid zoom provides lossless zoom up to 2X is really nice with very good amount of details and goes digitally as high as 10X, obviously reducing the picture quality at higher zoom level.

In the Auto mode, the popular Leica Effect is clearly visible. It is the matter of choice whether you like it or not. Many people who are just casual photographers usually like more color saturation and that is why Huawei is smart enough to provide the color saturation level where Standard provides the Leica effect and then there is Vivid for more saturation and Smooth option as well.

Even though HDR mode works well, seems it is on Auto mode by default. Also, it is categorized as a shooting mode itself and you need to go to shooting mode pane and then select it. It would be great if Huawei would provide auto-HDR and Monochrome modes on the viewfinder itself as the Monochrome mode particularly is one of the most highlighted feature of Huawei P10 Plus.



Huawei P10 Plus records videos from 4K to as low as 144p MMS resolution. The video quality is great and it captures lots of details with pleasant colors. Even though rest of the video resolution records videos in MPEG format, Huawei P10 Plus camera records 4K videos in H.265 codec and good thing here is that this codec compresses the file size. It records video with 192Kbps audio for better experience. Pro mode, color saturation, filters, Beauty mode and aperture settings are available for video recording as well and work perfectly. But the Beauty mode and wide aperture mode reduces the video resolution to 720p only. Another drawback here is that the object tracking and digital stabilization is not available for 1080p@60fps and 4K video recording.

Huawei P10 Plus comes with an 8MP front camera with f/1.9 aperture that works perfectly. In bright light, front cam produces very good quality images. There is Beauty mode provided that make you look better but if you choose the higher settings, it gives the person a bit unnatural look at least to the people who see you frequently in real life.

Huawei P10 Plus : Detailed Hands-on Review and Features

In the front camera Portrait mode, the bokeh effect is nice but sometimes it blurs the subject too. In my case, usually the edges of my body like the top of my head and shoulders used to get blurred most of the time. It gives an idea that the depth of field is mostly software based. Also there is no option to adjust the depth of field in Portrait mode, you can only adjust the beauty level.

The 1080p video recording works great as well with lots of details. Like the primary camera, the front camera video quality can be selected as low as 144 pixels too. There is Beauty mode provided for video recording as well but unfortunately, it produces video in 720p HD resolution only by default.

Conclusion


Huawei P10 Plus is one of the best and most powerful smartphone currently available in the market. It comes with an eye-catching design, beautiful screen, great camera with additional features like dedicated monochrome sensor, top quality fingerprint sensor, feature-rich and productive EMUI along with a moderate battery life.

Among this year’s flagship smartphones, Huawei P10 Plus is definitely at a very good and strong position and can give tough competition to every smartphone in all aspects. Specially for photography enthusiast, this is the one of best phone for sure.

Overall, Huawei P10 Plus is a great phone and score brilliantly in every aspect. If you are planning to buy a smartphone with great design, nice performance, camera and features, Huawei P10 Plus will serve you well.
 
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