Bucket Tech: Huawei Y5p

With the "new norm" now being in full effect with everyone adjusting to working from home, and doing things differently, technology has played a big part in making this transition less problematic than normal. This unfortunately comes at a price, a high one most of the time but in the effort to get everyone being able to access such, Huawei has continued to its commitment of making technology more accessible to everyone with the launch of their Y5p, the most affordable phone yet. The new entry level device stems from the Y Series range has been designed to offer a large display, long-lasting battery and a good amount of storage for users. It has Huawei's EMUI's intuitive user experience, Huawei's high-quality product DNA, and their affordable pricing, the Huawei Y Series smartphones have been widely favoured by consumers around the world, including South Africa. 

Some of the key featured of the Y5p is the large 5.45  inch LCD FullView Display gives exceptional viewing experience, displays content in vibrant colours and has a screen-to-body ration of 81.2 percent. Memory wise, the Huawei Y5p comes with a standard 2GB RAM and 32GB of storage ensuring you have enough space for all your favourite apps, games and to store all the pictures and videos you will be capturing with it, speaking camera the device has an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front facing selfie camera. The rear main camera supports HDR mode which will automatically adjust brightness when required. The battery life of the phone is quite decent as well with it featuring a 3020mAh battery which gives you an average of 17 hours of continuous video playback, or up to 21 hours of 4G calling. 

Overall, the Huawei Y5p is one of the best entry level devices on the market, powered by MediaTek's octa-core processort that includes eight Cortex-A53 cores which poweres Huawei's AI tech on the device, this all comes together to give the user a smooth and fast performing smartphone at a fraction of the price. You can purchase the Huawei Y5p for the RRP of just R1,899 from the Huawei online store of any of their partners. 

Bucket Tech: Huawei P20

So about 4 weeks ago, I dropped my phone and the screen cracked...yup, it happened to me but thankfully it still fell under the warranty period with Huawei HiCare so after filling up a quick online form, the couriers were here in no time to pick up my phone for its free screen replacement. Now, I live my life with my phone and it goes everywhere I go, what to do? Coincidentally I was due a review phone, from Huawei as well! It was a device from the P20 series, but wasn't sure which one it would be, I was hoping for the Pro but when it arrived, I saw it was the standard P20. A bit bummed, I figured it was better than nothing and I had a phone to use while mine is in for repairs so I used that as my primary phone for the past 3 weeks and as you'll find out, I was won over by the P20 in every way possible. 

DESIGN

Huawei in general make great looking devices, we've become used to their great build quality, unibody design and great feel in hand, with the P20 much is the same. Slightly bigger than the P10, finished off in a more square full metal unibody, the P20 really is a delight to hold and feel. The back had a nice chrome, mirror type paint finish in a metallic blue, with the dual lens Leica camera protruding ever so slightly, flip it over and a nice large 5.8" LCD greeted you. Now the P20 does come with full view display, meaning they make use of as much as the phones surface as possible, hence at top you will notice notch, quite like the iPhoneX.  But if this bothers you, on the device settings, you have options to black out that top section so your screen is a perfect rectangle but for me it was pretty cool. Huawei have retained the button at the bottom of the phone from the P10, which doubles as a finger print reader. The sides of the device has a sliver chrome finish and on the right side, you'll find the volume and power buttons as per the norm with their device. Below is where things are changed slightly, with the doing away of the ear phone jack and only the power USB port present. 

DURABILITY 

Now the device is IP65, dust and splash proof rated but it looks so good, I wouldn't want to put that to the test but in saying that I did pull the phone out in occasions I generally wouldn't. Like in heavy rain, while riding in a golf cart. In saying that, Huawei again offers their HiCare for this device and for them to be so confident in this regard, it shows their put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the build quality and their ratings on their devices. 

PROCESSING

The Huawei P20 comes with Android 8.1, otherwise known as Oreo and is run on a Hisilicon Kirin 970 chipset which has an Octa-core CPU, which basically translates to 8 mini CPU's, of which 4 run at 2.4GHz and the other 4 at 1.8GHz, this has an overall improved processing speed, and with an on-board capacity of 128GB plus the 4GB of RAM, there really was no issues at all with speed and performance. In fact, I even used to leave multiple applications open while using it, so things like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Twitter, all of which are heavy data and battery intensive applications, along with Google Play and other background apps running and not one issue. I think the massive hard disk space plays a big part with this, and with everything being cloud base, I don't really think many will fill all 128GB so it's nice to know that it's there. 

CAMERA

Big talking point on the P20 Pro is the triple Leica Lens, on the P20, it still uses Dual Lens Leica technology but to a greater degree than the outgoing P10. The camera makes use of the AI capabilities and its able to learn in a split second what you're taking a picture off. Whether its food, a sunrise, sunset, text, beach, you name it, it has 100's of built in settings to take the perfect picture almost every time. The shutter speed has improved with the dual 12 MP camera, so that means taking quick moving pictures that won't be blurred. Video's on the camera records at 2160p@30fps and are crystal clear. The issue with the Huawei mic seems to have been sorted out as well, so when you're at a concert, you won't get heavy feedback in your videos. On front, you have a 24MP secondary camera, this makes selfies all that much more better, with is also using AI tech, to automatically detect the scene and adjust the exposure to suit. The front facing camera also doubles as a face reader to unlock the phone when you look at it, so no need for the security codes or finger print, simply look at your phone and it unlocks. 

VERDICT

As much as I was disappointed not to have received the P20 Pro, I was not disappointed at the performance of the P20. This phone is probably under rated because of the shadow cast upon it by the Pro much like the iPhone 8 is with the iPhone X but the point of the matter is, it's a really great device! And personally, I think you're scoring with this one as it is much more cheaper, as you'll be paying between R500 and R600 month on contract for the P20 versus R700+ for the P20 Pro. While the Pro might have its key features, for an everyday smart phone that does everything well with no hassle, there really is no reason to doubt the P20. 

Some pictures, taken with the Huawei P20, unedited and auto adjusted by the AI for the perfect picture. 

Bucket Tech: Huawei P Smart - First Impressions

Huawei SA this week launched it's new P Smart device, a smart phone device with all the characteristics of a high level smart phone but at half the price. Yes, you read that correctly the first time, no need to read it again. So how have they done it? Well like with most of their devices, a lot of the tech they use gets moved into lower level devices, but there is compromise in certain areas which helps lower the price for the end user. No that it's a bad thing, it's just that you wont have enough RAM or as fast of a processor as the high level smartphones. 

Looking at the P Smart, Huawei have really went all out on this one, its the first phone in its category to feature a FullView Display, and its a 2.5D curved screen design which feels more compact in your hand. It also has dual lens technology camera, with a host of personalized photography functions. Combining 13MP+2MP rear dual cameras and 16-level dual shot blurring, Hauwei say the P Smart will make your photos impressive and stereoscopic. Further, with high-precision camera sensors, high-density phase detection pixels, the 13Mp HD camera focuses on real time, accuracy and speed, thus accurately capturing exciting moments. 

The P smart comes with the new EMUI 8.0 operating system, which is based on Android 8.0, which takes usability to new levels for fast and intuitive feature use. Chipset wise, the P Smart features Kirin 659 processor made with a process for med-range and high-end chips characterized by better engery performance, this also helps with battery life. The P Smart comes with a 3,000-mAh battery, combined with the Intelligent Power saving technology 6.0, which supports background real-time detection of power-hungry apps, comprehensive power consumption test and one-key optimization to save power significantly and help extend the battery life. 

Another nice feature is the unique on-touch split screen mode which the P smart has, which means you can use and run two applications simultaneously on your screen, offering you even more possibilities of mobile operations. The P smart also is equipped with Fingerprint 4.0 solution, fingerprint recognition within 0.3 seconds to bring an enhanced user experience, apart from just unlocking your phone, Huawei has also combined fingerprint recognition with other functions to develop ground-breaking apps such as fingerprint navigation, fingerprint shot and alarm clock deactivation with fingerprint. 

"Our new P smart brings you flagship features at an affordable price. It's the first time the industry will see both dual camera and FullView display at this price range and we are excited to introduce this to the South African market" - Likun Zhao GM, Huawei Consumer Business.  The Huawei P smart is available for purchase at all operators in South Africa from 13th February 2018 and the recommended retail price is R3999.