back to article Huawei P10 Plus: The bigger brother is the real contender

The P10 Plus is the big brother of Huawei’s 2017 flagship the P10. And as you’d expect, it's beefier, heavier and packing a bigger battery, a better camera and display, better antennas for faster LTE, and infrared. The review unit sported 128GB of flash storage, expandable, and 6GB of RAM. Missing from the Chinese rival to …

  1. Captain Hogwash

    Re: Korean rival to Samsung and LG

    Chinese surely?

    1. Metrognome
      Joke

      Re: Korean rival to Samsung and LG

      Don't call me Shirley

  2. K

    Forget it...

    Not sure what Huawei is thinking of here.. You can get the Honor 6x for 1/3 of the price, which is a brilliant phone (got my partner one a couple of months ago, couldn't believe the quality of it).

    I just see no value in spending > £500 on a phone these days, the pace of development simply does not match the cost.

    The only phone that has made me go "wow" recently in the Xiaomi Mi Mix, which has probably has the best design I've seen in a long time. But only reason I'd consider this is cause you can get it online for about £400-450,

    1. Chz

      Re: Forget it...

      Personally, it's worth stepping up to the ~£295 Honor 8 over the 6x. That's about what I paid for my Nexus 5 and it's a worthy replacement. Basically fixes all the issues I had with the N5 hardware (battery, camera, CPU a bit klunky these days) in exchange for no longer being stock Android, while still being pretty much the same size. I just wish they hadn't used an experimental frictionless material for the back of it.

      As for the EMUI power notifications, one of the first things you should do is turn it off globally under power settings and only choose to turn it on for certain apps.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Request for spec checklist

    Almost every phone review on the reg ends up with people asking two things in the comments:

    Is the battery fixed or removable?

    Has it got a microSD slot?

    I see this review mentions in the text that the storage is expandable, but it's not mentioned in the summary/spec checklist at the end (Some info on the max size of expansion card which can be used would be good too, if the manufacturer provides the info).

    Please, could you make it a policy that these two items are included in the spec checklist at the end of each phone review?

    1. K

      Re: Request for spec checklist

      Definitely agree here, a standard table that outline the following would be useful:

      Screen Size and Resolution

      Handset Dimensions:

      Battery Size, Is Removeable:

      Onboard Storage:

      RAM Size:

      Android Version:

      SIM (Single or Dual):

      SD Card (Seperate, or secondary SIM slot):

      VAB ("Value" Added Bloat):

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Request for spec checklist

        That's a pretty good list - I'd forgotten about single/dual SIM, that's another thing that's frequently asked about. No list is ever going to cover everthing people want to know, but I reckon this would cover >99% of the usual queries.

        I'm not sure what you mean with the last item - are you proposing a subjective "bloat score" i.e. from 10 = stock android without extra apps, 1 = spy/adware up the wazoo? That could be fun - and a differentiator between the reg and lesser reviewing publications.

    2. Blackbird74

      Re: Request for spec checklist

      There are already other specialist sites around that give detail specs (where available). E.g:

      http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_p10_plus-8515.php

      Interesting that some P10s may have slower storage;

      http://www.fudzilla.com/news/mobile/43447-not-all-p10s-are-equal

      1. Danny 14

        Re: Request for spec checklist

        Locked/unlocked bootloader is also a nice review test too.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Small point

    The difference between f/2.2 and f/1.8 is about half a stop and is not enough to make a significant difference to low light performance. You could probably do better than that just by selecting sensors for low noise floor.

    As an example the difference between noon sunlight and a cloudy English day in winter can be around 6 f stops.

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Small point

      Large apertures also aid in portrait photography, since the background will be in softer focus.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Small point

        "Large apertures also aid in portrait photography, since the background will be in softer focus."

        Perfectly true when you are using a 50mm or 80mm lens at f/2, as you would be using 35mm or medium format. I actually keep an old 70mm f/1.8 lens for the rare occasions it is needed as I normally use a short f/2.8 zoom. But unfortunately depth of focus is related not only to NA but also to the ratio of subject to object distance. For the short focal length lenses used on phone cameras, this ratio is high with the result that depth of focus is also quite high. Even at f/1.8 the depth of field of a phone camera is quite large. This effect is, in fact, made use of to avoid the need to have an iris diaphragm as on a larger format lens.

        The out-of-focus effects of the latest phone cameras are largely done in processing - not by the lens. What us old-timers used to call "diaphragm images" and the new generation calls "bokeh" is to a considerable degree an after-effect.

    2. Ian Michael Gumby
      Coat

      Re: Small point

      I agree, and if you want the best camera phone, its still the Lumina 1020.

      Yeah the OS was crap, but it still made calls, it had the apps you needed for travel, and you did have a camera in your pocket.

      If only Nokia still made hardware... maybe for apple? Now that would be brilliant.

      Mine's the coat with the 1020 in it. (And yes, I still have it as my backup phone in case I have to travel overseas for a long period of time. )

  5. TeacherMARK

    memory specs

    I have the P9 and I'll hold off on the P10, because...

    I really want Huawei to come clean on memory specs and also, compared the new Samsung rival, the design does seem 'old school' already!

    The P11 will probably be my next phone.

  6. Martin Summers Silver badge

    I've actually found after using the S8 for a few days that I don't miss using the finger print sensor (after an S7 Edge). I only have to look at my phone to unlock it or use retina scan for passwords and it works quickly even in low light. I've not actually had to use the finger print sensor. It's still a stupid place to put it though and last minute decisions on a flagship product are not forgivable.

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      How does the screen of the S8 cope in bright sunlight? Now that every phone is fast enough and has enough memory and bangs and whistles, I'd like to see a return to ergonomy.

      1. Martin Summers Silver badge

        Charlie I wish I could tell you but I've not had any bright sunlight in the Midlands where I live to be able to! In broad daylight I've been able to use it with no problems but I don't really recall any times with the S7 Edge that I had trouble in bright sunlight. It auto adjusts the screen brightness according to the ambient lighting and seems to work well.

        1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

          @Martin, I guess I should have known I was asking someone in the wrong country… ;-) OLEDs are generally pretty good in sunlight (I've got an S5) but all modern phones tend to struggle with the glare caused by the reflection directly on the surface which even polarising sun glasses cannot eliminate. I'm currently trialling a screen protector which promises to reduce glare, but we haven't had enough sun here recently for any meaningful tests.

          Older LCD devices used to be able to take advantage of ambient light using a "transreflexive" layer to let white light though the display and bouncing it back as backlight. Would love to see something like this for modern screens.

  7. drand

    Multi-touch fingerprint sensor

    The new Moto G5 (and I assume G5 Plus too) has this feature and after the few hours training one's thumb it proves a great way to navigate through android. Short / medium / long presses combine with vibration to let you control home / lock screen / launch app. It does occasionally require a more exaggerated left or right swipe than seems necessary but on the whole I much prefer it to the usual on-screen buttons.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    for performance and future-proofing

    so, how long is that future going to be proofed against? No, seriously.

    1. Danny 14

      Re: for performance and future-proofing

      Im still using a note 3 after three years. No plans on updating andnit runs marshmallow just fine. This thing blows my n3 out of the water spec wise so i imagine a few years at least.

      Because i can change the battery then my n3 will be around for some time. My kids are still using my s2 for games and films (tthe hdmi lead is great for hotel tvs too)

  9. Randy Hudson

    Ins and Outs

    An infrared "blaster" and infrared sensor are two different things. Which is it?

    1. DonL

      Re: Ins and Outs

      "An infrared "blaster" and infrared sensor are two different things. Which is it?"

      Both actually. It doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere, but you can use the sensor to program a button in the remote control app by just pressing the button on the original remote control while pointing at the sensor.

      The app also contains a rich database of devices, it even includes airconditioning units. But you can also just use the Peel app instead of the Huawei app, if you prefer that.

      1. the Jim bloke
        Thumb Down

        Re: Ins and Outs

        The Peel remote app is why I wont get a phone without a removable battery.

        It could be accidentally activated, even on the lock screen, and after one defective update was putting an invisible layer across the screen which did not accept further input. a few mm at top and bottom werent covered, but everything in the main display was -visible but inaccessable-, including the power off/restart menu. only solution was pulling the battery.

        I believe Peel have patched their app,.. I have removed it from my phone, but the capability has been demonstrated.

  10. iHjort

    After reading this - I'm not sure I would buy one

    This is not OK

    http://www.androidauthority.com/huawei-p10-p10-plus-memory-storage-lpddr3-or-lpddr4-ram-ufs-2-0-ufs-2-1-emmc-5-1-765670/

  11. Vector

    Google's ludicrously priced Google Pixel has...bafflingly, no expandable storage.

    No mystery here at all.

    Google can't index storage on the phone...use Google Drive so they can send more ads your way!

  12. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    "...future-proofing..."

    I don't think it's even possible to future-proof a mobile phone. At best you'll get another year or so, before it becomes exactly as obsolete as any lesser phone.

    Future-resistant perhaps.

  13. IanW

    Memory specs - inconsistencies?

    The one thing people want (at high prices) is consistency, so what memory spec are Huawei using on these handsets in the wild? The P10 had three different memory specs; review units the fastest, some in production only half the speed. That's something that puts me off ever wanting to buy one of these handsets; you shouldn't expose end users to a speed lottery with no difference in selling price.

  14. Fursty Ferret

    "With a price nudging £680, the flagship Huawei is no longer in its own price segment: the S8 is just a tenner more."

    So for an extra tenner you get a better screen, prettier phone, better warranty, reasonable confidence that the Chinese government aren't browsing your photo gallery, waterproofing, wireless charging, a better camera

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