Huawei P Smart Smartphone Review
Smart means clever, and what would be more fitting than adding Huawei’s Neural Network Processing Unit that is featured on the manufacturer’s flagship Mate 10 Pro to the P Smart’s Kirin 659 SoC? Too bad Huawei opted against going down that road. Still, when compared to similarly equipped mid-range Honor, Huawei, Samsung, and Motorola smartphones the P Smart did fairly well. We were particularly impressed by the slim 18:9 display ratio that allows for a high display resolution without being too wide to be comfortably held in hand.
Case
The P Smart is quite nice to look at, and it is available in three colors: Black, Gold, and a dark Blue. Our black review unit was very susceptible to fingerprints, but they were less noticeable on the P Smart’s matte metal surface than on glossy metal or plastic surfaces. The rigid chassis did not creak at all when we tried to twist and warp it. The same-color power button and volume rocker are located on the right-hand side, and at just 7.5 mm (~0.3 in) the case is so slim that both cameras are protruding from it by about half a millimeter (~0.02 in). An ornamental silver line runs from left to right underneath the cameras with another identical one at the bottom of the device. At the front, the display stretches almost up to the rounded edges and the bezels above and below the display are only 9 mm (~0.35 in) wide. No doubt: the P Smart looks good. Above all, it is well made and it feels good too. The case most certainly benefits from the display form factor, which ensures a slender case without sacrificing resolution.
Connectivity
The fingerprint reader, which Huawei had moved from the rear to the front on some past devices, has found its way back to the rear once more. And just like on previous models, it does much more than just scanning your fingers. Provided that these features have been enabled, it can be used for answering an incoming phone call, act as a shutter release button, navigating through ones photos, or displaying the notifications by swiping across it.
The left side is completely flush save for the tiny SIM tray ejection hole. The tray can take either two nano SIM cards or a single nano SIM and a MicroSD card. Unfortunately, the latter cannot be formatted as internal storage, or used for storing apps. It can, however, be configured as the default storage location for photos, music, and other files.
A microphone sits at the top and bottom of the device. The mono speaker as well as the USB port are located at the bottom. Huawei has opted for the less and less frequently used MicroUSB port with support for USB-OTG, which can be used for connecting thumb drives to the device. In addition, the P Smart features an FM radio tuner.
Software
Both Android 8 and Huawei’s own EMUI 8 user interface are up-to-date. The EMUI versioning came as a surprise to us: in order to achieve parity with Android’s version numbers EMUI went straight from 5.1 to 8. Some of the well-known EMUI features include a gesture for quick search for appointments, apps, or contacts similar to that in iOS, and a setting for changing the settings for Android’s default navigation buttons. Tapping and holding the multitasking view button will enable a split-screen view, allowing you to run a second app in addition to the current foreground app. In landscape mode, this feature certainly benefitted from the wide 18:9 display. On the other hand, we were flabbergasted when we realized that some of the included in-house apps do not support split screen yet. For example, you cannot launch the calendar app while reading an email with appointment suggestions to choose from. A brand-new feature is the app menu in the home screen that allows you to start an app in a preconfigured mode via a shortcut.
Communication and GPS
Users outside of Europe are largely ignored by Huawei as the Smart P only supports the most common European LTE bands 1, 3, 7, 8, and 20. Users in the US are particularly disadvantaged as the P Smart does not support the most common 850 and 1900 MHz frequencies in neither the 3G nor the 4G LTE networks. This is a mystery to us given that Huawei has its roots in the cellular networks industry, and one should expect proper world-wide cellular support. Wi-Fi capabilities are also limited to the 2.4 GHz range, and accordingly the device does not support link aggregation making for rather poor data transfer rates. While the Aquarix S, the Moto G5s, and the two Samsung smartphones support the faster and less commonly used 5 GHz bands, all Honor and Huawei smartphones in our test group suffered from this limitation. The effects on real-world Wi-Fi transfer speeds were dramatic, as the following graphs indicate:
GPS accuracy was pretty poor overall. The GPS-Test app was able to determine an indoor accuracy of 45 m (~49 yd) and an outdoor accuracy of 12 m (~13 yd), with minor fluctuations. Other smartphones are able to achieve accuracy levels of 10 m (~11 yd) indoors and between 3 and 5 m (~3.3 and 5.5 yd) outdoors at the exact same locations.
That said, the P Smart is capable and accurate enough to be used as a car or bicycle satnav. Our usual comparison with a professional Garmin Edge 500 GPS unit was rendered somewhat more complicated this time around due to the identical round-trip route we had to choose. Nevertheless, a close-up of the switchback shows that the P Smart can be significantly off track. This could cause problems when playing AR games or during city quests where even the slightest GPS inaccuracies can cause major issues.
Telephony and Call Quality
The P Smart is capable of taking two SIM cards. The second SIM card is installed in the MicroSD card slot. If two SIM cards are installed, only one of the two will support VoLTE and Wi-Fi Calling.
Unlike flagships such as the Mate 10 Pro, the P Smart only features two instead of three microphones. Furthermore, the Kirin 659 also lacks the Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) for advanced noise-cancelling capabilities. We had no trouble understanding our conversational partners through the headphone and on speakerphone. With the included headset, voices lost a little bit of clarity. From our partner’s perspective opting for the headset was a smart move as our voice was fairly muffled when talking on speakerphone.
Cameras
The P Smart has two cameras for high-quality photos and special effects. A feature that was hitherto limited to top-range and flagship smartphones. Compared to these, the P Smart’s two cameras are still somewhat limited - they lack the Leica-branding and the subsequent quality assurances. Flagship smartphone cameras such as the ones on the Mate 10 Plus have a high-resolution 20 MP monochrome sensor and a decently sized 12 MP RGB sensor whereas the sensor resolutions on the P Smart are just 13 and 2 MP, respectively. The differences become very obvious when looking at the P10 and P Smart photos side by side. The P10’s camera’s resolution is identical to the Mate 10 Pro, and its aperture is identical to the P Smart (f/2.2 as compared to f/1.6 for the Mate 10 Pro). The differences become particularly obvious when looking at the clouds in the background.
The P Smart’s bokeh effect can be enabled for both, the main and the secondary 8 MP front-facing selfie camera (f/2.0). The effect was more pronounced and better looking on the main camera, and the front-facing fix focus shooter was unable to keep up (see third photo below).
We test each camera under normalized conditions in our lab using the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport reference card. The reference color can be seen at the bottom of each square. All things considered, the P Smart’s color representation was somewhat oversaturated and on the cool side. It is quite possible that this was a deliberate decision since photos tend to look more interesting and colorful with these settings applied.
Our test chart was sharp and crisp not just in the center, but also towards the edges. Many smartphone cameras show a significant drop in sharpness further away from the center of the photo.
Accessories and Warranty
In addition to a quick start guide, a warranty leaflet, a MicroUSB cable, and a 2A charger the box also contains a headset of mediocre quality. The phone is equipped with a screen protector by default. There are no additional accessories available for the P Smart, not even a protective case. Thus, extras have to be purchased from third party manufacturers.
Huawei sells the P Smart with a 24-month limited warranty on the device, a 6-month limited warranty on the battery, and a 3-month limited warranty on the headset.
Please see our Guarantees, Return Policies and Warranties FAQ for country-specific information.
Input Devices & Handling
The only application from Google’s toolbox that we found preloaded on the device was voice control. The default keyboard application is SwiftKey, and GBoard can be downloaded and installed from the Play Store if necessary. SwiftKey offers a plethora of settings - in addition to various layouts one can for example, use a background photo or customize the keyboard quite extensively. Particularly noteworthy are the possibilities to show optional arrow keys, an extra row of numbers, and the alternative mapping for each key next to the letter/number. Keyboard size can be configured in 5 steps, and it can be either split in the middle (ideal for landscape use) or shifted left/right (ideal for one-handed use). Even the duration of the optional feedback vibration can be configured in the SwitchKey settings.
The 10-point multitouch display was decently calibrated, and we have not had any trouble tapping even the smallest of user interface elements reliably. The AR game “Pokémon Go” is a very good real-world response time test, particularly when throwing pokeballs onto distant targets. Unfortunately, the P Smart was not able to keep up with the iPhone.
On the plus side, Huawei is known for its blazingly fast fingerprint readers, and the P Smart does not disappoint in this regard either. The reader was very quick and reliable.
Display
At 5.65 inches, the display’s resolution of 2160x1080 results in a pixel density of 427 PPI, which is quite common for upper mid-range smartphones. Most manufacturers refer to displays with twice as many vertical pixels as horizontal ones as 18:9 due to most users’ familiarity with the 16:9 aspect ratio. This taller display ratio is very popular right now as it allows for higher resolutions for videos and games without sacrificing manageability by being too wide. One of the downsides is that the aspect ratio of the camera’s highest possible setting of 13 MP is 4:3, and accordingly photos have very thick black bezels.
The comparatively high black level of 0.63 nits resulted in a contrast ratio that did not quite meet our expectations. At its maximum brightness of 573 nits at the center the contrast ratio was 910. Brightness distribution was not the best either, and maximum brightness varied between 527 and 594 nits with an average of a very decent 568 nits. The display also features automatic ambient light based brightness control, which can be disabled via the shortcuts that can be swiped down from the top of the display. Many other smartphones force users into their settings app in order to disable this feature.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Brightness Distribution: 89 %
Center on Battery: 573 cd/m²
Contrast: 910:1 (Black: 0.63 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 4.2 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.9
ΔE Greyscale 4.6 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
Gamma: 2.24
| Huawei P smart IPS, 2160x1080, 5.7" | Honor 9 Lite IPS, 2160x1080, 5.7" | Huawei P8 lite 2017 IPS, 1920x1080, 5.2" | Huawei Mate 10 Lite IPS, 2160x1080, 5.9" | Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 Super AMOLED, 1920x1080, 5.5" | Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 Super AMOLED, 1280x720, 4.7" | Motorola Moto G5s IPS, 1920x1080, 5.2" | BQ Aquaris X LTPS IPS , 1920x1080, 5.2" | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen | 11% | -5% | 1% | 15% | 25% | -3% | -2% | |
| Brightness middle | 573 | 627 9% | 575 0% | 467 -18% | 454 -21% | 574 0% | 490 -14% | 675 18% |
| Brightness | 568 | 622 10% | 559 -2% | 457 -20% | 463 -18% | 576 1% | 502 -12% | 702 24% |
| Brightness Distribution | 89 | 82 -8% | 91 2% | 89 0% | 86 -3% | 94 6% | 92 3% | 91 2% |
| Black Level * | 0.63 | 0.41 35% | 0.39 38% | 0.3 52% | 0.43 32% | 0.59 6% | ||
| Contrast | 910 | 1529 68% | 1474 62% | 1557 71% | 1140 25% | 1144 26% | ||
| Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 4.2 | 4.5 -7% | 5.2 -24% | 5 -19% | 2 52% | 2.4 43% | 5.7 -36% | 4.5 -7% |
| Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 6.4 | 7 -9% | 10.3 -61% | 8.2 -28% | 5.3 17% | 3.8 41% | 7.8 -22% | 9.1 -42% |
| Greyscale dE 2000 * | 4.6 | 5.1 -11% | 7.2 -57% | 6.1 -33% | 1.7 63% | 1.9 59% | 4.7 -2% | 6.4 -39% |
| Gamma | 2.24 98% | 2.26 97% | 2.4 92% | 2.15 102% | 2.1 105% | 2.09 105% | 2.4 92% | 2.24 98% |
| CCT | 7157 91% | 7201 90% | 7224 90% | 7961 82% | 6394 102% | 6502 100% | 7526 86% | 7478 87% |
* ... smaller is better
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
| Screen flickering / PWM not detected |  | ||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 8684 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 343500) Hz was measured. | |||
In addition to three preconfigured color temperature profiles - Standard, Warm, and Cold - users can choose one from a chromatic circle at will. A feature for reducing eye strain is also available - it lowers the share of blue in colors either manually or timed to help you fall asleep faster.
The Standard profile results in a fairly inaccurate color representation due to the increased percentage of Cyan. The Warm profile is much more natural and balanced, and DeltaE drops from 5.3 to 4.2 accordingly. These deviations are just high enough to be noticeable with the naked eye.
Display Response Times
| ↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
|---|---|---|
| 18 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 5 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 13 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows good response rates in our tests, but may be too slow for competitive gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 36 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (20.9 ms). | ||
| ↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
| 40 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 17 ms rise |  |
| ↘ 23 ms fall | ||
| The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.165 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 58 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (32.8 ms). | ||
Despite its mediocre contrast ratio the P Smart was quite usable outdoors thanks to its high display brightness. Due to the display’s massive reflections we do however suggest finding a spot in the shade where the effects are minimized.
In-Plane-Switching (IPS) panels are known for their wide viewing angles without distortion or decrease of color, sharpness, and contrast ratio, and the P Smart’s display was particularly good in this respect. We have not noticed any color distortions whatsoever. Brightness dropped very early on but remained at this reduced level afterwards.
Performance
The P Smart is equipped with a HiSilicon Kirin 659 SoC that was first introduced in mid 2017. It features two clusters of four Cortex A53 cores each, the faster of which runs at up to 2.36 GHz. The SoC also includes an ARM Mali-T830 MP2 GPU, first introduced back in 2016 on the almost identical but slightly slower Kirin 650 chip. Despite its age, the GPU fared very well overall with one notable exception: The P Smart fell behind most of its similarly equipped competitors in the OpenGL ES 3.0 Slingshot 3DMark benchmark. The only contender even slower than the P Smart was the Honor 9 Lite based on the exact same SoC.
| AnTuTu v6 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| Geekbench 4.4 | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| Compute RenderScript Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| GFXBench 3.0 | |
| on screen Manhattan Onscreen OGL (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| 1920x1080 1080p Manhattan Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| GFXBench 3.1 | |
| on screen Manhattan ES 3.1 Onscreen (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| 1920x1080 Manhattan ES 3.1 Offscreen (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P smart | |
| Honor 9 Lite | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 | |
| Motorola Moto G5s | |
| BQ Aquaris X | |
| Lightmark - 1920x1080 1080p (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Basemark X 1.1 | |
| Medium Quality (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| High Quality (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal - offscreen Overall Score (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
| Epic Citadel - Ultra High Quality (sort by value) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 | |
Google Chrome v64 is Huawei’s web browser of choice, and websites load and scroll very quickly and smoothly. The P Smart landed in the upper midfield in three of the four conducted benchmarks.
| JetStream 1.1 - Total Score | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite (Chrome 62) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 (Chrome 55) | |
| BQ Aquaris X (Chrome Version 60) | |
| Huawei P smart (Chrome 64) | |
| Honor 9 Lite (Chrome 63) | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 (Samsung Browser 5.4) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 (Chrome 56.0.2924.87) | |
| Motorola Moto G5s (Chrome 62) | |
| Octane V2 - Total Score | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite (Chrome 62) | |
| BQ Aquaris X (Chrome Version 60) | |
| Honor 9 Lite (Chrome 63) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 (Chrome 55) | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 (Samsung Browser 5.4) | |
| Huawei P smart (Chrome 64) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 (Chrome 56.0.2924.87) | |
| Motorola Moto G5s (Chrome 62) | |
| Mozilla Kraken 1.1 - Total | |
| Motorola Moto G5s (Chrome 62) | |
| Honor 9 Lite (Chrome 63) | |
| Huawei P smart (Chrome 64) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 (Chrome 56.0.2924.87) | |
| BQ Aquaris X (Chrome Version 60) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 (Chrome 55) | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite (Chrome 62) | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 (Samsung Browser 5.4) | |
| WebXPRT 2015 - Overall | |
| Honor 9 Lite (Chrome 63) | |
| Huawei Mate 10 Lite (Chrome 62) | |
| Huawei P smart (Chrome 64) | |
| Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 (Samsung Browser 5.4) | |
| Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 (Chrome 56.0.2924.87) | |
| Huawei P8 lite 2017 (Chrome 55) | |
| Motorola Moto G5s (Chrome 62) | |
* ... smaller is better
32 GB of storage memory, of which 23 GB is available to the user out of the box, are more than decent. In case you choose to forgo the second SIM card, storage can be expanded via a MicroSD card up to 256 GB.
Internal transfer rates were on a par with the Honor 9 Lite, both of which are still equipped with regular eMMC storage (just like many other smartphones in our test group). Smartphones equipped with the newer UFS memory tend to offer much higher transfer rates.
MicroSD transfer rates were determined using our Toshiba Exceria Pro M501 reference card with theoretical read and writes speeds of up to 270 and 150 MB/s, respectively. Unsurprisingly, most devices do not get anywhere near these data rates, and the P Smart was no exception to this rule. However, at just 82 and 72 MB/s read and write respectively, it was still the fastest device in our test group and once again on a par with the Honor 9 Lite.
| Huawei P smart | Honor 9 Lite | Huawei P8 lite 2017 | Huawei Mate 10 Lite | Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 | Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 | Motorola Moto G5s | BQ Aquaris X | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AndroBench 3-5 | 39% | -50% | -27% | -36% | -41% | 4% | -23% | |
| Sequential Read 256KB | 269.4 | 269.6 0% | 165.8 -38% | 286.8 6% | 198.5 -26% | 199.7 -26% | 259 -4% | 266.4 -1% |
| Sequential Write 256KB | 121.1 | 138.2 14% | 42 -65% | 99.8 -18% | 53 -56% | 45.96 -62% | 77.5 -36% | 75.3 -38% |
| Random Read 4KB | 66.1 | 68.4 3% | 38.7 -41% | 31.5 -52% | 25.86 -61% | 22.32 -66% | 40.6 -39% | 37.47 -43% |
| Random Write 4KB | 21.3 | 66.8 214% | 8 -62% | 15.26 -28% | 10.54 -51% | 9.62 -55% | 46.2 117% | 11.85 -44% |
| Sequential Read 256KB SDCard | 82.3 ? | 83.1 ? 1% | 53.1 ? -35% | 69.1 ? -16% | 76.1 ? -8% | 75.5 ? -8% | 84.1 ? 2% | 84.3 ? 2% |
| Sequential Write 256KB SDCard | 72.4 ? | 71.9 ? -1% | 32.1 ? -56% | 35.35 ? -51% | 63.9 ? -12% | 50.1 ? -31% | 62.3 ? -14% | 62.6 ? -14% |
Gaming
The Kirin 659’s Mali-T830 MP2 GPU supports OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 1.2, and DirectX 11 (FL 9_3). Based on its hardware detection, “Dead Trigger” suggested reducing quality settings among others, limiting the frame rate to 30 FPS. However, the first-person shooter ran just fine at 60 FPS as well.
During our tests we took a closer look at MOBA “Vainglory” that had finally received a 5 vs. 5 mode shortly after we began reviewing the device, and is now one step closer to the PC MOBAS. The P Smart’s 2:1 screen was particularly useful in this game, and while in-game characters were still tiny on the phone’s 5.65-inch display the touch screen responded quickly and reliably to input when selecting items, attacking, or defending ourselves.
| Dead Trigger 2 | |||
| Settings | Value | ||
| high | 58 fps | ||
| Asphalt 8: Airborne | |||
| Settings | Value | ||
| high | 18 fps | ||
no benchmarks found
Emissions
Temperature
The Huawei P Smart remained fairly cool by and large, particularly its rear cover where it barely got any warmer while gaming. The CPU remained fairly lethargic under load: its overall performance in GFXBench was very poor with only minor fluctuations.
(+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 35.7 °C / 96 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 34.1 °C / 93 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 30.2 °C / 86 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speakers
Even before looking at the lab results we were already disappointed by the speaker after using it for a short while. Highs are excessively exaggerated, which was confirmed by the lab results showing an utter lack of bass with overemphasized highs. The device’s maximum volume of 85.2 dB(A) was decent for a smartphone, but not loud enough to fill a room with sound.
As always the audio experience can be massively improved by using an external headset, which also enables the included Histen audio algorithms. Thanks to predefined and individually configurable profiles, these can improve upon individual subjective audio experience significantly. The included headset resembles Apple’s Ear Pods - it is comfortable, but does not mute out all ambient sounds.
Huawei P smart audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (85.2 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 28.6% lower than median
(+) | bass is linear (6% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 5.2% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (6.6% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 7.2% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (23.8% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 50% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 41% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 68% of all tested devices were better, 7% similar, 25% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Huawei Mate 10 Lite audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (86.5 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 28% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (7.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(±) | reduced mids - on average 5% lower than median
(+) | mids are linear (5.7% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 10.5% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.2% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (25.5% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 60% of all tested devices in this class were better, 7% similar, 33% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 76% of all tested devices were better, 5% similar, 19% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 audio analysis
(+) | speakers can play relatively loud (87.1 dB)
Bass 100 - 315 Hz
(-) | nearly no bass - on average 26.6% lower than median
(±) | linearity of bass is average (10.9% delta to prev. frequency)
Mids 400 - 2000 Hz
(+) | balanced mids - only 3.2% away from median
(+) | mids are linear (4.3% delta to prev. frequency)
Highs 2 - 16 kHz
(±) | higher highs - on average 6.1% higher than median
(+) | highs are linear (4.4% delta to prev. frequency)
Overall 100 - 16.000 Hz
(±) | linearity of overall sound is average (20.3% difference to median)
Compared to same class
» 29% of all tested devices in this class were better, 9% similar, 61% worse
» The best had a delta of 12%, average was 36%, worst was 134%
Compared to all devices tested
» 49% of all tested devices were better, 8% similar, 42% worse
» The best had a delta of 4%, average was 25%, worst was 134%
frequency diagram (checkboxes selectable/deselectable!)
Power Management
Power Consumption
Huawei’s main target audience for the P Smart are young people who occasionally kill time by playing games. Unfortunately, the device’s high power consumption under load does not seem to fit that bill properly. Standby power consumption is much better, though. The P Smart may not be the most efficient phone in this respect, but 1.76 W is still fairly impressive.
Charging the device from near empty to full takes around 2.5 hours. After 30 minutes of charging the battery indicator reads 30% charge, and 50% after another 30 minutes.
| Off / Standby |   0.01 / 0.23 Watt |
| Idle |  0.62 / 1.76 / 1.87 Watt |
| Load |
4.47 / 6.39 Watt |
    
| |
Key:
min: ,
med: ,
max: Metrahit Energy | |
| Huawei P smart 3000 mAh | Honor 9 Lite 3000 mAh | Huawei P8 lite 2017 3000 mAh | Huawei Mate 10 Lite 3340 mAh | Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 3600 mAh | Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 2350 mAh | Motorola Moto G5s 3000 mAh | BQ Aquaris X 3100 mAh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Power Consumption | -2% | -42% | -9% | 46% | 55% | 4% | -13% | |
| Idle Minimum * | 0.62 | 0.85 -37% | 1.44 -132% | 0.87 -40% | 0.39 37% | 0.37 40% | 0.67 -8% | 1.12 -81% |
| Idle Average * | 1.76 | 2 -14% | 2.47 -40% | 2.14 -22% | 1.06 40% | 0.78 56% | 1.4 20% | 2.16 -23% |
| Idle Maximum * | 1.87 | 2.04 -9% | 2.58 -38% | 2.16 -16% | 1.08 42% | 0.84 55% | 1.52 19% | 2.18 -17% |
| Load Average * | 4.47 | 3.23 28% | 4.55 -2% | 3.7 17% | 1.82 59% | 1.52 66% | 4.56 -2% | 2.94 34% |
| Load Maximum * | 6.39 | 4.93 23% | 6.3 1% | 5.48 14% | 3.21 50% | 2.75 57% | 7.05 -10% | 5.1 20% |
* ... smaller is better
Battery Life
When compared to Samsung smartphones, their respective longer battery life is a direct effect of larger batteries (Galaxy J7) or a lower display resolution (Galaxy A3, the only HD display in our test group).
But even compared to other Huawei devices the P Smart does not look too good. That said, we have to keep in mind that the Mate 10 Lite has a significantly larger battery and the P8 a slightly lower resolution of 1920x1080 (as opposed to 2160 x 1080). While these excuses may well explain why the P Smart was outclassed by its competitors, it still does not hide the fact that its overall battery life was pretty poor regardless of load or usage scenario.
| Huawei P smart 3000 mAh | Honor 9 Lite 3000 mAh | Huawei P8 lite 2017 3000 mAh | Huawei Mate 10 Lite 3340 mAh | Samsung Galaxy J7 2017 3600 mAh | Samsung Galaxy A3 2017 2350 mAh | Motorola Moto G5s 3000 mAh | BQ Aquaris X 3100 mAh | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battery Runtime | 8% | 22% | 0% | 99% | 108% | 8% | 5% | |
| Reader / Idle | 985 | 965 -2% | 1326 35% | 1150 17% | 1950 98% | 2862 191% | 1233 25% | |
| H.264 | 615 | 622 1% | 644 5% | 502 -18% | 1096 78% | 988 61% | 645 5% | |
| WiFi v1.3 | 565 | 601 6% | 604 7% | 520 -8% | 904 60% | 668 18% | 518 -8% | 592 5% |
| Load | 202 | 253 25% | 283 40% | 223 10% | 525 160% | 532 163% | 225 11% |
Pros
Cons
Verdict
The Huawei P Smart is like an image campaign for mid-range smartphones. Its relevant hardware specifications such as CPU, GPU, or cellular capabilities equal those of other mid-range smartphones such as the P8 Lite, Mate 10 Lite, and Honor 9 Lite. The Mate 10 Lite offers more RAM and storage memory, but it is also pricier than the P Smart. And unlike the Mate 10 Lite the P Smart is not subject to a direct comparison with an equally named yet better equipped top model. Accordingly, our initial question at the very beginning of this review regarding the device’s classification can be best answered as appreciation of the middle class.
The Huawei P Smart is a decent mid-range smartphone with no ambitions to take on any of the well-known flagships.
Price-performance ratio is decent, and so is its overall performance - it is not the fastest by any means, but by and large always in the top half. Operating system and EMUI are up-to-date. The high-quality aluminum chassis with its very good screen-to-body ratio is fitting for the P Smart’s ambitions, but it does not hide the fact that there are two major downsides: the highly limited choice of cellular frequencies and the short battery life under load.
Huawei P smart
- 10/31/2019 v7 (old)
Inge Schwabe
Price comparison
