Huawei P Smart
A GREAT-VALUE PHONE THAT WE’VE BASICALLY SEEN BEFORE.
THE HUAWEI P Smart (2019) launched at the same time as the eerily similar Honor 10 Lite, which we loved. It offered great value for money, an excellent screen and design and plenty of storage – all qualities matched by Huawei’s new entrant.
There are a couple of differences in terms of design, camera specs and box contents. The P Smart (2019) has a lower-resolution selfie camera, while the 10 Lite includes a case in the box – the P Smart (2019) doesn’t.
That means, just like the Honor 10 Lite, the P Smart (2019) has its sights set on pricier mid-range contemporaries like the Nokia 7.1, Motorola One and Honor’s own Honor 8X, as well as slightly cheaper alternatives, such as the Nokia 3.1. Plus.
There were many fantastic budget devices released in 2019, yet the Huawei P Smart (2019) from late 2018 weathered them all to stay at the top of our list of the best cheap phones a year after its initial launch. If that’s not a compelling reason to consider it as your new phone, we don’t know what is!
After Google suspended Huawei’s future access to Android Play Store and security updates several months after the P Smart
(2019) came out, there are serious question marks over the future of Huawei and
Honor phones.
While Google and Huawei have promised to support phones currently on the market, it’s not clear how long they’ll receive Android updates or access to the Google Play Store, which would severely curtail their usefulness compared to the competition. The P Smart (2019) likely won’t be affected, but it’s dubious whether there will be a P Smart (2020).
FEATURES
The Huawei P Smart (2019) looks great, sporting a teardrop notch design, as seen on the OnePlus 6T, and a streamlined body.
Its plastic back and sides form a high-gloss shell that feels like plastic. The screen is LCD tech, which can’t compete with OLEDs when it comes to depth and punch, but alongside the Honor 10 Lite, the Huawei P Smart (2019) still sports the tiniest bezels and one of the best resolutions for the price.
Most phones that cost under $300 only offer 32GB storage, but the P Smart has a generous 64GB, of which about 50GB is available to the user – that’s on a par with many flagships that cost three times its price. As for battery power, there’s a 3400mAh unit inside, the life of which can be optimised via a host of powersaving options.
Despite the great-looking design, and the decent storage and battery specs, however, the P Smart (2019) is ultimately a mid-range phone with mid-range internals. Inside, there’s a Kirin 710 chipset coupled with 3GB RAM – respectable, but not excellent.
DESIGN
At 8mm thick and 162g, the P Smart is light, largely owing to the fact that, unlike the glass-backed Honor 10 Lite, its back and sides are a unibody plastic shell with a high-gloss effect.
While the back does look like glass, especially if you’re looking at one of the color options that features a gradient finish, it’s plastic through and through. Despite this, though, it feels smooth in the hand, and while it’s light it doesn’t feel hollow.
However, the fact that it’s plastic means it scratches much more easily than glass, so if you want to keep your Huawei P Smart (2019) looking pristine, get a case on it from day one – while it comes with a pre-fitted screen protector, unlike the Honor 10 Lite there’s no soft plastic protective case, which given this
phone’s susceptibility to scratches is a noticeable omission.
SCREEN
A Full HD resolution display measuring 6.21 inches dominates the front of the P Smart (2019). It’s long, with a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and it’s also very light on bezels, delivering an almost 90% screen-to-body ratio according to Huawei – better than many flagships.
With a resolution of 2230 x 1080 pixels, the P Smart’s screen isn’t just competitive for the price – the 415ppi pixel density also wins out when compared to displays found on much pricier phones like the iPhone XR’s, the screen on which clocks in at 326ppi.
The phone’s screen is really bright for a mid-ranger too. Off-angle and outdoor viewability are good, and it’s easy to see the screen in all but the brightest conditions.
PERFORMANCE
The Huawei P Smart (2019) uses the Kirin 710 chipset, combined with 3GB of RAM and 64GB storage.
The phone performs well when powering through basic tasks, but we definitely noticed slowdown when we jumped between powerhungry apps and games.
Basic games are handled without any issues, and provided that you’re okay with the occasional wait of a second or two when jumping from one app to another, the speed of the Huawei P Smart (2019) won’t frustrate you much.
When you start loading up intensive 3D games, though, things start to stutter noticeably, at times interfering with gameplay.
VERDICT
Summing up this review in two words is easy: deja vu.
The Huawei P Smart and Honor 10 Lite are basically the same phone. Sure, they have slightly different camera surrounds, bodies and selfie camera resolutions, but everything else, from specs to user experiences are matched like for like.
That means it should come as little surprise that, we think the P Smart (2019) is great, just like the Honor 10 Lite.
Not quite perfect, with only a Kirin 970 processor it lacks the oomph needed for heavy multitasking and advanced 3D gaming. There’s also no waterproofing, fast or wireless charging, and no USB-C port either. Unlike the Honor 10 Lite, the fact the phone doesn’t come with a case is a bummer.
TO COMPOSE YOUR IMAGES, YOU’VE GOT THE CHOICE OF A 0.39-INCH, 2360K-DOT ELECTRONIC VIEWFINDER (WHICH IS SMALLER AND LOWER IN RESOLUTION THAN THE ONE ON THE Z6/Z7), OR A 3.2-INCH TILTING TFT LCD, WHICH IS TOUCH-SENSITIVE.