Huawei has unveiled the P10 and P10 plus, the two latest flagship devices for 2017

Review by Brendon Petersen

The P10 has a 5.1-inch FHD IPS display, while the P10 Plus has a 5.5-inch 2k IPS display.

At a media briefing, executives from the company said that the P-series has always been a culmination of art and technology and this is reflected in the P10’s design.

Both the P10 and P10 plus have a softer, rounded edge design, a departure from the previous square edge design on Huawei’s handsets. According to the company, this is in response to customer feedback stating that the company’s previous devices have had too much of a masculine design in the past.

As part of their move to create devices which highlight the fashion and beauty of technology, Huawei has partnered with Pantone to create the P10 in a range of colours including “Dazzling Blue” and “Greenery” – which is Pantone’s colour of the year for 2017.

The handsets will also be available in Rose Gold, Prestige Gold, Dazzling Gold, Mystic Silver, Ceramic White and Graphite Black.

The P10 does not only come in new colours but also features a micro texture on the back which not only reduces the chances of the phone becoming a fingerprint magnet but makes the handset more grip-able and tactile than other handsets.

With the P9 and Mate 9, Huawei partnered with Leica to produce their rear-facing dual-camera system, something that they’ve continued with the P10 and P10 Plus.

The upgraded rear-facing dual cameras on the P10 and P10 Plus now feature a 20MP (monochrome lens) and 12MP (RGB lens) with an upgraded front-facing camera, made by Leica, as well.

The camera upgrades are not only on the outside but continue to the software. The P10 and P10 Plus now has a portrait mode which lets you take a picture of a person or object and have a bokeh effect in the background, similar to that found on the iPhone 7 Plus. For the first time on a Huawei phone, you can now also take monochrome pictures with a bokeh effect.

Huawei has also partnered with GoPro to integrate the company’s video editing app “Quik” into the gallery on the P10 and P10 Plus (and will be coming to other Huawei handsets which get the EMUI 5.1 update). The main attraction is a Highlights feature that creates a video based on photos and videos that you’ve taken complete with background music. Huawei has said that this Highlights feature will take place at night when you’re not using your phone, as it is a CPU intensive process.

Huawei has continued its exploration into machine learning with its new handsets and has included what it calls “Ultra Response” and “Ultra Memory”.

“Ultra Response” predicts where you’ll place your finger on the phone’s display and helps optimise the display’s response time putting it on par with Apple’s touchscreen responsiveness according to Huawei executives.

“Ultra Memory” focuses on freeing up RAM and improving the phone’s overall efficiency and speed. It does this by learning your habits and predicting which app you might open next (based on past usage) and which apps you won’t use again. By doing this it can close certain apps thus freeing up memory, and it can launch apps up to 30% faster.

One of the most noticeable changes with the P10 is that the fingerprint scanner is no longer on the back of the device but can now be found in the front.

As with the iPhone 7, Huawei’s new home button is not a physical button in the sense that it does not move.

Unlike the iPhone 7s home button though, the P10’s home button is not only a button and fingerprint scanner. A single tap on the new home button will take you back, a long press will take you home and swiping either left or right will bring up your most recently used apps.

All of these internal changes are powered by Huawei’s Kirin 960 chipset, the same one used in the Mate 9. Both the P10 and P10 Plus will be capable up download speeds of up to 600mbps says Huawei, but of course this is network dependant.

All of this is supported by a 3200mAh battery in the P10 and a 3750mAh battery in the P10 Plus.

Overall, the P10 and P10 Plus are both good looking, capable handsets which bring improvements to the great things that Huawei has done with the P9 series.

At the MWC launch, Huawei has stated that South Africa is included as one of the first countries to be getting the P10 and P10 Plus, however local representatives have only said that the handsets will arrive in South Africa in Q2.

No local pricing has yet been announced for the P10 or P10 Plus.