Meet Huawei Y8p - Definitely decent!

Last month, Huawei Y8p was launch in PH. We have been using it as a daily driver for a couple weeks now and here is what we think about it. Check it out!

Is the Huawei Y8p worth it?

Meet Huawei Y8p

What's in the box?

At first glance, the Huawei Y8p looks great. The glossy glass-like back with a gradient colorway gives it a look akin to more premium devices.

It has a CD-like rainbow sheen when hit by light at different angles. The front looks good with slim bezels and rounded corners. It has a small notch too. A punch-hole could have been better but the notch is not that noticeable during videos and games.

Gradient back panel design

Not a punch-hole display but it is still a good OLED screen

The display panel itself is very good. It is a 6.3-inch 2.5D curved OLED screen with a 2400 x 1080 FHD+ screen at 418 PPI pixel density. It has great brightness, contrast, and great color saturation. Since I made this my daily driver, I do most of my daily tasks and recreational activities with it. For browsing social media and the web, it is great. It also has an In-Display fingerprint sensor which works pretty fast.

Great for YouTube or Netflix

It's also very usable for games such as Mobile Legends

For videos, the contrast along with the vibrant colors makes YouTube and Netflix very enjoyable. Blacks are deep allowing for a more immersive visual experience. Games also look good even if some need lower graphics settings. Touch controls are responsive but there it does not go above 60Hz though.

The bottom-firing speaker is a bit disappointing for me. It is on the softer side in terms of volume. I sometimes miss notifications because they get drowned by ambient noise. In quieter places, it can be a serviceable speaker for music and videos. I still highly suggest using a pair of headphones though. There is a 3.5mm headphone jack so you can use your existing wired audio devices.

Huawei Y8p Geekbence and AnTuTu benchmark results

For performance, it has a 2.2GHz 12nm Kirin 710F octa-core processor, Mali-G51 MP4 with GPU Turbo 3.0, 6GB RAM, and 128GB expandable storage, and a 4,000mAh battery. In terms of multitasking, it performs well. EMUI 10.1 is snappy and navigates smoothly too.

Wild Rift is stuck in Low Graphics settings

Most graphical options are greyed out in COD: Mobile

However, gaming performance leaves room for improvement. The CPU and GPU are capable of playing popular titles like League of Legends: Wild Rift, Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, and Call of Duty Mobile. However, to maintain smooth framerates these games asked me to lower down the graphics settings. Wild Rift even outright told me that my device cannot run the game on Medium or High textures.

Respectable 

I expected the lack of Google Play Services to bother me and my workflow. But, I was able to migrate my social media accounts since a lot of these apps do not require Google Play Services to work. I was also able to find a workaround for YouTube as well.

I can definitely see people being able to exist without Google Play Services. And for some, it can be a hassle. Huawei's App Gallery plus the Petal Search widget did help a lot. The Quick App Manager feature is a huge help since it can allow users to use apps that don't need to be installed, don't use much space, and update automatically.

You may also use the Phone Clone app to easily transfer your apps, contacts, messages, and more from your old handset.

In terms of battery life, I was not able to completely finish the normal PC Mark Battery benchmark because there is no option to turn off screen timeout.

However, I was able to use the Huawei Y8p from 9AM to 8 PM with still 25 percent to spare. So that's around 11 hours of normal usage. However, the charging time is a tad slow, especially in 2020 standards. It tasks me around 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours to charge from 20 to 100 percent.

The 48 triple camera system

Now, the cameras. For the rear cameras, it has a triple-camera setup with 48MP f/1.8 main sensor + 8MP f/2.4 + 2MP f/2.4 with LED flash. The images I was able to take is a bit disappointing in terms of the image processing done by the software. There's always that washed and filtered look that makes the images look very unnatural.

Switching to the Open Camera app, the image quality got better. Images are sharper and more vibrant which brings it closer to what your eyes see. To Huawei's credit though, they did put a lot of things with their camera app. 

There's the normal Photo mode, Video mode, Aperture Mode, Night Mode, and Portrait Mode. There's also Pro Mode, Slow-Mo, Panorama, Light Painting, HDR, Time-lapse, Moving Picture, Stickers, and High Res. It also has a Beauty filter as well. It can also shoot 1080p 60fps videos however it has no image stabilization for those like me with shaky hands.

16MP selfie camera

The AI also identifies what you are shooting at. There's also an AI Lens mode that can scan QR codes, identify items, find where to buy, and count calories of food.

The 16MP f/2.2 selfie sensor can take advantage of the software's Portrait, Photo, Video, and Night Mode.

Rear Camera Samples

Daylight shot

Daylight shot, slightly gloomy

Indoor shot, close up

Low light indoors

Another Night Mode shot

Selfie Camera Samples

Indoors, dimmer lights

Indoors, Better lighting

Selfie Night Mode, no fill light

Selfie Night Mode with fill light on

The rest of the Huawei Y8p is pretty much what you expect for a smartphone in 2020. It has dual-band WiFi, 700MHz 4G LTE. Bluetooth 5.0, FM Radio, OTG, USB-C, face unlock, and an In-Display fingerprint sensor. It also has NFC as well.

Huawei Y8p Specs

Display: 6.3-inch 2.5D curved OLED screen w/ FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 418 ppi

CPU: 2.2GHz 12nm Kirin 710F octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G51 MP4 w/ GPU Turbo 3.0

RAM: 6GB

ROM: 128GB expandable via NM card slot up to 512GB

Back Camera: 48MP f/1.8 + 8MP f/2.4 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 + LED flash (Global), 48MP f/1.9 + 8MP f/1.8 ultra-wide-angle + 2MP f/2.4 + LED flash (Belarus)

Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.2

Battery: 4,000mAh w/ 10W charging

OS: Android 10 w/ EMUI 10.1

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 700MHz 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, FM Radio, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, dual SIM

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: In-Display fingerprint sensor, USB-C, Colors: Midnight Black, Breathing Crystal

Dimensions: 157.4 x 73.2 x 7.75 mm

Weight: 163 g

Price: PHP 12,999 (PHP 8,999 new SRP)

Quick thoughts

For its original price of PHP 12,999, the Y8p is an okay deal. But, not that great

However, thanks to a new price cut, it is now a very competitive handset for the price. 

At PHP 8,999, Huawei Y8p is the most affordable with a 6.3-inch OLED screen with FHD+ resolution that provides a GREAT viewing experience. It also has a good design, decent multitasking performance, ample battery life, and a pretty good 48MP triple-camera system in this price point.

Things to improve upon for me is charging speed, gaming performance, and better camera app optimization. Gaming performance can provide up to 60fps of gameplay but no option for higher graphical settings which sacrifices the visuals for performance.

Huawei's App Gallery, as well as the Petal Search widget, made finding apps easier with my Huawei Y8p. Huawei has shown that it has made the App Gallery a viable solution to the Google ban the US imposed.

What do you guys think?