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Huawei Y5P Review: More than a basic smartphone

When looking for a new phone and you sort of have a tight budget, it doesn’t mean you need to settle for a really basic device. Smartphone manufacturers have been offering really solid entry-level phones and one of them is Huawei. For this review, we’re looking at the Huawei Y5P.

At just PhP 4,490, is it something you’d want to buy?

Design

The Y5P comes with a pretty standard design. Starting from the back panel, it has a slightly textured finish and the cover is made of hard plastic. On the upper left corner is a square-ish camera module housing its 8-megapixel sensor and LED flash.

Its power button is on the right and is lined up alongside the volume rocker. On the other side, we see the dual-SIM and microSD card tray that can accommodate up to 512GB to further expand your storage.

The bottom houses its micro USB port. Of course, we prefer the faster performance of USB-C but at this price range, one couldn’t really complain. Up top is its 3.5mm audio jack and that pretty much sums up the button and port placements of the phone.

As you may have noticed, there’s no speaker grille at the bottom since its earpiece is actually where the speaker is. Sound coming from it is decent and can go loud, but don’t expect too much from it.

One upside of its placement, though, is you don’t accidentally cover the speakers unlike when it’s down below. The device itself is thin and compact so together with its 5.45-inch display, navigating through the phone is really easy to do with one hand.

Finally, we have the Phantom Blue color but there’s also Midnight Black and Mint Green available if you prefer those.

Its HD+ FullView display comes with 1440 x 720 resolution. For me, that’s good enough for a screen this size. It also has a forehead and chin so looking at it from up front makes it seem like a standard phone from a few years back.

At full brightness, the screen can display vibrant and clear images enough for watching videos online.

Cameras

For the Y5P, there is no multiple camera setup as we’re normally accustomed to seeing these days. It sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with an LED flash and selfies are taken care of by its 5-megapixel front shooter.

Its cameras are pretty straightforward in a way that it’s not packed with too many extra features. Although, it carries the essentials like Panorama mode, HDR, Pro mode, and of course Beautification.

For the quality of its rear camera, it’s decent when shooting in well-lit environments and even has up to 4x digital zoom. Of course, there’s a bit of quality loss when you zoom all the way in and low light shots tend to be a little grainy. But overall, we’re contented with the quality that its rear camera produces.

They’re not great, but definitely good enough for posting on social media.

As for selfies, they’re also decent and tend to brighten up the face which is a good thing. Beautification also works effectively smoothing out the skin and you can adjust the intensity from 0 to  10.

AppGallery

The Huawei AppGallery is the company’s official app distribution platform to search, download, manage, and share mobile apps. Yes, it’s not a secret that it doesn’t have access to Google’s Play Store but the AppGallery itself has a slew of available software ready for download.

And for a random fact, Huawei’s AppGallery is now the third biggest app store globally, with 180 billion downloads and over 390 million monthly active users worldwide.

Some of the apps you can have on your phone include Facebook, Viber, and TikTok for your social needs, Lazada for shopping, and GCash, BDO, and PayMaya for your online banking needs.

There are more apps you can find in the AppGallery, but if you can’t specifically find the one you’re looking for, you can download APKs directly to your phone from the Huawei Browser or get them from third-party app stores.

We’ve been using some of these apps for a while and they’re pretty much the same experience as when you get them from anywhere else.

Performance

On the software side, it comes with AI facial recognition that adds a layer of security for your phone. It’s easy and quick to set up and is reliable enough to instantly scan your face and unlock the device.

Its EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10 is also pre-installed. You get features like battery-saving, gestures, and Digital Balance which tracks how long you use your phone each day. 

The Y5P is equipped with a MediaTek octa-core processor and is accompanied by 2GB of RAM with 32GB of internal storage. This tandem proved to be sufficient for everyday tasks like browsing the web, reading through your social media, watching videos online, and casually playing games.

It also comes with GPS, Bluetooth for wireless connectivity, and 4G LTE for faster internet speeds.

Battery Life

As for battery life, the device is powered by a 3020mAh battery which is a pretty sizable capacity despite its thin form factor. While playing games with Wi-Fi connectivity active, it was able to last us for almost eight hours which is not bad thanks to its modest display size, resolution, and energy-saving features.

However, charging it from 0-100% took a bit of time at almost three hours. 

Creature Feature

In our reviews, The Modern Creatures aims to find that one special feature in a device that makes it worth having — something that gives the product a slight edge from among its peers. For the Y5P, we would have to say its 32GB storage is an attractive offering, especially for this price point.

Plus, if you need more space to store your files, you can always add a microSD card up to 512GB.

Conclusion

It’s nice to know that with today’s offerings, one doesn’t necessarily have to shell out a lot of money just to get your hands on a decent phone that you can use everyday.

With phones like the Huawei Y5P, customers are offered decent performance, straightforward camera features, and a battery life that can last you an entire day.

The Huawei Y5P is a great phone to give as a gift, for example, as it doesn’t cost much and performs well. It could also well be your reliable secondary phone, a phone for your child to play games in, or simply your daily driver if you think you don’t need the complexities of other, more expensive phones.

Huawei Y5P specs:
5.45-inch LCD display, 1,440 x 720 resolution, 18:9 aspect ratio, 73.8% screen-to-body ratio
Octa-core MediaTek Helio P22 processor
2GB RAM
32GB expandable storage (microSD, up to 512GB)
8-megapixel camera with flash
5-megapixel front camera
3.5mm headphone jack
3,020mAh battery
EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10, Huawei Mobile Services
Colors: Mint Green, Midnight Black, Phantom Blue