Huawei P Smart (Single Sim) SIM-Free - Black

I was on the hunt for a budget smartphone as present for a relative and my research showed this was one of the best value phones around. I've tested the phones for the basics and in a nutshell, everything seems to work very well. The screen is a 5.65-inch IPS LCD and with minimal bezel makes the phone reasonably compact. The display is very bright and pictures (and videos) look sharp and well detailed with accurate colour reproduction. The 13 megapixel camera is quick and pictures look great too. Applications such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Chrome performed well, felt fast and no lags. The 3GB RAM combined with the kirin 659 octacore processor contributed to a smooth performance (3GB is the absolute minimum). The build quality is good, the aluminum mat black finish look slick (similar to iphone). The factory fitted screen protector is a nice touch. The battery is 3000 mAh which is good enough and seemed efficient. The charging port is a micro-usb and I don't understand why Huawei didn't include usb-c. I was disappointed with the lack of fast charging. The software is Android 8 with Huawei EMUI skin which is very annoying to use. It so heavily customized and completely reworked Oreo, even the App drawer is replaced by on screen icons à la iOS. This is not a deal breaker though, there are plenty of launchers that can be downloaded to replace the EMUI.What's good: Responsive finger print sensor, good camera, good performance, slick design, good build quality, excellent 18:9 display, NFC, Android 8.0 Oreo, 32GB Storage with MicroSD slot.....And not so good: Heavily customized Android EMUI, no fast charging, micro-usb charger (no usb c), camera struggled in low light.For someone looking for a budget phone that does all the basics right, then it'll hard not to be impressed with the P Smart and the amount you get for the low price.

The 8 core processor guarantees great performance. Cameras are superb but needs good lighting like most mobiles. (My Sony compact camera can take pictures at night). Nice built in apps that do not intrude, I like the Health one. 32Gb internal memory is adequate and you can always expand with Micro SD card unless using two sims. (Second sim is only activated if you lose reception on first network, could be handy in remote areas but not most of UK) Battery life is superb, I didn't use my phone yesterday and still had 91% left, typically has 75% after 24 hours. The build quality and superb case is as good as any other offering. There are a choice of cases available and I got one at the same time. It comes with a screen protector so saves you buying one separately. Makes my 2 yr old phone look a dinasaur.

Overall not a bad phone, but there's there's stuff I don't like. I bought this to replace a Moto G5, when the USB port broke.Good stuff: The screen's good, battery life is good, and the phone is responsive. It was cheaper than a Moto G6. Camera seems OK.Bad Stuff:1. Crammed with bloatware. Moto handsets are closer to stock Android with less annoying add-on tat installed. I don't use Facebook, or the myriad of other rubbish pre-installed, on my phone, but I have to have it unless I flash a custom ROM.2. The audio output for wired headphones is shocking. Without the "Histen" effects switched on, it's flat and lifeless, with them on it compresses dynamic range and sounds awful. I'm either going to need bluetooth headphones or a seperate music player.3. the second SIM

This is by far the best phone I have ever had. I am thrillled with its performance,value for money and impressive 3 year gaurantee. The only small problem I have found are with sms message notifications. I would prefer a number count on top of the short cut, rather than a tiny dot. when I have unread messages. Some people have complained about the camera.The camera is ok but not outstanding. It does have some really good tools with it. I enjoyed "smile activation" and "say cheese" (methods of taking picturers remotely). The picture quality is better than my previous Sony Xperia but not as good as my wifes Samsung A7 but thats a more expensive phone.All in All ,This is an amazing phone for the money and if it prooves reliable I will be sticking with Huawei in the future. if you are thinking of buying this phone you won't be dissapointed. Go ahead and buy it.