When Huawei announced its intention to collaborate with Leica on a photography-focused smartphone last year, the tech world anticipated one of the best mobile shooters in years. Unfortunately, the P9 flattered to deceive, and although its dual-lens camera boasted some innovative features, it couldn’t compete with the Pixel or iPhone for pure photography prowess.
An unfortunate marketing gaffe that appeared to claim that a photo taken by the Canon 5D Mark III was in fact taken by the P9 didn't help consumer trust.
Now the second iteration, the Hauwei P10, has made its way into consumers hands. Evoking a similar design aesthetic as the Samsung S8 and LG G6, curved corners and reduced bezels surround a compact 5. 1" Full-HD display. Beneath an all-metal enclosure lies a HiSilicon Kirin 960 octa-core chip, a 3200 mAh battery and 4GBs of RAM, ensuring that the phone can handle even the most intensive processing loads.
On the back, Huawei have once again combined two sensors, one capturing 12-megapixels in colour, and a 20-megapixel monochrome shooter. Both lenses shoot simultaneously and software combines the results to enhance the light and detail of each image. Both lenses are fixed at f/2. 2 aperture and the color camera features optical image stabilization. 2x lossless zoom is also possible, as is 4K recording.
The camera software has also been stepped up since the P9, with an improved 'Leica-style' portrait mode that utilises 3D face detection to create a fake depth of field effect. We tested this feature extensively on the P9 and results were mixed. Simple portrait shots can look great, but the software tends to struggle with hair or rough edges, limiting its use. Early reports indicate that the P10 suffers from similar issues, although Huawei have included additional ‘beautification’ features designed specifically for portraits, including a lighting adjustment slider.
Overall, the P10 appears to be a solid smartphone in an era of outstanding smartphones. Once again, Huawei is betting that the Leica branding and a heavy emphasis on photography will help the P10 to stand out from the crowd. With such intense competition from Samsung and LG, plus the growing anticipation of a Pixel 2 in the works from Google, it remains to be seen if that will be enough.
. digitalrev.com2017-4-24 03:00
