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Introduction
This one's perhaps a little unexpected given it was rumored to be the Enjoy 7S. It's by no means a nasty surprise though. In fact, quite the opposite. You see, Huawei's Enjoy phones aren't getting much love usually - either because they're a strictly domestic lineup, known as the Y-series globally, or because they're ... well... easily eclipsed by the flagship P's and the Mates.
Now, welcome the Huawei P Smart and get ready to be surprised.
Quite competitively priced for what it offers, the P Smart may turn out to be one of the company's most compelling recent offers. The overall package is downright solid, with a couple of highlights - the dual-camera rig and the FullView tall aspect ratio screen.
The Huawei P Smart maybe familiar if you're watching Huawei closely. It has clearly borrowed bits and pieces from the Honor 7X, although it has a smaller screen and a 13MP primary cam instead of 16MP. The rest is more or less the same. And it sounds really great on paper: the latest midrange Kirin chipset, a pair of cameras at the back, Android 8 with EMUI 8, all wrapped into a great-looking aluminum body.
Huawei P Smart specs:
- Body: Aluminum body
- Screen: 5.65" IPS LCD of 1,080 x 2,160px resolution (427ppi)
- Camera: 13MP + 2MP dual-camera with phase-detection AF, f/2.2 aperture; LED flash; 1080p video capture @ 30 fps;
- Selfie cam: 8MP f/2.0; 1080p @ 30fps video
- Chipset: 16nm Kirin 659, octa-core CPU (4xCortex-A53@2.36GHz + 4xCortex-A53@1.7GHz), dual-core Mali-T830 GPU
- Memory: 3GB / 4GB of RAM, 32GB / 64GB of storage; hybrid microSD slot
- OS: Android 8.0 Oreo with Huawei EMUI 8.0
- Battery: 3,000mAh Li-Po (sealed)
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A (Cat.6 300/50Mbps); microUSB; Wi-Fi b/g/n; GPS/GLONASS; Bluetooth 4.2; FM radio; NFC (region-dependent)
- Misc: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader
What we're have here is pretty much middle ground between the Mate 10 Lite and the P10 Lite. The sweet spot really - the P Smart is better than the P10 Lite and cut back on just some of the trimmings of the Mate. It has a smaller screen and a single selfie cam - though it keeps the simulated bokeh anyway. The best thing is the price was slashed accordingly to make the P Smart one of the most affordable Huawei phones around. Let's see what comes in the box.
Huawei P Smart unboxing
Going against the midrange grain, not only does the Huawei P Smart bundle a proper microUSB cable and a 10W charger plug, but also a pair of headphones with an integrated mic.
Although the headset looks rather basic, we always welcome a complete package, which saves you the hassle of searching for a compatible accessory. We dream of the days where all manufacturers will bundle a case and a screen protector too. But we digress.
Follow us on the next page for a closer look on the design and build quality.
Design and spin
The Huawei P Smart shares some DNA with both the Honor 7X and the Mate 10 Lite. It didn't have to look any further really. Those are some handsome phones, and a pleasure to handle too, so here's hoping the P Smart won't disappoint.
Indeed, Huawei dressed the P Smart up in the latest fashion: an extra tall "FullView" screen, trimmed top and bottom bezels, slim and sharp body and dual-camera for enhanced imaging experience.
Huawei P Smart next to the Honor 7X
As we said, the P Smart could easily pass for a reworked Mate 10 Lite. Because of its smaller screen diagonal, the P Smart is 6mm shorter than the Lite but is almost as wide and as impressively thin at 7.5mm. It even weighs the same 165g - go figure.
The Huawei P Smart's body is mostly made of metal, but they had to stay within budget, and it shines through in the plastic bits at the top and bottom. Making those parts of plastic is a familiar approach that facilitates signal reception - the phone radios lie beneath. But matching the paint job is often a mission impossible.
Luckily, Huawei got the finish right, and you can't tell the plastic from the metal unless you are forewarned. The fake antenna lines look good with that silver paint, though we can't decide if the P Smart would have been better without, knowing they serve no purpose.
Huawei P Smart
There is enough at the back to keep the focus of your attention elsewhere: the dual-camera comes with a single LED flash, and the fingerprint scanner is nearby too. The latter is always-on, super-fast and very accurate - a Huawei staple.
The slim Huawei P Smart has a flat rear, and the subtle curves on the sides are reminiscent of the most recent iPhones - alongside stablemates such as the Honor 7X and the Mate 10 Lite. Those make for a very pleasant hand feel, and the matte finish at the rear helps a pretty secure grip.
The centerpiece of the Smart is the 18:9 FullView display of a 5.65" diagonal and FullHD resolution. The 2.5D glass that flows neatly into the frame is a treat we'd like to keep seeing, and it goes well with those elegant side curves.
Finally, the Huawei P Smart is a dual-SIM smartphone with a hybrid card slot. It means you can either use two nano-SIMs or give one of those up for a microSD.
Huawei P Smart
Display
The Huawei P Smart has a 5.65" IPS LCD with the trendy 18:9 aspect ratio. It's a very decent screen of 1080p resolution with pleasingly sharp images at near flagship 427ppi. The P Smart's screen has solid specs, indeed, but let's see how it fares in actual use.
The display managed an excellent maximum brightness of 530 nits, which beats both the P10 Lite and Mate 10 Lite. The black levels are deeper than on most LCDs helping the P Smart to a respectable 1500:1 contrast ratio.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.356 | 531 | 1492 | |
| 0.257 | 476 | 1852 | |
| 0.351 | 560 | 1595 | |
| 0.401 | 532 | 1327 | |
| 0 | 413 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 559 | ∞ | |
| 0.351 | 551 | 1570 | |
| 0.548 | 555 | 1013 | |
| 0.288 | 510 | 1771 | |
| 0.295 | 470 | 1593 | |
| 0.297 | 431 | 1451 | |
| 0.357 | 546 | 1529 | |
The sunlight legibility of the P Smart's screen is below average and suffers from washed-out colors in the sun. Other than that, you will be able to see what's happening on the screen outdoors but on bright days you'll probably need to all that 530 nits of brightness.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Sony Xperia Z1
2.95 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - HTC One S
2.901 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Apple iPhone 4S
2.269 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - LG Aka
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
1.772 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
Out of the box, the Huawei P Smart ships with a colder color profile, which gives whites a bluish cast. Still, not that bad in terms of accuracy with an average DeltaE of 5.6 and a maximum of 9.1.
However, it also offers color correction with manual adjustment and presets. Avoid the latter, since they are both extreme. You can try and mimic our best achieved setting instead, which, after a fair bit of tweaking, brought down the DeltaE readings to 4.1 on average and 6.1 at the maximum. This will decrease the blue cast but won't take it completely away.
The best possible color setting
Battery life
The Huawei P Smart is powered by a 3,000mAh Li-Po battery, which you cannot access as usual. This is some 10% less capacity than what the Honor 7X and the Mate 10 Lite have, but hardly a surprise given the more compact body.
The phone ships with a 10W charger plug, which fills a depleted battery up to 25% in 30 mins. It takes two hours and then some to fully recharge.
The Huawei P Smart scored a 73 hour endurance rating, which is comparable to its Huawei siblings using 16nm Kirin chips. It posted very good screen-on times but average call endurance.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Huawei P Smart for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The Huawei P Smart has a single speaker, just like the one on the Mate 10 Lite and Honor 7X. Quite literally, since the bottom-firing unit scored almost identical loudness scores on the P Smart.
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 65.8 | 66.0 | 66.5 | Below Average | |
| 63.5 | 70.8 | 71.5 | Average | |
| 66.4 | 66.2 | 78.0 | Good | |
| 67.0 | 69.3 | 76.1 | Good | |
| 68.7 | 72.7 | 78.3 | Very Good | |
| 65.9 | 70.8 | 85.8 | Very Good | |
| 66.4 | 71.1 | 85.1 | Very Good | |
| 67.8 | 71.0 | 84.5 | Very Good | |
| 74.0 | 73.9 | 90.4 | Excellent | |
| 91.5 | 74.9 | 86.9 | Excellent |
Audio output is nicely clean, average in loudness
The Huawei P smart had excellent readings top to bottom in the active external amplifier part of our test. Its loudness was only average so we can’t give it full points, but we doubt many will mind its performance here.
Headphones relegated the volume to below average and caused some stereo crosstalk, but the output remained mostly accurate. Barring those owning very high-impedance headphones, most should be perfectly pleased with the job the P smart is doing in terms of audio output.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.03, -0.03 | -90.4 | 90.4 | 0.0078 | 0.015 | -80.3 | |
| +0.29, -0.20 | -90.2 | 90.1 | 0.0081 | 0.267 | -53.1 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0021 | 0.012 | -94.4 | |
| +0.17, -0.03 | -92.0 | 92.1 | 0.0023 | 0.092 | -52.8 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -92.1 | 92.2 | 0.0038 | 0.0085 | -90.0 | |
| +0.30, -0.07 | -91.7 | 91.8 | 0.022 | 0.206 | -72.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.4 | 93.2 | 0.0025 | 0.012 | -90.8 | |
| +0.20, -0.37 | -93.4 | 93.0 | 0.015 | 0.320 | -55.7 | |
| +0.01, -0.03 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0018 | 0.011 | -93.7 | |
| +0.15, -0.09 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0071 | 0.135 | -60.1 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -94.3 | 94.3 | 0.0038 | 0.0072 | -93.5 | |
| +0.31, -0.01 | -93.3 | 93.3 | 0.016 | 0.243 | -63.8 |
Huawei P smart frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
EMUI 8 with Android 8
The Huawei P Smart ships with the latest Android Oreo and Huawei's newest EMUI 8.0 skin over it. Emotion UI is constantly getting better, with behind-the-scenes improvements, like better RAM management, sophisticated battery management, improved miss-touch detection and higher touch accuracy, to name a few. And we appreciate the constantly shrinking amount of bloat, bundled in the ROM (although, there is still fat to trim) and the sheer number and the added convenience of the baked-in features.
Out of the box, there is no app drawer on the EMUI 8 - it's a single tier interface like on the iPhone. However, if you miss it, you can enable it back in the Display settings. There is also a handy search feature, which can be accessed by flicking down on any empty area of any home screen.
Home screen 1 • Home screen 2 • Home options • Search • Enable drawer
EMUI has something called Magazine lock screen, which rotates through a bunch of wallpapers so you see a different one every time you fire up the display.
The lockscreen
EMUI offers plenty of customization and features like face unlock, smart rotation, and lift to wake. Themes are supported, too, and there is a lot to choose from. There are a few themes to choose from with the option to change the icons, the skin, and wallpaper.
From the Phone Manager app, you can access shortcuts to storage cleanup, battery settings, blocked numbers, Virus scan powered by Avast, and mobile data usage.
Theme chooser • Theme • Theme • Theme • Phone Manager
The notification shade is pretty much a standard affair. There's a brightness bar with an Auto toggle - pull down again for more toggles.
Multitasking is pretty standard as well. Tap-holding the Recents key will let you activate split screen.
Notification area • Notifications • Toggles • Recent apps • Split scree
Huawei's own Music app is here and offers a way to listen to stored MP3s. An FM radio app is present, and the Gallery is here to stay.
Huawei's Health app is also pre-installed. It offers Google Fit syncing and step counting. There's a file manager app and a note-taking app. There is an abundance of replacements for these in the Play Store, however.
Music Player • Gallery • Huawei Health • Files • FM radio
Performance
The Huawei P Smart employs the same Kirin 659 chipset as the P10 Lite and Mate 10 Lite. They already offered some benchmark numbers and painted a pretty decent and usable picture for the Kirin 659 chipset. It is more of the same with the P Smart. Its scores are pretty much the same (within margin of error).
That being said, you can expect pretty similar conclusions. The Kirin 659 has a total of four Cortex-A53 cores. Four of those take the heavy lifting and work at 2.36GHz, while the other four take care of less power-intensive tasks while ticking at 1.7GHz.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Huawei P Smart
939 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
913 - Huawei Honor 7X
904 - Xiaomi Mi A1
877 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
874 - HTC U11 Life
873 - Motorola Moto X4
866 - Sony Xperia XA2
865 - Huawei P10 lite
834 - Sony Xperia L2
679
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
4309 - Xiaomi Mi A1
4292 - Sony Xperia XA2
4215 - HTC U11 Life
4140 - Motorola Moto X4
4136 - Huawei P Smart
3736 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
3603 - Huawei Honor 7X
3535 - Huawei P10 lite
3344 - Sony Xperia L2
1932
There are only two Mali-T830 GPU cores inside the P Smart, as on the rest of the budget Huawei phones, and those really struggle with modern graphics loads. But just to be on the safe side, those are still enough to run a huge chunk of the games on the Play Store, but hiccups, low-quality textures, or low fps are to be expected in the more demanding ones.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Motorola Moto X4
11 - Sony Xperia XA2
10 - HTC U11 Life
9.6 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
9 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.3 - Sony Xperia L2
6.3 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
6.2 - Huawei P10 lite
5 - Huawei P Smart
5 - Huawei Honor 7X
4.7 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
4.6
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Motorola Moto X4
14479 - Sony Xperia XA2
14312 - HTC U11 Life
14286 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
10484 - Xiaomi Mi A1
10472 - Huawei P Smart
8834 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
8721 - Huawei Honor 7X
8616 - Huawei P10 lite
7588 - Sony Xperia L2
4307
While the GPU scores might be dismal, the compound benchmarks show the Huawei P Smart and its Kirin 659 to be as capable as the best of mid-rangers - read Moto X4 and Xperia XA2 with their Snapdragon 630 silicon. Huawei once again demonstrated an excellent skills in making a balanced and capable chip.
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia XA2
1545 - Motorola Moto X4
1532 - Huawei P Smart
1486 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
1417 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
1408 - Huawei Honor 7X
1398 - HTC U11 Life
1342 - Huawei P10 lite
1284 - Xiaomi Mi A1
1262 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
1226 - Sony Xperia L2
816
For being one of the Huawei's budget offers, the P Smart turned out to be very well equipped for the class and won't fail you at any task. It handles organizing tasks hassle-free, and we had no issues playing popular games, though loading takes a while and hiccups do happen.
The Smart runs cool even at full throttle, so don't expect any heat issues no matter how you use it. It isn't a chart topper, sure, not even next to fellow mid-ranges, but the P Smart offers some nicely calculated balanced performance, and that's more than enough.
A dual camera on the back, portrait selfies at the front
Huawei P Smart ha a 13MP main camera with f/2.2 lens on the back, accompanied by a 2MP sensor for depth information, and a single LED flash. An 8MP sensor sits behind f/2.0 lens at the front.
Portrait mode with and without beautify is available for both snappers, while the variable aperture mode works only for the rear camera.
The camera interface is familiar as we have already seen it on the P10 and Mate 10 series. The options are hidden in menus you can bring up by swiping left or right from the screen (assuming you hold the camera in portrait mode). This may be confusing at first, but you quickly get used to it. The main menu houses all the available shooting modes - Photo, HDR, Panorama, Pro, Beauty, Light Painting, among others. There is also an advanced settings menu, summoned by a swipe from the top.
The Huawei camera app offers a Manual (Pro) mode, which manual focus, shutter speed (up to 8s), ISO, and a few other options. The Pro camera interface is very easy to use.
Camera UI • Modes • Settings • Pro mode • Variable aperture mode
Image quality
The 13MP samples we snapped during the day came out with moderate resolved detail, a bit soft, and with washed colors on most of the scenes. The dynamic range is about average. The noise levels are reasonably low, but they spike a lot in skies and shadowy spots. The samples are fine for the class, but not among the best we've seen.
Huawei P Smart 13MP camera samples
While the dynamic range is nothing impressive it did turn out to be wider than what you'd expect from the class. If you prefer punchier, contrast-heavy colors than what you are getting with the regular samples, you can use the manual HDR mode. While the HDR effects itself is rather limited, you will get better colors.
HDR off • HDR on
The low-light images are nothing special on the Huawei P Smart. They are noisy and soft but will do for occasional snaps to show something to your buddies on the social networks. The colors are once again dull.
Huawei P Smart 13MP low-light samples
You can get two different types of high-quality low-light samples on the P Smart, just like with any other recent Huawei smartphone. If you have a tripod, that is.
You can either use the Light Painting mode, where the Smart takes a picture with default settings and then captures only the moving lights imitating a professional looking long-exposure shot of say, streaks of car lights speeding along the road.
Or use the Pro (manual) mode to tweak all settings by yourself using some long shutter speeds (up to 8s) and get a bright and detailed low-light image.
Huawei P Smart 8MP Light Painting - Car Trails • Manual mode with 5s shutter at ISO 50
You can check out the Huawei P Smart in our photo compare tool for more pixel-peeping action.
Huawei P Smart vs. Honor 7X vs. Sony Xperia L2 in our photo compare tool
Panorama
The panorama mode is one of the better implementations, switching automatically between portrait and landscape. When shooting in portrait, panoramic images turn out just over 3,000 pixels tall and the sample below is about 20MP. Stitching is good, exposure is even, dynamic range is good, but the captured detail is barely average.
Huawei P Smart panorama
Portrait
The Portrait Mode is available on both the main and selfie snappers. It combines the Variable Aperture with Beautification and should offer Portrait shots with simultaneously enhanced faces and bokeh background effects.
The recognition isn't perfect, and you can see traces of the background or some chopped details from the person. This mode isn't as professional grade as on the flagships, but we expected a bit more. Still, those would do for the social networks. Probably.
Portrait samples
Variable aperture
Wide aperture, as Huawei call it, utilizes the depth information from the second 2MP camera. It lets you simulate the background defocusing wide apertures would give you and you can adjust the effect to simulate between f/0.95 and f/16.
As with most such implementations, the effect is far from perfect and the shots don't exactly hold up to pixel scrutiny. Other Huawei phones do a better job of isolating the subject form the background. With the P Smart however, the effect is more trigger-happy than it should be and eats some parts of the subject.
F/1.0 • F/1.0 • F/4.0 • F/4.0
Selfies
The selfie camera on the Huawei P Smart has an 8MP sensor behind f/2.0 lens. It also comes with portrait shooting mode albeit the lack of an assistive cam.
The regular samples turned out fine, detailed and with pleasing colors, but not as sharp as we'd like them to be. The noise levels are a bit higher, too, but at least the colors are true to life unlike the samples we got from the back snapper. We've seen better, but we've seen a lot worse, so the Smart samples are above the average in quality.
Huawei P Smart 8MP selfies
The Portrait Mode simulates bokeh alright, while it can also applies beautification effects on your face. The algorithm does a mostly fine job at recognizing your face and blurring the background, better than the supposedly high-quality portrait shots we got from the main shooter. Obviously, Huawei did better with the software simulation rather than using actual info from a second camera as is the case with the rear camera.
Huawei P Smart 8MP portrait selfie shots
Video camera
The Huawei P Smart can record 1080p videos at 30fps. There's no 1080p @ 60fps or 4K recording. The clips are recorded in MP4 files with a bitrate of 17Mbps. Audio is captured at a good 192Kbps (48kHz) rate, in stereo of course.
The video quality doesn't quite live up to our expectations. The image isn't as sharp as some competing phones in this class, nor is the resolved detail high enough. The dynamic range is rather wide as seen on the still images, though. The noise is kept low though, and the colors and contrast are very good.
As usual, we've provided an unedited sample straight out of the camera for you to download - 1080@30fps (11s, 24MB).
Be sure to head over to our video compare tool to check where the Huawei P Smart stands against the Honor 7X and the Xperia L2's 1080p videos. You can choose other cameras if you like.
Huawei P Smart vs. Honor 7X vs. Xperia L2 in our 1080p video compare tool
The competition
It's not an easy job making an affordable smartphone that stands up to scrutiny and holds up well against competition. Which demographic to target? What features to include? What should be the focus of the device, a single standout feature or a balanced if average spec sheet?
Indeed, while a flagship is meant to have everything, handpicking hardware for a particular budget is a tough juggle.
Good for the P Smart, Huawei managed to balance things up bundling a high-resolution wide screen and advanced imaging experience. They gave up on the metal unibody and some camera resolution but kept the price within reasonable limits.
The Huawei P Smart is cheaper than the Honor 7X and the Mate 10 Lite. The 7X will give you a bigger screen for a few extra bucks, while the Mate 10 Lite adds a second selfie camera.
Xiaomi's Mi A1 is a metal-clad Android One smartphone with a 5.5" 1080p screen, an efficient Snapdragon 625 chipset and a dual-camera at the back. It will give you faster updates and better graphics for the same price, but isn't as good at advanced imaging and creative effects.
The Galaxy A5 (2017) by Samsung has a Super AMOLED screen to show off and a water-tight body. Tempting, we know. It lacks a dual-camera and can't do bokeh but makes up for that with a high-res 16MP sensor with bright apertures each side. The A5 costs some €50 more than the P Smart but it's probably Huawei's most fierce competitor.
The LG Q6 offers a 5.5" tall screen of 1080p resolution but trails behind almost everywhere else - performance, camera, software and battery backup. The Q6 is about €20 cheaper though.
Finally, the Moto G5S Plus fails to offer a trendy screen aspect ratio but has faster performance and better camera quality, along with 4K video recording. The G5S Plus costs about the same as the P Smart, so it's a solid alternative to consider.
Xiaomi Mi A1 • Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) • LG Q6 • Motorola Moto G5S Plus
The verdict
Just a month ago, we though Huawei has hit the sweet spot with the Honor 7X, with pretty much unmatched value for money on a global scale, not confined to Southeast Asia. But the leading Chinese maker has outdone itself with the P Smart. Thoughtful trimming in the right places made it possible to keep the package up to par and drive the price down a little more.
Pros
- Great ultra-wide display
- Reasonable battery life
- Dependable overall performance
- Flexible and feature-rich EMUI 8 ROM over Oreo
- Good all-round camera experience with nice portrait shots, plenty of modes and advanced manual controls available
- Fast and accurate fingerprint reader
Cons
- No NFC or 5GHz Wi-Fi Support
- No fast charging
We had very few niggles with the Huawei P Smart. It certainly lacks some connectivity options but makes up for that with a great all-round package with a wide screen, balanced performance and advanced camera skills. And for the price of around €200, we think the P Smart did well to tick the right checkboxes and even went beyond.
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