Huawei P Smart 2019 – not just a small price tag, but a small notch too
With smartphones coming out of their ears, Huawei is not going to miss out on the budget segment. The Huawei P Smart is a fully capable smartphone with a small price tag.
Already, the company has a subsidiary for the budget segment, called Honor. But, being a big name, it was not going to leave anything to chance. The Huawei P Smart is essentially a copy of the Honor 10 Lite with a toned down and simpler backplate in matt finish albeit still with bright colours.
The 2019 version is a major upgrade to the previous 2018 model that it replaces. The first thing you will notice is the U shaped dewdrop notch. This is the same dewdrop notch featured on Huawei’s flagship smartphones the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 X both of which are very big phones with 6.53-inch and 7.2-inch displays respectively.
Huawei P Smart has a minimal U shaped notch on the top of its 6.21-inch FullView display (Full HD+ 1080 x 2340 pixels 19.5:9 aspect ratio. Huawei calls this the dewdrop notch. This Huawei P Smart 2019 features a pair of AI enhance shooters on the rear combining 13MP and 2MP camera.
The main cameras are capable of AI scene recognition in real time with up to 22 categories and 500 scenarios automatic selection for the best shot. The front shooter, also AI enhanced is capable of optimising selfie shots with 8 unique scenes.
Like Honor 10 lite, at the heart of the P Smart is the Kirin 710 octa-core chipset with 3GB RAM and 32GB or 64GB storage. It certainly is not as fast as the flagship 7nm Kirin 980 chipset and Dual NPU found on the Huawei Mate 20 and Mate 20 X, but it does the job. Huawei makes up for this with smart software and dual features.
As a budget device, this is a pretty decent buy offering great value from the word go. Just look at the new trend setting dewdrop notch. It will certainly turn some heads and make the device look more upmarket as these are typically reserved for high-end models. If anything, it certainly looks better than the old model.
We are disappointed with a few details, but at this price, we can’t complain too much. First off is the use of microUSB as oppose to the reversible USB-C. It should be about time that Huawei move all new smartphone releases to the user friendly USB-C interface.
Next, weren’t quite impressed with the sound. The sound system of lack of it means you can’t really enjoy anything be it game, TV shows or movies from your phone without using a good pair of headphones. Lucky for us, the Huawei P Smart 2019 left the headphone jack in.
Elsewhere, we are happy with the fingerprint scanner on the back plate. this is fast and reliable to unlock the device. There is also the matter of the battery life. With a 3400mAh battery it is not the biggest but enough to get us through the day without requiring a top up.
Overall, the phone with its 6.21-inch display, good camera setup and high quality built makes it an amazing value preposition. You are not going to get a lot of phone for your money at this price point. This and the Honor 10 Lite are truly the best smartphones on a budget.
