Huawei P Smart 2019: is it still the king of the entry range?

The original Huawei P Smart was the best-selling mobile phone in Spain during 2018 , according to data from the GFK consultancy. A year later, the Chinese company launched its renewal, the Huawei P Smart 2019, along with two terminals of the same range, the P Smart Plus 2019 and the P Smart Z. The terminal in question came to fill some of the shortcomings presented by the original model, as is the design, the processor and the internal memory. Today it is possible to get hold of the Chinese proposal for a price of around 170 euros , a price that clashes with the rest of the alternatives presented by brands such as Xiaomi or even Samsung. Is he still the king at the gates of his next renovation? We see it.

Technical sheet Huawei P Smart 2019

Design: on par with the market

Almost a year after the launch of the P Smart 2019 the design of the device is still capital. Although the terminal has sacrificed the aluminum chassis that it presented with the first generation, this year's model has a lower weight and a greater percentage of usable screen surface, a screen that uses a 6.21-inch IPS LCD panel and Full HD + resolution . Part of the blame for this is due to the integration of a waterdrop-shaped notch to reduce the thickness of the side, top and bottom frames.

If we talk about dimensions, the terminal keeps relatively contained figures: around 15.5 centimeters high, 7.3 wide and 8 thick . Regarding biometric methods, the device maintains the fingerprint sensor on the back and also adds an additional method based on the face unlocking of the front camera.

Very decent hardware with Android 10 just around the corner

In the hardware section, Huawei has taken a giant leap by opting for the latest generation of mid-range processors. We are talking about the Kirin 710, a processor that competes head-to-head with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 in calculations that have to do with the general performance of applications and the graphics performance of games thanks, in part, to GPU Turbo 2.0 . Within the Huawei processor market we can place it between the Kirin 659 and the Kirin 810.

Another novelty of the Huawei P Smart 2019 compared to its predecessor is found in the memory configuration: 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The latter can be expanded through micro SD cards, as is customary in Huawei. Although the most remarkable thing about the terminal is that it will be updated to the latest version of Android on the market: Android 10. This was confirmed by the company itself in the middle of this year through a tweet on the Huawei Spain account (@HuaweiMobileESP).

The double camera continues to talk

We already saw it in the 2018 model, and this year's P Smart was not going to be less. Two cameras of 13 and 2 megapixels is the configuration that we find on the back of the device. The main sensor, by the way, has a focal aperture f / 1.8. Thanks to its focal width we can play with night photography without sacrificing quality or definition in excess . This is accompanied by a Night Mode that inherits directly from the P20, as well as an HDR mode that manages to save the majority of photographs with contrasting shadows and lights.

As for the secondary sensor, it uses its functions to improve the depth of photographs in Portrait Mode . Its usefulness, therefore, is limited to obtaining information on the background and the contour of the bodies that we want to focus a posteriori through the Camera application.

And what about the front camera? With an 8 megapixel sensor and a focal aperture f / 2.0, Huawei's bet replicates part of the functions that we find in the main camera, with modes such as Portrait Mode, IA Mode or Beauty Mode . It also has light filters that allow us to play with studio photography.

Autonomy and connectivity: average

Few are the novelties that the P Smart 2019 presents in connectivity if we compare it with the 2018 model. Despite the fact that the terminal comes loaded with all kinds of connections (NFC, FM radio, A-GPS ...) we continue to miss the incorporation of Bluetooth 5.0 or dual band WiFi . Also the integration of a USB type C connection.

If we talk about autonomy, the phone uses a 3,400 mAh battery , a figure that, although it may seem insufficient, remains average thanks to the low consumption of its processor and the size of its screen. It is also accompanied by a 10 W fast charging system .

Huawei P Smart 2019 vs P Smart + 2019 vs P Smart + 2019 vs P Smart Z: this is the mid-range

Along with the launch of the P Smart 2019 and during the coming months, the company launched the P Smart Plus 2019 and the P Smart Z , two terminals that are superior in characteristics if we compare them with the base model. The differences with respect to the P Smart Plus 2019 are minimal. The only substantial improvement is, in fact, in the photographic section.

Huawei P Smart Z.

The Plus model opts for three cameras of 24, 16 and 2 megapixels where not only photographic quality is improved thanks to the increase in resolution, it also includes a sensor with a wide-angle lens that allows images to be captured with a much wider field of view . The rest of the aspects are practically identical: design, battery, screen, processor ... Its price is not, since today it starts from 210 euros in Amazon and third-party stores, which represents a difference of 40 euros compared to the model standard.

Finally, we come to the P Smart Z, a device that raises the ante in design by integrating a retractable front camera and a much cleaner front and used in terms of useful surface. The rest of the sections are relatively similar, except for the processor (Kirin 710F, an improved version of the 710) and the RAM , which happens to be 4 GB. Also integrated is a higher capacity battery (4,000 mAh to be exact), a 6.59-inch screen and a USB Type-C wired connection.

However, the price of the terminal is only 220 euros , very far from the 170 euros for which the version can be purchased today.