Huawei P7 review： Continuing the classic design and improving the experience of the whole machine

As Huawei’s most successful smartphone product last year, the Ascend P6 successfully broke through 6 million in global shipments, which also doubled Huawei’s confidence in the P series, so this year’s follow-up product P7 has naturally become one of Huawei’s most important products. Yesterday’s press conference in Paris, France, showed Huawei’s desire for the European market, and the importance of P7.

The biggest feature of Huawei P7 comes from the upgrade of hardware. The performance of the new HiSilicon 910T processor has become a concern for many people. And before the press conference, I got this Huawei P7 mobile phone. For the questions that many netizens care about, I will answer them one by one through the evaluation.

Appearance: Details improved, workmanship improved

More than half of the success of the P6 is due to the excellent design of the phone, and Huawei naturally wants to extend the design essence of the P6 to the P7. So when I first got the phone, in addition to the feeling of getting started and the material change, I didn’t find any more differences between the P7 and the previous one.

However, after careful study, I found that there are still many improved designs between the P7 and P6. First of all, the material of the mobile phone, the back case of the P7 is made of glass, instead of the metal brushed material of the P6. In terms of feel, the glass surface of the palm feels better, but glass is easier to use as a fingerprint collector than brushed metal, which is a double-edged sword.

Due to the increase in the screen size to 5 inches, the body circumference of the P7 has increased somewhat. The 139.8 × 68.8 × 6.5mm size is not as stunning as the so-called 8.18mm of the P6 last year, but it is estimated that it will save a lot of trouble for Huawei’s public relations team (laughs…).

The P7 maintains the design form of the upper and lower circles. The difference is that the bottom border part has become one-piece this time, rather than detachable like the P6. Obviously, the design difficulty of the P7 is higher than that of the P6. After all, the bottom needs to be designed with an integrated arc, which requires higher craftsmanship. The advantage of this design is that the glass panel on the back can almost cover the entire back, and the feel will not be reduced due to seams.

The P7 has cancelled the maddening headphone jack design on the P6, and the headphone jack has been moved back to the top. The SIM card slot and the SD card slot are still on the right, and the card slot is not marked, which is difficult to distinguish.

The frame of the P7 is still made of metal. In order to ensure that the frame will not block the signal, there are segmented ceramic antennas on the top of both sides of the phone. Since the bottom of the P7 is plastic, the antenna can go from here, so the P7 is not a three-segment antenna like the iPhone. What you see outside the phone is only two.

Screen: Meet the user request to upgrade 1080P

When Huawei released the P6, it always claimed that the 4.7-inch screen with 720P resolution was enough, and 1080P was a waste. However, on the P7, Huawei still upgraded the screen to 5-inch 1080P, which has become one of the best combinations of screen quality and operability in current large-screen mobile phones.

The 5-inch 1080P screen and the screen pixel density of 445 have improved the screen quality of the P7 by a notch. If you have used the P6, the grainy screen will definitely be vivid in your mind. However, these problems have been fundamentally solved on the P7. I shot the screen of the P7 with the Canon 6D. When enlarged to 100%, the grainy screen icon of the mobile phone is basically invisible.

Basically, all the domestic mobile phone screens that can sell for about 2,000 dollars are not too bad, especially the P7, which has a very important position in Huawei’s product line, the screen is naturally not much different. In terms of visual experience alone, the P7 screen can be regarded as having colors and brightness, and the single-piece fit screen is enough to meet the needs of daily use in terms of transparency and viewing angle.

Hardware: not as beautiful as imagined

Previously, it was rumored that Huawei would use the latest eight-core processor Kirin 920 on the P7, but in the end, it was found that Huawei had "carelessly" installed a Kirin 910T on the P7. You can simply think of the new Kirin 910T as an upgraded version of the Kirin 910 used on the previous P6S, mainly to increase the main frequency to 1.8GHz, and the memory of the 910T became a dual pass.

Kirin 910T uses the ARM A9r4 architecture. Although it is the latest version, it is still A9 after all. I can’t compare it with Qualcomm Snapdragon’s top processor. From the running point, the level of 910T is probably similar to the level of Snapdragon 600.

In particular, the GPU used by the 910T is the Mali450MP4, which is much more compatible than the previous P6’s K3V2, but the mail450 is a high-efficiency, low-efficiency and power-saving solution. Due to the long time, there are no high expectations in terms of performance. It can be said that the Kirin 910T can handle 1080P playback very well, but for higher graphics and decoding requirements, the 910T will be very weak.

In terms of heat generation, the heat generation of the P7 is not as hot as that of the P6, but when running games or playing online videos for a long time, the heat generation on the back of the phone is still very obvious, and the feel temperature exceeds 40 degrees Celsius. However, considering that the Huawei P7 I got is an engineering prototype, and even the built-in system is an engineering version, this heat generation may be improved after the official version is launched.

Software: System upgrade Android 4.4 interface has changed little

The system used on Huawei P7 is Emotion UI 2.3 based on Android 4.4.2. This time, Huawei, which finally did not drop the chain on the system version, used the latest underlying and latest UI.

The interface of Emotion UI 2.3 has not changed much, and what you see when you turn it on is still the combination of iconic various widgets. 2.3 has newly added the sharing function of the APP. After dragging the icon and moving to the share button at the top, the program can be sent to the other party through functions such as Bluetooth and WiFi direct connection. Personally, I think this function is quite practical, and it does not need to be transferred through third-party tools. It is very convenient for daily software exchange.

After the change of the lock screen interface in 2.0, 2.3 has undergone some changes again. First of all, this time Huawei has cooperated with some media to use the pictures provided by the media as the lock screen interface diagram, a total of six categories, including stars, travel, fashion, life, cars and sports. Users can choose the specified items to appear in the lock screen interface.

At the same time, there is a shortcut operation bar at the bottom of the lock screen interface, providing content such as music control, calendar, calculator, flashlight, etc. As long as the user does not set the lock screen gesture or password, you can directly open these tools. However, the experience of this function is very poor. Due to the large screen of the P7, when unlocking with one hand, the shortcut operation bar is often pulled out instead of unlocking directly. This probability of misoperation often occurs in my actual experience. At the same time, the drop-down toolbar cannot be closed, which makes me a bit crazy.

2.3 Added a super power saving mode, similar to what Samsung used on the S5. After switching, the entire interface goes black, only phone calls and text messages can be made, and network functions are disabled. In other words, the P7 directly changes from a smartphone to a function machine, and the entire interface goes black, which saves a lot of power on the screen. I also tested this mode, and the phone dropped 3% in 27 minutes. In fact, it doesn’t save so much power, because when making a phone call, the screen automatically turns off, and the power saving is mainly due to the network being cut off.

The same-screen multitasking that has been played skillfully by many Android phone manufacturers also appeared on the P7. After turning on the floating button, functions such as video, music, text messages, calculators, etc. can be run in small window mode on the screen. This function itself is very good, but the shortcoming is that the function is relatively simple, and it is a pity that third-party apps cannot be added.

Network: Supports TD-LTE network

When I got this P7, I also got a parameter table of the P7, which said that Huawei P7 is the "king of telecommunications equipment manufacturing – dual 4G supports TDD and FDD, single card dual standby". Later, I found that the baseband chip with five modes and ten frequencies is actually used in the P7, so in theory the P7 supports TDD, FDD, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA and GSM networks.

However, due to MIIT regulations, licensed mobile phones listed in China cannot be compatible with other 3G (4G) network standards as long as they are compatible with TD standard, so when this mobile phone is actually listed in China, it is blocked from FDD and WCDMA networks, and it is only possible to roam into the FDD network when it is used overseas. Although it is not fooling people, such propaganda is exaggerated, and how can a company like ZTE say that it is "five-mode seventeen-frequency" every time?

Photo: 13 million pixel f/2.0 lens

Huawei P7 is equipped with a 13 million pixel camera, using Sony’s stacked sensor and f/2.0 aperture, which can be said to be comparable to many flagship phones in terms of hard power. In terms of software, Huawei has enhanced HDR capabilities on the P7 this time, and replaced the motor to speed up the focus time.

From the sample, the overall performance of the Huawei P7 in normal light is good, especially the color reproduction is quite accurate, and the signs of edge smearing after 100% enlargement are not very serious, and the sharpness is very good. Proofs in low-light environments can be seen that there is a certain problem with the amount of light entering the P7 during shooting, and the brightness of the entire photo is slightly lacking, resulting in a deviation in white balance. Therefore, photos taken in low-light environments feel like they are produced in a cloudy state. Fortunately, the P7 can still handle the details very well. In the case of night, the problem of the P7 is more serious in the ability to suppress noise. Due to the low amount of light entering, the problem is enlarged, and the number of red and green noise on the photo is very large, resulting in a decrease in the overall quality of the photo.

Battery life: The rhythm that needs to be strengthened

Huawei P7 has a built-in 2500 mAh battery. Although I didn’t take apart the phone to see the internal structure, when I got the parameters, I started to think that the battery was too small. In actual use, according to the normal usage frequency every day, half an hour of phone calls, more than WeChat, music is played for 2 hours, and the rhythm of the game is one hour. This battery can only make the P7 work for 12 hours. If you play two more hours of games or watch two more hours of online video, the battery life will be shortened to 10-10.5 hours.

What do you mean? That is to say, if you take the P7 out at 7 am and use it at a similar frequency to mine, the battery life of this phone can only be carried until 19 pm. Unless you charge it, you must go home on time. If you don’t get home, your daughter-in-law will risk divorcing you…

Summary: How much to sell is the key

Huawei announced the price of the European version at yesterday’s press conference, 499 euros, which is about 4,300 + yuan, while the price of the domestic version was also exposed last night, 2888 yuan. The price that meets psychological expectations, the price of the European version is much more expensive than the licensed price due to the high tax problems in its region.

In terms of vertical comparison, the price of Huawei P7 has risen compared to the price of P6 last year. After the success of P6, P7 is bound to increase investment in research and development, marketing costs, etc. It seems that the increase of 200 yuan is indeed not expensive. 2688 has been paid. Do you still care about paying an extra 200 yuan?

But when compared horizontally, it is also the flagship of a domestic mobile phone. It seems that Huawei P7 does not have much advantage in the entire domestic mobile phone product line. After all, it is just a product with hard power at the level of Snapdragon 600. The selling point of P7 lies in the design and shape. Whether it can win the market’s favor again this time depends on its performance after listing. (Wu Bin)