Huawei launches Huawei P10, first phone with 4.5 LTE Capabilities ahead of #MWC17

With 4.5G LTE, Huawei says the phone will have the potential to reach up to 600Mbps on CAT12.

While the Huawei P9 came with fingerprint sensor on the back, the sensor on the P10 has been moved to the front. However, the scanner isn’t a pressable button just like the iPhone 7. Huawei has also integrated a few gestures into the scanner, allowing users to access Android control keys from the home button.

For example the fingerprint key will be multifunctional – a quick tap to go back, a long tap to go to the home screen and a swipe to go to recent apps.

“We try to create phones that have angles and split lines where they have to and curves where they have to but keep it as minimal as possible. Moving the fingerprint to the front is one [way] that gives us a more flat, more minimalistic device,” said Arne Herkelmann, Huawei European Head of Handset Portfolio and Planning.

Like the P9, the P10’s big drawcard is its camera. While there’s no upgrade from 12 megapixels, the collaboration with Leica to develop a dual lens back camera is now also available on the front. Huawei has also joined up with GoPro for the editing software, which is similar to the camera company’s Quick editing app. The big selling point is the new portrait mode feature, which is targeted towards the “fashion forward users of Instagram,” said Arne Herkelmann, European Head of Handset Portfolio and Planning.

“These people live on instagram so we’ve come up with a portrait mode that allows you to take portraits like a pro without being a pro,” he says.

The portrait mode identifies faces before a photo is taken and automatically adjusts lighting and focus to take a better shot of the people in the frame rather than the landscape. The front camera can also identify whether someone is taking either a solo selfie or a group selfie and adjusts the angle of the lens so the photo can be taken without having to awkwardly adjust your outstretched hand.

The complementary software to the camera is the ‘highlights’ feature. In collaboration with GoPro, highlights automatically tags and organises photos according to people, events and places where they can then be edited into slideshows and movies.

The Huawei P10 and P10 Plus will come with EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.1 Nougat. The new UI has a special feature that lets the theme on the phone blend with the color of your phone. EMUI 5.1 will be available to some other phones such as the Mate 9, Mate 9 Pro/Porsche Design and Huawei Nova to name a few.

Both devices feature NFC, USB Type-C and have global connectivity support. The P10 will also have knuckle split screen that will allow users to work on multiple windows. One-Step actions that allow users to share photos or videos are also include.

The bigger sibling is the Huawei P10 Plus and it shows it in a lot of ways. First the screen is bigger at 5.5-inches and the resolution has been bumped up to Quad HD (2560 x 1440). The P10 Plus also gets 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, though there is a 4GB/64GB variant as well. The camera sensors and the processor are the same but its Leica cameras are called Lecia Dual Camera 2.0 Pro. I guess the Pro comes into play in the f/1.9 aperture and autofocus feature of the front camera.

On the other hand the Huawei P10 features 5.1-inch 1080p display with Gorilla Glass 5, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of built-in storage. There is an octa-core Kirin 960 processor and a Mali G71 MP8 GPU. It has dual SIM support with one slot doubling as a microSD card slot that takes up to 256GB cards.

The phone sports a larger 3750mAh battery and this means it also weighs more at 165g compared to the 145g weight of the P10. Huawei says the. The P10 Plus is also waterproof. Both phones feature Huawei’s supercharge that can charge a phone to full within 90 minutes.

There will be eight colours, two that have been created in collaboration with Pantone – Dazzling Blue and Greenery. The other colours include Graphite Black, Dazzling Gold, Rose Gold, Prestige Gold, White Ceramic and Mystic Silver, with availability varying from region to region. A hyper diamond cut gives the phone a glossy finish but prevents fingerprint smudges.

Huawei also launched two smart watches, the Huawei Watch 2 and Huawei Watch Classic 2. Having worked on the phone with Google, Google’s David Singleton said that the new Watch will support Android Pay, and Google Assistant as well. The Watch will also have an app store thanks to Android Wear 2.0.

The Watch, which weighs 57 grammes, will come with the option of a e-SIM/nano-SIM card slot just like the iRist from Intex. The watch has built-in GPS, heart rate sensor and water and dust resistant (IP68) capabilities.

Both watches will come with a ceramic surface and a dual-crown design. The Watch also supports 4G LTE, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

P10 and P10 Plus will be launched in many countries and only in South Africa, in Africa for starters. The 4GB+64GB edition will come for ‎€649 euros. The 4GB+64 GB P10 Plus will come for ‎€699 euros and the 6GB+128 GB will come for ‎€799 euros. The Watch 2 4G edition will come for ‎€379 euros and the Bluetooth edition will come for ‎€329 euros. The Watch 2 Classic willl come for ‎€399 euros.