Huawei P Smart Z

Huawei P Smart Z takes the design signature of Huawei a step ahead by bringing in the pop-up camera – a modern design that’s storming the market. Priced at Rs. 21,790, the Huawei P Smart Z does arrive with a lot of features to satisfy the midrange crowd.

However, the phone falters in certain essential aspects. As is the case with low-priced Huawei models, the phone comes with a poor camera and mediocre processor, both of which eliminates the phone from being a midrange all-rounder. There are better phones present in the market at this price, and hence, the Huawei P Smart Z lacks the competitive edge to make a mark in the midrange market.

Huawei P Smart Z comes with the modern, pop-up camera, which is taking the smartphone market by storm. Without opting for any distracting notch or punch-hole display, the phone goes for a complete immersive display by using the pop-up camera module. It is quite large, like the OnePlus 7 Pro and comes with a dimension of 163.5 x 77.3 mm, which makes one-hand use challenging. However, the display is about 84%, which is excellent, though it does not achieve the 91% that Huawei boasted of. The rounded back panel is made out of plastic, and it does have a hollow back since it dents when a little force is applied. The camera also gives a wobbly sensation, which overall shows that the phone can be weak structurally. However, the buttons on the phone are at an ergonomic position and can be reached easily. The phone lacks IP certification though, and hence, it is not water or dust resistant.

The phone comes with an IPS-LCD display with a measurement of about 15.2 cm diagonally. It has a resolution of about 2340×1080 pixels and comes with a pixel density of about 391ppi. Pixels are not very visible with regular use, and the viewing angles are quite right. Even the texts appear sharper. However, the maximum brightness is a bit low at 439 cd/m². The brightness distribution of the phone is quite even, going around 92%. The viewing angle which mostly stable might result in the brightness reduction at extreme angles. If used indoors, the brightness of the phone stands out, though it is not recommended for outside use.

The phone arrives with a HiSilicon Kirin 710F with four ARM Cortex A73 processor clocked at 2.2 GHz and four Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.7 GHz. Just like the Kirin 980, this mid-range chipset also has GPU Turbo support and has integrated Neuronal Processing Unit (NPU) which helps it to handle AI functions. It has an ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU as well. Overall, the phone is efficient and paired well with 4GB RAM, though its performance falls behind Snapdragon 710 of Mi 9 SE. Multitasking is mostly smooth, but at times, the processor may start to lag. Load times are a bit longer than Mi 9 SE. Demanding games may stutter at high settings, but at low settings, they run smoothly.

As a Huawei phone, the main highlight of the Huawei P Smart Z is the 16MP motorized pop-up selfie camera. However, while the design is excellent, the selfie camera quality is not very appreciable. It tends to suffer from overexposure and click mediocre selfies. It has an f/2.0 aperture, which means it is not very light sensitive. Hence, you get a lot of blurred images. At the back, the phone comes with two lenses – a 16MP primary camera and a 2MP depth-sensing camera. Under adequate light conditions, the photos turn out pretty well. The dynamic range is excellent, and the images are quite punchy and well-defined. However, when the lights become dim, the quality of the photos fall, and you get grainy images. The recording is also limited in these photos. The selfie camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps, and the rear camera can shoot Full HD videos at 60 fps. However, both of them do not record great photos.

The phone has a 4000 mAh battery which lasts for a long time. It can run about 12.5 hours surfing at a moderate brightness, which means that you can keep the phone chugging for about a whole day. Charging may take you about 2 hours.

The Huawei P Smart Z has a bezel-free design and pop-up camera, thereby redefining the design statement of Huawei. Design-wise, it has all the potential to stay afloat in the market. In terms of performance and battery, the Huawei P Smart Z is adequately fitted with a powerful processor and a long-lasting battery. However, it does fail to make a mark with its poor display. The cameras, for which Huawei has always been famous, turns out to be mediocre and an inferior performer during low-light situations. Overall, the phone can be a delight for Huawei fans, but it does not meet the photo-capturing benchmarks that other Huawei phones have set for themselves.