Review: Huawei P20 lite, the midranger here to stay

With tough competition dominating the smartphone industry especially for the mid-tier range, smartphone makers are susceptible to even the smallest of upgrades.

Huawei's latest addition to the P series certainly hit a few right notes. Released in March, the company aims to replicate the Mate 10 lite's success with the P20 lite.

Recently, we received the device for review and before we dwell into the intricacies, let's take a look at the specifications.

The P20 lite has a 5.8-inch 1080 x 2280 pixels FullView display with 432 PPI pixel density and 19:9 aspect ratio. The company as expected has gone with the inhouse Kirin 659 octa-core processor, 4GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage with the option of an expandable memory of up to 256Gigs. Similar to the Y7 Prime 2018, the device has a 3,000mAh Li-ion battery.



It has 16MP + 2MP dual cameras on the back along with a similar 16-megapixel selfie camera. Similarly, Huawei has stuck with the EMUI 8.0 skin introduced in the Mate series inline with the Android 8 Oreo Operating System.

For its market value, the device retails at Rs 36,000.

Design

PHOTO: HUAWEI

The device received was in the midnight black colour. The shine and Gloss usually lead to lots of smudges and blotches especially for more vibrant colours such as the shiny blue colour.

The good news is that the device is so far less susceptible to smudges than expected. However, with a fingerprint scanner at the back of the phone, you sure will find fingerprint marks on the device regardless how well the device is carved out.

In terms of the aesthetics of the design, the P20 lite cuts a sleek design leaving a lasting first impression.



Weighing only 145g, the device is also lighter than most smartphones.

Camera

PHOTO TAKEN FROM P20 lite

Keeping up with competition, this phone comes with a dual real camera containing a wider angle 16-megapixel rear camera and a 2MP sensor.

The phone is capable of 1080p videos @30FPS along with a wide aperture certainly helping with the details of an image. The portrait mode looks like an interesting upgrade for a midrange device given the bokeh effect.

PHOTO TAKEN FROM P20 lite

The rear camera did a decent job to capture the intricate details of an image. Some of the images taken from the phone show the pixel clarity of the rear camera. However, the cameras were a little short on expectations when capturing images at night.

Regardless, Huawei users are expecting a major camera upgrade on the Pro variant.

Performance



Huawei, as expected, has stuck with the in-house Kirin processor. The Kirin 659 Processor, which is somewhat similar to the Snapdragon 625, performs well with the EMUI 8.0. 4GB RAM and the HiSilicon Kirin chipset makes the device a powerhouse in terms of handling the app load. No lags were detected despite the vigorous usage of some of the most draining applications. The phone's battery was also found capable of handling the load as it lasted for about a day and a half.



It was also easier to play games on this phone too. Obviously, the processor is a step down from the Pro which is equipped with the heavyweight Kirin 970 Processor.

The device's Face ID has gotten a lot of praise for its accuracy and speed. It certainly is on a high level compared to other Android devices that employ the Face recognition software.

Verdict

For a midrange device, the P20 lite packs all the right punches. Its camera may not perform as well as expected but its fair to say Huawei is saving the camera quality for the triple camera P20 variant.

The problem with the device is, it may be overshadowed by the heavyweight P20 Pro. Its popularity will bounce off the success of the Pro. Of course, their massive price difference amongst a host of other differences, can't exactly be put together but their market success is partially intertwined.

It could go both ways for the Chinese giant. Like the Mate 10 lite which arguably performed better than its senior version, this device may succeed if the triple camera P20 Pro may not live up to expectations. It may however also fail if the Pro becomes a hit.

For its price though, independent of its other variant, the device drives in decent specs.