Gadgetory

quickly becoming one of the most talked-about and buzz worthy categories in mobile technology budget smartphones are better than ever and Chinese manufacturer Huawei is trying to wedge their way into the demanding US market with their latest affordable offering hey guys Phil Verena with Android authority and this is the review of the Huawei p8 Lite the design isn't striking it's more expected and resembles most smart phones these days with protruding sides made to look like brushed metal the plastic from the front and back come to meet the silver sides much like a glass sandwich design along those sides running up the right there's the SIM card and microSD card slot which incidentally only allows expansion up to 32 gigabytes then there's the power button which like the HTC One m9 sits right below the volume rocker this I found to be a problem with the m9 and remains an issue here they are distinguishable enough though so there shouldn't be any issue of accidentally pressing the volume keys thinking they're the power and vice versa up top microphone port and headphone jack are opposed and on the right there's nothing to see so we look straight to the bottom where the typical speaker grills and microUSB port reside the all glass front has a 5 megapixel front face and the notification light with the Huawei branding adorning the bottom on the back the camera module sets upper-left with the flash surrounded by a glossy plastic bar stretching the whole top the rest though still plastic resembles again the faux brushed metal design with a smooth texture which it while comfortable to the touch does create a slippery surface the overall square design combined with a thickness of just seven point six millimeters helped with holding in the hand and given the smaller form factor make it fairly easily pocketable device the p8 Lite sports a 5 inch 720p display calculating out to about 294 pixels per inch which isn't all that impressive especially as full HD is more the mainstream and qHD the flagship luxury but this is a budget phone after all the screen tends to a warmer color palette but you do have the option of going cooler or even warmer in the settings menu the major complaint though that I have is its brightness it's by all respects a dim display I find that I can't comfortably use it in regular day use without the brightness to a hundred percent despite all that the screen is actually quite beautiful I love how the colors are displayed and they have a certain pop to them up the brightness and add a few more pixels and it would have greatly helped the experience the p8 Lite CPU is a lower-end snapdragon that we've seen before and other lower end smartphones the octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 there's hardly any noticeable lag and the experience is mostly fluid and I've never felt like the phone had to catch up to me it was fast and responsive now this phone is meant for the US markets who packs the LTE bands necessary for use on t-mobile AT&T and all other GSM networks this unit ships with two gigs of RAM and 16 gigs of internal storage but you can expand that storage up to an additional 32 gigabytes the bottom left justified single speaker actually produces loud crisp sound it isn't as full as other more expensive phones but it is clear and doesn't produce an irritating tinny sound as with most phones with bottom facing speakers it's easy to cover them while holding with two hands so be careful to avoid it the standout noteworthy feature has to be the battery which at 220 milliamp hours seems to last and last getting through a day is completely guaranteed and you're likely to get through most of the following day if you're a light user I was only able to drain the battery in one day by using the p8 Lite mostly for watching video and a lot of web browsing I got around five hours of screen on time and it could have easily been more if I had the screen at less than 100% brightness but to my earlier point you need it that bright so while the screen resolution and brightness are a letdown they do have their upside and completely reliable battery life featured on the back is a 13 megapixel shooter at an F 2.2 aperture if the phone's asleep you can get into the app quickly by double tapping the volume down button for a camera with no oh is it takes decent photos particularly outdoors colors aren't too saturated a little on the duller side but still more than acceptable low-light struggles as with most phones in the budget category with noise and general lack of detail there are also features too like the now more popular beauty mode and filters as well as HDR and an all focus mode that lets you change the focus after the shot is taken the front face ER is 5 megapixels with an F 2.4 aperture and is definitely mediocre outdoors the shots look okay but on the darker side and lacking in any richness in color and in lower light it'll get you by but don't lean on it too heavily for the perfect selfie software is unfortunately another area of disappointment we're running the older 4.4.4 kitkat and although there are talks of a lollipop update no date has been announced but on top of KitKat Huawei uses their emotion UI a more colorful approach leaning towards a rounder look especially with the icons there is no app drawer though so it's up to you to organize your apps in folders emotion UI has its own features too with motion controls and smart assistance with a one-handed UI mode that allows the dialer on your phone to be either left or right hand justified the navbar can also be adjusted to whatever arrangement you like with the option to also add a key for the notification drop-down you also have your choice of themes to help in giving a different look but there aren't that many to choose from so don't bet that you'll find your favorite the p8 Lite is available now in either a black or white finish for 250 bucks off contract and as an added bonus does come with a two-year warranty so this is a tough one for two hundred and fifty dollars how can you go wrong if this phone was on its own I'd have no issue recommending it as the budget option but as there are other awesome offerings from Alcatel One Touch and a soos I just find it difficult to do well guys thanks for watching if you enjoyed this video or found it helpful at all please do give a thumbs up and also be sure to subscribe to android authority for more coverage of android devices and also check out the website too for more detailed coverage as we are your source for all things Android