There is no doubt that Huawei is already a household name when it comes to mobile devices. They have a broad range of smartphone offerings, from top-of-the-line Mate and P series to Nova midrange devices, and up to the budget-friendly Y series. And for this review, we have the Huawei Y6p, the most affordable Huawei handset to date that has a triple rear camera setup!
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| Huawei Y6p Review; Affordable All-Rounder |
When Huawei released the Y7p in the Philippines last February 2020, it was their first attempt to have a triple camera smartphone under Php10K. Fast forward today, the Huawei Y6p has that kind of setup, and it is priced below Php6K! But, does it have other things to impress consumers other than its photography department? Let's all find out in this review!
Interested in the Huawei Y6p? Check out the Lazada listing at - https://bit.ly/huaweiy6plazada
PHYSICAL:
In terms of physical appearance, the Huawei Y6p is like the union of the Huawei Y7p and Huawei Y6s. The front looks similar to that of the Y6s, mainly because of the Dewdrop display. However, the Y6p offers a more significant screen estate at 6.3 inches with an 88.4% screen-to-body ratio, while the Y6s only has a 6.1-inch screen and an 87% STB ratio.
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| 6.3-inch HD+ Dewdrop Display |
On the other side, the back looks similar to that of the Y7p, in fact, the arrangement of the cameras, fingerprint sensor, LED flash, and Huawei logo are all identical. Both devices also have a glass-like finish. And yes, you can somehow use it as your mirror as it can easily have your reflection on it. However, it is quite a fingerprint and smudge magnet, and you will end up wiping it often as the retail box does not come with a free case.
To be honest, we are not entirely sure if there is a free case or not, but our unit came from Huawei, and it has none. Moreover, their website says that protective case inclusion is market dependent, and even the Lazada product listing of the Y6p also does not say anything about the free case.
Even if somewhat it has a generic kind of design, the Huawei Y6p still looks good, especially when you consider its asking price. It is nice to hold, there is enough heft on it, and it won't easily slip in your hand because of the plastic frame that has rubberized matte finish.
It measures 159.1mm x 74.1mm x 9mm and weighs 185 grams. The footprint is smaller than the Y7p, but it is almost 1mm thicker and 9 grams heavier.
By the way, it comes with a triple-slot card tray, which means that consumers can use two Nano-SIM cards and one MicroSD card for storage expansion at the same time.
Huawei Y6p Unboxing and Hands-on
To learn more about its physical appearance, you can watch the above unboxing video or check it out on our YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/JCNvQevDbAk.
SOFTWARE:
The Y6p runs on EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10, which makes ahead of the Y7p that runs on EMUI 9. Yes, it does not have a Google Play Store and Google Mobile Services, but those are already old news. Instead, it has Huawei Mobile Services, and Huawei AppGallery, with over 50,000 apps and 400 million users globally.
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| Software |
Just like before, we still recommend using the Phone Clone, which is the easiest way to get most of the apps on your old smartphone, Facebook included. By doing so, you don't need to install them one by one. And yes, your old phone does not need to be made by Huawei.
Huawei has been aggressive with AppGallery. They have partnered with lots of developers, which they even offered up to 100% revenue share. They are also very much focus on getting local apps on board. And so far, we can say they are gaining traction with these strategies, it may be slow for now, but nonetheless, it works.
There are now lots of local apps in the AppGallery. There are tons of banking applications like BDO, Metrobank, RCBC, PSBank, EastWest and UnionBank, and online wallet apps such as PayMaya, and GCash. There are also lots of delivery and shopping apps, such as Shopee, Lazada, LBC, Food Panda, and Watsons. This simply means Huawei's application store is safe and secure as these apps process personal and sensitive information.
Other local apps you can find are Kumu, MySMAC, PCSO Lotto Results, Robinsons Rewards, Inquirer Mobile, SSS Mobile, GMA News, Globe at Home, GlobeOne, Globe Rewards, and Wish 1075 to name a few. Moreover, the AppGallery also offers a great selection of popular applications, such as Snapchat, TikTok, SHAREit, Viu, Viber, iflix, LINE, Microsoft Office, WeChat, ShopBack, and WPS Office.
We also have an in-depth discussion of EMUI in our Huawei P40 Pro Review, Flagship Full of Excitement. Moreover, we created A Guide To Huawei’s AppGallery and A Typical Day with the Huawei Y7p and its AppGallery for additional references.
To learn more about EMUI and AppGallery, you can visit https://consumer.huawei.com/ph/emui/ and https://consumer.huawei.com/ph/mobileservices/appgallery/.
PERFORMANCE:
The Huawei Y6p is powered by MediaTek MT6762R chipset, which is popularly known as Helio P22 chip made from the 12nm semiconductor process. It is composed of 2GHz octa-core Cortex A53 CPU cores and Imagination PowerVR GE8320 GPU. It is not something new, we have seen devices in the Philippines with this kind of silicon chip as early as 2018 with the likes of Vivo Y85 and the Xiaomi Redmi 6 series. But, we have seen it also with recent devices like the realme c2 2020 and Vivo Y11.
If you are wondering, the Helio P22 is an entry-level chipset, which is at a similar level with Helio A25 and Helio P35. And by the way, it is not the lowest in the MediaTek line, it is still better than the quad-core chipsets Helio A22 and Helio A20.
As usual, we tried to run our favorite benchmarking apps, but for some reason, we cannot install them on the Y6p. The only thing that worked was the 3DMark. It scored 596 in Sling Shot, 379 in OpenGL, and 576 in Vulkan. Those are way lower than Realme C3's 1619, 1190, and 1180.
That said, if you are buying the Y6p, keep in mind that it was not meant for heavy gaming nor lifting resources-hungry tasks. We are not saying it cannot perform, we just want you to be realistic with your expectation, It is like, if you are buying a Toyota Wigo, don't expect it to perform as Toyota Land Cruiser or even a Fortuner.
It can still perform, and based on our test, it can also deliver. We played Asphalt 9 at high settings, and it turns out to be just fine. There's dropped frames at some part of the game, but it's bearable. We also played Mobile Legend in high setting (don't expect it has ultra mode), and it is lagging at some point, but when played at lower settings, it became better. In fact, even at high graphics setting, as long as everything is off except for the HFR mode and Optimize FPS, it still runs smoothly.
As for the other tasks, it is relatively smooth, the 4GB RAM helps a lot in doing so. Moreover, it has 64GB of internal storage. If we are not mistaken, 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM is the highest memory configuration we have seen for an entry-level segment priced below Php6K.
For biometric security, the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor works well, it can unlock the phone almost in an instant. That same is true with the Face Recognition, it also works just fine.
Considering all the points given, it still provides a plausible performance for a low-end budget-friendly device.
CAMERA:
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| 13MP Triple Camera |
The photography department is one of the main highlights of the Huawei Y6p, and that is because of its triple camera set-up. Which, as mentioned earlier, makes it the most affordable Huawei phone to have such kind of feature. It has the same lenses as the Huawei Y7p, but have lower resolutions. It is composed of 13MP f/1.8 phase-detection autofocus main module, 5MP f/2.2 ultrawide lens, and 2MP f/2.4 for depth sensing. In the front, it also has 8MP f/2.0 snapper, just like the Y7p.
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| 8MP Selfie Snapper |
For comparison purposes, the realme C3, its closest competitor in the market right now, also has 3 rear cameras - 12MP f/1.8 main, 2MP macro, and 2MP f/2.4 depth. That said, the Y6p wins by 1MP with the primary shooter, and tied with the depth sensor. The remaining module differs for each phone - ultrawide for the Y6p and macro for C3. As for the selfie camera, the C3 only has a 5MP f/2.4 module, which makes the Y6p as the clear winner, at least on paper, in this particular category.
Camera Samples:
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| Swimming Pool, Primary |
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| Swimming Pool, Ultrawide |
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| Playground, Primary |
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| Playground, Ultrawide |
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| Outdoor, Primary |
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| Outdoor, Ultrawide |
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| Indoor, Primary |
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| Indoor, Ultrawide |
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| Indoor, Zoom x4 |
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| Flower, Macro |
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| Night, Primary |
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| Night, Ultrawide |
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| Selfie |
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| Selfie with Mask |
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| Selfie with Mask at Night |
There is no doubt that Huawei is very popular when it comes to the camera capabilities of its devices, especially those in the midrange and flagship levels. But, how about for their low-end devices? Well, we can say they still do, the cameras of the Y7p and the Y7 Prime from 2018 offer great images for their price point.
As for the Huawei Y6p, the 13MP primary shooter gives a very decent output with good color reproduction and an ample amount of details during the daytime or when there is adequate lighting. The same is true with the 5MP ultrawide module. You can easily observe those on the first four samples shot above. However, the dynamic range and white balance are not Y6p's strong points. The images are slightly washed out when shots are taken under a bright environment. You can see that on the fifth and sixth photos, the sky did not register or show any cloud, just pure white color. For the ultrawide sensor, it is easily understandable because it only has 5MP and aperture of f/2.2. But, for the primary shooter that has 13MP and aperture of f/1.8, we believed it can do better with a software update in the future.
For indoors, images produced are plausible in terms of qualities and details. By the way, the digital zoom only cranked up to 4x. The Y6p also able to capture the subject at a very close range, just like the small flower above.
As for low light shots or night time, the 13MP main module still gives outputs that are very much usable, especially if it just for social media sharing. Yes, noise is present, but the images still have enough colors and details in them. For the 5MP ultrawide module, the images are slightly darker and less in detail. But, there is really nothing to complain about, that's already expected for a sensor with low resolution and smaller aperture opening.
There is one thing that we hoped the Y6p has, and it is the Night Mode. For the record, that Huawei Y7p has it. Yes, it has Expert Mode as a substitute; however, taking beautiful night shots needs a lot of tweaking and the phone being steady. But, we guess, that we feature is reserved for higher model units.
Moving on to its front camera, the 8MP fixed-focus f/2.0 module gets the job done in well-lit surroundings - that is giving its user nice self-portray images. Meanwhile, at night or in darker environments, images are less impressive.
CONNECTIVITY:
As expected, Huawei Y6p offers a basic connectivity package. That's 4G LTE with a 700MHz band for mobile data consumption, single-band 2.4GHz WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v5.0, non-reversible MicroUSB 2.0 port with OTG function, 3.5mm audio jack, and FM Radio. Yes, it may be old school, but those who still listen to the radio will be glad that it has a built-in antenna, which means that there is no need to plug the earphones to use it. And based on our experience, signal reception is good even indoors.
For location tracking, it has GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, and BeiDou. We tried using Waze, and it has no problem telling us the direction. We also used Google Maps via the web browser, and that too works as it should be.
BATTERY:
Another key selling point of the Huawei Y6p is its larger battery capacity, which is 5,000mAh. That's also 1,000mAh bigger than the more expensive Y7p. Sadly, we are not able to run the PC Mark Battery Test because that too cannot be installed for whatever reason. As for the refueling the cell, it takes 1 hour to have it at 50% from 0%, 65% in 80 minutes, and more than two hours to be fully charged.
FINAL WORDS:
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| Huawei Y6p |
The Huawei Y6p is a pretty well-rounded entry-level budget-friendly smartphone that can deliver. It does not give us a headache when running multiple apps, it has a nice set of cameras for its price point, offers long-lasting battery life, and can satisfy our basic communication needs, both online and offline.
Huawei Y6p Specs Philippines:
- Dual SIM, dual stand-by, supports 4G/LTE connectivity
- 6.3-inch IPS HD+ (1600x720) capacitive touchscreen display, 19:9 aspect ratio
- Dimensions: 159.07mm x 74.04mm x 9.04mm
- Weight: 185 grams
- EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10
- 2GHz 64-bit octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU, PowerVR GE8320 GPU, MediaTek MT6762R Helio P22 chipset
- 4GB of RAM
- 64GB of internal storage, expandable up to 512GB via MicroSD, uses dedicated slot
- 13MP AF f/1.8 + 5MP AF f/2.2 ultrawide + 2MP depth triple cameras with LED flash
- 8MP FF f/2.0 front camera
- Multimedia player
- FM Radio
- 3.5mm audio jack
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, 2.4GHz
- Bluetooth v5.0
- MicroUSB 2.0 with OTG function
- Sensors: accelerometer, light, proximity
- Battery: 5,000mAh, non-removable, support 10W charging, supports reverse charging
- Colors: Midnight Black, Phantom Purple, Emerald Green
- Price: Php5,990