Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 tested: A wide-angle camera as a bonus
28.5.2019
Translation: machine translated
It only took a year for triple cameras to find their way from expensive top smartphones into affordable entry-level models under 300 euros. Find out what else the Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 has to offer and how well artificial intelligence helps with taking photos in our test.
A plus in the name of a smartphone means that there is something extra. With the Huawei P Smart Plus 2019, however, it is not a larger display or more memory, but rather the third wide-angle camera lens on the back compared to the Huawei P Smart 2019 - without Plus.
Wide-angle camera and AI as a helper
The three cameras of the Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 are divided as follows: The main camera has a resolution of 24 megapixels and a focal length of 26 millimetres. The wide-angle camera offers you a focal length of 17 millimetres and a resolution of 16 megapixels. The third lens with a resolution of two megapixels is only used to provide information for shots with a bokeh effect. You can switch back and forth between the two cameras using a small button. This is located on the right-hand side in portrait format and at the bottom in landscape format.
The overall level of detail is high and the colours also appear natural and pleasantly vibrant. HDR, which you can't activate in Huawei's automatic mode but have to select as an extra mode, ensures a slightly better equalisation of contrasts. However, the automatic mode is already very good at this. The quality of the wide-angle camera does not drop as much as some other smartphones with multiple lenses, but is on a par with the main camera. I also noticed positively that the wide-angle shots are not distorted at the edges.
In the dark, the P Smart Plus is still behind the top smartphones, but is significantly better than many other smartphones in its price range. With an exposure time of several seconds, the night mode can only be used for still subjects. However, it provides significantly more detail and lighting that is better suited to the night than the automatic mode.
The front camera of the P Smart Plus has a resolution of eight megapixels and delivers selfies with sufficient detail. In terms of colour, the images are not quite as intense as the images from the main camera - but the colours are still good compared to other front cameras. There is even a bokeh effect available for selfies. Considering that it doesn't require information from a second camera and is calculated entirely by the software, it turns out quite well. However, the main camera with its additional camera is better at differentiating between the foreground and background.
Artificial intelligence can be activated via the AI button at the top of the camera app. It reliably recognises scenes and subjects and attempts to select the optimum exposure settings. Compared to the automatic settings, you can recognise different degrees of change depending on the subject. I usually like the result of the AI a little better than that of the automatic mode. Nevertheless, I still don't trust it completely and often take a second picture without it to be on the safe side.
Large display with a small bezel
The Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 is a long and slim smartphone, but it is easy and secure to hold. The smooth back is no problem as you hold the smartphone firmly by the edges. The buttons and fingerprint sensor on the back are easy to reach. However, fingerprints stick directly to the reflective back.
The 6.21-inch display of the P Smart Plus has a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. This corresponds to Full HD Plus and is easily sufficient for a detailed display. The colours of the content look chic and vibrant. However, the brightness of the screen is not sufficient to recognise it in sunlight. You'll have to create shadows yourself.
To keep the edge around the display as narrow as possible, Huawei has placed the front camera in a notch. However, not all apps are suitable for the display format. The content of some apps is cut off at the rounded corners. Not a problem, but not nice either.
Beautiful interior and a cover with minor problems
Huawei has installed the Kirin 710 in the P Smart Plus 2019, which is in the mid-range of the manufacturer's own chipsets. It is supported by three gigabytes of RAM. This is not only sufficient for everyday apps, but also for graphically demanding games such as PUBG Mobile - at least with medium graphics quality.
The internal memory should be large enough at 64 gigabytes. However, it cannot be expanded. If you take a lot of photos or even videos, you will have to save files externally later rather than sooner.
The battery of the Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 has an average capacity of 3400 mAh. However, the battery life is slightly longer than I am used to with my typical usage. However, it doesn't last two full days for me either. You charge the smartphone via a micro USB port. Which brings us to two things where I think Huawei has cut corners with the P Smart Plus. It's 2019 and even an inexpensive smartphone should have USB-C - and no longer the slower micro-USB port for charging. The NFC chip is also missing. This wouldn't have been a topic two years ago, but now you have to realise that without it, you'll miss out on Google Pay and other mobile payment services.
Two things also bother me about the workmanship of the P Smart Plus. The edges of the micro USB and 3.5 mm port on the underside feel sharp and uncomfortable. My fingers come up against them in both portrait and landscape format and when I think about picking up the smartphone every day, I lose some of the fun with the device. You can't feel it, but you can see the scratches that have already collected on the plastic back and the protective film on the display after a short time.
Problems with the software
With Android 9 Pie, you can expect the latest version of Google's operating system on the P Smart Plus 2019. Huawei provides it with its own EMUI user interface. In addition to the visual appearance, which can be changed with a launcher, this includes numerous pre-installed apps from Huawei, but also from third parties such as Facebook, Booking or Amazon. You can only get rid of a few of the Huawei apps if you don't need them. The third-party apps, on the other hand, can all be uninstalled with a single click.
However, the trade dispute between the USA and China has had an impact on the assessment of the P Smart Plus 2019. Huawei is on a blacklist of companies that US companies are not allowed to work with. In terms of software, this means that Google is not allowed to pass on Android updates to Huawei. This should only apply to new devices and, according to Google, the P Smart Plus 2019 is one of the smartphones that can continue to receive updates. An agreement in the trade dispute cannot be ruled out, but the overall situation is currently unclear. That's why I can only recommend waiting with regard to the software or looking around at other manufacturers.
Conclusion: 50 euros more for the wide-angle camera
Not everything about the Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 is perfect, but for the price of around 250 euros, you get a smartphone that you can do all the important things with. The camera delivers decent photos, but if you can do without the wide-angle camera, you can save around 50 euros with the otherwise identical Huawei P Smart 2019.
I'm not 100 per cent satisfied with the workmanship. But the biggest disadvantage of the Huawei P Smart Plus 2019 is the uncertain software future. Due to the smouldering trade dispute between the USA and China, it is unclear how long there will be updates for Huawei smartphones. Predictions vary between "everything will be fine" and a complete ban on US apps - which, with a few exceptions, include all relevant applications - on Huawei devices.
When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.
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