Review: Huawei G8 – Awesome Mid Ranger

It has been a while since I review any phones. Again, my schedule has been in a topsy turvy since late 2015. But I will not leave my blogging hobby behind. Slowly but surely, I will be back. And here’s my review of the new Huawei G8 phone.

I received this new phone in mid December 2015. So after a month or so of using it, I can safely say that I really enjoyed the whole experience.

Friends did asked me why I chose Huawei as my new brand to use. Answer is simple. Huawei is picking up really fast as one of the leading smartphone maker in China and a fast raising brand worldwide. Actually, Huawei is already widely known anywhere in the world, not just for smartphones but also for other technology devices.

I was contemplating between Huawei G8 and the new Honor 7. After long consideration, I opted for the G8 instead. No regrets at all.

The Huawei G8 is a great smartphone. Having a mid-high specification with a mid-range price. The 5.5″ display is just right and the display resolution at 1080 x 1920 (401 ppi) is fantastic. For a mid-range phone, the G8 doesn’t feel like one. With the solid aluminium body, the G8 feels and looks premium. This, in my opinion, should be the way to go for new upcoming smartphones. It’s relatively cheap, but doesn’t feel cheap. A good plus point for the G8.

The aluminium finish on the sides and back feels great. I don’t really fancy the sharp edged or squary type of design. This is another reason why I choose the G8. It has a rounded corners that makes the phone looks smooth and well rounded. It comes with a built-in 3000mAh battery that can last me for one and half day. In my usage experience, I can use the phone with normal browsing and social media for a whole day until I went to sleep at night. And still have enough juice to last me until noon the next day. Another good plus point for the G8.

What I love most about the G8 (and many other new Huawei phones), is the fingerprint scanner at the back, just below the camera module. Scanning my fingerprint only takes about 0.5 seconds. As soon as I placed my finger on the scanner, it turns on and logged me in. Awesome feature.

Lets not forget about the camera. The camera comes with 13-megapixel, f/2.0, 28mm, autofocus, OIS and dual-LED (dual tone) flash. 28mm lens means I can take a nice clear wide angle view. The low aperture and OIS feature made this phone awesome to shoot at night or in low light area. The noise level is not that obvious, but still can be seen depending on the ISO level that you set. The front camera is 5-megapixel with f/2.4 aperture. The front facing camera captures at equal awesome quality.

Here are the sample photos taken with the G8.

More photos can be found at my Facebook album name, Daily Shots of 2016, where all the photos are taken using the Huawei G8.

The G8 is powered by Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor with big.LITTLE technology. Snapdragon 615 has proven to me to be reliable and quick. The phone doesn’t overheat and is very snappy. Supporting the Snapdragon 615, is the massive 3GB of RAM. I honestly think that the RAM in every new smartphone should have at least 2GB. 1GB of RAM is now considered insufficient, to me at least. I opted for the 32GB of space variant as oppose to the 16GB because the latter comes with only 2GB of RAM. So now I can finally have a huge space to download more apps and games (although I’m not really into smartphone games). And I have a 64GB external memory card as an additional space for photo and video storage. More than enough for me.

Dual SIM feature is available on the G8 and both SIMs can support 4G network. However, if I want to use the dual SIM feature, I have to remove my external MicroSD card because it shares the same slot as the SIM card. Anyway, I don’t need to use the dual SIM feature.

Here are the full specifications of the Huawei G8.

• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 – 1.5GHz quad core + 1.2GHz quad core processor.
• GPU: Adreno 405
• Display: 5.5″, 1080 x 1920 at 401 ppi density.
• OS: Android 5.1 Lollipop, planned upgrade to 6.0 Marshmallow.
• Memory: 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage.
• Main Camera: 13 MP, f/2.0, 28mm, autofocus, OIS, dual-LED (dual tone) flash.
• Front Camera: 5 MP, f/2.4, 22mm
• Video: 1080p @ 30fps
• Battery: 3,000mAh

Conclusion.

If you’re thinking of an upgrade that won’t bust your pocket but at the same time gives you a premium feel, you can consider the Huawei G8. The Honor 7 is not a bad choice either but I prefer the G8 because of the rounded corners. The G8 is priced around RM1,500. To me the premium feel of the aluminium body is what made the G8 stands out among the other brands.