These are the top Huawei phones you need to know
The smartphone space is an increasingly populated – read, crowded – place to be. And it's getting more so as manufacturers such as Huawei start to pump out more, and better, phones, and push to expand its availability into more western markets. The past year was a pretty good one for Huawei with some excellent devices launched, and more sure to be on the way.
As new phones come and go, though, it's tough to keep up with things. So we're breaking it down into a continuously updated list to highlight the best devices that Huawei has to offer. These are the one's we'll be writing about and they'll also be the ones you'll likely want to consider.
Article updated November 2015.
Huawei Nexus 6P
Launched October 2015: Huawei's first attempt at building a Nexus phone for Google has resulted in one of the very best Android phones launched in 2015. Not just that but it's also the Chinese manufacturer's best phone yet. The combination of top end hardware, premium design and construction coupled with Android 6.0 Marshmallow leaves very little left to desire.
The camera is excellent, which is something in and of itself for a Nexus phone, and in truth, it's the Nexus phone we've been waiting for. We've been saying for some time that Huawei makes excellent hardware but lets itself down when it comes to software.
Thanks to Google's help, that's no longer a problem. Huawei has itself a killer phone at last.
More: The Huawei Nexus 6P review
Huawei P9
Launched May 2016: Huawei's 2016 flagship has mostly been available in Europe and the Middle East (and in Huawei's home of China, of course). And that sort of a shame, as this is the best complete experience we've seen from Huawei. EMUI, while still different than what many of us are used to, is as feature complete as it's ever been, with fewer annoying bugs.
The P9's tentpole feature is a Leica-certified camera. That's maybe a little oversold, but between the camera quality in the first place and the sheer amount of options in the camera app and you can come away with above-average results.
Elsewhere, the P9 sports a 5.2-inch LCD display at 1080p resolution, has Huawei's excellent fingerprint scanner, and is powered by a Kirin 955 processor.
More: Read our Huawei P9 review
Huawei P9 Plus
The big brother to the P9, the Huawei P9 Plus steps things up to a 5.5-inch display — still at 1080p, this time SuperAMOLED — with a hefty 4GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. Meanwhile the battery gets a welcome bump to 3,400mAh, along with Quick Charge support.
So a little extra cash gets you a bigger, beefier P9 that'll last longer between charges, and take less time hooked up to an outlet. Everything else about the larger of the two P9s is identical, from the speedy Kirin 955 CPU and fingerprint reader to the 12MP dual camera setup around the back. If you want the very best from Huawei — as of July 2016, anyway — this is it.
Huawei Mate 8
Launched early 2016: Huawei has dropped the "Ascend" prefix and is just going with Mate 8 on this one. And it's one hell of a phone. EMUI, while not perfect, is improved. And the combination of a 6-inch display with a 1080p resolution along with a 4,000 mAh battery (yes, you read that right) means this phone pretty much runs all day. You're really going to have to work to run it down.
Huawei's fingerprint sensor remains excellent, and the camera is above average. Our only real gripe was with the software, which Huawei continues to work on.
More: Read our Huawei Mate 8 review
Huawei Mate S
Launched September 2015: Like the P8 before it, the Mate S drops the Ascend branding from last year's model. It's fair to say that the once ridiculed Mate has now become Huawei's hero device. And the Mate S is the best one yet.
Compared to the Ascend Mate 7 from 2014, the Mate S has shed some size. The 2015 model is down to 5.5-inches and is a full aluminum unibody. The screen to body ratio is still suitably high, the back has a gentle curve and it also boasts the finest fingerprint scanner we've seen on an Android phone yet. It's lightning fast.
Huawei also plans to offer a luxury edition in some markets with 128GB of internal storage and Force Touch capabilities. The verdict is still out on that, but we do know it's pretty good at weighing fruit.
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