Days before I almost sure that I will gonna buy their GR5 2017, this one came in which is Php 3,000 more affordable, still has the fingerprint reader and same Kirin 655 octa-core processor inside which almost disturb my buying options. Is the Huawei GR3 2017 is newest bang for the buck phone for that price tag? Here's my review.
If you already got a chance to see the Huawei GR5 2017 in Android 7.0 Nougat then expect the same thing on Huawei GR3 2017. Almost it glides on the multi-tasking goodies that I did (including that multi window function). The display is a bit more dense at 5.2 inch Full HD display compared to GR5 2017 obviously for it's smaller form factor. The 2.5D glass and glass-like back cover is really delicate for my liking that it can really put in those fingerprint marks and looks like it will easily get some scratches easily so always have that provided protective cover in handy. No surprise on the fingerprint reader that I did not miss in all of the attempts that I did for unlocking the device. The LTE toggle icon in the pulldown menu is also present in GR3 02017 which is one of my fave options of Huawei in some of their phones.
Huawei is definitely had those aces once again in the connectivity department in calls, texts, LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. I also love that it has OTG support too
For some reason, the audio on the 3.5 mm. audio jack on the GR3 2017 is a bit better for me than on the GR5 2017. Again, just turn off that DTS icon
On benchmarks, Antutu gave us at over 57,000 which is pretty impressive with 10 point multi touch. It has 7 out of 9 working sensors
On battery, the 16 nm of Kirin 655 proved good once again that it is battery efficient. It lasted for 13 hours and 44 minutes in our video battery rundown test. On day to day usage, I am a heavy user for games, photo editing, LTE surfing, emails and it went to over 6 hours of screen on time in a full day with power saving mode and setting the display in HD. On charging time, it is quite weird that Huawei only provided a 5V 1A on it (I hope that it is only to cut costs). The charging time for me took me for almost 3 hours
On camera, the same camera UI and almost the same camera controls were present on the GR3 2017 minus the bokeh effect on the GR5. The details were still present when I took some shots on daytime and nighttime. Image processing time was also great and the 8 MP selfie camera still has good quality. You can check the camera samples below.
Huawei GR3 2017 rear camera sample
Huawei GR3 2017 front camera sample
On gaming, I had no problems on it as I played Asphalt 8 and Modern Combat 5 with almost no frameskip or lag on it. The heating is also less than the another counterparts with SoCs on 28 nm architecture.
At first, you may think on what's missing on the Php 3,000 less of the GR3 2017 except for the 0.3 inch display difference. That comes on my main con which is the internal storage. Out of 16 GB internal memory, you will only gonna get around 7 GB for apps which gives me a bit of an impression that in a way that EMUI custom OS looks big in size.
Huawei Mobile Philippines really put in the big fight on the GR3 2017 in terms of pricing. I can forgive them for the delicate look of the device by putting in either their provided case or buy a 3rd pary version. Connectivity, camera, Nougat-based EMUI out of the box, good physical looks and very good fingerprint reader were the strongest points of Huawei GR3 2017 but not definitely for me for that small 7 GB app storage out of 16 GB ROM (but might be forgiveable for some people with the SRP of Php 8,990). I will gonna give 4.25 out of 5 for the Huawei GR3 2017
