One of the most affordable smartphone offerings of Huawei Philippines is 2020 is the Huawei Y7 (which in other countries, it is known as Huawei Y7 2019). As smartphone will still be a priority with what is happening in the country, some might want the budget device as possible. With it's price tag of Php 6,990, is Huawei Y7 good enough?
Upon opening this one, if you are into the latest processor and Android version even in a budget segment - this is not might not be the one for you. Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 and when we unpacked it, it's EMUI 8.1 but when we got a huge 2.89 GB of OTA, it went to EMUI 8.2 but still based on Android Oreo. You cannot have the much praised dark mode that is present in current Huawei devices but the said SoC is already a-ok for the said price tag (years ago, it is at phones at Php 10-15k price range) and an already generous 4 GB RAM/64 GB ROM is a welcome thing to this device.
Like in Huawei devices and already a reliable Qualcomm chip, the phone passed with flying colors in connectivity department from calls, texts, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and mobile data. Do not expect to have dual band WiFi but it can easily accept almost a hundred from our Fibr subscription
Out of 64 GB internal space, you can get around 53 GB of remaining space for your apps which is pretty plenty.
From it's 4000 mAh battery, HD+ only display and a proven power efficient processor, the device lasted at over 19 hours in our battery rundown test. Using it as our main driver in heavy usage usally gave us 1.5 to 1.75 days of usage on 10 hours of screen on time. Still gave us a happy face for it's efficiency even for an old school SoC and EMUI version. Charging this device took us at 135 minutes to full charge it.
On games, you can still play Mobile Legends on this device on medium settings and turning shadow and HFR off.
On audio, via the 3.5 audio jack sounds average but the wow factor will definitely be on Bluetooth audio from our Huawei Freelace
On cameras, we missed it from our unboxing that the 8 MP front cam has accompanying soft flash which is hidden at the upper right corner of the display (yes, not lighting from the screen). Comparing normal to AI camera mode gave more justice on colors and dynamic range especially on daylight environment but not on low light scenario. Even at normal, the photo processing was still fast for the said SoC and more than adequate. Sometimes, it was a hit or miss if you need to focus the camera in a close subject. Selfies on 8 MP f/2.0 shooter was good enough only for social media but we noticed that you will gonna get a lil muddy output on your face. The soft flash is also not that helpful as we tested it in almost no-light room
Huawei Y7 normal to AI rear camera sample comparison
Huawei Y7 rear camera samples
Huawei Y7 selfie camera samples (normal and with soft flash)
Comparing with the same or bit near it's SRP with the likes of Galaxy A10s (except that it has a more updated OS), A5s and Y91i, Huawei Y7 is a steal for the choice of processor, (surprise for this) Android preference, sureball battery efficiency and bigger RAM/ROM combo. The cameras were a-ok for the price, connectivity was excellent as well as the Bluetooth audio. The cons that will gonna face will be for the people who are looking for at least Android Pie and updated procesor for under 7k and the much powerful Realme C3 (with it's processor at a thousand less) although it has less a gig on RAM and 50% less on storage. Y7 was also one of the most affordable phones that you can have right now with 4 GB RAM and 64 GB ROM this year 2020. It's gonna be 3.75 out of 5 for Huawei Y7 which you can still buy at Php 6,990 at Lazada PH thru this link
