Yesterday, I got my hands on the Huawei P8 in its launch event. And today, I get to unbox it. One thing I will say, Huawei absolutely nailed the packaging. From the slide-off cardboard sleeve to the minimalist plastic box and the smoky translucent lid, it’s a real joy to unbox. Something I haven’t experienced in a long time. It’s almost good enough to repackage it and do it again. It’s simply stunning.
Unlike most phones, the P8 isn’t set on top. Instead, it slides smoothly out of the box sideways. This model is the Champagne Gold model. After you’ve removed the phone, you can remove the glossy plastic tray and underneath that, we have two boxes. One of them has all the cables and accessories and the other has all the paperwork in. in terms of accessories in the box, you get your power adapter this one is white and has some really nice Huawei branding and the USB port on it. You’ll also get these earphones, which don’t look anything like the Apple ear pods. There’s also a white USB cable with really nice white matte soft-touch casing around the connectors.
Now we’ll turn our attention to the handset itself and peel the film off and power up the P8 and set it up. The handset, in terms of design, is very sleek. It’s only 6.4mm thin and it’s flat on the front and back. The champagne gold color is very subtle, almost silver when it’s in bright light. It has a back that’s all metal apart from the glass panel that houses the 13MP Optical Image Stabilization equipped camera and the dual-tone flash.
On the right side of the device on the metal frame are the power and volume keys. There’s also a Nano SIM and microSD tray. It ships with an ejector tool so you can take those out and put them back in whenever you like. Although it does want you to do it when your phone is switched off. On the bottom edge is the USB port or microUSB port and also the stereo speakers. From this angle, you do get a glimpse of that shiny, chamfered edge on the top and bottom of the phone. It looks really classy. On the top of the phone is the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The front of the device is dominated by a full HD 5.2-inch panel. It’s 424ppi and on first impressions seems very colorful and full of contrast and life. The downside to the display though is that there’s this black frame in between the display and frame of the phone and it’s really obvious. Also on the front is an 8MP front-facing camera.
In terms of software, Huawei’s got its own custom software on top of Android 5.0 and it’s got some really neat features. It’s got a double tap with your knuckle which takes a screenshot. And it can somehow tell the difference between your fingertip and the knuckle. I also liked some of the user interface design. The drop down menu with the list of all the things you need to know about and also the power on off menu and animations. Making it all tick smoothly is Huawei’s own octa-core chip. It’s got 3GB of RAM. In terms of storage, you get either 16GB or 64GB, depending on whether you go for the regular model or the premium model. Both are expandable up to 128GB and you also get a dual SIM model which you will do when they are released. To ensure that you have enough battery to keep you going all day, its 2680mAh.
As for our overall package on first impressions, I’m really struggling not to like it. From a brand that’s gone relative obscurity to creating really high-end, premium-looking phones, it’s quite impressive. And this device really feels classy and solid in the hand. And it looks good too. I don’t like all the Huawei icons and general user interface on the software. But once I have Google Now Launcher installed to use all the apps that I regularly use on Android and just keep the stuff that I like in terms of the drop-down menu and the power off animations that you can’t really get rid of, then I’ll be really happy with this device. But I will spend more time with it and bring you my full thoughts in a review later on.
Huawei P8 specs:
As for the device itself, it's a far cry from the budget or mid-range Huawei devices you may be familiar with. Its all-metal body is classy and elegant, and its display is super-crisp. But will it stand up to our testing? Find out in a couple of weeks in our full review.
