Phones in the sub-10k price range are very vicious, almost all brands carry a bet in this price range to get a bigger slice of the market. But one brand emerges a savior with their unconventional approach for an all around smartphone.
Meet the Huawei GR3 2017, a smartphone we believe that can capture your heart with its unique body and all around features.
Huawei GR3 2017
- HiSilicon Kirin 655 octa-core processor
- ARM Mali-T830 MP2 GPU
- 3GB RAM
- 5.2-inch FHD IPS display, 1920 x 1080 resolution, 2.5D glass
- 16GB expandable storage, up to 128GB via microSD
- 12-megapixel rear camera, BSI, phase detection AF, LED flash
- 8-megapixel front camera
- Dual SIM, 3G, LTE with 700MHz compatibility
- WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC
- Rear Fingerprint scanner
- 3000mAh battery
- Android 7.0 Nougat (EMUI 5.0)
- Php 8,990
Design and Features
We will get this away and say it directly, the GR3 2017 looks like a Google Pixel at the back. The circular rear fingerprint scanner and glass body remind you of the much-idolized smartphone.
The sides are made of a rounded edge plastic, you won’t see any metal here to reduce cost. But the dual glass body and 2.5D glass makes up for it and still brings a different feel among metal smartphones in the category.
At the back is a full black glass body, you will have to be careful as its made of soda lime glass and it’s not scratch resistant whatsoever. This is both for the front and back. Now, we fully understand this as the cost of a gorilla glass will drive around 2,000 additional when implemented.
Remeber as well that a glass body is prone to being slippery and that is what happened to us, we got around 3 falls before being more aware where to place the phone yo avoid slipping. The screen isn’t oleophobic coated as well, so a slight rough texture will be experienced but not that alarming.
Still, the GR3 comes with a standard frosted back case for protection, no screen protector included though. So we advise you to get one should you consider this phone.
The Full HD resolution IPS screen is a sign of appreciating, its bright enough under the sun and visibly great for its price. Colors are vibrant and brightness settings are flexible when needed. Good thing that cost cutting isn’t seen in the department as it will greatly affect the overall delivery.
As for the ports, you have the standard 3.5mm audio jack, micro USB, dual SIM hybrid tray. The volume rocker and the power button is located at the right as same with other Huawei smartphones.
Performance
Most sub 10k smartphones today either have a Mediatek 6750 or Snapdragon 410 processor since Huawei manufactures their own smartphone, their Kirin 655 processor was a huge advantage of bringing efficiency and power into the table.
We got a decent speed of 50,000+ in the most recent AnTuTu benchmark, proving that the GR3 is slightly faster than either the Snapdragon 410 or MediaTek 6750. In our experience, the GR3 can load decently almost all apps and shuffle through loads of apps with minimal lag.
As we say before, processors are less priority today as you can enjoy most apps cause of this strong processing power. It will boil down more if you need better hardware such as NFC, Dual Camera or even a specific usage for an app.
In terms of sub-10k smartphones today, the GR3 2017 is on top of our list when it comes to performance.
Camera
The 12MP camera with Phase Detection technology is the main camera of the phone, it’s overall decent but with the lack of low light superiority and slightly slow focus speed.
As a result, photos of the GR3 are a bit Gloomy and possibly unfocused. You can always enhance the color with an app, but this method will always eat up time if you are a photo O.C person.
The 8mp front camera is also decent, nothing much spectacular and gets the job done. There is a beautification software included that removes imperfections, though your face will slightly be blurry if you crank up the settings to maximum.
As for low light, the f/2.0 aperture camera is just decent for night shots. You’ll have to use the night mode to capture more light into the camera, but you need a steady hand in order to do this. Overall, the GR3’s camera is slightly above average and good enough for social media content.
Lastly, is we noticed that the overall color production is based on what kind of light is detected. Take this example of my hand taken in the same location but with different light priority. So perhaps it would be nice to balance out the light as much as possible.
Entertainment
The 5.2-inch screen of the GR3 2017 is perfect for those who doesn’t like the smaller 5 inch and larger 5.5-inch body. Most users will love the just perfect size, slightly less wide that the 5.5 inches iPhone 7 Plus.
The screen is above average and has a standard resolution, the speakers, on the other hand, isn’t the loudest but it has good warmth for much understandable detail.
User interface
The Emotion UI 5.0 is the same as the Huawei GR5 2017, it’s clean and simple for most parts. The UI acts similar to android + iOS hybrid and Huawei design language isn’t left out.
Overall the UI is easy to understand but we recommend to play around with it as you might get something else you need with the tons of options inside.
Battery life
Surprisingly, the battery stays at 3,000mAh despite the thin and smaller screen profile. In our experience with PC Mark, it lasted more than 8 hours and 55 minutes.
We can say that the battery is efficient as it only consumes 3% on a night sleep. Standby time is above average while performance under load gets a bit strong consuming adequately. But, we can easily say that it can last you until you get home by 8pm.
Conclusion
You can’t really squeeze everything for less that 10,000 pesos, but you can refine it to become a worthy experience. For us, the Huawei GR3 2017 has the right balance of awesome looks, decent performance and an enabling shooter that can last a day.
If you should decide to get this one, just be aware of the build as it’s not meant to get tons of beating, soda lime glass can even surprise you to the most minimal falls or bumps. Fortunately for our review unit, despite being very slippery, it managed to survive 3 falls on a carpet and 1 fall in tiles.
For 8,990 you have a winner with the GR3, it’s the size of 5.2 is also unique as others already shifted to 5.5, it may be a disadvantage to some but it can cater to the female market even more.
