Huawei started the year strong with their wave of new entry-level Y series smartphones like the Y6 Pro 2019, Y7 2019 and their new Y7 Max. To set their budget offering strong is the Y6 Pro 2019, a new entry smartphone that offers the look and feel of mid-range smartphones but does it perform like one?
Before we proceed here are the specs of the Y6 Pro 2019:
| Huawei Y6 Pro 2019 | |
| Chipset | MediaTek MT6761 |
| Screen | 6.09-inch, 1560 x 720 |
| RAM | 3GB |
| OS | Android 9.0 with EMUI 9.0 |
| Rear Camera | 13MP f/1.8 AF |
| Front Camera | 8MP FF, Selfie Tonish Flash 2.0 |
| Storage | 32GB expandable up to 512GB via MicroSD slot |
| Network | Dual-SIM, 4G, LTE |
| Connectivity | WiFI, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, MicroUSB |
| Battery | 3,200mAh |
| Colors | Sapphire Blue, Midnight Black |
First Impressions
Compared to the Y6 2018, the new Y6 Pro 2019 now uses a unified glossy body with curved sides. This is compared to the matte plastic body with a wider profile. The orientation is now also changed to a vertical print orientation along with the camera module now also vertically oriented.
The display is an HD+ 6.09″ IPS with good and ample brightness, along with the new minimal notch similar to the Huawei Mate 20. Bezels at the sides are a bit thick but nothing to worry, this is just a minor trade-off of bringing this style to a more affordable price range and we still welcome the more simple notch.
Colors are bouncy and quite good in brightness, definitely brighter than most entry-level phones.
It’s fairly light at 150g and even more elegant to hold as compared to square sides, kinda reminded us of the P20 series in how compact it is. No corning gorilla glass protection mentioned, but we reckon this is okay since there is a screen protector pre-installed already. Plus the included case is transparent and jelly while there is no included earphones.
Performance
The Y6 Pro 2019 uses a MediaTek Helio A22 processor, fairly fair and similar to phones of 2017 like the OPPO F5. What’s good about this one is that the RAM is now at 3GB, something you don’t see on an international smartphone brand at this price point.
Multitasking is fairly good, playing Mobile Legends in medium settings and still go switching in apps like facebook, youtube. For someone who experiences flagship smartphones before its nothing stellar, but for someone upgrading from an entry entry-level phone, the experience will be a godsend.
User Interface
What’s good with this one is that the Y6 Pro 2019 already runs Android Pie 9.0 with EMUI 9 that simulates all the latest functionalities of other smartphones in a higher range. Since this one has a notch, even the display’s notch can be turned off thanks to Huawei’s extensive settings.
The app drawer is still off in default to simulate of course the iPhone, but it’s optional to put it back with a simple toggle in the settings. Other features include swipe gestures as default and even a more extensive drop-down shortcut menu.
The overall menu is now cleaner, white is the overall theme and much faster as compared to our experience to the Y6 2018.
Camera
The 13MP camera has an f1.8 aperture and basic settings, it also includes pro mode, HDR and panorama.
Daylight photos are fairly good, the proper amount of sharpness and detail for an entry-level smartphone. But similar to before, colors are washed out if there is too many lights or black colors flooding the photo. In the sample below, the grill of the Toyota Conquest with a red TRD logo and black grills didn’t produce the right red color.
Similarly, colors with more pale tones tend to be washed out and sharpness is struggling in this kind of scenes. Night shots are also fair, though there is an amount of decrease in sharpness its understandable that the camera is simply struggling in this condition, but colors are okay and not noisy.
We’re quite surprised that for an entry device, Huawei could have included some AI scene detection here. Unfortunately, this wasn’t a focus since we didn’t see any AI in the photography, this could have fixed the color issue. For social media usage, the Y6 Pro 2019’s camera is still improved as before, but you need good stabilization in some challenging shots.
Storage
You have around 23.5GB of free storage upon opening the phone, fairly okay for a 32GB storage. Just remember that the OS itself and the storage occupy space for optimal storage, so don’t complain to your sales personnel why you don’t have 32GB of free storage.
Battery
In our initial tests, we were only to use the device using Wi-Fi only. But it rendered more than 17 hours of video playback before reaching to a stop. So our test can’t be that solid as of now, despite having a 3020mAh battery the stamina is fairly decent.
What surprised us is the LED charging notification light was able to be included in the small module for the notch. Something we greatly welcome especially on this price range.
Charging time using a 2A charger is 2 hours, fairly slow but considering this is an entry device its no problem and it’s just standard. But we just hoped that the battery capacity could have been bigger around 3,200 or even 3,400mAh.
First Impression
The entry-level smartphone game will definitely be hot this year as technologies of 2018 like the notch, better UI, and previous mid-range processors are now elevating the mass smartphone experience.
For Php6,990 the Y6 Pro 2019 is slightly tempting in the “Budget” smartphone game since there are other entrants like the Realme C1, OPPO A3s and affordable smartphone brands like Cloudfone and Cherry.
What’s good here is the 3GB RAM, Notch Screen, and decent processor performance. Huawei focused more on the experience in performance, but other giants like OPPO have dual-cameras and even a chunky battery capacity.
Overall if you’re after performance the Y6 Pro 2019 can be on top of your list on a budget. If you don’t mind the so-so camera and 2017 standard battery, the Y6 Pro 2019 is a great choice.
What’s good
- Large 6.09 and Minimalist waterdrop screen
- Above Average Brightness display
- Comfortable Grip and Form Factor
- Faster performance and decent multitasking
- Latest operating system and UI options
What’s not okay
- Not dual camera like OPPO A3s or Realme C1
- No Gorilla Glass as compared to other similar priced competitors
- Camera performance didn’t improve significantly as compared to the predecessor
- No AI in the camera as per test
- Battery capacity is just okay
