Huawei launches 'P8' smartphone

China's Huawei unveiled its flagship P8 smartphone on Wednesday, a device that stacks up against the latest models from Samsung and Apple in technical specifications if not marketing budget.

Ceremoniously presented on Wednesday, April 15 in London, the Huawei P8 and P8 Max, 5.2 and 6.8 inches respectively, represent the latest luxury offered by the Chinese manufacturer. Huawei has thus effectively stolen the thunder of the LG G4, whose launch is scheduled for April 28.

The Huawei P8 is an elegantly designed smartphone, in line with what Apple and HTC offer, with a 5.2 inch (1920x1080) screen. It is also thinner (6.4mm) than the industry leaders, the iPhone 6 and the Galaxy S6.

As for components, the device features a 64-bit 2GHz octa-core Kirin 930 CPU, 3GB of RAM, 16 to 64GB of storage and the possibility of adding a MicroSD slot if available storage becomes an issue.

Incredible photos

The Chinese manufacturer has chosen to emphasize its video sensors. The P8 features a 13 megapixel rear camera which Huawei claims is the first in the world to feature a four-color RGBW sensor, a double flash LED and Optical Image Stabilizer technology up to 1.2°, enabling high-quality photos and videos, and managing camera shake so images are consistently sharp. As for video, the Huawei P8's Director Mode allows users to direct and control up to three other Android phones when shooting a video scene from four angles simultaneously, and also to synchronize video clip editing. The P8 also introduces a powerful new Selfie mode for the 8 megapixel frontal camera, allowing preset image enhancement settings to capture and customize perfect portraits every time.

Where battery life is concerned, the P8 promises 36 hours of normal use thanks to its 2680mAh battery and Kirin 930 Octa-Core 64-bit chipset, performance that outpaces the rest of the smartphone market by 20 percent. Performance can even be improved by using a firewall that controls the background consumption of every app. During the presentation, Huawei also mentioned the possibility of attaching a new 4.3 inch e-ink screen to the phone, allowing users to read books or access practical information such as the weather all while conserving battery life.

A 6.8 inch smartphone

The Huawei P8 will also be available in a supersized 6.8 inch version. Despite this substantial size, the manufacturer promises that it fits perfectly in a pants or jacket pocket. In this size category, the Huawei P8 Max is even thinner (6.9mm) than its competition, mainly the iPhone 6 Plus and the Galaxy Note 4.

The Huawei P8 will be 'available soon,' for €499 (16GB) and €599 (64GB). The P8 Max will retail for €549 (32GB) and €649 (64GB). They will both use Android Lollipop (5.0) stylized by Huawei's Emotion UI and have dual 4G SIM card support with two flexible card slots.