The Y lineup from Huawei keeps getting new devices with different price tags. Just recently, we had a look at the junior Huawei Y5 2018 model and its bigger sibling, Huawei Y7 Prime 2018. It’s only natural that there’s another model in-between them, what we call a mid-ranger. And here it is – Huawei Y6 Prime 2018.
Huawei Y6 Prime 2018 costs about $192. There’s also the model without “Prime” in its name, which means that it has not 3, but 2 GB of RAM and not 32, but 16 GB of storage. The “Prime” model also has a fingerprint scanner.
The packaging is no different than Y5 2018 and Y7 Prime 2018. White cardboard, power adapter (5V/1A), USB / MicroUSB cable and a SIM/SD card eject tool.
There are three colors available: black, gold and blue. I tested the blue model.
The design is similar to other devices of this line-up. In the front is a 2.5D-glass display with large bezels on the sides and small, but asymmetrical bezels on the top and bottom.
The back panel is made of matte plastic without the neat iridescent effect of Y7.
The plastic edge is glossy.
The material is high quality, but it attracts the fingerprints. Even my blue model was a fingerprint magnet.
On the back, near the main camera unit, where the microphone is located, there’s a slight bulge. You hardly ever feel it – maybe that’s just my test sample.
The build quality is excellent. There are very few creaks and squeaks. You get the screen protector right out of the box, but it has no oleophobic coating.
Above the screen there’s a tiny notifications indicator, an area with light and proximity sensors, a front camera’s eye, a speaker and a flash.
Below the screen is the Huawei logo.
On the right side is the power/unlock button and the volume key.
On the left is a slot for two SIM-cards in nano format and a microSD memory card. A real deal – not a hybrid!
On the lower edge is a microUSB port and six cuts to the left and to the right of it. Behind them are the microphone and the main speaker, respectively.
On the top we have a classic 3.5 mm audio jack for headphones.
On the back in the upper left corner is a slightly protruding block with the main camera; to the left is an inscription with the characteristics of the cameras; and to the right is a flash. The glass that covers the camera and flash is slightly recessed in the frame. Next to the cameras is an additional microphone.
A little bit below is the round pad of the fingerprint scanner.
Even lower is the manufacturer’s logo and other official information.
The smartphone is convenient to use. It has small dimensions – a mass of 150 grams, a 5.7″ screen, rounded edges and corners.
In general, its size is something between Y5 2018 and Y7 Prime 2018. And while the latter isn’t very comfy when navigating with one hand, Huawei Y6 Prime 2018 is quite comfortable.
The control buttons and the fingerprint reader are located in their usual places.
The smartphone has a 5.7-inch IPS display with an aspect ratio of 18:9 and a resolution of 1440×720 pixels (HD+).
The low resolution is difficult to notice, especially if you don’t do it on purpose.
The colors are close to natural, the contrast is good. The brightness of the display is sufficient for outdoor use, but don’t expect miracles. Auto brightness generally works well, but not perfect – sometimes you have to make the display a little brighter.
Viewing angles are good for an inexpensive smartphone, but when shifting the device diagonally, a decrease and an increase in contrasts is noticeable. Overall, the screen is okay.
As usual, in the screen settings you can correct the color temperature of the screen and activate the eye protection mode. There is a function to automatically reduce the screen resolution to save power. But I don’t see the point of it.
The smartphone has an old low-performance Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor. It consists of four Cortex-A53 cores and operates at a maximum clock frequency of 1.4 GHz. The graphics accelerator is Adreno 308.
In synthetic tests the results are modest – as expected:
In practice, however, the device copes well with ordinary tasks. If you run a large number of applications, it can have a negative effect on UI animations. The apps are also not very fast. But everything’s very smooth if you don’t open tons of apps in the background. Don’t expect the phone to run heavy games, but it works fine with most of the more casual titles.
In general, the speed of the smartphone is normal, for a mid-ranger.
The amount of RAM is 3 GB, and storage is 32 GB. Of these 32 GB, the user can use 24.79 GB. Storage can be expanded by installing a microSD card with a capacity of up to 256 GB. You don’t have to sacrifice a SIM slot for it, which is a huge bonus.
The module of the main camera of the smartphone has a resolution of 13 megapixels and f/2.2 aperture.
Don’t expect much from this setup. With enough light, the photos have good level of detail and color reproduction, and autofocusing is quick. With bad light, colors and details are noticeably worse. The dynamic range is average and HDR doesn’t do much.
EXAMPLES OF PHOTOS IN FULL RESOLUTION
Video here is also average at best. The maximum resolution is Full HD (1920 × 1080), and there is no electronic stabilization.
The front camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels (f/2.0). It’s not bad – I’d call it unexceptional.
The camera application is typical for smartphones of this manufacturer. Swipe to the right of the screen to see the available modes, and swipe to the left to see advanced settings of the camera.
Worth mentioning is the “Focus” function (which, by the way, is absent in Huawei Y7 Prime 2018), which theoretically allows changing the focus point after the picture is taken.
Usually we see this feature in smartphones with a dual main camera and I was curious as to how it is possible in Huawei Y6 Prime 2018, with only one camera. And sure enough, the focus point does not change at all. So why add it? Maybe with an update of the firmware, something will change, but for now it simply does not work.
Huawei Y6 Prime 2018 can be unlocked using two methods – a fingerprint scanner and face recognition. Just in case, I will remind you again that standard Huawei Y6 2018 (without the “Prime”) does not have a fingerprint scanner.
The scanner works as usual for Huawei, and by that I mean it’s fast and accurate.
As always, it’s used for various actions: control the camera, answer a call, turn off the alarm, open the notification panel, scroll through the photos in the gallery.
As for unlocking with your face, the feature works… but it’s a lot slower than Huawei Y7 Prime 2018. But you still can do it – no problem.
Setting up is traditionally fast. Only one person can be added.
There are two ways to implement the unlock process: activate the screen and after identify the person with the swipe, or immediately open desktop or an application. You can even use smart notifications, which means that the content of notifications on the lock screen will be hidden unless the phone recognizes the owner.
The smartphone has a 3000 mAh battery. Huawei Y6 Prime 2018 can survive for the same amount of time as its siblings.
When using 4G connection, the active screen time is slightly longer than 4.5 hours. And with a constant Wi-Fi connection, the screen was active for more than 6 hours, which is quite good for 3000 mAh battery.
In other words, there’s enough power for a day of active work or even for a day and a half, if you don’t do much on it. Although all this depends, of course, on the user’s preferences.
Huawei Y6 Prime 2018 must sound good – just at look at what the company’s saying on its official website.
So how is it? Well, the earpiece speaker is actually very good, load and clear. The sound of the main speaker is very loud and surprisingly clean.
The headphones sound good. There is an equalizer and other audio enhancers.
In addition, (let’s take a look at the manufacturer’s website again), there’s an update in the works that will allow for continuous play with several devices.
The communication capabilities of this smartphone are limited only to Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.2 (LE) modules. The NFC module is absent. Cellular network, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth all work with no problems.
The smartphone comes with the Android 8.0 operating system and the proprietary EMUI 8 shell.
All features of the senior model (Y7 Prime 2018) are present here. Everything as usual – the shell can be customized with themes, the desktop layout can be changed, several combinations of the navigation bar are available. There is a one-handed control mode and a couple of other gestures.
Huawei Y6 Prime 2018 is another mid-ranger from Huawei. It can easily be called a happy medium between the cheaper Huawei Y5 2018 and more expensive Huawei Y7 Prime 2018.
You get a convenient, sturdy smartphone with good 18:9 5,7” display, a fast fingerprint scanner and firmware. There’s also face recognition and a fully-fledged SIM/SD card slot.
Still, it’s not very powerful and has mediocre cameras, which is a norm for that price.
I think Y6 Prime 2018 is the most balanced device in the 2018’s Y lineup.
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