Huawei’s first entry-level smartphone for this year has launched and it is a reboot of the Y6 back in 2015. It sports good specs with a neat addition of a face unlock feature which is quite a surprise for its price range. See how the Y6 2018 fares in our full review below. Let’s begin!
Before we begin, watch our unboxing and hands-on video for the Y6 2018 here:
Design and Construction
The Y6 2018 doesn’t have major design changes from its predecessor. What appeals to us, however, is its black-colored body with lesser bezels that simply looks elegant and premium for an entry-level smartphone. Its sleek unibody also increases the aesthetic value of the phone.
On the front is a 5.7-inch screen that is covered with pre-installed screen protection except for the 5MP front camera, call speaker, and LED flash. Huawei remains consistent with their Y6 models by placing their brand name just below the screen.
Looking on the left is the lone card tray that houses the dual-nano SIM card slots and its dedicated slot for a microSD card. We always prefer triple card trays over hybrid ones, so this is a plus for us.
On the right of the screen are the standard power button and volume rocker pairing. The buttons were not that hard so it’s easier for us to lock the phone or adjust the device’s volume.
On top is a lone 3.5mm audio port.
Below the screen are the main microphone, micro USB port, and the loudspeaker.
And finally, the back has the 13MP rear camera with an LED flash and nothing more.
The Y6 2018 feels solid, light, and slim in the hands. We had an instance when we forgot where we put it but after searching, we found that it was sitting in a mini gap in our sofa (that’s how slim it is).
Its polycarbonate back panel with matte-finish makes it easy to grip the device firmly without any slips. What we also liked about the phone is it repels smudges and fingerprints which is another plus for us.
Display and Multimedia
The Huawei Y6 2018 has a 5.7-inch HD+ (1440x720px) IPS LCD display that equates to a 282ppi pixel density. Huawei upped their game by equipping this smartphone with an 18:9 aspect ratio which is the current trend nowadays. The display has decent color accuracy with good viewing angles. Usage under direct sunlight looks fine but the brightness should be at the maximum.
When it comes to audio, quality is decent enough to be used in a closed room. Its highs and mids are okay but the lows are subpar. Unfortunately, the package that we received didn’t have any earphones.
Camera
The Huawei Y6 2018 may be an entry-level smartphone but it has a competitive quality for its price. It is equipped with a 13MP rear and 5MP front cameras. It has main modes like Photo, Video, HDR, Panorama, All-focus, Filter, Beauty, and Watermark.
The images produced by the 13MP rear shooter is good enough for social media uploads. The colors are inconsistent, though, and can sometimes look washed-out or overly artificial. The photos produced are subpar under low-light conditions so make sure to have good lighting before taking any shots.
The front 5MP shooter has the same case with its rear camera. Quality is still decent if there is a good lighting and if it’s not against the light.
For video recording, the device can shoot up to 1080p at 30fps in MP4 file format. We noticed that it does not have video stabilization and its autofocus can get jittery.
OS, UI, and Apps
Running the software department is Emotion UI 8 based on Android 8.0 Oreo. It looks simplistic and clean, making it pleasing to the eyes. By default, there is no app drawer but users can freely choose to have one in the settings. The basic navigations are straightforward. Users can easily slide left, right, up, or down in the home screen.
Pre-installed applications include the standard Google applications, 5 games (Asphalt Nitro, Puzzle Pets, Kingdoms, Dragon Mania, Spider-Man), Phone Manager, Game Suite, Hi-Care, and Phone Clone.
Out of 16GB of internal storage, there’s an approximately 9GB free storage for your own use but that is already low for us. We suggest that users should use a microSD card for expanding its storage.
Performance and Benchmarks
The Y6 2018 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, Adreno 308 GPU, and 2GB of RAM. The processor used is outdated already, so we did not expect above average performance from it. Simple navigation is smooth but opening Google Play or any resource-heavy applications will cause a delay in touch responses= and would sometimes freeze for a bit. We were quite impressed with the implementation of the face unlock feature. The unlocking sequence may take around 2-4 seconds to work but even under low-light conditions, it can still detect our faces if we’re close enough to the screen’s light source.
Here are the benchmark scores that we got:
- PC Mark – 4879(Work 1.0), 3579(Work 2.0)
- Geekbench 4 – 690(Single-Core), 1941(Multi-Core)
- AnTuTu v7 – 46,481
- 3D Mark – 69 (Slingshot)
- AndroBench – 258.0MB/s (Sequential Read), 69.78MB/s (Sequential Write)
Games such as Sky Dancer and Rules of Survival can be playable in this device with visible frame drops. We also noticed that it warms up after some time but it shouldn’t be much of a concern.
Connectivity, Call quality, and Battery Life
The Y6 2018 has Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 4G LTE on SIM 1. Connecting to mobile data and WiFi network didn’t take long. We didn’t encounter any problems with the call quality as it is loud and clear. We were quite disappointed on the sensors that are available in the device as it only has Accelerometer, Light, Proximity, and Sound sensors. We had problems when using Google Maps and Waze as the device doesn’t have a Magnetic Sensor but the locations should still work regardless.
The Y6 2018 has a 3,000mAh battery. When tested at PC Mark’s battery test, the phone lasted for 8 hours and 12 minutes which is average. As for our video loop test (1080p video, 50% brightness, 50% sound), it lasted for 9 hours and 15 minutes.
Conclusion
The Huawei Y6 2018 has its imperfections but for an entry-level smartphone, its specs are competitive. While its performance is average, the good viewing experience, camera quality, and face unlock capabilities are what it makes the device unique than the other smartphones out in the market. This device is one of our recommended smartphones if users are tight on budget.
The Huawei Y6 2018 is priced at Php5,990 and will be available nationwide on April 28.
Huawei Y6 (2018) specs:
- 5.7-inch HD+ IPS LCD display @ 1440x720px, ~282ppi
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 425
- ARM Cortex A53 1.4GHz quad-core
- Adreno 308
- 2GB RAM
- 16GB internal storage
- 13MP rear camera with LED flash
- 5MP front camera with LED flash
- Expandable up to 256GB via microSD card (dedicated)
- Dual-SIM
- 4G LTE
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
- Bluetooth 4.2
- GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS support
- Face Unlock
- micro USB
- EMUI 8 (Android 8.0 Oreo)
- 3,000mAh Li-Ion battery
- 152.4 x 73 x 7.8 mm
- 150 g
What we liked:
- Slim and light
- Premium look
- Decent Camera quality under good lighting
- Face Unlock
- Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box
- Good specs-to-price ratio
What we didn’t:
- Outdated processor and GPU
- No Magnetic Sensor
- No Orientation Sensor
- Battery life is short
Where can I buy this battery