Huawei’s Y-series focuses on the mass market covering a wide range of budget from entry-level to mid-range smartphones. The very first smartphone from the series recently landed into Pakistani market, the Huawei Y7 Prime 2019. We have already published a separate unboxing session (video after the break) with very quick look on the phone.
Well, the company launched a mid-ranger from the series, Huawei Y9 2019 last year. We have done a full review of that phone if you want to check. But if you want to get every detail about the cheaper model, you are good to go down to have a full review of the Huawei Y7 Prime 2019.
If you were having an interest in this phone to buy, you might know that Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 first remained in the pre-orders phase for a couple of weeks before getting on store-shelves recently. Now that if you have bought the phone already, you can still continue to know the things we are going to disclose in this review. But if you have not made a purchase yet, then we will be glad to help you make a decision.
Let me make some important things clear about the pricing of this phone compared to its predecessors. The Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 is the third iteration of its model – the original Y7 Prime came in 2017. The interesting thing about the three models is that they confusingly priced and featured. In fact, not all but only the last year’s model actually did confuse with a downgraded hardware and decreased price over the original.
The very first Y7 Prime was priced Rs. 25,000 in 2017 with 4000mAh battery and Snapdragon 435. The next model brought a visual upgrade with an impressive full-view display and some better camera in Y7 Prime 2018. That model interestingly cost lower than original with the price tag of Rs. 20,000. But that lower price came with an older processor and a smaller battery.
The most recent Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 costs you Rs. 29,000 which is a real first upgrade from its predecessors. It keeps the bigger battery from the original and even better front/rear camera than last year’s Y7 Prime. On top, this year’s Y7 Prime brings an upgraded Snapdragon 450 processor along with a notched-display design.
With the Y7 Prime 2019 in hands, we think that the belief, which stated as the company won’t be using notch displays after when it adapted hole-punch display later last year, is debunked. They are rather keeping it for its budget smartphones, which will sure attract willing consumers. It’s just like last year when the company started using the full-view display on its budget phones.
You can check our thorough comparison between the new Y7 Prime 2019 and the last year’s Y7 Prime 2018. Here are the main features of Huawei Y7 Prime 2019.
Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 – Features and Specifications
| HUAWEI Y7 PRIME 2019 / HUAWEI Y7 PRO 2019 | |
|---|---|
| Software | Android 8.1 Oreo EMUI 8.2 |
| Dimension | 158.9 x 76.9 x 8.1 mm |
| Weight | 168 grams |
| Display | 6.26-inch Dewdrop display 1520×720 HD+, 19:9, Pixel density: ~269 ppi Screen-to-body ratio: ~80% |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 CPU: 8x ARM Cortex A53 1.8GHz GPU: Adreno 506 Modem: X9 (300Mbps↓/150Mbps↑) |
| Memory | 3GB RAM 32GB Internal Storage |
| Camera | Dual-Rear: 13MP + 2MP, f/1.8, AI Front: 16MP camera |
| Battery | 4000 mAh, 5V/2A |
| Network | 4G/LTE, 3G, 2G |
| Sensors | Fingerprint, Proximity, Ambient Light, Compass, Gravity |
| Price | PKR 28,999/- (estimate ~USD 206) |
Before we go further, we want you to know that – in case if you plan to buy this phone, you will get these things with the retail box.
Unboxing Video
Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 Box Contents
- The device – Huawei Y7 Prime 2019
- Connectivity/Charging cable
- Travel charger – 5V+2A
- Stereo earphones
- SIM eject tool
- User guide
- Add-on silicon back cover
- Add-on screen protector
Build and Design
Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 follows the company’s recent design language but it’s all plastic – sure it’s a lower mid-range category phone. As you know plastic is always prone to attract scratches far quicker if not covered with a back case. But don’t count it as a bad thing about this phone, as you won’t get anything better in this price. You can, though, talk about the quality and it’s a good one like any other Huawei device.
The mid-frame is also plastic and joins right between the screen frame and the back panel. The branding and labels are at the side of the phone following the most recent releases from the company. Some light labeling is on the opposite side.
The rear side hosts the dual-camera module on the top-left corner and prints the camera labels below in the same direction as logo. It reads “AI CAMERA” with no camera or lens specifications, unlike a few other Huawei devices. An LED flash is also there below the camera module. The fingerprint sensor is also on the rear side which is always the most appropriate place for it.
Components and Ports
The Huawei Y7 2019 simply has a common layout of components and ports as we usually see on other phones. micro USB port is on the bottom of the phone along with the speaker grill.
Thankfully the audio jack is on the top side of the phone along with a secondary mic for noise cancellation and stereo recording.
The power button and the volume buttons are on the right side of the phone, while on the other side the SIM slot is available.
It’s not a hybrid SIM slot and you won’t need to worry about choosing between a SIM card or a memory card. Instead you can use all – a microSD card alongside two SIM slots.
Weighing 168 grams on paper this phone doesn’t feel much heavy in hands. However the size of the phone may not impress you if you have a bit smaller hands. Thanks to slim bezels around three sides that it gives you little less bulk.
You can see the display bezels and a notch on the top, right? if you didn’t, look at the following photos closely. That tiny dewdrop notch may impress those who didn’t like the wider version of the cut-out on top of the displays. So the phone offers a single piece of camera for your selfies – we’ll cover in detail in camera section.
Unlike other mid-rangers from the company, the Y7 Prime 2019 manages keep a bit larger chin with “HUAWEI” branding that we didn’t see in other recent phones. And we indeed liked the front without that branding.
The full front profile features a 6.26-inch display with aspect ratio of 19:9. The HD+ resolution of 1520 x 720 pixels serves with the pixel density of around 269 ppi and approximately 80.2% screen-to-body ratio.
Unfortunately, once again, oleophobic coating isn’t on the screen. That means you may have fingerprint smudges more frequently that will want you to clean with a wet cloth.
The IPS display on Y7 Prime 2019 is not that bad – it’s bright in most conditions. However very bright sunny day may make you struggle under heavy reflections. The 720p resolution on this big screen may let you feel little uncomfortable with less sharp content.
My favorite feature for hiding the display notch is still present with through the software settings interface. The feature enables a dark status bar covering the notch from both sides so it won’t stand out of the top edge.
Software and UI
Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 runs Android 8.1 Oreo operating system out-of-the-box with the proprietary EMUI 8.2 software layer on top. It’s just like the most mid-range smartphone Huawei has shipped recently including Huawei Y9 2019 or little more worthy Nova series.
The display notch as we noted above that could camouflage with a software based dark status bar. Even important thing is that it keeps the information intact including all those statuses and notification icons.
Lock, Unlock and Home Screen
The lock screen comes first with the same Magazine style by default as always. You can change the categories to load wallpapers from, in this specific style. The magazine style loads a new wallpaper every time you press power button to wake up the phone. Some quick options are also present on the lock screen.
The home screen can be configured as always to have different layout of icons. Folders and context menu is there that you can initiate by tap and holding an icon – you can still drag the icon that way by ignoring the menu and continue with dragging.
App Drawer
Default home screen style is just old without the app drawer but you can turn it on by going through Settings > Display > Home screen style > Drawer. Huawei must move this option to the home screen customize settings, it will be more quick and easy that way.
Variety of Navigation Styles
In addition to common three-key navigation that you have seen in above screenshots – recent apps, home, and back keys, the new Y7 Prime 2019 has three more navigation options. Gesture based navigation, Single-key navigation, and a navigation dock.
Gesture based navigation totally works without any visible keys. Only right, left, down, or up swipe gestures are used to go back and forth.
Single-key navigation comes with a single little bar at the bottom of the screen. You drag that key towards different sides to navigate.
Navigation Dock, when enabled, a dock is appeared floating on the screen which you can simply tap, tap & hold, hold & stretch and drag to respectively navigate to back, home, recent tasks view or move the dock itself.
System Performance
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 450 processor is driving the Huawei Y7 Prime 2019. We usually see this processor in this price range, with an exception where the same processor we saw in the 18k Realme C1. Also note that the C1 lacked many other important things you would need to use a phone these days. It didn’t have a fingerprint sensor as well as the phone packed with mere a 2GB RAM and 16GB storage which is a no-deal in today’s life when you are taking photos every 10 minutes.
So all that again would end up with a little more price tag in the shape of Huawei Y7 Prime with moderate 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. Along with that you get Adreno 506 GPU which won’t have big troubles running good amount graphics on a 720p display.
Our most used titles during review process – Asphalt 9 and PUBG Mobile worked just fine. However playing for a little longer period may give lagging experiences. If you are interested to know, PUBG chose “Medium” frame rate settings by default which gave good experience most of the time. The graphics option sets at “Smooth” which is the basic one for experience giving up on picture quality.
Game Suite
The new Y7 Prime 2019 also comes with Game Suite just like the recent Huawei releases. It allows users to add certain games in a list that will provide the users with uninterrupted gaming experience. In addition the system will optimize the settings for better performance for selected games. This may also consume more power and you may experience device-heat.
Benchmark Rating Comparison
Here are some benchmark tests. We put the phone on trial with AnTuTu, Geekbench and GFX Bench tools.
AnTuTu score: 73,433
Geekbench score (single-core): 764
Geekbench score (multi-core): 3,835
GFX Manhattan (on-screen): 3,835
Battery Performance
With the massive 4000mAh battery capacity, the Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 has nice battery timing. It could last up to three days with one full charge for normal calling, texting, little internet surfing, little camera usage, only a few minutes of YouTube, less frequent Facebook and Twitter and likes.
It would last up to 1 day with little moderate use with social networks, in-browser video playback and YouTube, a couple of minutes GPS navigation, a bit of gaming, and a few still shots with camera.
Like many other phones, excessive camera usage and GPS navigation may take some battery juice but it’s much better than most in this class we have tested recently. Excessive gaming will take most of the battery if you spending a lot of time with PUBG like titles.
While the phone doesn’t have notable fast charging, it does come with a 10-watt charger at least. So it won’t take unusually long to fill up the battery.
Camera
Huawei Y7 Prime 2019 features a dual camera setup on its back with a 13-megapixel main unit paired with a secondary 2-megapixel depth sensor. It’s pretty much the same package as last year’s Y7 Prime, however the new model comes with a large aperture lens. That means, you should get better low-light photos from Y7 Prime 2019.
The main camera features an f/1.8 aperture lens and an LED flash. Unlike recent Huawei devices, this phone doesn’t have a specific “Portrait” mode for portraits with blurred background. However the camera will allow you take photos with blurred background, aka bokeh effect with a “Aperture” mode which is present for all-kind closeup shots.
Provided the single 16MP front-facing camera, Y7 Prime 2019 won’t allow you to take similar selfies with blurred background. However many vendors are providing that feature with even single-camera unit via software, it’s always been unusable. So you better be with standard selfies as long as they are good.
Camera UI
Overall the native camera user interface is same as we have seen in other Huawei phones. But this phone has very limited options to play with. AR Lens is yet present to play with.
Image Quality
Huawei Y7 Prime captures nice shots in bright daylight. Huawei’s vivid colors also make its way through the images. Noise handling was good at some extent, however the images usually come with purple fringing at edges.
On the other hand low-light photos are impressively well tuned with noise handling. But sometimes it doesn’t get the focus right, ending up with softness across the frame.
Aperture Mode
Aperture mode is impressive in most case, however at some places the system gets confused to decide which part of the frame needs to be blurred.
Front Camera
Front camera with its f/2.0 aperture lens is good for your daily social doze of selfies. It’s quite good indoors well as outdoors.
Conclusion and Verdict
Huawei Y7 Prime is a good contender in this price range. The Snapdragon 450 is not that great to be impressed as it’s not so uncommon in this price range. The chip indeed impressed us with its presence in Realme C1, though the other system attributes were not that great to fall for.
Considering the specs on paper, we think the Honor 8C might be better in terms of performance due to much better chip, Snapdragon 632. But we can’t guarantee about that because none of us here has tried that Honor device.
The rear dual-camera is good on Y7 Prime 2019 for your regular personal and social presence. The front camera is also totally fine. Build quality has no objection but the presence of oleophobic layer on the screen would be much better
Just let us know about your questions below and we’ll bring the right answer for you about anything in this phone.
