Read our detailed Huawei P Smart 2020 review, featuring a 6.21-inch display, dual cameras, and Google Play Services. Explore its full specifications, performance, and more.
Huawei P Smart 2020 Review: The Affordable Mid-Range Smartphone with Google Play Services
Huawei has long been recognized for producing mid-range smartphones that strike a balance between performance and affordability, and the Huawei P Smart 2020 fits that description perfectly. Released in May 2020, the P Smart 2020 brings together solid specifications, a sleek design, and the added benefit of Google Play Services. Unlike many other Huawei models released in recent years, the P Smart 2020 still supports Google’s suite of apps, making it an attractive option for those who want a Huawei device but aren’t ready to give up access to Google’s ecosystem.
In this comprehensive review, we will cover the P Smart 2020’s design, display, performance, camera quality, battery life, and more. Whether you’re considering this smartphone for its price or its features, this review will help you decide if it’s the right phone for you.
Introduction
The Huawei P Smart 2020 is a well-rounded device aimed at users who want a smartphone that performs well in day-to-day tasks without costing a fortune. This smartphone features a 6.21-inch IPS LCD display, a Kirin 710 chipset, and a dual-camera setup on the back. With 128GB of internal storage and 4GB of RAM, it provides a smooth experience for most activities, including social media, browsing, and light gaming.
One of the main selling points of the Huawei P Smart 2020 is that it supports Google Play Services, which is increasingly rare for Huawei phones. This gives the phone a significant advantage over newer Huawei models that no longer have access to Google apps due to the ongoing trade restrictions.
Let’s dive deeper into the specifics of this mid-range smartphone and see how it performs in various aspects.
Design and Build Quality
At first glance, the Huawei P Smart 2020 looks like a sleek and modern smartphone. It has a glass front and a plastic back and frame, which helps keep the phone lightweight at 160 grams. Despite its plastic construction, the phone feels solid and well-built, with a premium finish that belies its mid-range price. The phone is available in three color options—Midnight Black, Aurora Blue, and Green—each of which gives it a stylish appearance.
With dimensions of 155.2 x 73.4 x 8 mm, the Huawei P Smart 2020 is slim and easy to hold, making it comfortable for extended use. The rear-mounted fingerprint sensor is conveniently placed for quick unlocking, and the physical buttons (power and volume) are located on the right side, easily accessible with one hand.
The dual-camera setup is positioned vertically in the top-left corner on the back, with a subtle design that doesn’t protrude too much, helping to maintain the sleek look of the phone.
Display
The Huawei P Smart 2020 is equipped with a 6.21-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The display is sharp and vibrant, offering excellent clarity for watching videos, playing games, and browsing the web. With a 415 PPI pixel density, the screen produces crisp details and vivid colors, making for an enjoyable viewing experience, especially at this price point.
The phone achieves a screen-to-body ratio of 83.1%, meaning the bezels are relatively slim, although there is a small notch at the top for the front-facing camera. The display is bright enough for outdoor use in most lighting conditions, though direct sunlight may still cause some glare.
For a mid-range device, the display quality is impressive, especially considering the price. The Huawei P Smart 2020’s display makes it a great choice for multimedia consumption and everyday use.
Performance and Software
The Huawei P Smart 2020 is powered by the Kirin 710 chipset, an octa-core processor that includes four Cortex-A73 cores clocked at 2.2 GHz and four Cortex-A53 cores at 1.7 GHz. This setup provides decent performance for most tasks, including browsing, social media, and even light gaming. The Mali-G51 MP4 GPU handles graphical tasks efficiently, though it might struggle with high-end games running at maximum settings.
The phone comes with 4GB of RAM, which is enough for smooth multitasking and running most apps without significant slowdowns. However, if you’re planning to switch between multiple resource-heavy apps or games, you might notice some occasional lag.
One of the key highlights of the Huawei P Smart 2020 is that it runs Android 9.0 (Pie) with EMUI 9.1 on top. Most importantly, it supports Google Play Services, allowing you to download apps from the Google Play Store, use Google Maps, Gmail, and other Google apps without any issues. This makes the P Smart 2020 stand out among recent Huawei models, which often lack Google services.
Camera Performance
The Huawei P Smart 2020 features a dual-camera setup on the rear, consisting of:
- 13 MP primary sensor (f/1.8 aperture, PDAF): The primary camera does a good job in well-lit environments, producing sharp and colorful images. The f/1.8 aperture allows for decent low-light performance, though you can expect some noise in darker conditions.
- 2 MP depth sensor: This secondary sensor is used to capture depth information, enabling the phone to produce attractive portrait shots with a blurred background, also known as the bokeh effect.
The camera app includes features such as LED flash, HDR, and panorama mode. In terms of video recording, the Huawei P Smart 2020 can shoot at 1080p resolution at 30/60fps, which is suitable for casual videography. While it lacks advanced video stabilization, the video quality is decent for a mid-range phone.
Selfie Camera
On the front, the P Smart 2020 sports an 8 MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture. It supports HDR and can record videos at 1080p@30fps. The front camera performs adequately for selfies and video calls, producing decent images in good lighting. However, like most budget and mid-range smartphones, the selfie camera struggles in low-light conditions, resulting in grainier images.
Battery Life
The Huawei P Smart 2020 is equipped with a 3400mAh battery, which is somewhat smaller than what you might find in competing mid-range phones. However, thanks to the efficient Kirin 710 chipset and the optimizations in EMUI 9.1, the battery life is still satisfactory for most users.
Under moderate use—such as browsing the web, social media, and light gaming—the battery can comfortably last a full day. Heavy users who engage in more resource-intensive tasks like gaming or video streaming may need to recharge by the end of the day. The phone supports 10W wired charging, which is relatively standard but not as fast as some competing devices offering 15W or 18W charging speeds.
Storage
One of the strong points of the Huawei P Smart 2020 is its 128GB of internal storage, which is more than enough for most users. Whether you’re downloading apps, storing photos, or saving media files, this ample storage space ensures that you won’t run out of space too quickly.
Additionally, the phone supports expandable storage via a microSDXC card, though it uses a shared SIM slot. This means you’ll need to choose between using two SIM cards or expanding your storage.
Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, the Huawei P Smart 2020 offers all the essentials, including:
- 4G LTE for fast mobile data
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac with dual-band and Wi-Fi Direct support
- Bluetooth 4.2
- GPS, GLONASS, BDS for location services
- FM radio
- microUSB 2.0 with OTG support
- NFC (supported in some regions)
While the use of microUSB instead of USB Type-C may be disappointing for some, the phone still delivers solid connectivity options for a mid-range device. NFC support allows for contactless payments, which is a nice feature to have in this price range.
Specifications Table (Responsive)
| Feature | Specifications |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 08, 2020 |
| Dimensions | 155.2 x 73.4 x 8 mm |
| Weight | 160 g |
| Display | 6.21 inches IPS LCD, 1080 x 2340 pixels, 415 PPI |
| OS | Android 9.0 (Pie), EMUI 9.1, Google Play Services |
| Chipset | Kirin 710 (12 nm) |
| CPU | Octa-core (4×2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4×1.7 GHz Cortex-A53) |
| GPU | Mali-G51 MP4 |
| RAM | 4GB |
| Internal Storage | 128GB |
| Main Camera | 13 MP (wide), 2 MP (depth) |
| Selfie Camera | 8 MP, f/2.0 |
| Battery | 3400 mAh, 10W charging |
| SIM | Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) |
| Price | Approx. €200 |
Conclusion
The Huawei P Smart 2020 is a solid mid-range smartphone with a balanced set of features. Its 6.21-inch display, reliable Kirin 710 chipset, and dual-camera setup make it an attractive option for users looking for a phone that can handle everyday tasks with ease. The phone’s 128GB of storage and Google Play Services support also set it apart from other Huawei models that have moved away from Google’s ecosystem.
While the 3400mAh battery is slightly smaller compared to some competitors, the overall performance and features make the P Smart 2020 a strong contender in the mid-range market. If you’re looking for a phone that offers a good balance of performance, design, and affordability, the Huawei P Smart 2020 is worth considering.
Disclaimer:
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