With the entry of new players in Kenyan’s smartphone industry, the competition is becoming fierce day-by-day.

In order to take on the competition and maintain its dominance as one of the biggest smartphone brands in the country, Huawei in March launched Y7 Prime 2018, an upgraded version of last year’s Y7 Prime.

Recently, we received a Y7 Prime 2018 from the company for review. Before we proceed to what we think of this device from the Chinese smartphone giant, here are the specs:

Huawei Y7 Prime has a 5.99-inch 1440 x 720 FullView display with 269 PPI pixel density and 18:9 aspect ratio. The device is powered by a 1.4GHz octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 processor and comes with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage with the option of an expandable memory of upto 256Gigs. Y7 Prime has a 3,000mAh Li-ion battery.

Buyers of the device will be getting a device with the following specifications:

Design

The device that we received was in Huawei’s signature blue colour. It is the best among the three colour variants available for this model, others being Black and Gold. Despite the fact that the back cover of the device is made of plastic, the shiny blue colour along with its sleek design and finishing gives Y7 Prime a premium look.

However, the shiny back cover is a fingerprint magnet and no matter how much you try to keep it smudge-free, it will have fingerprints all over it in no time. That is generally a consequence for glossy designs.

Camera

Following the latest trend of having dual-lens cameras, Huawei Y7 Prime 2018 comes equipped with 13MP + 2 MP rear cameras. The wide-aperture feature gives DSLR like depth to your photos. The phone is capable of 1080p videos @30FPS.

Just like the rear cameras, the 8-Megapixel front camera also has LED flash which allows you to take selfies in low light. Huawei has generally always prioritised its Camera quality. The upcoming P20 device is likely to take things a step further.

Performance

Huawei’s decision to go with Snapdragon 430 processor in the 2018 model of Y7 instead of Snapdragon 435 which was used in previous year’s model didn’t impact the performance much. The 1.4GHz octa-core processor coupled with 3GB of RAM produces enough power to give an average user a smooth experience. Despite heavy usage and multiple apps running simultaneously, we didn’t notice any lag in the performance of the device.

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The Y7 Prime 2018 is packed with 3,000 mAh Li-ion battery which is smaller than last year model’s 4,000 mAh battery, However, it still manages to produce juice to get an average user through the day.

The fingerprint sensor on Huawei’s latest device is super fast. Along with the rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, the Y7 Prime 2018 also gives you an option to unlock your phone with your Face ID. However, it is neither as fast nor as secure as the fingerprint sensor.

Verdict

If you’re not a heavy user and looking for a beautiful handset with a decent camera, then Huawei’s Y7 Prime 2018 is the device to go for in this price range. Of course, it’s not on the level of Android’s more high-end devices but for its price range, it packs a lot of decent specs. It’s glossy blue finish adds to the aesthetic of the design.

Huawei Mate 10 lite was a popular choice for mid-range smartphone consumers and the Y7 Prime 2018 is set to carry on the mantle. Although it’s from a different series than the Mate and priced even lower, the smartphone has enough features to succeed in a perfectly competitive mid-range smartphone market.