Huawei P10 Plus – Battery life

The P10 Plus is powered by a 3750mAh, non-removable battery – which is pretty sizeable, even for a 5.5-inch phone. The Google Pixel XL, by comparison, has 3450mAh battery and the larger 5.7-inch LG G6 has a much smaller 3300mAh cell.

In terms of real-world performance, so far this phone has lasted a full day every day for the past few weeks, even with heavy use. Screen-on time seems to hit 4.5-5 hours consistently, and an hour of Netflix streaming consumes about 7% on Wi-Fi and 9% on 4G.

Doze, Android’s native way of stopping power-hungry apps from munching through lots of data when the phone is idle, is a fantastic feature for extending standby time – but it appear to not work so well here. I’d put this down to EMUI’s own features that stop intensive apps, but it doesn’t work quite as well and it leaves the P10 Plus with slightly worse standby times than the competition.

I can leave an iPhone 7 or Pixel XL unplugged overnight and they’ll consume 2-5%, but with the P10 Plus it’s more like 10-12%.

Related: What is USB-C?


Thankfully, recharging the Huawei P10 Plus via the USB Type-C port is quick. What I really like here is that there are three charging modes that automatically trigger when you plug in the correct charger.

Using the one included in the box, ‘Super Charging’ mode will kick in and fully power up the phone in about an hour. Use any other quick charger and ‘Fast Charging’ mode will take an extra 30 minutes to get you to 100%. Finally, if you plug the P10 Plus into a computer or older charger then it will charge more slowly at around three hours.

Should I buy the Huawei P10 Plus?

The P10 Plus is Huawei’s best phone to date. It isn’t perfect, but it ticks most of the boxes for an impressive 2017 flagship. It’s fast, looks attractive and has an excellent-sized display. The Leica-engineered camera is ace too, and the wider aperture makes a huge difference when comparing it to the regular Huawei P10.

There are a couple of drawbacks, however. The lack of an oleophobic coating on the screen leaves you with a smudgy, oily display, plus there ’s no water-resistance here as there is in the majority of the competition.

For £649, the P10 Plus represents much better value than the £549 P10, especially with that generous amount of base storage. It’s a great phone, one that I wouldn’t think twice about recommending.

Verdict

The P10 Plus is Huawei’s best phone to date.

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