Huawei Y6 (2018)

Huawei attempts the take up the budget market with the Huawei Y6 2018. Priced at Rs. 8,999, the premium brands add a lot of capable hardware to the 2018 Y6 to make it survive in the fierce budget market.

While the Huawei Y6 2018 comes as a capable model with the Huawei brand name, the phone seems to lose on many ends when compared to the Huawei Y6 2017. If you have the Huawei Y6 2017 model, then this phone does not bring any striking impetus for you to purchase it as a replacement, however, if you are a new Huawei user, then the Huawei Y6 2018 can come as a surprisingly good performer in the budget range.

The Huawei Y6 2018 version does not differentiate from the previous designs that Huawei comes with. It has narrow bezels in the front, giving you a bit of screen space to work with. The back panel of the phone is made of plastic, and the frame is made out of metal. The phone is quite sturdy as, when twisting the case, it does not creak or make any cracking sound. The phone also comes with a screen protector on the front. The camera module on the rear panel slightly protrudes out but not to an uncomfortable degree. The phone is about 7.8 thick, which is not much. It is exceptionally lightweight at 150g. One huge drawback of the phone is that it does not come with a fingerprint scanner.

The Huawei Y6 2018 arrives with a 5.7-inch screen, arriving with a 1,440 x 720 display and comes with a 2:1 aspect ratio. The phone is quite bright at 460 cd/m², and it would not cause any problems when you are in a bright setting. Plus, the brightness sensors work well and adjusts brightness accurately. The brightness distribution on the screen is quite good as well, which is about 88%. The viewing angles are decent, and even at acute angles the phone remains bright, and the content remains legible.

The Huawei Y6 2018 gets its power from the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425, which is a quad-core processor. It is surprising that Huawei has gone for a Snapdragon model and not their company-built Kirin processor for their budget phone. The CPU is clocked at 1,400 MHz. The graphics are controlled by the Adreno 308. It gets an Antutu score of 39089 points, which beats Nokia 2’s 24924 points, but is easily defeated by 46370 points acquired by Moto G5s. Even Huawei Y6 2017 gets a better score of 40981, and hence will fare better than the Y6 2018 in gaming. However, you can play most of the games on this phone at 30fps easily. It is not really not for hardcore gaming, though. Regarding daily functions, the phone works perfectly and does not falter when it comes to multitasking. App loading time is quite low too.

The Huawei Y6 2018 comes with a 13MP rear camera which comes with a monochrome flash and a 5MP selfie camera. For the price range, the phone comes with decent camera specs for the price. The selfie camera has fixed focus and needs the subject to be at a bit of a distance when you are clicking shots. The details are not great but are okay for the price range.

On the rear end, the phone can click sharp images, but the colours are rather cool. The low-light performance makes the photos come out blurry and often lacking exposure. Panorama, on the other hand, causes overexposure of subjects like the sky. The autofocus is not always accurate either.

The rear camera can record 1080p videos. The same problems persist in this case, with the videos turning out to be cooler. The autofocus is also quite jerky. However, the footage adapts the focus frequently and accurately when the light angles change.

The cameras have not changed much when compared to the Huawei Y6 2017.

The Y6 2018 comes with a battery of 3000 mAh. It is not a very efficient battery, and its predecessor, Y6 2017 lasted longer in battery tests by 8%. The phone was able to stay alive for 10 hours and 43 minutes with constant internet browsing, which is not efficient enough. Plus, the Snapdragon 425 is not the most efficient processor in terms of battery consumption. In case, you want it to last for an entire day, you have to use it for light tasks and along with that, make sure that the screen brightness is reduced. The phone takes around 2 hours to charge, which is not a great time either.

The Huawei Y6 2018 is a good phone when you compare it with its competitors. It has a decent performance, a good display, and capable battery. The brightness of the screen is quite good too. However, there is no fingerprint scanner on this phone. Plus, it rehashes many things from its predecessor, and unfortunately, falters in battery performance. If you have a Y6 2017, then upgrading to Huawei Y6 2018 is not a huge necessity.