Huawei Y5 Lite Review: Budget Goodness

The Huawei Y5 Lite was launched early this month and I’ve been using it religiously for a week and a couple of days. It is Huawei’s second Android Go smartphone after the subtle launch of the Huawei Y3 (2018) and the little sibling to the Huawei Y5 Prime (2018) that was launched earlier this year.

Here’s what it packs:

• 5.45” 720p IPS LCD screen in an 18:9 aspect ratio
• Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition)
• 1GB RAM
• 8GB internal storage – expandable to 256GB
• Quad-core 1.5GHz MediaTek MT6739 chipset
• PowerVR GE8100 GPU
• 8MP rear camera with LED flash
• 5MP selfie camera
• Dual SIM with 4G LTE
• 3020mAh battery

Design

The Huawei Y5 Lite comes in two colours – Black (which we have) and Blue. It has the small bezels its bigger brother, the Huawei Y5 Prime had. Its compact design makes a solid one hand grip during usage. The rear camera and the LED flash are horizontal at the top left corner. You won’t find a fingerprint scanner but that shouldn’t hold you back – face unlock would’ve been a nice addition though. The speaker is located at the earpiece – the audio produced is decent enough for when you’re watching videos or listening to music.

Display

The phone packs a 5.45″ 720p HD display in a modern 18:9 aspect ratio. The pixel density provides stunningly enough visuals for media consumption when indoors but outdoors it struggles especially under direct sunlight but that’s nothing to worry about.

Usability

The phone runs on Android 8.1 Oreo (Go Edition) with a MediaTek MT6739 chip with Quad-core processor that clocks at 1.5GHz. The phone rocks 1GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. But if you feel short of storage, there’s a slot to expand your memory up to 256GB. The 1GB RAM coupled the Android Go optimised for low spec’d phones worked pretty fine most of the time, especially for Android Go apps. Lag is experienced when opening the rest of the apps. RAM-intense apps will often restart when in the background and can be, sometimes, frustrating. Huawei also included some neat features atop the EMUI such as the three finger swipe for taking screenshots and double tap to wake the screen. The phone is dual SIM with one of its SIM slots being 4G enabled so browsing the web is going to be a smooth experience.

Camera

The Huawei Y5 Lite packs an 8MP rear camera and a 5MP front-facing camera. Photos taken by the Y5 Lite look more natural with decent contrast. The cameras do a commendable job during the day and in well-lit places but struggle in low light scenarios. Here are some samples:

1 of 4

Battery Life

The Huawei Y5 Lite rocks a non-removable 3020mAh battery and the few days I’ve spent time with the phone, it has given me all day performance. I was hoping this endurance would through my review period and it did. The power management settings worked out well without limiting the phone’s performance.

Who is this phone for?

If you’re new to Android Go or making the switch from feature phones to smartphones without breaking the bank, then the Huawei Y5 Lite makes a perfect smartphone choice as it offers the right balance between performance, battery life, camera quality and build quality. It can also be a gift to a friend or family member this holiday season.

The phone is already available for Ksh 9,990/= on Jumia and Huawei’s retail stores.