The Huawei Y7p smartphone was recently launched in the Kenyan market and it is the latest phone in the Huawei Y series to be launched in the Kenyan market. The smartphone is the successor to the Huawei Y7 Prime and the Huawei which were successfully launched by Huawei Mobile in Kenya last year.
The Y7p is the first phone in the series to come with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). This means that the phone does not come pre-installed with Google services apps.
Navigating Huawei Mobile services
Huawei Mobile Services is Huawei’s alternative to Google Mobile Services and its services include the AppGallery store, Huawei Video, Huawei Music and Huawei Wallet. It’s various services are apparently currently being used by over 400 million users in 170 countries.
The AppGallery store has featured in Huawei phones in the past and it includes millions of apps. Huawei is apparently collaborating with over 1.3 million developers to bring more apps, games and other software tools to the store.
Huawei phones that use Huawei Mobile Services include the Huawei Y7p, Mate 30, the recently launched P40 Series among others. The P40 series is rumoured to be coming to Kenya in the recent future.
The Huawei Y7p comes with Android 9 Pie which means that it will still run the usual Android apps. The phone will still get the usual Android OS updates. It also comes bundled with Huawei’s own operating system, EMUI 9.1.1.
Navigating Huawei Mobile Services on the Y7p feels different from the usual Google apps experience. For instance it comes pre-installed with Huawei own apps such as Huawei Browser, messaging app and other apps that are available on previous phones such as the Phone Clone, Themes, Email app, Huawei Health and Huawei Music.
You can download other apps that you need via the Huawei AppGallery store. You can download apps such as TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, Uber, Twitter among others from the store. Local apps such as Jumia, Safaricom, Telkom Kenya, and Jumia are also available.
Apps that are not available from the AppGallery store can be downloaded from third party websites such as ApkPure and App finder. Through these platforms, you will be able to download and install the apps.
Huawei Y7p first impressions
Performance
I have used the Y7p for a week now and it is impressive for the lack of lag when using multiple apps. The Kirin 710F processor combines well with the 4GB RAM to give a smooth experience.
I tried my hand at gaming with the Y7p and it worked pretty well. It’s interesting that it works well even when there are other apps that are running in the background. It wasn’t just any apps even, I was running heavy apps such as Instagram, Tumble and Snapchat and it just worked.
The phone comes with 64GB internal storage which has become a standard feature in similar Huawei phones. The storage is more than enough for normal usage with apps, images and video. In case it is not enough, the storage can be expanded to up-to 512GB via a micro SD card.
Screen and design
The phone comes with a 6.39 inch touchscreen which covers almost the whole front of the phone at a 82.4% screen-to-body ratio. The screen comes with a resolution of 1560 x 720 pixels. It comes with a plastic back and the whole phone is encased in a plastic frame. It comes in two colours i.e. aurora blue and midnight black.
The Huawei Y7p comes with a vertical triple camera setup at the back with a fingerprint sensor right next to it. At the front, the selfie camera is nestled on the top left of the screen.
As with other Y7 series phones, the Y7p comes with a Micro-USB port. The Y7 series is still waiting to get the Type C port. As usual, the earpiece is at the top and at the bottom there is the mouthpiece, headphone jack and speaker.
Battery
The Y7p comes with a large battery which is convenient and makes it a perfect phone for all day use. I was able to get between 9-10 hours with heavy use and around 13 hours with medium use.
With this phone, you definitely do not need to carry your charger around all the time.
Cameras
The Huawei Y7p comes with 4 cameras, 3 at the back and one selfie camera. The back camera is a triple camera setup that comes with a 48MP camera, an 8MP wide-angle camera and a 2MP secondary sensor. The selfie camera is 8MP and it supports HDR Mode and also comes with AI Scene Recognition.
The camera experience has been good so far. We will continue using it and do an in-depth review later.
Availability
The Y7p was launched in Kenya on 17th April in Kenya and is available at a recommended retail price (RRP) of Ksh. 18,499. The smartphone is available for sale in select stores across the country, that includes Jumia.