Huawei has officially unveiled its newest smartphone in town, the Huawei Pura 70 series with great hardware performance and camera capabilities. We took a look at the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra, the most expensive of the three phones in the series. Huawei Philippines has not offered WalasTech any opportunities to review any of their phones since 2021, so we went to a local Huawei store to check the phone out because it piqued our interest.
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is a flagship smartphone offering all the bells and whistles for a flagship smartphone. If there is such an ‘ultimate’ phone, this may be it.
With a sleek design measuring 162.6mm x 75.1mm x 8.4mm and weighing 226 grams, the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra is stylish and comfortable. The only official colors available in the Philippines are black and green, and the latter looks charming with its svelte back and luxurious pattern that reminds you of materials and products from fancy European fashion brands.
With a large 6.8-inch FHD+ LTPO OLED display boasting a resolution of 2844×1260 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate, the device delivers vibrant visuals with smooth transitions.
The display offers quad curved edges that creates this very ergonomic, filling grip when you hold it without a case. Such is the view when you look at it from any of its white gold-finished metal sides. On the right are the power/lock button and the power button with a red accent. The bottom part, on the other hand, has the Dual nano SIM card tray, the microphone, the USB-C port, and antenna bands to aid for signal reception.
Powered by the 7-nanometer Kirin 9010 chipset, the Pura 70 Ultra promises robust performance across various tasks. Paired with a generous 16GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, users can expect seamless multitasking and responsive operation. The phone is still restricted to 4G in the Philippines but should not be an issue considering we have a wide LTE coverage in the country.
The Huawei Pura 70 Ultra features an impressive array of lenses in the camera department. What I was most impressed with is the 50MP retractable main camera and the 40MP ultrawide and 50MP macro telephoto cameras provide versatility for capturing different types of scenes.
With features like optical image stabilization (OIS), 3.5x optical zoom, and up to 100x digital zoom, users can achieve sharp, detailed images even in challenging conditions.
Additionally, the device supports high-quality video recording up to 4K resolution at 30fps, with the added functionality of slow-motion capture at 1080p and 960fps.
On the front, a 13MP ultra-wide-angle camera enables users to capture wide-angle selfies and group shots with ease. The device also supports 4K video recording for front-facing content creation.
Durability is enhanced with IP68 dust and water resistance, providing peace of mind against accidental spills and exposure to the elements. The device houses a 5200mAh Li-Ion battery, capable of supporting 100W wired charging, 80W wireless charging, 18W wired reverse charging, and 20W wireless reverse charging.
Running on EMUI 14.2, Huawei’s custom Android-based operating system, the device offers a range of software features and optimizations to enhance the user experience. Huawei Mobile Services are still here and as per my experience, EMUI runs smoothly and has nifty features that you will appreciate soon enough.
A notable thing, though, is its app store availability – AppGallery. Huawei has made a lot of effort to create opportunities for local apps to team with Huawei and make them available to AppGallery (which as of this time has nearly most local apps including a handful of banks and digital wallets). There’s also Petal Search for searching apps still not available on the platform. For the casual user, this may pose as a challenge since there are malicious versions of legitimate apps on the Internet.
Huawei has also made it possible to create a way for some most-used Google apps to work on Huawei by sandboxing them with MicroG, which is an additional package installed when you try to download Google apps on AppGallery for the first time. Compared to 2021, this iteration is a lot more straightforward compared to GBox which I’ve gotten accustomed to.
We’re glad that Huawei is back with power-packing phones that aim to push technology forward. The price is a bit on the higher end for the PHP 79,999 SRP it’s asking for, but the camera capabilities alone, as we tested personally in-store and as shared online by other publications worldwide, could be the best thing you’ll have on your pocket.
You can pre-order the Huawei Pura 70 Ultra online at Huawei’s online store, or offline through select flagship concept stores until May 14.
