Huawei may be one of the biggest smartphone-makers in the world, but it has basically no presence in the US. The Chinese company wants to change that, and its latest attempt is a mid-ranged handset that was announced for the global market back in April.
The Huawei P8 Lite is the budget sibling to the premium P8 and P8 Max that the company unleashed in mid-April. It has a similar design to its higher-end siblings, but replaces the P8's aluminum for plastic. Its 5-inch display has a mere 720p resolution (294 pixels per inch ... not very high by today's standards) and uses a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with 2 GB of RAM.
On the plus side, the P8 Lite is light (4.8 oz/135 g) and thin (0.3-in/7.6 mm). It also has dual SIM support, something that's typically unheard of in US phones. Its cameras at least have respectable specs: 13 MP on the backside (with ƒ/2.2 aperture) and 5 MP on the front.
Software is another matter: as it hasn't made it to Lollipop, and is instead stuck on Android 4.4 KitKat (you know, the one that launched in late 2013) with Huawei's custom UI on top.
None of this is likely to set the US smartphone market on fire, but within the context of its pricing, it does look a little better, as Huawei is selling the P8 Lite through its online store for US$250 unlocked and off-contract. That puts it in a price tier just above the $180 Moto G and just below higher-end values like the $350 OnePlus One.
The Huawei P8 Lite is up for order from the company's US online store, as well as Amazon, Best Buy, B&H and Fry's . You can read more at the product page below.
Source: Huawei
