HUAWEI P8 and P8 Max announced: 64-bit octa-core, OIS camera, sleek metal unibody

At its light-themed event in London today, Huawei introduced its newest flagship creation, the P8.

The HUAWEI P8 (the “Ascend”branding has been dropped) is a 5.2-inch Full HD device that impresses through its sleek metallic design and intriguing camera features. The device follows the well-received Ascend P7 from last year, a phone that we appreciated for its design, great display, and powerful front camera. It remains to be seen whether the P8 remedies the issues we highlighted in our review, including the mediocre speakers, rear camera, and performance.

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The HUAWEI P8 comes in an attractive 6.4-millimeter thick package, in Mystic Champagne, Titanium Grey, Gold, Carbon Black. The device takes cues from the Ascend P7, but also channels the Ascend Mate 7, with the major difference being the rounded edges and the rectangular element around the camera on the back.

HUAWEI P8 specs and features

Specs of the HUAWEI P8 include a Kirin 930 processor (made by HUAWEI), featuring eight 64-bit cores in a big.LITTLE arrangement, four Cortex A53 cores at 2GHz and four Cortex A53 at 1.5GHz. 3GB of RAM and storage space starting from 16GB (expandable) complete what should be a decent experience.

HUAWEI managed to cram a 2,680 mAh battery in the 144.9 mm x 71.8 mm x 6.4 mm body (144 grams) and – impressively – the camera on the back doesn’t stick out like it does on many high-end devices these days. Speaking of which, you get a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization and a dual-LED flash, while the front shooter is a 8MP unit. HUAWEI is promising some intriguing software features for the camera, including a “light painting” mode that lets you record light graffiti, a “movie director” mode, a time lapse mode, and the obligatory beautification features. Technical tidbits include a image processor that HUAWEI claims rivals DSLR offerings, as well as a “world’s first” four-color 13MP image sensor.

The P8 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop out of the box, with HUAWEI’s EMUI 3.1 on top. We’ll update this section with more details as we get them. In the meantime, here’s two new HUAWEI videos, one highlighting some of the device’s features and the other basically talking about HUAWEI’s “vision” for the P8 as tool for creativity.

HUAWEI P8 Max

For phablet lovers, HUAWEI is also offering the P8 Max, a supersized version of the P8 with a massive 6.8-inch 1080p display. Aside from the display, the only other change is the battery, which has been upgraded to 4,360 mAh which will reportedly be able to stream videos for ten hours and last two days on a full charge.

HUAWEI P8 price and availability

The HUAWEI P8 will cost less than €500 ($530) when it arrives in May, while the Max model will cost around $581. A version of the P8 will be sold in the US from May, while the UK and Europe can expect it from later this month.

We’ll be bringing our hands-on impressions of the new HUAWEI P8 and P8 Max, but meanwhile, tell us your impressions.