People who are really into the latest tech seem to be more than happy to shell out a thousand bucks or more for the next generation of high end handsets. Either that, or if you're on a really big plan, your telco might upgrade you automatically.
At the other end of the price range, there are phones posing as smart phones, but they're not really smart at all, usually under powered, running on outdated software with terrible battery life and virtually no storage.
My mum has one of these. She thinks it's a rocket ship. But then, her last phone was a tin can and a piece of string.
The good news is, you can find a middle ground, if you're prepared to make a few compromises...
The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Huawei P8 Lite was how easy it is to pick up. While the spec sheet would suggest it's actually only a few grams lighter than its high-end cousin, the P8, I swear the difference is totally noticeable. This may also be due to the plastic back cover as opposed to the metal one on the P8. Yes, the P8 feels more solid, but the P8 Lite is... well... light. Initially, that was one of the few differences I could detect.
When I reviewed the P8 a few weeks back, I was impressed enough to suggest it was a serious contender to the likes of the top-end Samsung, Apple and LG phones. Likewise, the P8 Lite has many things to commend it to buyers in the sub $400 category.
Firstly, it's a really sharp looking phone. In fact, it's almost identical to the P8 with the same minimalist design; very slim with the same rear-facing camera situated flush in one corner.
That 13MP rear camera is an excellent camera for a phone in this price bracket, although the forward-facing camera is a significant step down. Not a problem for me as I have said before, the lower resolution my selfies are, the better. For everyone.
Another important bonus the P8 Lite features is storage space. Unlike the paltry 8gb of on-board storage you get with some other handsets in this price range, the P8 Lite boasts a healthy 16gb, with a slot for microSD expansion. That's good news with the latest Lollipop OS taking up a fair chunk of space all on its own, before you even start adding apps, music and videos.
Speaking of video, the display is only HD, not Full HD, but given the screen is a little smaller than what I'm used to, you really only notice the difference in a side-by-side comparison. However, that screen is indeed only 5 inches and given many phones start at 5.2 these days, I felt a little squeezed. Widgets I normally use to control music and podcasts become quite fiddly to access on a screen that size. Funny how quickly we get used to new tech; it's not so long ago a 5 inch screen was considered massive and a bit show-offy.
Given the step down in processing power, I was worried about the P8 Lite's ability to stream video and audio. Would it maintain a steady bluetooth connection? Was Chromecasting content to other devices still an option? I was pleasantly surprised to discover the connectivity in all these situations was very stable, although video files from other sources did take a while to get going sometimes.
There's no NFC function on the P8 Lite for file-sharing between devices, but I almost never use this feature anyway. I'm beginning to wonder if it's one of those things engineers thought would be a good idea at the time but never really caught on.
By now I know what you're all dying to find out; how did the P8 Lite perform playing Minion Rush? To be honest, not the best. The lower-spec screen just didn't feel as responsive to my lightning fast reflexes. The handset wasn't very sensitive to tilting controls and worst of all, the game actually glitched on the odd occasion, usually resulting in dire consequences for my minion. Either that, or I've finally reached a level of the game that's simply too difficult for me. Either way, if you've come to love playing HD games on your phone, you'll probably need to choose something with a bit more grunt.
That's really the biggest criticism I have of the P8 Lite; its basic lack of power. If you're only planning on doing one thing at a time, it's more than up to the task - multi-tasking though? Not so much.
I also stumbled across a wee issue with the P8 Lite's attention span. For some reason it was happy to run my fitness app for an hour when I was wearing it in an armband on my run, but if I left it in my bag at the gym it would give up recording my Body Attack class about 15 minutes in. No idea why. I mean, I can relate to wanting to give up and go home 15 minutes into a workout... but I usually don't.
Battery life is not really an issue, either negatively or positively. The Lite has a smaller battery than the P8, but it's not driving as much display or processing so a charge lasts about as long, generally long enough for a day's use which is pretty standard. I felt like it was slow to charge, but maybe that was just my frustration at being forced to deal with yet another handset without the option to charge wirelessly. I thought we were supposed to be living in the future!
My pet power peeve aside, the P8 Lite is an elegant-looking phone with plenty of functionality for the money. It's an option well worth considering if you can't justify the spend on the latest high-end features you might never use.
Click here for more information on the Huawei P8 Lite
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