Initial verdict: Huawei is set to reclaim the throne with the Pura 70 series with its stellar camera performance, and the Pura 70 Pro is here to impress not only with its main camera but also its new telephoto camera that doubles for macro shots. Out of the box, the Pura 70 Pro takes great shots, and we will not be surprised if it will be one of the best camera phones for 2024.
Pros:
- Excellent camera performance in low-light
- Great display with subtle curves
Cons:
- Top-heavy
- Camera module is huge
It’s a new era for Huawei’s camera-focused flagship phones, as the P series is officially known as the Pura series starting with the Pura 70. This marks another chapter for Huawei, where the Pura 70 series continues to emphasize their excellence in photography. We are in Shenzhen, and we were given the chance to try out the Pura 70 Pro for our initial impressions:
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Huawei Pura 70 Pro First Impressions: Design
Despite the name change, the core design language of the P series is still visible with the Pura 70 Pro. The most notable change is with the triangular-shaped camera module that houses three cameras and reminds us of Mickey Mouse from afar. The large camera houses Huawei’s groundbreaking main shooter feature a variable aperture, and the XMAGE branding remains visible, which reminds us that the Pura 70 Pro uses Huawei’s in-house image processing tech that’s arguably hard to top.
You still get the same shiny aluminum frame as previous P series phones, while the power button and volume control are still on the right side. The power button still has an orange accent color, which is one of the signature features of the P (now Pura) series. Like its predecessors, you get an IP68 rating on the Pura 70 Pro, along with stereo speakers and a USB-C 3.1 port that supports DisplayPort functionality.
Huawei Pura 70 Pro First Impressions: Display
The Pura 70 Pro has a 6.8-inch 120hz AMOLED display with a quad-curve design to remind you that this is one of Huawei’s best phones to date. The display uses second-generation Kunlun glass, which Huawei claims is more durable than ever. It’s also an LTPO panel, so the refresh rate dynamically shifts from 1hz to 120hz depending on what you are doing with the phone. This also makes the Pura 70 Pro balance between good battery life and smooth scrolling and animations.
Just as you would expect on a flagship phone, the Pura 70 Pro’s display has a high maximum brightness of 2500nits, which is very legible even under direct sunlight. You also get a quad-curved display that’s subtle enough to make it easy to use with one hand.
Like previous Huawei flagships, you also get stereo speakers with the Pura 70 Pro. We played a few tracks on the P70 Pro with our Apple Music account, and the speakers sound great with good amounts of bass–which is hard to achieve on a phone.
Huawei Pura 70 Pro First Impressions: Cameras
The cameras are the main talk of the town with the Pura 70 series, and the Pura 70 Pro gets you a 50-megapixel main camera with a variable aperture of f/1.4-4.0, 12.5-megapixel ultra-wide camera, and a 48-megapixel telephoto camera that has 3.5x optical zoom and can do macro duties.
We took the Pura 70 Pro around at night around our hotel, and it’s evident that Huawei remains to be a leader when it comes to low-light photography ever since pushing its Night Mode way back from the P20 series.
With only street lighting as our light source, the Pura 70 Pro impressed us across all three of its cameras: detail was very abundant in the photos, and overall dynamic range is excellent. What’s even better is that we shot all of these night shots with just the regular camera mode (and not use the Night Mode option), which shows how much Huawei’s XMAGE image processing tech has evolved through the years to give you professional-level photography,
Photos also look great with the Pura 70 Pro when we took it around our hotel with the gloomy weather. We will be taking the Pura 70 Pro around Shenzhen for more photos, so stay tuned to our socials for the shots we took with it.
Huawei Pura 70 Pro First Impressions: Internals and Battery
The review unit given to us comes with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage, which is expected for a flagship phone. Huawei did not disclose the processor powering the Pura 70 Pro, but reports do point to a new Kirin 9010 processor that has a two sets of custom Huawei-made CPU cores: one running at 2.3Ghz, and three running at 2.18Ghz. Accompanying those custom cores are four Cortex-A510 cores running at 1.55Ghz.
We’re not allowed to run benchmarks on the Pura 70 Pro, but our initial experience with it shows that you are getting decent flagship-level performance. Our unit came with EMUI 14 out of the box, and has the latest security update.
The Pura 70 Pro comes with a larger than usual 5050mAh battery that supports 100w wired and 80w wireless charging. The Pura 70 Pro is compatible with USB-PD charging as well–we used a 100w USB-PD charger, and the Pura 70 Pro was able to top up its battery from 28% (from the time we got the unit) to 80% in around 20 minutes. We don’t have a wireless charger with us as of writing this first impressions article, so stay tuned to our full review for our feedback about it.
Huawei Pura 70 Pro First Impressions: Wrap-up and Initial Conclusions
Huawei’s P series phones have a solid reputation for being the best flagship camera phones in the market, and the Pura 70 Pro continues with that tradition. Fresh from its unveiling in China, we are very impressed with what the Pura 70 Pro’s cameras are capable of–and even more impressive is that all the photos we took so far are with full auto mode. This shows that Huawei’s XMAGE imaging tech continues to evolve, being able to rival standalone digital cameras and can go head-to-head with a few mirrorless cameras.
