HTC 10 has won hearts and has made a comeback to the market. The phone is HTC’s attempt to be brilliant again but will it win the battle to the death against the mighty Huawei P9. Or will the Huawei handset come out victorious. Let’s find out in this in-depth comparison.
Design:
Keeping the innovation alive, HTC 10 opts for a premium unibody design and adding the new chamfered look to the mix. The cuts on all sides are really sturdy and add depth to the device in your hand. The phone feels comfortable and well balanced all around. Following the laws of physics and beauty, the chamfers reflect light differently depending on the angle you hold the device in. With the passage of time, the new design is something you’ll definitely grow fond of. The phone feels extremely solid in the hand and is terribly well balanced. The design picked up by HTC features to be just the right amount of innovative and manages to be sexy at the same time. The phone is standard HTC long and wide. The thickness however has grown to 9mm which drops the phones to qualify for race of sleek phones but never does it feel like holding a brick in your hand. With a fingerprint sensor beneath the home button, your information is now more secure than ever. The design is both impressive and new which makes this device stand out.
Moving to the P9, too has chamfered edges but the chamfer is quite small comparing it to the HTC 10. The design is quite similar to the P8. The Huawei flagship device feels like a bar of chocolate. Be it stronger edges, a unibody design, a great metal finish, the device has everything a perfect phone has on its check list. An all metal back provides the users with a premium look. Being only 7mm thick, the device has stacked a lot inside itself. On the back you’ll find a fingerprint sensor and not one but two cameras which may boost up the performance of the device but are definitely not good-looking.
Sleek, stylish, metal, the phone follows all abstracts of a good design but the cameras, well they look hideous.
Although a tough competition among the two, the HTC took a chance with the chamfer design which seemed quite odd in the leaks but looks good in reality.
The HTC 10 definitely wins the applause and the battle for a better design.
Display:
The HTC 10 has a relatively large screen of 5.2 inches with a screen-to-body ratio of about 71.1%. HTC chose a Super LCD5 capacitive display which, according to HTC is 30% more responsive comparing to its other contenders. The phone backs a screen with a resolution of 1440 by 2560 pixels which amount to a pixel density of 565 ppi. With a pixel density this high, one must expect an out of the box display with more saturated colors. The phone provides color accurate results that are pleasing to the eye. In broad daylight, one can form out what is written on the screen easily making it a display for all seasons.
With Corning Gorilla Glass 4 to enforce the screen, this baby can definitely stand some beating.
On the other hand, Huawei also has the same screen size (5.2 inches) with a somewhat old and low resolution of 1080 by 1920 pixels. The resolution provides a pixel density of 423 which makes up for a decent display but not as vivid as the HTC 10. Huawei also uses a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 to provide support and protection to its display. The screen is an IPS-NEO LCD which provides a decent viewing experience. The viewing angles are quite steady and colors do not wash out when viewed from the sides. It performs somewhat well beneath the sun. What’s written on the screen can be understood easily when the screen brightness is rocked to full 100 percent.
Despite the great resolution presented by both phones, HTC 10 triumphs in this round with its high screen resolution. The difference cannot be felt, not unless you really want to notice it but as the screen is the one thing you interact with, it must be special. The phone presents an awesome display, the one you just can’t ignore.
Specifications:
Looking for power under the hood, Huawei utilizes a HiSilicon Kirin 955 chipset being the fastest chipset employed by the giant. The device relies on a Quad-core 2.5 GHz Cortex-A72 & quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A53 for all its tasks. Gaming performance inherits all its richness from the Mali-T880 MP4 GPU Chipset. The names might not seem familiar but they score quite high on all benchmark tests and are the pieces of hardware you can rely upon. The phone also supports expandable storage by introducing a microSD support using Sim 2 slot as its house. It supports up to 128 GBs of expansion. The phone comes in two models. One ships with 32 GB internal storage with 3GB RAM and the other comes with 64 GBs to store your data and a godlike 4GB RAM. All of the specifications on paper equate to a very high end phone. Both devices show support for USB Type C on the bottom providing a reversible connector to charge up your device. Yay
The HTC 10 uses a Snapdragon 820 chipset which uses Dual-core 2.15 GHz Kryo& dual-core 1.6 GHz Kryo for all its daily chores. The device relies on an Adreno 530 GPU Chipset for its gaming performance and image rendering. It runs smoother than a snowstorm when it comes to daily use. The phone ships in two models, one has a 32 GB internal storage capability while the other comes in providing 64 GB of internal data storage. Like a cherry on top of the cake, the device has a dedicated slot allowing expansion up to 200 GB.The HTC 10 ships with a massive 4GB RAM which is more than enough for all a man does.
While the HTC 10 does everything a device needs to do, Huawei P9 does it better. Huawei’s P9, delivers a decisive blow to the HTC 10 winning the spec war.
Software:
Huawei and HTC both run on the same sweet Android Marshmallow Huawei currently runs on a 6.0 software. HTC stands a little over the edge with a minor update to its name. HTC come with 6.0.1 Android Marshmallow out of the box.
In terms of day to day task, the Huawei P9, because of its high specs runs smooth no matter what you throw at it. The transitions and animations are all smooth and fluid making the device as smooth as silk.Huawei P9 comes with bloatware-laden Emotion UI which means that the handset has its own skins applied to android. This, despite the bloatware, adds a lot more customization than you expect. The customization that can be done out of the box accounts for a lot of freedom that is offered by the company
HTC 10 runs on a skin which looks quite similar to stock android. All of its transitions are smooth because of the minimalism implemented by the new HTC SENSE 8. The device performs like a charm and feels really nice in the hand. The device certainly has reduced bloatware and contains either the Google’s version of the app or either the one made by HTC.
When it comes to software, the HTC 10 with its Sense UI looks stunning and feels snappier. It would be a personal reference for everyone. For me, the stock Android has always been sweeter than any of the customization that comes with the device and this defines the winner for this round in my opinion. Huawei P9 offers everything needed and also a unique UI which makes it a matter of preference.
For me, the HTC does the software part better making it a winner.
Camera:
On paper, the HTC deploys a 12 MP shooter with an aperture o f/1.8. The device has a pixel size of 1.55 micro meter allowing more surrounding light to enter and thus better low light imaging. The device captures videos at 2160p at 30fps or in 720p at 120fps. The camera performs provides a nifty experience and low light imaging stands to be nice. The HTC employs a 5 MP front facing camera which provides you with nice selfies but not the best. You might find better cameras for this job. HTC 10 has a pretty basic camera and does not produce its best results in the camera domain.
Huawei, on the other hand, chose a new approach to the game. P9 employs two 12 MP cameras that come with a LEICA branding on top right. LEICA is a company that specifies in cameras and camera quality. In theory, two cameras mean better image quality and thus better performances in all external conditions. Huawei suffered a little because of its average low light shots in the past but with Leica optics and a dual tone flash, the device really stands a chance. Huawei captures videos at 1080p at 60fps or 30fps or inn 720p at 120fps. Moving to the front, the device holds an 8 MP shooter which results in high quality images, better than 10.
HTC does provide a tough competition to the P9 but fails to win the crown.
The Huawei P9 can be seen clicking its high quality image of victory with a better camera.
Sound:
In the past years, HTC had employed the boom sound speakers on the front of the device but since the new design, HTC gave up on those front facing awesomeness and rather put them in familiar, easy to block places. The boom sound still lives on but one speaker now places at the bottom and the other place near the earpiece provide a somewhat diminished experience. The HTC speakers have all that makes good sound quality but it used to be a lot better.
Huawei P9 has a single speaker grill on the bottom makes up a decently loud sound and acts as a reasonable speaker. The speakers on this device are nothing like the front facing speakers of the previous HTC models. At high volume, the sound becomes distorted and gets better when you turn the volume down.
HTC manages to beat the Huawei p9 in this fist fight and comes out as the phone with better sound quality.
Battery:
Both of the devices pack a high 3000 mAh Li-Ion battery making it stand out for a full day with moderate use. Huawei because of its low screen resolution loses less juice and thus can provide better battery performance than the HTC 10. Battery performances of both the devices are on par with other contenders in the market. Huawei P9 boasts an endurance rating of 77 hours while the HTC 10 has an endurance rating of 66 hours. Both of these phones are destined to thrive for a complete day but while imagining coarse conditions, the Huawei P9 will stand for more time to your service than the other compromising with the screen resolution.
KO. P9 wins.
Price:
The HTC 10 costs about $699 in the US market. The price is pretty standard for all of the other high-end smartphones around. The devices in Europe comes at about 612 Euros. In Australia, you can find the HTC 10 at about 910 Australian dollars. In UK, the device costs about 488 pounds.
Huawei P9 can be picked up from UK at about 450 Pounds. The phone costs about $656 putting it slightly below the magnificent Samsung Galaxy S7.
Both of the phones are quite expensive and will put quite a strain on your pocket but the performance you get afterwards is worth it.
The Huawei has a display resolution lower than most of the other handsets of the same price tag, which is disappointing. The HTC 10 does not has the best specs in the market.
Both phones lack at certain places. In the end, the decision comes to personal preference.
Final Verdict:
Both of the devices are worthy to be held in your hand but when it comes to choosing one of them, the competition gets tough. Both devices have their best performances in one region and lack in the other.
Huawei has bloatware and unexpected apps in the software part and a low resolution with a high price tag. That is disappointing. On the other hand, HTC 10 has an average camera performance but a mesmerizing screen. The battery can fill up quite quick because of the fast charging so that does not stand to be an issue. Both devices provide great connectivity bands, fingerprint sensor (Huawei P9 has it on the back and HTC 10 has it embedded in its home button).
With everything going on, HTC stands victorious for me taking a lot a beating from the P9 but still managing to stand up on its feet.