Why splurge when you can save (and still get everything you need)?
I’ve been through my fair share of devices in my life. I went through grade school with a Nokia and in high school, I threw Sony Ericsson into the mix. By the time I hit college, I was back to my roots (though upgraded) and finally felt a touch screen unit. I’ve seen and explored Android, lived years in iOS—so when the Huawei Y7 fell into my lap, I knew what I needed to look for.
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The Huawei Y7 comes in Midnight Black and Aurora Purple; of which I had the privilege of tinkering with the colorful latter. It’s powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Octa-core processor and the Android 8.1-based EMUI 8.2 operating system. In terms of photography, it sports a 13MP and 2MP rear camera system and an 8MP front camera, and it lives on a battery of 4000mAh.
The rest of you might argue against (or even scoff at) its simplicity, but there’s beauty in this, too.
Let’s face it: the Huawei Y7 does everything you need it to do and more. It might not have the most powerful software in the market or the most sophisticated camera system in the brand’s library, but unless you’re a photographer or video editor, you really won’t look for anything in excess. Daily images come out clear, videos are sharp and you can use it the whole day without worrying it’ll die off. I had my nieces play with the device and it still lasted (which is a feat unto itself; trust me).
The unit comes with several pre-installed apps, which I didn’t have much use for (but this is true for any unit, no matter what brand I’ve come across). I instead downloaded and ran all the apps I use no matter what and experienced no hiccups: streaming apps, social media apps, messenger apps and a few games. Anything on the Play Store is up for grabs.
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What I did have to get used to is the interface. The Huawei Y7 has a fingerprint sensor at the back of the device. As I understand, this should make things simpler to use but as someone who has smaller-than-average hands, it was something to get used to. Besides, it has a face-scanner anyway, and I just made use of that more often.
And because the unit is free of any on-face buttons and instead opted for three touchscreen options on the lower portion of the screen, it’s easy to maneuver—go back, immediately go to your home screen or see all the apps you currently have open. You’d think this would take more getting used to, but it seamlessly lets you jump from Point A to Point B with no added stress.
The rest of the interface is simple, though I did change the background to a little something more my style (read: minimalist). Fortunately, that’s a simple fix.
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Now let’s talk about bang-for-buck. If we’ve learned anything in the last few months, it’s that we only truly need the essentials in life—the rest is just for showing off. And if we’re so uncertain of what’s to come, why can’t we just skip the frivolity a little and enjoy the simpler things in life?
The Huawei Y7 retails for less than P7,000 and you get everything you’re looking for. For most people, it’s not a splurge (especially when it comes to purchasing an all-day, everyday partner). The thing to remember is that the Huawei Y7 doesn’t cut any essential corners: it performs and it performs well on all fronts.
For a list of Huawei shops, click here—but if you’re visiting on-ground, don’t forget to be safe.
Art Matthew Ian Fetalver
