HUAWEI Pura 70 Pro Review | Geek Lifestyle

HUAWEI is back at it again, and they’ve come out swinging with the installment catering to their high-powered, camera-centric lineup, the HUAWEI Pura 70 Pro. As part of their new Pura 70 Series featuring three variants, it aims to carefully straddle the line between top-tier upper-midrange and full-blown flagship. All three sport premium specs with varying degrees of snapshot capability, and it’s definitely intriguing to see where the middle child lies in this situation.

The Pura 70 Series channels HUAWEI’s three expressions of pioneering aesthetics, Simplicity, Elegance, and Nobility. As such, the Pura 70 Pro has been given the tall task of being the embodiment of elegance while simultaneously having the figurative upper-body strength of an Olympic weightlifter. Basically, Dolph Lundgren in a Valentino suit with a bazooka in his luxury tote.

The brand has been consistent in bringing the most surprisingly innovative designs, powerful hardware, and software ingenuity that’s managed to keep both loyal users and curious onlookers hooked. The name may have seen a slight change, but the intricate triple camera setup, sleek aesthetic, powerful chipset, and beefy battery prove that HUAWEI’s still not one to be trifled with. It’s not a question of whether they dropped off or not, but rather just how much they’ve improved since last time.

We aim to find out.

Geek-sthetic

The unboxing experience could be described as slightly otherworldly–especially when you get a clear view of those sweet camera peepers. You’re probably wondering why it’s shaped the way it is. This is all in line with HUAWEI’s Forward Symbol Design inspired by the Penrose Triangle. The “purest form of impossibility” pretty much reflects HUAWEI’s exemplary track record when it comes to producing premium smartphones–and it now finds its home in the Pura series’ spirit. With every iteration, there’s something new–and this doesn’t come at the expense of anything that came before. The goal is to make the impossible, possible.

Our review unit sports a matte black colorway that’s completely resistant to fingerprints. At 162.6 mm wide, 8.4 mm thin and 220 grams heavy, it’s quite a slim and trim, yet mildly hefty boy. It doesn’t reach a point where it becomes unwieldy, but maintains a good amount of weight for that premium feel. You also get a TPU case, a USB-C to USB-A charging cable, and a 100W HUAWEI SuperCharging brick.

The Pura 70 Pro has round, rectangular edges that makes it easy to hold, and doesn’t poke into your palm. You’re greeted by a large, semi-curved display that does blend seamlessly into the body, but isn’t as curved as you’d expect. Later on, we’ll determine just how “curved” it truly is.

As for protection, you’ll be happy to know that your screen is clad in Kunlun Glass 2–a feature, which up until recently, was only reserved for special edition smartphones. This is a 100% step-up from the first generation and guarantees shatter-proofing and substantial scratch resistance against any objects you might have in your bad or pocket. If you’re worried about the outside elements you’ll encounter during your travels, some IP68 dust and water resistance will put your mind at ease.

In terms of looks, the Pura 70 Pro does take that first step into elegance by proving there’s beauty in its simplicity. Elegant-O Meter Score: 1

Binge-Watching Factor

The Pura 70 Pro takes that next step into elegance with a gorgeous display. If you’ve followed us long enough, you know we don’t exaggerate. All 6.8 inches of its 1260 x 2844 resolution HUAWEI X True OLED display produce vivid, bright colors that somewhat compel you to keep your settings at high. With a peak brightness of 2,500 nits, you won’t have to worry about squinting to see more clearly–or because you just got flashed in the dark. HDR Vivid guarantees that your colors will definitely pop, regardless of your brightness. Dark colors won’t get muddied, and brighter tones won’t fade into a white abyss.

The display features a buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate that we kept toggled for the entirety of our review. Navigating apps is a breeze by default, and this is even more evident with the display’s curvature. We speculated earlier on just “how curved” the screen is, because we encounter certain displays that are prone to mistouch due to them curving almost midway into the phone’s body. This isn’t the case with the Pura 70 Pro. Even while palming it firmly, we experienced no accidental opening of apps, or the camera triggering automatically.

It’s safe to say that both the face and posterior of the Pura 70 Pro are quite the elegant tandem. Full marks so far. Elegant-O Meter Score: 2

Gaming Prowess

You may be thinking that all the pomp and circumstance wouldn’t leave room for a bit of hardcore recreation. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. A Kirin 9010 with 12 GB of RAM is no joke, and it shows with the gameplay. Running Genshin Impact on high settings at 30 fps with motion blur turned off yielded excellent results. There were no frame drops, no lagging. and no stuttering unless we did our best to force as many enemies as we could into the screen.

As for HoYo’s equally demanding second banana, Honkai: Star Rail, we just decided to fire it up on all cylinders and forget about it. We got a good hour of gameplay without any issues. Thermals are pretty decent as well, given how the phone only got slightly warm after that long of a gaming session. It’s clear that the Pura 70 Pro isn’t marketed towards gamers, but if you do feel like running your favorite titles after a long day of work and being fabulous, you most definitely can.

We’re not sure if gaming can be considered elegant, but the “geeky is sexy” fad has yet to die out. So, we’ll give this a point. Elegant-O Meter Score: 3

Geek Photoshoot Capabilities

Wouldn’t it be hilarious if the camera setup turned out to be ridiculously bad? No, we don’t think so either. More so, we’re glad it’s the polar opposite.

Before we get to the samples, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. The Pura 70 Pro has four cameras in total–a triple setup on the back, and a selfie camera up front. The triple-camera setup is an absolute snapshot monster, featuring a 50 MP Ultra Lighting Main Camera, a 48 MP Ultra Lighting Macro Telephoto Camera, and a 12.5 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera. As you can see, there aren’t any lenses present just to take up space. This is a powerhouse setup, no questions asked.

It’s worth noting that the main shooter and macro telephoto camera sport F1.4-F4.0 and F2.1 apertures, respectively. Huge.

Images have been compressed a tad for the website, but you can still see just how good they turned out.

: Ultra-Wide

: 1X

: 2X

: 3.5X

: 10X

There’s a slight shift in color from Ultra-Wide to your default shot, but it’s nice to see how the details and clarity are maintained. There’s also a nice amount of background blur when zooming in further, even though we don’t have the portrait feature switched on. You can go up to 100X zoom if you wish, and while it doesn’t maintain that ultra-clear quality, it does keep a certain amount of detail–just enough to read.

: X10

: X100

Portrait mode is where you’ll likely find yourself most of the time. The Pura 70 Pro’s Master AI feature really does play a hand in ensuring your take quality photos. You don’t even have to think about your subjects possible melting into the background. The bokeh appears as natural as it could, and the photos you’ll take come out extra tasteful.

Now, if you’re curious about how the zoom distances stack up against each other, you can expect the same level of quality.

: 1X

: 2X

: 3.5X

: Super

: Macro

You’re at liberty to play around with the different filters at varying zoom distances. You can rest assured that you’ll get the same level of detail and amount of clarity in each photo. As for action shots

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention night mode. In an age where most smartphones struggle with under most dimly lit situations, the Pura 70 Pro delivered some pretty good shots, all things considered. Here’s your daily dose of cats gone wild.

: Night Mode 1X

: Night Mode 2X

: Night Mode 3.5X

: Night Mode 10X

The Pura 70 Pro’s 13MP selfie camera might sound a bit underwhelming on paper, but that’s only because the backside shooters decided to overachieve a bit. You’ll get great selfies, regardless of whether you use the normal shooter or portrait. There’s one little detail you need to take note of, though.

: Default

: Portrait

As you can see, taking a portrait selfie right off the bat yields no background blur, unlike what you’d expect. This may seem alarming at first, but once you toggle the “effects” on the lower left, you’ll see what we’re talking about. You can play around with the five featured effects, or simply use the first one named “Circles” to get that quick bokeh effect, no sweat.

Nice

As for video, you can shoot up to 4K 60fps on both the front and rear cameras. There’s a good amount of stabilization, but we’d recommend still using a gimbal or tripod if you want to keep the quality since Steady Shot caps at 1080p 60fps.

The camera is definitely the Pura 70’s crowning glory here, and it’s great to see something elegant have the capability of producing equally elegant output. Elegant-O Meter Score: 4

Everyday Reliability

Now, all of these delicious features are great, but you’d need a good amount of hardware power to keep things up and running–not to mention up and running elegantly. If you do have said hardware power, what about the software? Can it keep up? Well, of course. Definitely.

AppGallery is running wild right now, and has substantial additions to its library. The same goes for GBox which has it’s own set of quality-of-life workarounds for those who might have trouble transitioning into the HUAWEI space. Noticed how we were able to download Honkai: Star Rail?

The Pura 70 Pro’s Kirin 9010 jives perfectly with HUAWEI’s EMUI 14.2. Once you get that first firmware update, you’ll be out to the races. It’s also nice to see just how well-synergized this chipset and UI are to the large 5050 mAh battery. Sure, the extra 50 might seem a bit amusing, but the battery life is excellent. We to a good two days of standby time without even draining the battery to 0%.

Of course, this diminishes substantially once you start taking photos, playing games, and switching on mobile data. In that case, you’ll get around 8 to 10 hours. As for charging, you can go from 0 to 100% in half an hour with the proprietary 100W SuperCharging brick. The Pura 70 Pro also supports up to 80W wireless charging, but again, only with proprietary chargers. It’s still nice to have if you have a wireless charging power bank lying around.

Super Device makes its much appreciated comeback with all the usual features you know and love. However, given we’re dealing with a smartphone with some powerhouse cameras, it would be shame to not utilize one of its most intriguing, yet surprisingly useful functions in a pinch–multi-camera. There’s much to tinker with here, and in the right hands, vlogging and content creation can be way easier.

Reliability is underrated when it comes to pizzazz, but when you think about it, elegance falls short without dependability. Elegant-O Meter Score: 5/5

Final Geek Lifestyle Verdict

The HUAWEI Pura 70 Pro is both an absolute unit, and a delicate flower. It has all the elegant qualities you’d see at a glamorous night out while sporting the specs and features necessary to get through the hardships of life. From its cameras, to its software, it’s a compelling choice in the Pura 70 series–going beyond entry-level, but not hanging too far below the upper-crust. It’s a middle child, through and through–and it’s proven its worth while staying absolutely fabulous.

If this smartphone tickles your fancy, it’s priced at PHP 59,999 and now available for pre-order along with a sweet bundle of freebies including a DJI OSMO Mobile 6 worth PHP 7,999, a pair of HUAWEI Freebuds Pro 2 worth PHP 9999, and more. For more details, check out HUAWEI’s official website, Facebook page, and Instagram account.