Huawei P8 officially announced with 5.2 display and octa-core CPU in a full metal unibody

The Huawei P8 was officially unveiled today as the company's Android flagship for 2015 packed in a super slim 6.4mm design and a full-metal unibody. The phone comes in two versions: a 16GB regular one, and a 64GB, 'premium' one.

The Huawei P8 is advertised as a mixture of 'advanced technology and sophisticated design', measuring in at 144.9 x 72.1 x 6.4mm and weighing only 144 grams. The handset has the following key features

• 5.2 inch display with a 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution
• 16GB | 64GB of internal storage
• 13 megapixel rear camera with OIS, RBGW sensor and a f/2.0 lens
• 8 megapixel front camera
• 2680 mAh battery
• HiSilicon Kirin 930 chip with octa-core CPU (4x Cortex A53 @ 2GHz, 4x A53 @ 1.5GHz)
• 3GB of RAM

Camera

The most innovative and advertized new feature of the handset, however, is the new type of camera sensor: a 13-megapixel one with RGBW arrangement that should allegedly allow for better performance in limited light conditions. Huawei officially claims that this is 'the world’s first four-color RGBW sensor' that is said to bring brightness up by 32% in high-contrast lighting scenes, and reduce it by 78% in low-light environments.

We don't know the fine details about this new sensor yet, but RGBW stands for red-green-blue-white, a different arrangement on top of the sensor than the standard Bayer RGBG one. Having a fourth white pixel could likely be used to gather more light information, and thus improve the sensitivity of the sensor. We've seen the Motorola Moto X adopt a similar (RGBC, with the C standing for clear) sensor two years ago, and we're curious to see how this new Huawei solution will perform.

Connectivity

The Huawei P8 is a dual-SIM phone (there will be a single-SIM version as well) with 4G connectivity supported on both SIM cards. It features two antennas - one at the top and another one at the bottom, a solution that solves dropped calls issue. Huawei claims that you will experience 50% less dropped calls, and get a 6.8% increase in call connection rate.

The Huawei P8 also offers better filtering outside noises in calls, even when connected to an earpiece. The company demonstrated the wind-suppression feature, and it worked impressively well.

Software

On the software side, the Huawei P8 runs Android 5.0 Lollipop, which has been customized with Huawei's refreshed EMUI 3.1 custom user interface. EMUI 3.1 introduces support for the new knuckle gestures, as opposed to regular taps: double tap with your knuckle to capture a screenshot, and draw with your knuckle to crop out screenshots.

Pricing and Availability

The Huawei P8 with 16GB will go on sale in Europe in May 2015 with a starting price of 499 euro (~$530) off contract, which much more affordable than devices from Samsung and Apple. The 64GB 'premium' offering will be sold at 599 euro.