Introduction
The HUAWEI Y7a is the company’s latest affordable device with some essential features that most people will need. If you are looking for an affordable device, this might be the one, check out the full review here.
HUAWEI Y7a Specs
- 6.67-inch Full HD+ IPS display (60Hz refresh rate)
- Kirin 710A processor
- 4GB RAM
- 128GB expandable storage
- Cameras
- Rear: 8MP ultra-wide + 48MP main + 2MP depth + 2MP macro
- 8MP selfie camera
- 5,000mAh battery with 22.5W HUAWEI SuperCharge
- EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10
- Colors: Midnight Black, Crush Green, Blush Gold
Unboxing
Design & Display
In terms of design, the HUAWEI Y7a looks just like many other affordable devices. If you are thinking to get one, my advice is to either get the Crush Green or Blush Gold variant, at least it stands out a little bit. The black variant that I’m reviewing looks dull. When comparing with the render shown on HUAWEI’s website, it’s a slight disappointment as the actual product has the CE marking on the back.
The phone sports a 6.67-inch Full HD+ IPS display with a hole-punch selfie camera. The screen quality is definitely good enough for you to watch videos and browse the web. As usual, the color temperature tends to be on the cooler side.
Performance & Software
Powering the phone is HUAWEI’s Kirin 710A processor with 4GB RAM and 128GB expandable storage. Once again, HUAWEI has opted for an outdated processor to save cost and the overall performance is quite similar to the HONOR 9X. You can play games, but most graphics-intensive games can only play in low graphics quality and the overall experience won’t be buttery smooth. By the way, the phone doesn’t support 5GHz Wi-Fi, you can only connect to 2.4GHz.
Despite having an identical performance with the HONOR 9X, the HUAWEI Y7a doesn’t come with Google Mobile Services, which means you’ll have to rely on HUAWEI AppGallery or a third-party app store to download the apps. The overall experience can be found here in our HUAWEI AppGallery article. Surprisingly, it actually still comes with the HUAWEI MeeTime feature, which is something missing from the MatePad T 10s.
Camera
The phone comes with a quad-camera setup on the back, technically only two are useful — 8MP ultra-wide + 48MP main + 2MP depth + 2MP macro. Selfie wise, it has an 8MP f/2.0 front-facing camera.
Ultra-Wide
12MP
48MP
Night Mode
Just like many other phones, the Y7a shoots 12MP photos by default, you’ll need to change to High-Res mode to shoot 48MP photos. The 48MP photos don’t look sharper than 12MP photos, I think it’s better for you to keep shooting everything in default 12MP mode. Image quality generally is good enough for your social media usage, but when it comes to low-light, it shot noisy photos even if I’m using Night mode. The ultra-wide photos are okay, but they are not sharp enough, you might need to edit the photos before posting.
You can check all the camera samples here.
Battery Life
The phone has a 5,000mAh battery that also supports 22.5W HUAWEI SuperCharge via USB-C. The phone has a great battery life, lasting up to 2 days is not a problem. It took less than 2 hours to charge the phone from 0-100%, note that it actually has a huge 5,000mAh battery so it’ll take a longer time to charge.
Final Words
Retailing at RM799, it’s quite hard for me to recommend the HUAWEI Y7a to anyone as it has an outdated processor and doesn’t come with GMS. At the moment, most apps are still not available on HUAWEI AppGallery, thankfully you can still download it from a third-party app store. HUAWEI even has the Petal Search app to fix this problem! Don’t get me wrong, the HUAWEI Y7a is actually a good phone if you often use your phone to watch videos and do light tasks, thanks to the good display and long-lasting battery life.