I have always been a fan of book-style folio cases for phones. I like the look and feel of most of them plus the added benefit of protection for the entire device when it is in use or in my pocket. The Huawei P10 is one of the best selling phones so far in 2017 and although it has yet to make its debut in the United States, the Chinese company has a line of cases ready for the phone when it hits US shores. If you live in Europe, your life is much easier and the Huawei Folio Smart View Case for the P10 is one to strongly consider.
The Folio case is designed by Huawei and works tightly with the P10 to provide you not only protection but information at a glance. It’s Smart View window uses the settings of your P10 to give you time, weather and other information with the case closed on your phone. No need to open it up to check the time. But this case provides stylish protection for you investment too. It protects all the edges of your phone, has precise cutouts to access ports and buttons, and fits your P10 firmly.
The case itself is designed to be slim and not add any bulk to your P10. The back shell firmly fits around the phone but it does not get in the way of any controls or ports. Installing your P10 into the
case is easy. Just insert the right edge of the phone (where the Power & Volume rocker is located) into the side of the case then snap down the left side into it. You find that it sits flush on your phone. The edges around the phone are rubberized to give you something to hold onto more firmly than the fabric that protects the rest of the case.
The case is constructed of this plastic shell where you insert your phone and a hard plastic cover that protects your phone. All of it is lined with fabric save the Smart Window on the front flap and is available in a brown or grey color. For this review, I have the brown. Unlike most folio style cases, the front flap is not sewn to the back part of the case. Instead, the fabric that covers the back of the case is cut so that the fabric on the front of the case is the same piece. It’s a great design and it eliminates a point where the stitching could wear out over time.
As you would expect for a case designed by the manufacture for their phone, the Huawei Folio case has all of the control and port cutouts for easy access & use. The bottom edge of the case gives uninhibited access to the USB-C connector for charging and 3.5mm headphone jack. On the right side edge you have access to the Power button and Volume rocker respectively.
What makes this case special is its interaction with EMUI that is running on the P10. Within the settings, you have the ability to enable the Smart Case feature. This tells EMUI that you are using a case with a glance window and it will display information like the date & time, the weather and your step count if you are using the Huawei Health app. By default, this is turned on for the P10 and if you have the phone on and close the case, you will see this content through the dark brown window on the front of the case.
While the information in the window is limited, it is useful to get a peek at the time without having to open up the case. Just tap the power button when the case is closed and it shows up in the window. Ideally it would be good to have more information here like unread email counts or text messages. This is something that would be great for Huawei to add in a future update to EMUI.
Conclusion
If you are fortunate enough to have an Huawei P10 and are looking for a well constructed folio-style case, the manufacture’s option isn’t a bad one to consider. It is sleek, has a nice look and feel to it, and provides information at a glance through the smart view window on the front.
The case is available in two colors, brown and grey. Both cases are available from Amazon for $32.95