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Wiko Power U30 review: Unfortunately too little despite the outstanding battery life

Wiko Power U30 review header
Picture: TechnikNews
(Post picture: © 2021 TechnikNews)

Wiko is a French manufacturer that mainly brings affordable entry-level smartphones onto the market. With the new Power U30 for a recommended retail price of 179,90 euros, Wiko promises a battery life of up to four days.

Apart from that, the equipment is less convincing on paper, because Wiko only offers a 60Hz LC display with low HD + resolution, a 13 megapixel triple camera without ultra-wide angle and an old Helio G35 SoC from MediaTek. We have tested the Power U30 extensively and in the following lines we clarify how it fared in everyday life and whether the rather disappointing configuration is also noticeable on paper in everyday life.

Haptics, design & processing

The Wiko Power U30 is an extremely large smartphone, as the dimensions of an impressive 173,8 millimeters in height, 78,6 millimeters in width and 9,5 millimeters in thickness make clear. Coupled with the rather high weight of 214 grams, the smartphone cannot proeasy to use with one hand and overall it is not too comfortable to hold.

Both the frame and the back are made of plastic with a high-gloss finish, which is why fingerprints are almost magically attracted. Furthermore, plastic does not convey a high-quality feeling in the hand, but for less than 200 euros this is completely normal and that Realme 8i is not better here either and that Little X3 NFC feels even worse in my opinion. When it comes to colors, customers have with Carbon blue (Dark blue), Midnight Blue (Light blue) and Mint (Light green) three colors to choose from, all of which have a beautiful, reflective pattern. I got the Power U30 in the green color for testing, which I was very happy about because I personally like the color. At the top left, the manufacturer positions a triple camera, which protrudes minimally from the housing, so that the smartphone hardly wobbles when it is used on the table. We also find a fingerprint sensor that can be used to safely unlock the device. We will take a closer look at the quality in the course of the article.

A huge display dominates the front, which is surrounded by rather thick bezels and a notch in the shape of a teardrop. This is an entry-level smartphone, which is why I definitely don't expect the thinnest bezels, but even for just under 200 euros there is plenty of room for improvement on the display bezels. A Realm 8 or 8i, Redmi 10, Poco X3 NFC or Moto G31 cost similarly and score with a much nicer front.

I have no reason to criticize the processing. The smartphone makes a well-made and stable impression, the plastic back cannot be depressed too much, the buttons sit firmly in the case, are easy to reach and have an acceptable pressure point.

Display - only an LCD with HD + resolution and 60Hz

The LC display measures 6,82 inches and has a resolution of only 1.620 x 720 pixels, which is simply not enough with such a large diagonal. As a result, individual pixels can be seen every now and then in everyday life. A realme 8 or 8i, redmi 10 and even the much cheaper Poco M3 show that sharper displays have become standard even for less than 200 euros in recent months. Furthermore, the screen only supports a refresh rate of 60 Hertz, which is basically okay, but if the manufacturer decides on an inexpensive LC display with a low HD + resolution, I would have liked to have seen at least 90 Hertz.

Wiko Power U30 display

Both the illumination and the sharpness are not optimal. (Image: TechnikNews)

The other points aren't really convincing either. The black value as well as the viewing angle stability can be greatly improved, colors are displayed a little too oversaturated for my taste, the illumination is not perfect and the low brightness often causes this on sunny days Proproblems with readability.

Software - almost stock Android

Wiko's in-house user interface based on Android 11 is used as software. From a purely visual point of view, the UI is very reminiscent of Stock Android 11, which is sure to please many. In addition, there are some useful additional functions in the settings under “Wiko properties”.

However, I am a little disappointed with the update supply, because the security patch of my test device is still from June 2021, which is definitely better.

Performance - very weak

The Helio G35 from MediaTek works under the hood and is supported by 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage. The memory can be expanded via a microSD card, which is commendable.

Unfortunately, the performance is very weak, so it is simply not fun to use the Power U30. There are stutters and delays almost everywhere and always and apps start extremely slowly. Even now the smartphone cannot really be used, which is the main reason why I unfortunately absolutely cannot recommend the U30 to anyone. The similarly inexpensive competitors convey a real flagship feeling in terms of performance compared to the Wiko.

Battery - phenomenal runtimes

The huge 6.000 mAh battery ensures phenomenal runtimes. At the end of the day, with a screen-on-time of 5 to 6 hours, I usually still had between 67 and 70 Procent battery left, which I have never had with any other smartphone. With the Wiko Power U30, everyone should be able to do at least three days without charging and even heavy users should easily be able to manage two days. The smartphone is almost impossible to empty and undoubtedly has the best battery life I have ever experienced in a smartphone. At this point I would like to praise Wiko across the board.

With the included 19 watt power supply, however, it takes a proud three hours until the battery is fully charged again, which is not surprising considering the enormous size of the battery.

Camera - too little

Wiko installed three sensors on the back: a 13 megapixel main camera and two additional sensors with 2 or 0,3 megapixels, which are responsible for depth information. Unfortunately, you won't find an ultra-wide-angle camera here. The front camera has a resolution of 8 megapixels.

Wiko Power U30 camera

The triple camera of the Wiko Power U30. (Image: TechnikNews)

As long as the light is right, the Wiko Power U30 takes attractive pictures. Both the sharpness and the color reproduction are completely satisfactory, even if I see the Realme smartphones a little further ahead in terms of sharpness. The dynamic range is okay, but could be a little better. As soon as the lighting conditions deteriorate, the U30's camera can no longer be used, because the lack of a night mode means that the recordings are much too dark, too blurry and quickly start to rustle. That shows that you can expect significantly more even for 180 euros Realm 8, 8i, redmi 10 and Poco X3 NFC.

Test photos

Let's take a look at a few test photos. As always, the following images are absolutely unprocessed, but compressed without loss in order to keep loading times and memory consumption of the website low.

Comparison with the Realme 8i

Last but not least, we want the camera to be similarly expensive in different situations Realme 8i to compare.

The camera comparison shows pretty well that the Wiko Power U30 doesn't have to hide from the Realme 8i in good lighting conditions. It takes sufficiently sharp photos and I particularly like the colors better than the Chinese competitor. The Power U30 does pretty badly in low light, however, because the lack of night mode quickly becomes noticeable here. Realme performs visibly better in poor lighting conditions.

Other - upgradeable fingerprint sensor, disappointing speaker, and more

The smartphone can be unlocked using the fingerprint sensor on the back, which is positioned a little too high for my taste. The fingerprint sensor could definitely be more reliable and faster.

Wiko installed a mono speaker on the underside, which is completely normal in this price range, but unfortunately it sounds pretty modest. The competition is audibly better here.

Last but not least, we also have to devote ourselves to the built-in vibration motor, which is completely average for less than 200 euros. It doesn't convey a high-quality feeling in the hand and also sounds rather annoying, but what do you expect from such an inexpensive entry-level smartphone. Only Xiaomi is a little better on this point.

Conclusion

It has become pretty clear that the Wiko Power U30 unfortunately couldn't convince us. The battery life is outstanding, but what good is a smartphone with a great battery life that otherwise has significant weaknesses in almost all other points? The performance in particular is simply underground and makes the device practically unusable.

If you are looking for an affordable entry-level smartphone with great battery life, you should definitely take a look at the Realme 8 or 8i, and for one or the other, the Redmi 10 or the Poco X3 NFC could also be worthwhile. Here are our reviews of the smartphones mentioned in each case:

We would like to thank Wiko Germany for providing the Power U30!

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Fabian Menzel

Fabian has been part of since mid-September 2020 TechnikNews and regularly supplies the site with various news, but also with some test reports on smartphones. He's having so much fun and is extremely grateful to have such a great team by his side. In his free time, he enjoys listening to music and occasionally taking photos with his Huawei Mate 50 Pro.

Fabian has already written 300 articles and left 24 comments.

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