The Huawei P8 starts at €499, making it cheaper than the iPhone 6 and Galaxy S6 , despite the firm claiming that it offers features that match, if not beat, its big name competitors.

If you want an iPhone 6 without the exorbitant pricetag, the Huawei P8 is absolutely the phone for you; squint, and you might not even know the difference. It's not quite the best, but there's a lot to love, and it's safe to say that Android might just have a new member in the Big Boys Club with...

Excellent design; Spectacular camera; Very capable display

'Knuckle Sense' sometimes interferes with touch controls; Could be a little cheaper

The Huawei P8 is a really good Android phone. It's crammed with features – some that you might use and some that you won't, and offers great performance no matter what you throw at it.

+ Impressive camera modes; + Good battery life; + Tons of features to explore

- Emotion UI occasionally buggy

The Huawei P8 is this year's top-flight handset from the Chinese manufacturer, packing in a premium design that can rival the iPhone 6 but all for a relatively affordable price. Can it keep up with the rest of the flagship pack though? We fired one up to find out.

Huawei has been in the tech game for a long while, but it's only recently started to really focus on high-end smartphones; Last year's Ascend P7 was a pleasant surprise that packed in solid hardware, but was let down by its software, and that seems to be the case again.

Huawei's loaded the P8 with Android 5.0 Lollipop along with its own Emotion UI tweaks; and while the base layer of Android sometimes shimmers through; it's difficult to really get on with Huawei's tweaks.

Huawei's P8 is a brilliant piece of hardware that's let down by its software. The raw specs and camera skills make for a captivating handset that looks the business and doesn't cost the earth at €499 (£357), but Huawei's Emotion UI lets it down in many ways.

Chinese technology heavyweight Huawei has been attempting to replicate its success in telecoms hardware in the smartphone market for several years. The firm started this offensive by releasing a wave of ultra-affordable smartphones with specifications traditionally seen only on handsets close to...

Premium design; decent display; good camera; moderate price

Emotion UI makes needless and confusing changes to Android

It's been a curious year for flagship smartphones so far: from the impressive highs of the Samsung Galaxy range revamp, with the company's S6 and S6 edge, to the oh-it's-the-same-again HTC One in its M9 form .

Affordable; majority of design is on point; tiny bezel design; microSD card expansion; camera is impressive

EMUI interface annoyances; battery life ought to be better; processor has heat and power consumption issues

Huawei is getting serious with the P8, delivering some high-end specifications at a mid-range price. Breaking away from its Ascend series, Huawei has gone for a plainer moniker with the P8 but the design is anything but.

Beautiful screen; powerful processor; fine build quality; good camera; fingerprint sensor; 4G; decent battery life

Camera autofocus could be a little quicker

The Huawei P8 is an amazing piece of kit, with a great build quality, an amazing camera, great sound quality and a degree of flexibility thanks to the various slots and ports. The big but here though is the software.

The P8 Lite is to the Huawei P8 what Apple's iPhone 5c was to the iPhone 5s . The core experiences are largely comparable, with some performance concessions and design tweaks in the name of affordability. Unlike its fancier sibling, the P8 Lite is fully banded for U.S.

Thin, light, and solid build; Attractive; Affordable

Heavy-handed Android skin; Disappointing camera performance