Unlocked smartphones are attractive to customers who are looking for ways to avoid a long-term contract with a carrier, replace a broken phone, or travel overseas. If you've shopped for an unlocked phone, you'll likely have come across a company called Huawei .

Very good for basic usage, taking pictures or even as a starter phone, the P8 Lite will do well until you need sheer grunt power or better battery life. But for the price it is a solid handset and quite popular with the paying population according to my discreet enquiries with retailers.

Value handset; slim design

Underpowered processor; low internal memory; Underwhelming battery life

When I first got the phone I liked it, easy to use and did apps well. Now it churns through data even when I have shut down the phone, it appears the phone is occultly connected to the net. The wifi and bluetooth will not connect.

L ast year, Huawei's Ascend P7 smartphone impressed us with its slimline good looks and top-quality camera – but it was undermined by sluggish performance and an over-fussy UI. This year, the company aims to improve on that with its new flagship.

Without a carrier to subsidize their prices, unlocked phones can get expensive. Not so with the Huawei P8 Lite, however. At $250, £180 or AU$300, it's incredibly affordable -- it costs about the same as some high-end devices with a contract. In the US, you can purchase it directly from Huawei's online store or other retailers like Amazon.

The Huawei P8 Lite's affordable unlocked price is compelling, but the Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 is a much better deal.

The Huawei P8 Lite has a low price; a lightweight design; a sharp camera and dual-SIM capabilities.

The handset runs the rather dated Android KitKat OS; and its camera settings don't rotate when the phone is held in landscape mode.

Without a carrier to subsidize their prices, unlocked phones can get expensive. Not so with the Huawei P8 Lite, however. At $250, ￡180 or AU$300, it's incredibly affordable -- it costs about the same as some high-end devices with a contract.

The Huawei P8 Lite has a low price; a lightweight design; a sharp camera and dual-SIM capabilities

The handset runs the rather dated Android KitKat OS; and its camera settings don't rotate when the phone is held in landscape mode

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's P series has always been about the best of the best without you needing to sell a kidney, so can this year's model fight the threat that is the iPhone, or is it just a poor cousin?

Comfortable to hold; Well built; Fairly fast; Free screen repair (for one time) if you break the phone's display

Storage amount could be larger; Mediocre battery (standard for a flagship; though; No 802.11ac despite the phone being flagship; Huawei's take on Android may not be ideal for all; Included screen replacement cost feels like a bit of a useless feature if you never break your screen

Huawei P8 Lite is a good all-rounder mid-range phone with a body that feels good to hold, have the power to offer a smooth UI experience, great battery life performance, and good camera performance considering the price.

stylish and wonderfull mobile..... no heating problem... amazin perfomence... emui os is awesome........

perfect processing; best camera quality

need more battery power...and also inbuilt memory extension required