24 Hours Series

24 Hours in Barcelona with the Huawei P10

Published

March 13, 2017

Michael Josh Villanueva

My recent trip to Barcelona was extraordinary.

It wasn’t my first visit, but without the pressures that usually accompany being a tourist, my team and I could just hang back and enjoy the city at our own pace.

Of course, we were here first and foremost to work, to cover the greatest smartphone show on earth. And so, our story begins in front of Fira Gran Via where Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017 took place.

While MWC is an event that runs three to five days, the following photo series is a slice from a day in the life of the GadgetMatch team covering the event as captured by the Leica co-engineered dual cameras of the Huawei P10.

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The P10 was launched a day before the official start of MWC with Huawei promising photos more legendary than its predecessor. Today we take it out in the real world to find out if it lives up to its claims.

Google’s presence at MWC is always a much-welcome respite from the craziness that is the expo halls. Stop by one of the booths for a free smoothie, hot chocolate, or Android collectible.

From ice sculptures to sand castles, the likeness of Bugdroid, the Android mascot, are everywhere.

This year’s Google booth was Asia-themed. We took a ride on a TukTuk, dialing back on the aperture post-capture for a more natural look.

While we like our videos to have a more glossy look to them, behind the scenes isn’t so glamorous.

But it isn’t all that bad. Occasionally brands will serve food and drinks to guests, if you can find the time to stop and have a snack. While Chay shoots, I’m usually writing scripts, answering emails, and sending photo and video materials to HQ. We used to be so dependent on Wi-Fi hotspots; thankfully, Globe offers unlimited data as part of its $12/day flat rate roaming plan. Now, we just tether from our phones.

We stay till 6pm most days to squeeze the most amount of work possible during conference hours. End-of-day selfies are obligatory.

Usually, we head home to work, but today, we stopped by Passeig De Gracia for a quick stroll and dinner. If you’re in the mood for shopping and food in Barcelona, this is the place to be.

And if walking isn’t your thing, you can always rent a bicycle. Love how creamy the bokeh is here. Magical.

Even as the sun starts to set. The P10 manages to take good portraits, giving us accurate tones and plenty of detail.

Blue hour is particularly stunning in this part of the world. Balancing the glow of neon and fluorescent lights can be quite challenging for smartphone cameras, but the P10 managed to keep everything under control.

Always a packed house, Ciutat Comtal is my favorite restaurant in Barcelona and one of the best places to sample Spanish Paella. Unless you’re feeling lucky, book a reservation ahead of time, or try to get a seat by the bar, the mostly Filipino hosts are always willing to help you navigate the food selection.

We headed home by subway, our preferred mode of travel in Barcelona (unless we’re darting between events, then taxis are a must — Uber’s are not allowed in BCN). Subways run from 5am to 12 midnight and will take you to most places in the city.

Our hotel is a few blocks away from the station, we shot this low-light photo in front of a park on our walk home.

While we’re eager to call it a day, our day ends back at our hotel lounge for a night cap and some last-minute writing and video editing. While events like these are often exhausting, Barcelona is an amazing city, and it’s always a pleasure to come here for work and play.

[irp posts=”10970″ name=”Huawei P10, P10 Plus improve on an already solid phone”]

24 Hours is a series on GadgetMatch.com where we showcase our travels through a smartphone camera’s perspective. It’s also a documented guide on things to see and do in a city in case you happen to plan a trip there.

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24 Hours Series

vivo V27: Studio lights in your pocket

Meet the new Aura Light Portrait System

Published

April 14, 2023

Chay Lazaro

It’s spring 2023 and vivo is back with the V series. The vivo V27 comes with a new feature called Aura Light Portrait System, which takes its main camera to another level. Like its predecessor it’s got a color-changing back, making it a fashionable choice for different users.

Stylish color-changing design

We have the V27 in Emerald Green, which starts off with a lighter tint that looks like jade. When exposed to UV light, it changes into a darker shade of green. This is achieved thanks to the Emerald Glass processing technique. The phone also comes in Magic Blue, Flowing Gold, and Noble Black.

Chay is wearing light colors so the Emerald Green model matches her outfit better. It makes a nice, subtle pop of color, and goes with her pastel-y mint green purse and boots.

It’s also worth pointing out the 3D curved screen and this curved back on the V27 make it feel extremely thin and light.

Studio lights in your pocket

As mentioned earlier, the vivo V27 features the Aura Light Portrait System for great portraits even in low light. It’s a combination of the IMX677V sensor, which Sony designed with vivo specifically for this phone, algorithm optimizations, and the Aura Light. Its outer ring is matte and sandblasted, softening the light coming out of it.

The Aura Light, combined with the large sensor, and algorithm optimizations work together to take great portraits even in low light.

Lunch and coffee

The day before was a very long day so we figured we should get food and coffee. We found this dimly lit restaurant in Soho called Cafe Select. I think it’s a German restaurant because we had some schnitzel and there’s German decor everywhere.

We also specifically asked for the corner booth to test out the V27’s low light capabilities. Despite the lack of light sources, it’s impressive that the V27 managed to produce an accurate cutout of me even when I kept moving with the Bokeh Portrait video mode on.

There’s no natural light in this restaurant so it’s also the perfect place to take portraits and test out the Aura Light Portrait System. It’s like a portable ring light that you can use to take clearer portraits. Take a look at some examples.

On video mode, you can also use LUTs. We had fun using the Nostalgia filter to film a short video in the restaurant, which perfectly matches the vintage vibe of its interiors.

High definition selfies

The vivo V27 would not be a V-series smartphone if it didn’t have an amazing selfie camera. On the V27, we got a 50MP HD selfie camera with autofocus.

It’s worth noting that the phone feels so light in the hand. It’s so easy to take one-handed selfies. I also love how subtle the color change is on the Emerald Green model.

The V27 offers three levels of selfie filters that help hide blemishes and enhance your features — None, Natural, and Classic.

The 50MP front camera means clear selfie details. Most other smartphones have inferior selfie cameras compared to its rear counterparts, but not the V27. As you can see in the example below, zooming in on my eyes show that you can clearly see the strands of my eyebrows.

Walking the High Line & shopping

To test its video stabilization and macro camera, we continued to walk the High Line. Both features produced very impressive results.

Another feature we tried is MicroMovie. It’s perfect for creators like me. It comes with a whole bunch of templates that you can use for TikTok or Instagram Reels. I filmed a daily vlog with it and had so much fun.

While we were shopping, I noticed too that the V27 changed colors after being indoors for a bit. It turned into a beautiful white marble-like finish that fades into mint green at the bottom.

After the sun has set, it’s time to take more low-light portraits and OOTD. Our friends Alex and Leslie even joined us for a quick photo shoot. New York City comes to life at night, and with a 1/1.56-inch sensor and Super Night Mode, the vivo V27 can easily capture the hustle and bustle of the city streets.

More than just a camera smartphone

The vivo V27 is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 and comes with either an 8GB or 12GB of RAM.

With Extended RAM the phone borrows memory from your internal storage and gives you an additional 8GB RAM. This way you get either 16GB or 20GB available RAM.