Introduction
The Pro version of the Huawei P20 series will definitely be one of the most interesting devices this year, because on this device for the first time we have a triple camera setup! Of course, not everything is in the camera. Let’s see together what other things this new 2018 flagship is capable of!
At first glance, polished aluminum with glass front and back panels looks outstanding. Today we’re testing the black color version, but other color options are also good, especially the Twilight one where the colors change from purple to turquoise. Inside the box next to the phone itself were user manuals, a SIM tray tool, a gel case which is always a welcome addition, a fast charging adapter, Type-C data charging cable, headphones with a Type-C connector and a Type-C to 3.5mm port converter because this phone sadly doesn’t have one installed.
Video review
Unboxing
Display
The P20 Pro in it has a very good display. The colors are very nicely reproduced because, or course, it is an AMOLED display. The thing that you’ll notice the first is definitely the notch. This is quite a big display, but it’s not that wide since this is a 6.1” display with the aspect ratio of 18.7:9. Only people with a bit bigger hands might consider this display comfortable to use, but luckily there is the mini view option which shrinks the display for easier one handed use.
Considering that this is an AMOLED display, it definitely lacks advanced color modes – you can choose either normal or vivid mode. Display is very bright even on direct sunlight since the brightness goes up to 550 nits. Our phone came with preinstalled protective film over the display – it seems to be standard for Huawei to include these nowadays. And yes, we forgot to mention that the notch can be hidden through software, and very successfully so due to AMOLED matrix. A great addition for those who don’t really like the notch.
Hardware and OS
Huawei’s chipset factory HiSilicon didn’t release a new chipset lately, so this year’s flagship uses the same chip as the Mate 10 Pro, the Kirin 970 with implemented AI technology.
This is why the phone can’t really compete with other flagship devices that mostly use newer chipsets such as Snapdragon 845 which definitely provides better results. Don’t be mistaken though, this chipset is not bad at all! It scored just over 207000 points on the AnTuTu benchmark which we can say are results very close to last year’s iPhone X.
User experience with the interface of the P20 Pro is very nice. It didn’t show signs of weakness – navigating through the menu, data transfer, photo editing, playing high demanding games, all this works perfectly fluently, however the device does heat up a little when put under heavier use.
Combined with Android Oreo 8.1 Huawei uses their EMUI on this device. There are honestly so many different ways you can customize your phone through EMUI. When you boot up your device, you’ll see that there’s an application preinstalled there called Phone Manager which will optimize and scan your device for viruses using the built in Avast antivirus.
It is also worth to mention stereo speakers on this phone – there is a speaker on the top as well as a speaker on the bottom of the device. Both of these are very good. Sound quality is very high, and there is also the aptX HD as well as FLAC player for outstanding tones.
Camera
We came to the most interesting part of this review, the cameras. We already mentioned that this is the first phone that uses three cameras sensors as a primary camera setup. The top most sensor is an 8 megapixel telephoto sensor that enables up to 3x optical zoom. Below it, in the middle is the standard color sensor with a whopping 40 megapixel resolution which makes shooting high detail photos possible. Finally, on the bottom is a 20 megapixel monochrome sensor. All these cameras register the depth of field amazingly, so the P20 Pro can lean on this detection when focusing, but there is also the phase detection autofocus, as well as laser autofocus for closer objects.
It is really redundant to speak anything about the quality of photos since this phone produces the best photos the mobile world has the offer at the moment. Emphasis goes to shooting in low light conditions. In the night time mode this device and reach ISO values of up to 102400 which is the same number reached by Canon EOS 5D Mark IV DSLR camera. Even if your eye can’t see well in the dark, your phone can!
We already said that Kirin 970 has an AI chip built in. Inside the camera options you can turn on Master AI technology which can recognize more than 500 photo scenes and automatically adjust colors and photo parameters. This is honestly a pretty complete camera, and if anybody asks how to take the best photos we’d say that it’s best to just take out the phone from the pocket and snap a photo in the auto mode.
Photos taken with the primary camera can be captured in maximum 40 megapixel resolution where more details is captured but the shutter speed is considerably slower. Best results are achieved through the 10 megapixel camera which is the auto mode’s option anyway.
The primary camera captures videos in maximum 4K resolution at 30fps. You can also take Super Slow Motion videos at 960fps, but unfortunately only in HD resolution. Great news is that, when recording, you can choose between h.264 and h.265 codecs, but you don’t have to think too hard about this if you’re not too tech savvy.
The front facing camera is a 24 megapixel selfie sensor, and it sadly doesn’t have the autofocus system. Colors and details are pretty good, and there are also 3D lighting options. We cannot really praise the front facing camera as much as the main one due to the lack of autofocus, but it nonetheless produces very good photos.
Connectivity
The P20 Pro comes in either a single or a duel SIM variant. The L29 that we have here is a dual SIM device, and as such it uses two nano SIM cards. As we’ve mentioned, on the bottom of the device is a USB Type–C port used for charging and data transfer. On top of the device just as on other Huawei devices we can find an IR blaster which can be pretty useful at times.
List of connections contains:
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual band, Wi-Fi direct and HotSpot mode
- Bluetooth v4.2 with A2DP, LE, EDR, aptX HD
- GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS and GALILEO support
Network frequencies supported by the P20 Pro are:
- 2G GSM: 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
- 3G WCDMA: 800 / 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
- 4G LTE: 700 / 800 / 850 / 900 / 1500 / 1700 / 1800 / 1900 / 2100 / 2600 MHz
Battery
This device is powered by a somewhat bigger battery compared to other devices in the same class, and to be precise, here we have a 4000 mAh battery. Factory adapter is equipped with Huawei fast charging technology they call SuperCharge, and it really is superb! The phone takes around 1 and a half hours for a full charge.
Screen on time for this device caps up at about 7 hours which is again an impressive result considering the brightness was set to 80%. These results can even further be improved up to 9 hours by reducing the resolution of the display as well as brightness settings.
Final words
Huawei P20 Pro is a great phone with outstanding cameras at the moment. It will definitely be a great choice for photography lovers, at least for those who can afford it since the price isn’t exactly low. Officially, the Pro version costs 899 euros, but this phone can be found on sale for about 700 euros. Once again, cameras built into this device justify the price.
Huawei P20 Pro Full Specifications
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