"Guess what I'm sending you for tests? Huawei P40 PRO! You'll love it, you'll see!" – my colleague Dan told me on the phone. I told him: "Yes..., yes..., great, only..., you know, - I REALLY STAY in the house! How can I test the phone? That is, the way I like it, to take my favorite park on foot, where I could so easily bring out the insane 5x optical zoom camera or the 10x hybrid zoom…”
But you simply can't resist Dan's enthusiasm, you know that as well as I do, those who follow him on Youtube. 🙂 So here I am, telling you my thoughts on Huawei's newest flagship, released - unfortunately - in such troubled times.
Stay with me, because I have surprises to share with you, since the Mate 30 PRO, many things have happened in the Twilight Zone. You guessed it. I mean Google apps and the whole ecosystem that swarms around this monster called GMS.
Day 1. Huawei P40 PRO: Design and familiarization
Obviously, the first day was about making friends. Now honestly, after the much more mysterious Mate 30 PRO, where I actually had to search and document myself: how to do certain gestures, settings, the P40 PRO offered a much smoother, faster experience of knowledge and discovery. User friendly. A pretty classic approach, I'd say.
Ergonomics, functionality
Because no matter how good the camera is, no matter how strong the screen, video card, processor, etc., let's not forget the basic function: the phone. It may sound strange, but believe me -me, it's like more and more manufacturers are forgetting that end users want a phone, not an anapoda brick.
I've always liked compact phones. This is how I am. Others prefer to have tablets and TVs in their pockets. I do not condemn them. Each with what they get along with best. I was the one who absolutely did not want an S8+ because it was bigger, heavier and felt more unbalanced in the hand.
Unfortunately, the race to ever-bigger phones continued. And the result?
These days it's very hard, almost impossible to find a phone the size of my old friend, the S8 (I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on the S20, which yes, it's still compact!), that is if I want to and excellent performance and camera. Only bricks.
And is the world still surprised by the accident rate – accidental drops from the hand, broken screens, etc.? The perfect recipe: big phone, glass case. What could go wrong?
Compact and not really – but at least it's very well balanced
No, the Huawei P40 PRO is not exactly a phone that I, with my standards that I shared with you above, would- I define it as a compact phone. No, with its 158mm, it falls exactly in the "usual" area for 2020, for boys in the medium-large class.
A little smaller than the "Notes" of various manufacturers, but a heavy-weight champ, with its 209 grams it puts even the Note 10+ to shame. But once you hold it in your hand, it seems that these aspects fade away when you discover a very well-balanced phone.
Now everything is relative. Also by the comparison method, I would not be wrong if I say that the Huawei P40 PRO is a compact phone, if we put it next to the S8+, which is even bigger than the P40 PRO, but has a screen with a diagonal smaller by 1cm! What I wanted to say is that Huawei maximized the screen/chassis ratio, rounded the corners, the screen glass, evenly and correctly distributed the weight of the phone, achieving the feeling that overall, we have a compact high-end phone.
And the rounded corners help it a lot in terms of ergonomics. In the opposite corner, there are phones of the "note" type and not only, angular ones, which practically sting your palm, in the area of the "life line", when you hold the phone in one hand, read on the net, etc.
Overflow Display
Oh, and don't forget: a very important aspect of how you interact with the phone is the size and shape of the screen and how much it curves at the edges of the phone. For example, this "Cascade display" on the Huawei Mate 30 PRO is very spectacular, but I personally thought it was a bit much.
On the other hand the Mate 30 PRO is more elegant like this, without the visible black side edges – but you can't have them all.
I like the "Overflow Display" approach on the Huawei P40 PRO more (the effect you can see with a glass full of water, and where due to the surface tension the water still doesn't spill out and forms that curve at the edges of the water where it meets the edge of the glass).
The edges of the P40 Pro are elegant, the curved glass to the metal border, but without disturbing the way you will interact with the phone, for example when using gestures.
The volume buttons are back on the Huawei P40 PRO – a strange feeling after playing with the Mate 30 PRO for a longer time – I had the reflex to double tap on the edge, the volume slide should appear – that’s good , It is? The power of habit. At least sceenshots can still be done by tapping on the screen, as with the Mate 30 PRO. That's it, just to feel more....tech-nerd.
Huawei Acoustic Display
For better isolation of the phone against dust and liquids, the speaker for calls (earpiece speaker) has been abandoned, we no longer have any unnecessary hole at the top. The sounds are generated through the shell, through vibrations – a system I am encountering for the first time. It sounds perfect to you, and bonus, you have more intimacy – that is, it is less audible to those around you (but it is still audible 🙂 )
Punch Hole. Dual Punch Hole.
OK, I get the idea of maximizing the screen and functionality at the same time – adding an extra IR Depth Camera in addition to the 32MB Selfie Camera, for log-ins really secure (even secure payments), not 2D Face Log-in jokes like we've seen on other phones that respect (faces).
Practically with the help of this 3D scanner you can have a guaranteed super-fast login in any lighting conditions and you can even make secure payments.
I'm just not a fan of this Dual Punch Hole compromise, and I never thought I'd say this, but the Mate 30 PRO's bangs seem like a much more elegant solution. Maybe it's just a matter of time, but when I unlock the phone, that hole still catches my eye :). Obviously, this "black hole" is removed in the browser, on Youtube,
But not in games either, although it is said that the gaze is always focused on the middle of the screen, in games like Asphalt 9, where you literally have to keep your eyes on all fours, that is, in all directions - where the boosts appear, how are you with the nitro, from where your enemies appear on the left or right, whoops, you also notice that interstellar black hole. 🙂
Day 2. Applications and compatibility tests.
When it comes to applications, I saw the "MoreApps" application mentioned in our online - and once I installed it from the Huawei AppGalery - surprise! – You have a real App Store within an App Store. Or as they say in online commerce, a shop in shop. A digital matryoshka doll, born from an enlightened mind.
And from here things got a lot simpler! You no longer have to sit and search through app-stores that you know or have never heard of, for your favorite applications until you get dizzy. It is clearly developed here, by some smart guys 🙂
But before we get to the apps, I'd like to mention one very important aspect: the 90Hz OLED screen, that we've been beating the hell out of fast gaming screens.
90Hz display
Not only does the animation feel much smoother when swiping from one window to another, but also in browsing. When you scroll the pages. And in the future, games will also support high refresh rates, currently 99% of games run at a maximum of 60Hz. Asphalt 9 and PUBG Mobile are basically the popcorn that hasn't brought spring yet, but it's a start.
I know there are phones on the market that have 120Hz screens and I'm telling you, that's stupid. Yet.
1. there are no games that can support such a high refresh rate.2. The consumption increases in direct proportion to the refresh rate.Smartphone screens are not gaming monitors, which are always plugged in. A faster screen puts pressure on the processor, the video card, the screen - all will consume much more, the battery drains at least 20-25% faster, depending on the scenario.
That's why I think Huawei has chosen the wisest middle path - significantly improved refresh rate, but still with measure - so the battery lasts longer.
On me with the screen always active at 90Hz (the function can be turned off and you can go back to 60Hz when you want maximum autonomy) it kept me going from morning to night, and I still had 20-40% battery left - something I didn't never seen it with my Samsung S8, not even when it was brand new.
Youtube vanced
For all those who were worried that YouTube would not work without GMS, there is always the alternative Youtube vanced. except that my MicroG wouldn't connect to my Google account, so I couldn't log into my YouTube account to like, comment, etc.
For that I had to use the browser version. That's it. I survived.
Netflix: YES!!! HBO GO: YES!!!
Well, I didn't see this coming - I was convinced that I could say goodbye to watching movies and series on the Huawei P40 PRO , but something happened.
I installed the apps through MoreApps, I think it has something to do with it (or not). Admittedly, I haven't watched anything this week on my old phone (though HBO greeted me with the classic message where the Mate 30 was exiting the app, well, now that I clicked I was able to watch WestWorld, which -I replayed to refresh my memory for season 3.
Here I make a parenthesis – although the car has been in front of the block for 3 weeks, I will briefly mention what has NOT been solved on the car apps side.
UBER: Rivet. No change. Not working.
I'm personally waiting for a solution for Android Car from Huawei, I need this "Control Center" in my car, I'm not going to look at the 8" car dashboard screen for nothing while I hang my phone somewhere – no, no way. And he wants me to have the map and the music a button away, not on the phone.
Day 3. Banking
When I tested the Mate 30 PRO, I had a rooted copy, so I couldn't really draw any clear conclusions.
But here, with a non-rooted device, not hacked in any way, I can confirm: Yes, the banking applications work!
I made payments with ING HomeBank and from what I saw in MoreApps, a lot of banks already have apps here that you can use with confidence.
Day 4. Gaming - more "yes, not like that", rarely "no, not like that"
Although I normally ignore the gaming chapter, when you stay in the house for a month...some people start counting grains of rice, others are singing on the balcony as if they finished all the palinka in the house, I rediscovered a game that I haven't played in a long time - Asphalt 9!
Obviously, everything is nice and rosy, until you come across apps that need Google Play, like Vikings - War of Clans, and you say goodbye to these games with a bitter taste... as I said, you can find more here on where remnants of Google addiction…
But most games these days let you choose to link your game to Facebook or Google (so you can reinstall it without losing your game progress). I suggest Facebook, it seems like a much safer option for now.
Day 5. Let's also test the camera. But where? How?!
Here comes my biggest gripe, that I couldn't get the camera to work the way it deserved. We are talking about the best performing sensor and the best camera so far, the best optical zoom and with stabilization on top, combined with extraordinary software.
The 18mm f/1.8 "Ultra Wide Cine Camera" camera has a 40MP sensor on the back, and it's almost adequate for macro photos - please, if 6-8cm can be set as Macro - but it's still something.
Then we have the main camera, "Ultra Vision Wide Camera" of 23mm, f/1.9, with optical stabilization, which is equipped with a 50MP sensor.
But the icing on the cake is just now coming: the camera "5x Optical Telephoto Camera", 12MP, RYYB Periscopic, 125mm, f/3.4 with... are you doing well? Optical stabilization! Yes!
But I'd like to add something about the main 50MP sensor, before I show you what the power of a clean 5x Optical Zoom with optical stabilization means and what a 10x hybrid zoom means (be careful, it's not just a 2x digital zoom applied additionally, as you'd expect, it's a completely different mechanism behind it, I'll try to explain a bit later).
The P40 PRO's main camera sensor is the largest on a phone I've had the pleasure of playing with: 1/1.28".
I mean I finally see a manufacturer stop the crazy megapixel race and do something to make the pixels even bigger, not just more. The larger the pixel (1.22μm in this case), the more light enters. More light = better Dynamic Range. And more natural tones, and the list goes on.
But let's get back to the Zoom camera details. To get the most detailed pictures and more than 5x, the phone also uses the main camera, and the image you will see at the end in the 10x picture is a combination of the image obtained by the 5x optical zoom camera, for the central part and images RAW captured by the main camera, for the edges of the picture, this whole image re-composition process is done by a technology called by Huawei field-of-view fusion and AI RAW.
And below is an example of what this Huawei P40 PRO is capable of.
The first picture – with the main camera – i.e. 1x.
The second picture with the Telephoto 5x camera.
Third picture obtained by field-of-view fusion and AI RAW technology, 10x Hybrid Zoom
Fourth picture, approx. a 30x Hybrid Zoom
You can view/download the actual, untouched photos here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nctTw62AMginai549
Huawei P40 PRO – night pictures
Also at the address below, at the end of the mini-album, you will find 3 uncompressed, unprocessed pictures: one with the Samsung S8, one with the Huawei P40 PRO with the setting normal on the car and one also with the Huawei P40 PRO in Night Mode. When I think that many years ago (3 to be exact) the S8 had one of the best cameras on the market – I feel like crying when I see how outdated my old phone's camera is!
On the other hand, it is gratifying how much this segment is developing!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/nctTw62AMginai549
Left: Samsung S8. On the right, the Huawei P40 PRO.
The P40 PRO not only preserves details (it can be seen best in trees, leaves, but not only), but also has much better dynamics – you can see how the S8 does not can retain information from traffic signs.
Conclusion:
I could spend at least a few more pages talking about the phone, how fast the infrared reader is, or the fingerprint reader under the screen, or what portraits I took since I dropped it the face - even at less than 1m from the background, for example a library, the camera did an amazing job of separating the subject from the background - but for easy to understand reasons, I don't share pictures with the family, as a matter of principle - but I promise I will update this article with pictures of Marinache or other colleagues whom I like to use as subjects and who don't mind - anyway, they are already stars :).
But wait, there would be something else, because, after all, gadget, gadget, but the P40 PRO is a phone, right?
Extended battery life, Exceptional hearing!
There were times when I wanted to give up on my mobile operator, having execrable signal in the apartment – and not just on one, but three different phones. Well, like the Mate 30 PRO, the Huawei P40 PRO offered good signal and impeccable hearing – everyone I spoke to noted that they could hear me much better than many others they spoke to.
So yes, we have a quality phone in the first place, which does not let you down, with a stronger signal in "cave" apartments, the autonomy takes you over a day, I see that the applications also multiply from phone to phone, so what can I say: Huawei seems to get over both the coronavirus and the GMSvirus.
Let us be healthy. And let's enjoy technology.
BTW, did I tell you that the phone also has 5G?🙂 Yes, my colleague Marinache did a nice article about the 5G crazies and their theories of the night of the mind, it's worth a read.
TagsHuawei P40 PRO