I'll make a confession from the start: this is NOT a review. At least, not a technical one, with benchmarks, with Antutu and the like. It's a diary. A short story of a technology and photography enthusiast - as a hobby, not as a professional. And especially about his short, one-week relationship with Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Happy ending stories, but also less happy moments, with moments of exaltation but also disappointments.
7 days I came out of the Matrix!
"7 days" - I asked Dan, give me 7 days Mate 30 Pro to see if I can survive without a world of Google Mobile Services, ie Gmail, maps, youtube and so on. .
The ultimate test of technology enthusiasts - see if I'm able to withstand Satan's technology, without putting any virtual machine or any other alternative, questionable method, underground, from the dozen tutorials that the Internet is full of (the irony, even Youtube the great Google, as if closing its eyes as some people hack their own phones voluntarily and unforced by anyone, in order to get their drugs into their veins).
That's what I wanted to get out of the Matrix, the world of Google around us, which has spread more than we ever imagined!
The internet is full of reviews. But it all starts with the famous phrase "How to install GMS on your Huawei Mate 30 Pro." Practically 90% of the appearances are tutorials, a lot of people put on the 2nd place the hardware and the innovations brought by this phone. But more importantly, very few have asked themselves what it really is like to live, day by day, in a world "without Google". Wow, it sounds like post-apocalyptic!
And like butterflies attracted by candlelight, so are we attracted to flagships. We just can't ignore them. We devour every detail, every leak that appears before launch. We plan and dream. How can we purchase them? Reason always comes second. Enthusiastic and early adopters, admit it: reason is not our strong point!
Now that the first batches of Mate 30 Pro have arrived in Romania (and they have been given, but we will never know how many have been returned in the meantime by those who did not know that they do not have GMS or are like me and prefer not to abuse the phone with various clones of images etc), I also wanted to see what it's like to have a rocket in your pocket, but with the engine braked intentionally. Or rather, would it have been sabotaged?
The point of this article is that if you want to do banking, for example, security should come first, and if you're a little paranoid like me - how do you do it if you choose NOT to put Google Mobile Services on this unorthodox method? Huawei Mate 30 Pro?
Day 1: Phone discovery
The first day was funny, or rather, the first night when I got home and sat on the couch, ready to discover the secrets of the phone.
Menus, camera, security - fingerprint reader (FingerPrint ID) below the screen, etc. Everything he knows. Installing the SIM, importing contacts, everything. Basic things before you start software installations.
The funniest moment of the evening was the discovery of the volume. I have to admit, it wasn't really intuitive. That quick double-tap you have to do on the top of the phone is something so new that if you haven't been to the manufacturer's website before, you have no chance. ⁇
The good part about this technology - double tap volume with Haptic feedback - is that we no longer have to frustrate left-handers or right-handers that the volume buttons are poorly positioned for them - now you can access them from both sides. After getting used to it a bit, I really liked this new approach.
The phone is full of bigger or bigger innovations, which you run into every moment - even how they solved the installation of two nano-SIMs in a space where you usually put a single card - that sandwich - an elegant solution which I haven't seen much elsewhere.
I'm not telling you how well the fingerprint reader installed below the screen works - zero Lag, or Face Recognition. The FingerPrint ID technology in the Mate 30 Pro simply has nothing to do with the reader I had most of the time put on the back of the phones, like my now very old S8.
And I could list endlessly how there is no lag even in accessing the Huawei Assistant page. But I think I liked the uber-geeky mode the best way to take screenshots - by knocking, just like knocking on a door - twice. I saw a person fall face… in front of me, in the subway, when I took such a screenshot. That person's face is priceless!
But as I said, this is not the idea of this article, how much RAM, how much storage space, how many Mega have the pictures, etc., but the applications, or rather, their lack. So let me come back the next day.
Day 2: Mate 30 Pro Applications - Happiness and Disappointment
I made a list of "Yes!" Applications, but also a list of disappointments. Let's start with the beautiful part.
We are in an era where if we have not isolated ourselves from the world and have not retreated to a cave, communication is an integral part of our lives. And I would put all the messaging applications in the first place: Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, etc. Everything is going perfectly. Some can even be downloaded from the AppGallery, others from any other LEGAL app store (Aptoide, Pure APK, etc.).
There are some exceptions, such as Line, which does not start - although the peak is an Asian application. What's next? Facebook, Instagram - again, applications easy to find and download, everything runs perfectly. Spotify… works perfectly! Okay, I really needed music on the road ("Songs to Sing in the Car" - when you're alone, it works perfectly). Snapseed, my favorite quick photo retouching app before uploading to FB, IG, is with me again.
Update: YouTube vs YouTube Vanced
Although YouTube does not work, it works normally in the browser. But there are applications such as YouTube Vanced, a fashionable and very popular version of the Youtube application, which also allows running in the background, or black / dark theme and much more.
I downloaded YouTube Vanced directly from https://vanced.app/, UPS on the Pure APK and installed the application with UPS. We chose the version for non-rooted phones, meaning everything is done without upsetting the phone for our favorite applications.
So far Google: Google - Huawei 0: 1.
And because the methods of overcoming the limitations of GMS can involve a device to become unlocked, as was the device I tested, it's no wonder that most banking applications have told me elegantly. Only Georgica was friendlier - though she really shouldn't have been. But a Locked device, untouched, will also allow banking, not in vain all these applications (except ING HomeBank) are downloadable from the AppGallery.
And the list of disappointments:
Uber (obviously uses Google maps, so he falls victim to collateral). Bolt, idem. Bleah. Sad.
Google - Huawei: 1: 1.
Netflix? Outch! After several searches, I was amazed to find that a very old version of the app, 3.16, from the fall of 1900, works. With the necessary limitations: there is no stream option on the TV, and the image is 720p. In the absence of better, it works anyway. As the ad says, too much like in the country.
HBO Go - See No
This list is ugly. honestly, I feel defeated. I've been using Uber for a long time, when I don't go by car (I also use the subway, but there are areas where obviously you are very far from the subway). And yes, I went for 10 years with the trams and buses of the uber-metropolis of Bucharest. I could write a book about homeless perfumes on 133 or how many dubious ones I've seen. No, there comes a time when you say, enough! No, thanks! And no, that's not a euphemism for something else. So in short, dear Google, you got me on the wrong foot. It hurt, bad.
And with a Netflix… Is this white thread sewn with DRM bullshit - that is, an old version works and the new ones suddenly can't be supported by the phone, because coincidence? (intentional cacophony). No, I'm not 5 years old. And on top of that, HBO Go also refuses to leave, fraternizing with Google Play, on the face of it.
Chernobyl is my favorite all-time mini-series, but I also liked The Swamp Creature and even that Watchmen craze. And remember, there's another month until season 3 of Westworld… So how do I do it without HBO Go? Should I call an old phone call if I still have one? Embarrassing.
So the score tilts the balance in favor of Google after analyzing the streaming video services, Google - Huawei: 2: 1.
Day 3: Around the city, with Mate 30 Pro in the car
The first thing I do when I get in the car is start Waze. It's a ritual. Because Waze is a necessity, in a city in the top European but also in the World of the cities with the Lowest Average Speed in traffic and congestion rate (extra time spent in traffic) of 52% (ie 52% more time in traffic than usual)
Yes, sadly, we are in a not at all enviable 14th place in the world.
Take a look at which cities we "compete" with. Halal.
Under these conditions, any Real-Time suggestions from Waze are welcome. Any alley - although this can often be a trap - well, lately almost every street looks like the trenches of the First World War. Yes, and you can accept these recommendations, you can prepare in advance. And no, I'm not a hypocrite, I admit - I like to be informed of "bounty hunters" who, instead of directing at intersections, hunt to pinch you at a speeding pass.
Good. So as I said, I start Waze, put the address, and connect the phone on board the car, because if we're still in the age of smart cars, an Andoid Auto helps us see a bigger, more beautiful map on the car's display.
Android Auto… You will download this app in advance from any other store on the Internet, apart from the original and great Google Play Store, because, isn't it, we are the Flintstone family in the adventures of the Stone Age, we have wooden cars on that we set them in motion with our feet and obviously we don't need that! And here reality strikes you like a fallen brick in the old center of a "historic" building.
Android Auto? Nope! It doesn't work on Mate 30 Pro.
I knew Google Maps wasn't working, but Google turned off my tap on my car connection. Ugly, very ugly. How many of you are not bombarded with messages every day: “Look, how many have seen your reviews! Look how many pictures you've uploaded to Maps! Bravo! You are Level 40 High Priest! Keep it up!." (That High-Priest thing is a bad joke. You know that.)
But let's calm down and go back to Waze. Don't be fooled into finding Waze in Huawei's AppGalery. Let's not be naive, it was not in vain that Google bought 7 years ago from Waze Mobile (at the time, it was called, what an irony, FreeMap Israel, because it was thought to belong to the community, edited by the community, built by the community). Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either. I mean, right. No, the maps are not Google's, so they couldn't ban it from Huawei phones. (yet). And I hope it stays that way. Keep your Google Maps maps for yourself.
Day 4: An outing in the park with Mate 30 Pro
As I said, I've always been looking for phones that can give you a room to leave your dedicated device at home when you go on a city break or vacation. Even if the size of the sensors makes you cry, when you compare a phone with a camera in the DSLR / Mirorless category, the fantastic evolution of the sensors but especially of the software on the phone, makes the images closer and closer to what we want even the most demanding of us.
Coincidentally, the day after I picked up the phone, he came to Bucharest for 3 days in the winter and ran away in the park, even though it was ugly, gloomy and cloudy. I really wanted to see how the new snow sensor handles, that is, those pictures where the metering was always brought to its knees by the very high contrast, the strong light reflected in the sensor.
Below are only compressed versions, the original pictures can be found here: http://bit.ly/31PMhkO
What I discovered: the camera has a sharpness that can be considered exaggerated by some (I like the photos softer - see the pictures with water), but in the newsroom the score was 2: 1 against this idea, both Dan and Marinake preferred the extra details, the great dynamics in the images and the details… per ton. And the 3X optical zoom helps you exactly where you can't get close: the swan in the picture says it all.
The colors stay vivid, even in these very light conditions - my Samsung ignored that raw green on the bridge, making it impossible to reproduce it faithfully. So is the moss on the bark of trees. What's more, the camera left me speechless!
Day 5: Office work
Skype; go razor. We had a call-conference, everything went perfectly. Although the Mate 30 PRO has only one speaker, it has two speakers. The speaker sounds very loud and very clean. Note 10.
Outlook: YES. And not, as you can see, I imported mail from Gmail, and it works! So it hurts me that the Gmail app doesn't work except from the browser? NOT AT ALL!
Day 5, continued: pictures from work (Portrait)
Bonus: a Marinake sunk to work. Out of excitement in GeForce Now, that his games are working on his phone :). And I'm excited about what you can do with this phone.
Google - Huawei: 2: 2.
Day 6: At nightfall
One word: in-cre-di-bil.
The level of detail, the lack of noise, the naturalness of the Photo mode (not the Night-mode), which works "unnaturally well" revealing details that you wouldn't think were there. But I wouldn't use this mode unless , maybe fun, I think it will still be successful for many users). I have never seen Herastrau Lake so clear and clean at dusk. Out of hand! Not fast, not fixed on anything, nothing.
Below are only compressed versions, the original pictures can be found here: http://bit.ly/31PMhkO
This is how Nigh-Mode works:
Day 7: Concluding remarks and conclusions
Could I live without GMS? Let's recap:
If you can still stand without the apps in the last sentence, Huawei Mate 30 is the best purchase for a potential flagship enthusiast, the enthusiast. This Mate 30 Pro was a roller coaster, but I say it was worth it.
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