Huawei held a presentation event in Romania for the Mate 30 Pro model, as well as for its new wearables, Watch GT 2 and Freebuds 3 devices. the company, which could be launched in Europe (and implicitly in Romania) in a limited edition. Of course, this release would involve the lack of Google Mobile Services at the factory, but company representatives say there are local stores interested in having this model on offer. 
Huawei Mate 30 Pro - Top premium hardware
In terms of design, the Mate 30 Pro is comparable to any other flagship on the market and, in some ways, even manages to surpass them. The "waterfall" display is really impressive, extending to the sides more than do curved screen devices from Samsung or OnePlus, for example. When you look at the front screen, it doesn't seem to have edges, the 88-degree tilt makes the metal frame on the edges disappear completely. 
The screen quality is very good, at a level close to that of the top models on the market such as those on the Galaxy Note10 + or iPhone 11 Pro Max, for example. This model has a diagonal of 6.53 ", but it comes in a slightly wider format than we have become accustomed to lately: 18.5: 9. Thus, the whole device seems to be more compact than other flagships today, and the weight of 198 grams is well distributed, making it look even lighter than it actually is. The truth is that the iPhone 11 Pro with a 5.8 ”screen has a comparable weight.
One thing I didn't like about using the Mate 30 Pro was the lack of physical volume buttons. The company has put the red power button on the right side, but the volume buttons are completely absent at first glance. The volume control is done by a two-touch gesture with the finger on the curved side of the bottle, at the top, either on the left or on the right… at least in theory. In practice, this gesture requires little exercise and does not work every time. Adjusting the volume is more complicated than it should be, and the inability to control the volume with the screen off is clearly a disadvantage of this device. For this device, Huawei has implemented a haptic vibration system, similar to the Taptic Engine on the iPhone, each movement of the volume bar making a click that you feel. However, this does not make the experience of changing the volume much more enjoyable. 
Huawei boasted at the official presentation in Munich, including a remote control system using hand gestures, but I was unable to make them work consistently. Some gestures such as clenching your fist and scrolling away for screenshots went easier, but scrolling up and down didn't work at all.
The top notch isn't exactly "modern" by current standards, with other manufacturers (including Huawei on other models) already adopting solutions such as a retractable, full-screen camera or a hole in one of the corners or centered. But Huawei Mate 30 Pro comes with an advanced unlock solution, like last year's Mate 20 Pro, which is similar to Face ID on the iPhone and the new facial recognition technology on the Pixel 4. In theory, the facial recognition system it should be even more secure than the optical fingerprint sensor built into the display. 
Also in terms of hardware, Huawei Mate 30 Pro comes with some interesting features. For example, it is one of the few devices on the market that still offers an infrared port to emulate the remote control for various appliances. Unfortunately, Huawei does not give up the proprietary Nano Memory standard for storage cards, which are produced only by Huawei, and the maximum capacity is 256 GB. The card cannot be inserted in other devices, nor are there any compatible PC card readers, and data transfer is possible via the phone's USB only. It seems that several USB Nano Memory card readers have appeared for Huawei users who want faster data transfer between phone and PC.
Huawei Mate 30 Pro - Android, but without Google
I haven't been running performance tests on the Mate 30 Pro, but it wouldn't be necessary either. The phone is the best developed by Huawei so far and no one complained about the Mate 20 or P30 models, which used the Kirin 980 instead of the current Kirin 990, so it didn't make sense. However, there is another reason why these tests were not even possible, a problem that is and will probably remain a big black spot on this device: the lack of access to applications.
The model I had on hand used EMUI 10 software, based on Android 10, in the version for China. Thus, it had many Chinese applications pre-installed. Whether it's software from China or Europe, the Mate 30 Pro doesn't have and probably won't have access to the Google Play Store, the app store that all Android users are used to. As a result, your phone does not have access to Google Maps, GMail, YouTube, Google Assistant, Docs, or any other application produced by Google. 
It also does not have access to the vast library of applications in the Play Store, and those who switch from an Android phone to the Mate 30 Pro will not be able to use the applications already purchased from the Play Store. At the same time, applications such as Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and others in the social media category are completely absent. Not to mention banking solutions like ING HomeBank, BT24, or fintechs like Revolut, Orange Money, etc.
Huawei offers the proprietary App Gallery store, which in turn is equipped with Huawei Mobile Services, an alternative to Google Services. The offer is still poor, but some applications are starting to appear, thanks to a fund of 1 billion dollars that Huawei will use to support the porting of applications on its platform. In the absence of basic services such as maps, or a solution for integrating a common profile in video games and DRM certifications for streaming applications such as Netflix, HBO Go or Amazon Prime, the chances are that the applications will work 100% as you would expect on this top phone. 
Yes, there are probably a few people interested in "modifying" their phone by various methods to install Google services somehow. There is no such thing as a turnkey solution like lzplay, so it could not soon become a mass device like Mate 20 Pro or P30 Pro. Another solution that involves a kind of "scratching the left temple with the right hand" is installing VMOS from another alternative app store, a virtual machine that can allow you to install Google and other Play Store apps in a separate interface. . However, this method does not guarantee access to all the hardware and software features of the phone, and everything is too cumbersome and too unintuitive. In fact, managing real-time notifications using this solution is far from ideal, being too complicated, and unworthy of a device over 1,000 euros.
Despite being a device "incomplete" , without Google services (maps, YouTube, docs) and access to applications you already have on the Google Play Store, without access to banking services that could provide payments by phone and without easy access to social media applications, streaming video or productivity, Huawei may still charge a very high price on this phone. Officially, the phone was announced at a price of 1,100 euros, but most likely, it will reach around 1,000 euros in stores. The company has not yet confirmed concrete plans for launch in Romania, but is considering this. It is very important for those who will dare to buy this device to know and assume these "shortcomings". The experience of using a Mate 30 Pro will be very different from that of a "normal" phone, being similar only in internet browsing, calls and SMS. Any other experience is more complicated than necessary. 
Huawei Mate 30 Pro - The Best Camera?
And yet, the most interesting hardware aspect of this phone is the camera, but in the current context, this is probably the least important. Yes, it has the best camera on the market, with three different lenses, a special camera for filming and Leica lenses, as well as a 3D TOF sensor. But usually the best room is the one you always have with you and it's hard to believe that there will be too many in Europe who will have a Mate 30 Pro in their pocket. Firstly because the phone is not yet officially on the market and secondly, because if it comes it will be very rare and will probably not be sold through operators, but only in a few stores (Huawei and some partners ). 
I was able to flee to test the camera in a well-lit room, and the photos turned out to be good on the phone screen. One feature that particularly interested me was slow motion, which can slow down 256 times (over 7,000 frames per second). The results are interesting, with the capture mode being much more intuitive and powerful than the one on Samsung models, for example, but the focus is slow and inaccurate in this way. However, it is something that is not found on any other device, and with a little effort you can get some good results only to be published on social networks. The video quality in this way is not exactly impressive.
Huawei Watch GT2 and Freebuds 3
I mentioned at the beginning about the two wearables devices: Huawei Watch GT2 and Freebuds 3. I only saw them on the run. The watch looks good in terms of design and promises 2 weeks of battery life in the "male" version and "only" one week in the female version. However, both have the same functions, with various fitness workouts, heart rate monitoring, music playback directly on the watch and much more. Unfortunately, the interface is not exactly finished, being simplistic and with slow animations. This includes the limited processor and the small amount of RAM, plus the lack of an application ecosystem.
The Watch GT2 will be able to receive new features through a firmware upgrade, but does not have a dedicated app store or developer support. If it doesn't already have a feature, there aren't many ways to add it, like Wear OS, Tizen, Fitbit OS, or watchOS. However, the GT2 has the best range of all, so some will certainly be interested in such a device. I found it strange to use plastic on the back, a non-premium detail. Also, the round charger is magnetic, but the charging is done on contacts, not wireless.
In the end, Freebuds 3 headphones are what some would call "clones" of AirPods, but the company has tried as much as possible to change the design of the charging box, but also of the headphones. They offer decent sound as well as extra capability over AirPods: cancel out ambient noise. This feature is now only available on AirPods Pro, more expensive Apple models, and Sony WF1000XM3 headphones in the "true wireless" category.
Is Huawei Mate 30 Pro worth it?
I did not come from the Huawei meeting with many new answers. In terms of sales, we already know that in the last few months there have been substantial increases (over 200 smartphones sold by October, taking into account Honor devices). However, we do not know how long this growth will continue, given that the completely new devices that Huawei will launch in the future will be launched without Google applications. There are already plans to bring some new models with Google Mobile Services to the Romanian market before the end of the year, but these will most likely be rebrands of other variants already available in other regions, such as Honor 9X, or Nova 5T.
What is certain is that Mate 30 Pro is a phone with good design and hardware and incomplete software that you should not buy unless you know for sure that you can live without the Google ecosystem and all the disadvantages mentioned above. Efforts to restore Google's compatibility may prove successful, but long-term application performance will not be guaranteed, as Google may at any time turn off this feature, or a Huawei update may block methods for one reason or another. In fact, Huawei representatives do not "unofficially" encourage the use of Google Mobile Services and suggest the use of applications in the Huawei App Gallery, promising to populate it with more and more applications that users want.
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