Chinese tech giant Huawei has recently launched its first Mate series smartphone-the Mate 20 Pro that is slightly expensive than the Samsung’s latest offering, Galaxy Note 9.
Huawei became the second largest smartphone seller in the world, overtaking Apple in the second quarter of 2018. Now it is only behind the Korean giant, Samsung in terms of total sales.
Riding on the success of P20 Pro in India that flaunts the world’s first triple camera set-up at the rear. The Mate 20 Pro is priced at Rs. 69,990. The phone is powered by the homegrown product of Huawei, Kirin 980 chipset. The phone also holds a triple camera system complimented by a sleek design and swanky outlook.
Display and Camera
The smartphone is provided with a Leica-branded triple camera system that has a wide-angle sensor instead of a monochrome lens.
The camera also features variable modes of shooting such as night, portrait, pro, panorama, monochrome watermark and underwater.
The triple camera is positioned in a 2×2 raised grid design on the rear coupled with a dual-tone LED flash. The set-up comprises of a 40MP primary sensor, a 20MP ultra-wide angle lens and an 8MP telephoto lens with dedicated assistance for autofocus, laser focus, phase focus and artificial image stabilisation and 3D depth sensing.
The pictures clicked in broad daylight have excellent quality with vibrant colour reproduction and high dynamic range. The specific images snapped without the AI intervention now identifies and tweaks settings for up to 1,500 scenes.
Compared to the P20 Pro, the presets in blue skies and greenery scenes were toned down by the smartphone maker in this recent version.
The phone captures bright photos even during low-light although some of the snaps appear whitish. The 0.6x macro mode on the phone allows you to capture images from up to 2.5 cm away with no loss of details.
The phone has an emerald green colour variant with a cool textured pattern that does not let it slip off your hands. All the variants of this phone have a complex hairline pattern that makes the phone fingerprint resistant and easy to grip.
The Mate 20 Pro has a 6.39-inch OLED screen that looks gorgeous in deep black and vivid colours. The phone has a resolution of 3120 x 1440 pixels that can be adjusted according to the needs of the user.
Performance and Design
The phone is void of a lower speaker grille, and the sound gets radiated from the bottom-facing USB-C port, and surprisingly, it did not get deadened even after plugging it in.
The Kirin 980 chip enables the device to operate at lightning fast speeds. This blazing fast 7nm chipset on Android phone was launched only after Apple’s A12 processor. The phone takes power from a 4200mAh battery that lasts almost two days on a single charge offering a competitive edge over Samsung Galaxy S9+.
The novel feature added to the device allows it to charge other smartphones with in-built Qi. After activating this feature, the reverse charging option allows the user to add charge to another compatible phone.
The device can be quickly unlocked via an in-display fingerprint sensor and also through a 3D face recognition feature.
What went wrong?
Huawei’s latest version of EMUI based on Android 9 Pie OS is loaded with multiple pre-installed tools, “smart remote” being one of them. Huawei phone needs to get rid of the OS of unwanted apps for a faster and uncluttered user interface (UI). The unique bottom-firing USB-C port produces normal sound. The phone lacks a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack that might act as a turnoff for most of the smartphone users.
Final verdict
Huawei has managed to produce a gorgeous-looking smartphone with an extremely powerful in-built chipset. The components are hardy enough for longevity, and the phone has a superb battery life that might serve as a delight for avid gamers. The phone is loaded with three cameras that are supposed to produce a resplendent image and video experience for the users.