The Huawei P20 has been the talk of the town for quite sometime now. Ever since the official launch of the device in Paris, people (especially me) have been wanting to get their hands on the device to see what’s really inside the smartphone that comes with a three lens camera setup.
The phone has been launched in India with a price tag of Rs 64,999 and will be available via Amazon from 3 May onwards.
For this price, we were curious about how they made the notch disappear and then reappear. Finally, I have got the Huawei P20 Pro (India variant) with me and here are my first impressions of the device.
Design & Display
This is the best looking Huawei device till date. The subtle combination of glass and glossy metal (which is coated with 3D glass) at the back gives it a very premium look and feel. Not that it can escape fingerprints and smudges!
It’s lightweight and compact and working the phone with one hand won’t be a problem. I liked the finishing on the device, plus the rounded edges make it more comfortable to hold.
Yes, this one too has a notch like many other Chinese phones but it isn’t eating up too much of the screen space on the top.
It sports a bezel-less 6.1-inch full view HD+ display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2240 pixels. The 2.5D curved glass just adds to the overall looks of the screen. It’s very bright and the colour output is also impressive. It has good contrast and saturation and almost looks like an AMOLED screen.
Hardware & Performance
It’s time to get acquainted with the most powerful Huawei smartphone. The new Huawei P20 Pro is running on the latest octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor coupled with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of on-board storage space.
Though I would have loved a stock Android experience, I don’t think Huawei’s love for EMUI will ever die out. Thank God the phone comes with Android Oreo out-of-the-box.
Still, a few bloatware to deal with here but it’s not a deal-breaker. There are no complaints in the performance department as it handles HD games and multi-tasking with ease.
On the hardware front, the phone sports a fingerprint scanner on the front (where it should be). You’ll hardly be using it if you have already activated the face unlock feature which is very responsive in well-lit conditions. Not the same if the light is low.
As for the disappearing notch, there is a setting in the ‘Display’ option which lets you hide it. Good option for the ones who have just about had it with the notch.
On the base is a USB type-C port and dual speaker grille. I was really impressed with the sound quality of the device. It not only throws sound from the speaker grille at the bottom but also does the same from the earphone speaker. That’s Dolby Atmos audio for you.
The phone supports dual-SIM and does not offer memory expansion. As if you’ll need more than 128GB. Oh, and it’s water & dust resistant with an IP67 certification.
Camera & Battery
Now to the headline making feature! The triple camera setup on the rear! And that too Leica optics! The P20 Pro comes with a 40(f/1.8)+20(f/1.6)+8(f/2.4)-megapixel camera setup on the rear.
While the 20MP lens is a monochrome lens, the 8MP lens is telephoto. I played around with the camera for a few days and found that it actually uses the phone’s AI to interact with different scenarios and recognises what would be the perfect mode to click the picture.
So now you don’t have to switch between different modes manually. Just point and shoot.
However, despite coming with an exemplary camera setup, I still feel that it’s missing that punch.
Seeing some of the initial pictures, I personally am surprised that it’s top-scored in the DxOMark camera rating. But, all doubts will be buried once I pit it in a camera comparison.
It also supports super slow motion video at 960 frames per second, although the output is a 10-second video. Something like what you have already seen on the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.
Check out some of the camera samples here:
Shot on the Huawei P20 Pro
(Photo: The Quint)
The 24-megapixel selfie camera is also good. It has some modes similar to what you’d see on the iPhone X (like the stage light mode) but you’ll need to get the hang of it before you can get that ‘perfect’ shot.
We’ll test out the camera of the P20 Pro soon and pit it against the likes of the Samsung S9 and even the Note 8. Follow this space to catch that shootout.
The Huawei P20 houses a 4000mAh battery that supports fast-charging. Can’t really say much about the back-up or standby time as of now but again we’ll give you more details on that in our full review. Seems to be giving adequate back-up till now.
Initial Verdict
The wait has been worth it. The Huawei P20 comes with all the bells and whistles to be a fierce challenger against the likes of the Samsungs and the Apples out there. It looks good, the camera setup is impressive and battery back-up is way above what other flagships are offering today.
Having said that, a price tag of Rs 64999 is like inviting trouble. At this price one can easily go for options like the Samsung Galaxy S9+ let alone the S9, which is a cheaper bargain in this segment.
As for a complete review of the phone, I’ll be using the phone and getting you a closer look at how the phone is in terms of performance, back-up and also camera quality.
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