REVIEW: Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Where Do Smartphones Go From Here?

As the Poms would say, ‘A stiff Upper Lip” and on you go, with Huawei, arch enemy #1 with Donald Trump it’s their new Huawei Mate 20 Pro thats   doing all the talking for the Chinese smartphone brand.

And as smartphones go their latest offering makes the expensive iPhone XS Mac a relic which of course gets right up the noses of the US elite who have moved to ban the Huewei device from their carriers and key US stores such as Best Buy.

But this has not stopped those in the know in the USA sand across Europe including some of the world’s best smartphone reviewers from raving about the sheer cut through that Huawei has achieved with this device.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro clearly demonstrates that Huewei is up their when it comes to engineering expertise and raw, unfettered technology advancement.

The Kirin processor, the fingerprint reader on the screen and a built-in camera that up there with a compact digital SLR when it comes to quality. There are concerns over security but if you don’t give a stiff ab out these claims this is the best device in 2018.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro comes with a powerhouse core hardware suite.

The 7nm Kirin 980 CPU, is the fastest mobile processor in the world, and when married with the 6GB of RAM the phone outperforms just about every smartphone in the market today.

This is no mean fete and their new device has given brands such as Samsung a wakeup call which could lead to even better technology in the Samsung Galaxy 10.

Right now, Huewei is splashing the cash in a no holds barred effort to get consumers into buying their new device in Australia and I am confident that those that do will not be let down by their investment.

Those reaping the benefits are retailers such as JB Hi Fi, Vodafone, Optus and Kogan.

On the outer which is not surprising, is Telstra however they are benefiting from the fact that JB Hi Fi is their biggest reseller.

The review sample that I got was a beautiful blue the favourite colour of males and liked by females. It looked smart with it’s simple curves and thin frame makes the device easy to handle.

The curved glass sets this device apart to the point that in the future I believe that this device could be described as an “iconic” smartphone, one that got other manufacturers talking and above all questioning their R&D efforts.

This is also a device that is light years ahead of the iPhone Xs. Firstly, it’s an Android device and secondly, it’s brutally fast and delivers significantly battery life that twice the performance capability of the most expensive iPhone.

The Mate 20 Pro delivered two days of battery life for me and I made no changes to my normal day this was due to the large 4,200 mAh battery.

Also built in is a world-first ability to reverse wireless charge other Qi-enable devices.

By simple flicking an option on in the phone’s system settings, you can simply place another wireless Qi charging device on the Mate 20 Pro’s backplate and it will pass charge to it.

A tad heavy at 189 grams compared to Galaxy S9’s 163 grams the weight delivers a degree of credibility especially when you consider what is packed under the cover.

When you first operate this device take a quick trip to a 4K UHD video, because when you do you suddenly realise that the large 6.39-inch OLED panel is physically a magnificent piece of work, though I do suspect that it has come from either LG or Samsung.

The screen is tall and spacious and has a 19.5:9 aspect ratio and a 1,400 x 3,120 resolution with a brutally sharp 538 ppi. If you play the latest 4K content the HDR capabilities of this device kicks in to test this go to either Amazon or Netflix or even Stan here in Australia.

The device I got came with 128GB of storage space which is the same as some thin notebooks or tablets.

Camera
This smartphone houses a unique 5 camera rig.

The triple Leica-made camera system on the Huawei P20 Pro delivers excellent images as we found out in a shootout with the yet to be released LG V40 which also has a triple camera rig.

The triple lens on the rear of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, include a 40MP f/1.8 wide-angle lens partnering a 20MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle and 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens.

And around the front you get, a 24MP f/2.0 selfie camera.

As for the software that delivers support for autofocus, laser focus, phase focus, contrast focus, and artificial image stabilisation this is as good as it gets.

There is also advanced dual tone flash and front camera, 3D depth sensing. The first thing that I noticed when shotting images was the sheer speed and fast adjustment

I was incredibly impressed with how fast, responsive and intuitive the Mate 20 Pro’s camera system actually was but then again, the power of the Huawei developed processor was coming into play.

Time-lapse, Light painting, Watermark, Underwater and more shooting modes are available. What intrigued me is what has been removed this includes the Photo, Night, Portrait, Video, Pro, Panorama and Monochrome features.

A 0.6x macro mode on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro allows for objects to be photographed from as close as 2.5 cm away.

As for zooming in on a location or object I was impressed with the devices ability retain a decent level of detail without compromising the quality of the image.

The maximum 5x zoom retained image quality when shooting over a long distance.

For me the most impressive camera feature is the Ultra-Wide-Angle lens, which delivers distortion-free panoramas, this is great for press conferences. The dedicated 120-degree ultra-wide-angle lens allows one to shoot in an 18.8:9 aspect ratio.

When it comes to sound the 24bit Huawei Mate 20 Pro supports a wide variety of file formats, including mp3, mp4, 3gp, ogg, amr, aac, flac, wav, and midi. The phone also supports Dolby Atmos for mobiles.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is also one of the very first phones to come with Android 9.0 Pie out of the box, what I am not a fan of is Huawei’s own light EMUI 9.0 skin, which with this model is also far leaner than their last incarnation.

Another knock out feature and it’s down to the processing power of the chipset is Huawei’s integration of an in-screen fingerprint reader.

All of the major brands including Apple and Samsung have had a crack at trying to do this.

Huawei gets the top gong and accolades, with the Mate 20 Pro’s fingerprint sensor completely hidden in its display screen. It’s fast and consistent, as well as totally invisible.

As for other high-level security features, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro also comes with a Face unlock function similar to the Apple and Samsung phones.

Conclusion.
If you want a smartphone that’s seriously up there and one that gives you bragging rights, this is the device.

The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is a truly stunning smartphone and it’s going to take a lot to beat it or even match it and at $1,099 at JB Hi Fi this device is a bargain when compared to the $2,49 Apple iPhoneXS Mate and while you get a tad more memory in the Apple offering it’s a lot to pay for a device that doesn’t even come close to the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.

Review: 10/10