Huawei Mate 40 Pro: gorgeous design doesn’t make up for this phone’s biggest problem

The Mate 40 Pro is Huawei’s latest superphone, which the company hopes will take on the iPhone 12 Pro and from Samsung Galaxy S20 Y Note series. Wrapped in an attractive body, it is equipped with the latest cutting-edge technology and 5G. But while it has solid specs on paper, it has a major problem.

Due to the current restrictions Imposed by the US government, Huawei phones cannot use any Google services, including Gmail, Maps and Chrome, and most important of all, the Google Play store. While Huawei has its own app store (which I’ll get to later), it’s nowhere near rivaling Google’s and makes this phone hard to recommend over any of its rivals.

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The Huawei Mate 40 Pro will go on sale later this year for 1,199 euros (turns out to be £ 1,082, $ 1,418, AU $ 1,996).

But the lack of apps aside, there are still things I like about the Mate 40 Pro. Let’s start with the positives.

Mate 40 Pro has a gorgeous design

I love the pearlescent finish on the back of the phone. Look at it from an angle and it shows soft shades of orange and light blue. Tilt it to the light and those colors will sparkle and blend into deeper blue and purple hues. Move it further and I’m sure you’ll be able to identify even more colors that I can’t even name.

The design is satisfying and at the same time gives the phone a beautiful and elegant aesthetic. The frosted glass also feels extremely premium, as does the metal trim and overall solid construction. There is no doubt that it feels like a high-end device when I hold it in my hand.

The 6.76-inch screen is bright, sharp with narrow bezels that stretch to the edge. It curves attractively to meet the metal frame. Images look vibrant, small text is sharp, and it’s easy to read outdoors in bright sunlight.

The 4 rear cameras on the Mate 40 Pro are good overall

The four rear cameras are decent, but not outstanding. The main camera balances exposure well and delivers accurate and vibrant colors. The 5x optical zoom captures impressively detailed shots, and even at 10x zoom there is still a lot of image clarity. The super wide camera is less impressive as it often produces shots with dimmer contrast and sometimes a noticeable change in white balance, probably due to an overzealous HDR mode raising shadows.

Video has been a great focus for the Mate 40 Pro, but there is room for improvement. Stabilization is excellent and managed to capture smooth footage even when walking at a fast pace. Optical zoom is useful for shooting different compositions, although I found that focus frequently shifted in and out when shooting at 5x zoom. Also, the HDR mode in video is just as clunky as it is in photos. Its processing brought shadows and reduced reflections to such an extent that the resulting footage was a bit underwhelming and suffered from strange stabilizing distortions. Specifically, I could see the software struggling to balance a bright sky moving in the frame.

There is no question that it is a good camera overall, but I think a few software tweaks could go a long way towards making it a great camera.

Mate 40 Pro processor, 5G and battery life

Inside the phone is Huawei’s Kirin 9000 processor, which provides super-fast 5G connectivity and 8GB of RAM. Navigating the phone interface is fast and I didn’t notice any lag while playing the demanding racing game Asphalt 9: Legends. The game also showed consistently high frame rates. However, on paper at least, its score of 7,827 on the 3D Mark Slingshot – Unlimited benchmark test falls short of the OnePlus 8T. ($ 749 at OnePlus) (9.802) and iPhone 12 ($ 799 at Apple) (10,988).

While I haven’t run the usual battery drain tests on the phone, based on our anecdotal experiences so far, the phone seems capable of getting through a full day of mixed use, with plenty to spare for the next day. It also supports fast charging, so giving it a quick boost before you head out isn’t a problem.

Mate 40 Pro’s big software and app problem

While the phone runs Android software at its core, it does not use Google services, which means that it cannot access the Google Play store. Apps like Gmail and YouTube are not available at all, although you can still access YouTube via web browser.

To help combat this, Huawei launched its own app store, and to its credit, it has done a lot to close the gaps in recent months. Big names like Amazon, Snapchat, TikTok, and Tinder are available, while Facebook and WhatsApp can be downloaded as apk files directly from their respective official websites. I couldn’t find an official download for Instagram, but the apk is available from third-party services, as is the case with a variety of Android apps.

The problem with doing this, however, is that you have to crawl websites that seem adamant about misleading you with ads. Many of the ones I visited used the trick of a big “Download now” button that is actually an advertisement, and buried the much smaller “install apk” button lower down. You have to be on your guard and it is not as pleasant an experience as browsing a normal app store. Also, installing apk files from unknown sources is inherently risky. Because they don’t come from official sources, you don’t know if they are up to date or loaded with malware. I didn’t mind testing this with my review device, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing it on a phone that also contained my bank details, contact lists, and work email accounts.

Huawei says it is working with developers to bring more apps to its store. For example, it launched a system whereby if a certain app is not available, you can register your interest and, assuming enough people do the same, Huawei will prioritize that app and bring it to the store. It will also launch its own map service in the coming weeks. But the fact is, your shelves are relatively empty right now and if you’re interested in getting the latest games and services, this isn’t the phone for you.

Huawei Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro Plus and accessories

Along with the Mate 40 Pro I’ve tested, Huawei also has the standard Mate 40, which has a slightly lower-spec camera setup, including 3x and 5x optical zoom lenses and a lower resolution ultra-wide lens. Meanwhile, the top-end Mate 40 Pro Plus packs a 3x telephoto lens, a 10x telephoto lens, and a huge 17x optical zoom lens, which is the largest optical zoom we’ve seen on a phone. It remains to be seen how the images look at this zoom range. The Mate 40 Pro Plus’ ultra-wide lens also promises less image distortion thanks to a “free-form” lens.

There’s also the Mate 40 RS, made with the design firm Porsche Design. The technology remains basically the same as that of the Mate 40 Pro, but it has a modified overall aesthetic and there is also a Porsche Design version of Huawei’s existing Watch GT2. The company also

The Huawei FreeBuds Studio is the company’s first over-ear wireless headphones that promise noise cancellation, high-resolution audio, and up to 24 hours of playtime on a full charge.

Huawei Mate 40 series prices

• Huawei Mate 40: 899 euros (turns out to be around £ 810, $ 1,060, AU $ 1,500)
• Huawei Mate 40 Pro: 1,199 euros (converts to £ 1,080, $ 1,420, AU $ 2,000)
• Huawei Mate 40 Pro Plus: 1,399 euros (becomes £ 1,260, $ 1,660, AU $ 2,330)
• Porsche Design Mate 40 RS: 2,295 euros (converts to £ 2,070, $ 2,710, AU $ 3,820)
• Huawei FreeBuds Studio: 299 euros (converts to £ 270, $ 350, AU $ 500)