Review of the Huawei P40 Pro +: the best camera in the world with call function, but …

So how good and how bad are Huawei’s new superflagmans? Incidentally, the superflagmans, due to the fact that they differ slightly from the P40 series of “standard flagships”. Like, for example, the iPhone Pro or Samsung Ultra series. Similar to flagships, but with benefits that cannot be ignored.

accommodation

The “bodies” of the new phones are a far cry from the usual P40 series. Even judging from the fact that I’m a big critic of the folded sides of the screen, and the P40 series phones have folded not only the sides but also the top and bottom glass edges, I have to admit these phones are frantically well in my hand. You are unlikely to find a better phone on the market. Much of that pleasure is the slightly heavier-than-usual weight (226g) and thickness (9mm) of the phone.

Note: Modern flagships generally weigh approximately 180 to 200 grams. And the 20 percent weight difference is a lot.

Clearly, it sounds weird. Since when is a thicker and heavier phone an advantage? And I can’t even explain it honestly. It’s just … the feeling that it’s a “reliable” device. Like an overweight blanket, that weight is relaxing. Maybe it’s because you always know it’s in your pocket? Or maybe because his back is not glass but ceramic?

Well, well, he has a helmet and a flaw. Just like the next and newest Samsung and Apple phones: The camera system, which required a protrusion of about 1mm body thickness, is mounted asymmetrically in the upper corner of the body. This means that you will be bothered by any attempt to use the phone when you place it on a table, such as sitting at a table with a foot a millimeter or two in length, or you will have to put the phone in a protective case.

But in general, for the brave helmet. There is not much innovation here, of course, but what is invented is perfect.

screen

As already mentioned, the edges of the screen are curved, all four. This may be what gives you the pleasure of holding it in your hand, but from a functional point of view, it is a beneficial “enhancement”. Good, elegant, beautiful, fun to carry, accepted in society with a certain perception of “luxury”. But completely useless from a practical point of view. On the other hand, when you look at people’s clothes and shoes, you will often find that preference is given to appearance and fashion (alioooo, high heels?) Instead of working, so the reproach is not great.

Looking at the technical side of the screen, it’s not something very special in this year’s spring crop of phones. Diagonal: 6.58 inches, Technology: OLED, Resolution: 1200 x 2640 pixels, HDR10 Dynamic Contrast, 90Hz Refresh Rate. A feature set so moderately iconic that it offers no special miracles.

That’s because of the frequency, it’s a lot of fun. Not because it is very obvious that the image has changed radically (it seems quite difficult to understand physiologically, but all the experts laugh and affirm that “the movement is much smoother”, so maybe it is worth believing), but because that Effect can be seen when developers of all kinds of applications, and especially game developers, accept the message that it is time to move, if not at 120Hz, then at least 90Hz video refresh, especially when it comes to of showing very fast movements.

Overall, video playback quality can probably be called a flagship. Well, there is a difference when you take a cheap phone and compare it to a more expensive one: the viewing angles are much wider, the color rendering quality is better and the part of the video playback that determines the processor and memory working is much smoother.

It goes without saying that this phone has a fingerprint reader built under the glass. Personal camera clip (oblong hole) – in the upper left corner of the screen. It’s also one of the newest fashions, followed by virtually every Android phone maker, with a perforated space for a personal camera (though Apple phones are likely to be added one day).

The screen comes from the factory already covered with film. The film is a little weird: Usually the plastic on the “factory” screen is slippery, and this is a bit sticky, possibly hydrogel-based. If you see this phone at the point of sale, in the exhibition, slide your finger, you will understand and you can decide for yourself whether it is good or bad. But I myself have not been able to make a clear decision on this in a couple of weeks.

And already at the end of the criticism, that film was able to disappoint: taking the phone out of my pocket, I nailed it to the edge, which caused the film to take off very ugly and he could not stick it well. Perhaps my opinion on this point is different from that of the manufacturers, but a more “plastic” and less “gel” version of the film would be more practical.

Operation

When more than a thousand euros is spent on the purchase of a flagship, it is natural to expect that everything will fly off. That’s right: the phone is really fast, the apps load very well, the games run smoothly, there seems to be no shortage of speed and performance. Huawei themselves claim that the Kirin 990 platform, produced by its subsidiary HiSilicon, is the most advanced in the world, even more advanced than even the latest and toughest Qualcomm Snapdragon flagship platforms.

But here are these processor performance comparators showing that the Qualcomm platform is between 9 and 21 percent. more productive, depending on the synthetic performance test device used. And it is remembered that game developers often optimize their games for the Qualcomm platform, but such partnerships with HiSilicon are rare.

And here’s a site that breaks down and describes specifics that make Kirin a bit inferior to American processors. Let’s skip the place where it comes to hercus, nuclear quantities, and other technical issues, because it’s not that important anymore. And let’s consider the critical CPU limitations of the shooting mode.

The Snapragon 865 offers 4K UHD shooting at 120 frames per second. The Kirin 990 offers half the number of shots. Of course, it is possible to mention again that it is physiologically difficult to distinguish between refresh rates of 60 and 90 (or even 120) Hz. But the footage is something else entirely. They provide the ability to dramatically present a slow-motion image of the action in embedded video. Therefore, a difference of this size is very important.

There are also differences in processors in adopting 5G technologies: Snapdragon offers a maximum data download speed of 7,500 Mbps and a transmission speed of 3,000 Mbps. Kirin has only 2,300 Mbps download and 1,250 upload speeds. The difference seems cruel. But for now, just don’t pay attention to it, especially if you live in Lithuania, surely for years to come, and probably for two, that 5G just won’t be relevant. If you want a phone specifically designed for 5G, wait until next spring. Everything will be better.

In terms of processor-related camera capabilities, there are also differences here: The Snapdragon 865 has emphasized support for high-resolution photographic sensors (so phones on this platform can also be equipped with 108MP resolution sensors), while the Kirin 990 has introduced the noise typical of SLR cameras. BM3D reduction technology, which improves the quality of photos captured in a dark environment. So there is something more important here. But shooting in the dark has long been a good trump card for Huawei, and the Chinese won’t easily lose that edge.

Camera system

Comparing the performance of Huawei’s camera system with the competition is something like a professional boxer’s nursery. Both personal impressions and expert reviews (although DxOMark has so far rated only a slightly “inferior” version of its flagship, the P40 Pro, and at least for the time being has been named the best phone camera in the world, but not there is no doubt that the cameras of the new phone system will be evaluated even better).

The first and great, though fairly common, feature of Huawei cameras is the ability to see better at night than a cat. Seriously. If you can’t see anything in the dark forest, take a photo with this phone; You will see what that forest should look like during the day. And it’s not the “night” shooting mode, which requires the camera to be held still for at least 4-6 seconds, but the “normal” shooting mode, which incredibly increases the sensitivity of the sensor (ISO) and breaks the frame in a fraction of a second.

By the way, what else is quite interesting. Take an older generation SLR camera, well, five years old, and try to capture it without a tripod, “out of control” (following all the “golden” rules of stabilizing your position) with a shutter speed of one second. And then take the Huawei P40 Pro + and also shoot from your hand in night mode, which requires the aforementioned exposure of at least 4 seconds (depending on the light level, it may take half a minute in complete darkness). The image stabilization ability of the phone is simply amazing: it is really possible to get a photo worthy of amazing quality, magazine cover without “floats”. And if you already have or are planning to buy a suitable tripod to connect your phone, then for night photography (stars, forests or whatever you want in general), this device will be the ideal tool.

“Standard” shooting skills (like capturing portraits with a bokeh effect) for smartphones were best accomplished a couple of years ago, and during that time only skill development was developed. There are no surprises here: the Chinese phone works very well.

The particular benefits of this phone must be in a tourist setting, no matter what challenges it presents. Are you right next to a big mountain or building and it doesn’t fit the frame with all its majesty? An ultra wide angle field lens is specially designed for this purpose. Is the situation the opposite and you hardly see anything beautiful? A magnification of 100X will save the situation (it is true that the purely optical magnification with this phone is “only 10x”, the rest of the multiplier is of digital origin).

Did you find a waterfall or fountain? Switch to video capture mode at a speed of up to 960 frames per second, and you will see that the water droplets almost stop in midair. The rain of the trustees is guaranteed.

But …

Smart people tend to say that everything that is said before the word “but” is completely irrelevant. Unfortunately, the same is true in this case. Under normal circumstances, the Huawei P40 Pro + would be the absolute best phone, especially for those for whom the “second best” is simply an unacceptable option. Unfortunately, for political reasons, this is not the case. American sanctions worked so effectively that you couldn’t recommend buying this device with your hand on your heart. Well, unless a person needs a “backup” phone, primarily for photography. So please, you definitely won’t be disappointed.

But a phone is not a camera. Well, not just a camera. A smartphone has to do basically everything. You have to save it from hunger, transport it to any part of the world, report the situation in a bank account, pay for various services, etc. This requires gadgets. And that requires certification of the Google device. And here it bounces off the concrete wall. There is not, nor will there be, a certificate, as the US government has decided that Huawei is not a private but a state-owned Chinese company whose main objective is not to sell technologically advanced products, but to spy. And as long as there is no clear and objective evidence of this, we can only assume that they are “the words of the United States against the words of Huawei.”

So the result is instead of Play Store with 2.6 million. We have apps in the App Gallery with 60,000. gadgets and $ 1 billion a dollar-worthy plan to fill the App Gallery at least so comparing the range of these two app stores doesn’t make Chinese defeat so painful.

Of course, certain surrounding measurements can be used to fill certain gaps. Assuming your new phone’s features are as close as possible to the one you’re ready to say goodbye to, be sure to take advantage of the Phone Clone service, which will automatically find and install everything you can find beyond the official App Gallery.

You can use the Petal search bar, which seems to add multiple third-party app stores. But it’s also not an ideal solution: Those “third-party app stores” are like wild nights you can steal at any time. Or to enter a known device infused with what quality and level of malicious components. Of course, the Play Store are also not holy in this regard, they also “run” applications with malicious characteristics, but in this case the risk is clearly greater.

And the third option is for the patient: the App Gallery has a Wish List function. Enter the name of your favorite device to get the attention of the curators of the App Gallery and encourage the Chinese to negotiate with the publishers of the app, and if the device ever appears in a Chinese store, it will reach your phone from righ now. Only here the key word is “yes”.

Some of the Lithuanian local services applications in the Application Gallery already exist, some have been replaced by more or less similar services. For example, you can use Here Maps instead of Google Maps, and you’re very likely to enjoy it even more than Google, which is very helpful for an audible warning that you’re already speeding up, especially when traveling abroad. On the other hand, Here Maps is not something exclusive to Huawei: you can send it to the phone you want.

Sometimes the App Gallery even (for a very short time) has a specific loophole that allows you to install the Play Store app, but such loopholes are rare and short-lived.

But despite all the narrow roads and detours, one has to say for sure: App Gallery phone shoppers still can’t offer anything like the Play Store Expressway. And that’s probably the most important thing you need to know about this phone, even the exceptional quality of the camera fades before this flaw.

Wireless charger

The manufacturer also offered a wireless charger as an accessory for its new phones. Anyway, by all specs, it’s a fantastic thing: it charges the phone wirelessly with a maximum power of 40W, if the iPhone has so far been unable to charge its phones. Even with a wired charger. With that fast-wired charger you have to pay extra because it’s not included as standard.

Also, the charger comes with a cooling fan that protects both the charger and the phone from overheating. And it looks like a very nice stand that replaces a traditional clock radio on a nightstand.

But in practice, there are some drawbacks here. The first is that the wireless charger is not a free accessory. Second, it hardly provides any added value. Well, of course, if you like to leave the phone away from you at night, but you can still see it from afar as an exhibition, maybe a good solution. But if the last thing you do before bed and the first thing you do when you wake up is soak your phone, it’s not good with a charger like that … it’s much better to have a wired charger that, paradoxically, locks the phone in your place less than a wireless one. charger.

Conclusions

From an engineering / technical point of view, the P40 Pro + could easily claim the title of the best smartphone of 2020 – it’s really that good. And the overall camera system is such that this year it’s unlikely that a competitor will be able to offer something at least remotely similar.

But this is not a camera. This is a phone that is required to perform all the functions that a smartphone normally performs. And a consumer who has paid more than 1000 euros for a luxury phone (for which, as far as is known, there is no final solution for the Lithuanian market), there should not be an inferiority complex, see how a friend who paid 300 euros on the phone can do more with it. daily activities.

Of course, the buying philosophy of different people may be different, but when it comes to what you are going to deal with every two years, I think the most important selection criterion is not that you perform a function smoothly, but that there are no aspects that every day nice to disturb and regret the money thrown to the marker.

Well, if you don’t feel sorry for the € 1,000 for a camera-sized phone … it’s probably worth opening your wallet.