Huawei Mate 20 Pro – first impressions

Huawei’s products and services are available in more than 170 countries, and are used by a third of the world’s population. The company has 15 R&D centers spread across the globe. We’ve reviewed Huawei’s 2018 offerings in the past, Mate 20 Pro is the second half update

A late 2018 release of ‘Pro’ variant of their flagship smartphone Mate 20, Huawei seems to have ticked all boxes. Well, they rather created a few new boxes as well.

Mate 20 Pro features the latest the Kirin 980, the world’s first 7nm process mobile phone SoC chipset, the world’s first cortex-A76 architecture chipset, the world’s first dual NPU design, and the world’s first chipset to support LTE Cat.21. In short, this is Huawei’s densest and highest performing system on chip (SoC) to date.

Overview – Kirin 980 delivers improved performance, better battery efficiency and a smooth user experience. Huawei has also packed in the world’s first 40W Super Charger that can charge Mate 20 Pro’s 4200 mAh battery from 0% to 70% charge in 30 minutes. The Matrix Triple Camera System includes Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens that lets users not only capture wider, but also closer with its new macro distance capability allowing users to capture pictures from a distance of just 2.5 cm. Huawei has partnered with Dolby Laboratories to create a mesmerizing mobile entertainment experience with their moving audio capabilities. The Microsoft Translator App provides a fully neural on-device translation for access to faster online and quality offline translations.

The Design – Huawei Mate 20 Pro features an end-to-end 6.39 inch curved AMOLED display. A stunning 1440 x 3120 pixels resolution and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. How it scores over the Samsung’s infinity display is that the screen is curved on all eight sides! The Porsche Design HUAWEI Mate 20 RS carries a race track like premium material finish, which is ergonomic to hold and most premium to flaunt.

The Matrix Triple Camera array on the rear side of the phone features a four-point design with the three cameras and sensor encircled in a polished metal frame, producing an avant-grade look that is both bold and distinct. We really liked the Emerald Green color. Company claims that the Hyper Optical Pattern on the rear glass uses a complex hairline pattern which not only adds to the overall appeal to the phone but also ensures durability. Despite of the end-to-end curved display, the device is easy to grip without a protective case and is not a complete fingerprint magnet.

Kirin 980 – the brain behind all the brawn – The SoC at the core of smartphones is a determining factor in performance and efficiency of the device. Kirin 980 is manufactured with the cutting-edge 7nm technology process, the SoC fits 6.9 billion transistors within the size of a fingernail. As per Huawei, compared to Kirin 970, Kirin 980 is 75 percent more powerful. The Mali G76 GPU is 46 percent more powerful and Dual NPU is 226 percent more powerful. Kirin 980 has a unique innovatively designed 3-tier architecture for its octa-cores: 2 ultra-large cores, 2 large cores and 4 small cores. Which basically ensures optimal efficiency of resource cores. Being the first ever phone chipset to have Dual-NPU, Kirin 980 boasts of an On-Device AI processing capability to support AI applications.

Battery Life – In order to suitably support the large display and 8 core chipset, Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a large, high-density 4200mAh battery. As states earlier, it supports 40W Super Charging. A bigger yet faster charging battery is what every phone user looks out for. The phone also comes with Wireless quick charging. And uniquely enough, Huawei Mate 20 Pro supports Wireless Reverse Charge, it can act as a power bank for selected electronic devices that support wireless charging.

Matrix Camera System – It’s a gem of a feature on the Mate 20 Pro. A powerful 16mm Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens – delivers a wide perspective and at times creates a sense of spaciousness and 3D effect to the images. The phone has a a 40MP main camera, a 20MP ultra wide angle camera, and an 8MP telephoto camera. Together, the trio of lenses supports a wide range of

focal lengths (equivalent to the performance of a 16-270mm zoom lens), enabling it to mimic the results from professional cameras.

The Mate 20 series comes with pre-set modes such as AI Colour, Vintage, Fresh, Suspense and Background Blur. Additionally, AI Spotlight Reel identifies clips with a shared theme and auto-generates a montage, made entirely of highlights.

The phone also supports 3D Face Unlock and it weighs only 189 grams. The Mate 20 Pro features Huawei’s latest EMUI 9.0 which is based on Android 9 Pie.