Bucket Tech: Huawei P40 Series - First Impressions

Even with half the world on lockdown or practicing social distancing, Huawei, the Chinese mobile giant went ahead with it's launch of the P40 Series flagship smart phone. The event which was very different to the norm was live streamed globally and presented by Huawei's CEO of Consumer BG Richard Yu, with millions watching in anticipation to see what Huawei had up their sleeve with this new device. I personally had huge expectations, while I do not doubt the quality of their devices, after owning four devices from their P Series range, I can vouch that build quality, user interface and general appeal of their phones is up there with the big guns, and market stats don't lie as well. But after the US sanctions prevented American companies from partnering with Huawei, the major one being Google which suspended all services to newer model devices, it did come as a severe shock to the once loyal client base. 

With Google being the number one app based portal for most Android devices, his was going to be one major hurdle that Huawei would need to over come. Hence I figured with the P40, the company needed to come up with some drastic to still have some appeal to their brand, something big, something other than a really really nice camera. After watching the live stream I felt a bit disappointed that what I had hoped for didn't materialize, there was no major breakthrough, nothing that the P40 offered that no other smart device on the market doesn't offer already, all they did was a slap a really really nice camera to it. 

Don't get be wrong, the camera is fantastic, probably the best on the market at the moment but nothing to say, wow, okay maybe it's worth a gamble on sticking with the brand. However after a sleep on it and having digested everything I have watched, I can say that everything that Huawei is offering on the P40 is almost the same or even better than Google Services. HMS have been hard at work, starting from scratch, developing tools that mimic or better what is or has been offered by the Google, who are considered by many as the benchmark when it comes to mobile app developments. This for more hit home as remarkable, they're doing this all by themselves, there's no recipe they could look up, there were no ingredients on the side of the container for them to see and try to replicate. This was all done in house in record time. Some of the tools demonstrated by Richard Yu yesterday were outstanding. Huawei have used their most power AI yet to help integrate with normal tools that we're so used to in our normal devices and have made them better to use, imagine beating Google at their own game?! And all it took was a year or less to do so, I don't care which brand you have affiliation to, if you cannot respect that, then you cannot respect anything technology related. 

Some examples of these tools on the P40 Series, first is Huawei's answer to Google's voice prompt AI tool, Celia. Triggered by saying the words "Hey Celia, she can, using the phones Kirin 990 chipset can perform a host of tasks, faster than any other AI interface around at the moment. One tool that Huawei seemed to have pulled away from many is their Share services, which essentially is NFC but on steroids. The P40 Series devices can link with any digital device capable of sharing simply by touching it with the device, will get back to more of that later with a product that Huawei launched at yesterdays event. Huawei's answer to Apple's favourite FaceTime, is MeeTime, again simple service but they've clicked up a few notches with you being able to share your screen in real time, switch cameras and continue the conversation on other devices like your laptop or TV with Huawei Share. using Huawei share on your laptop will have your mobile phone display on the side of your screen, so you don't even have to pick it up while working. 

Huawei also took the opportunity to launch their wireless speaker, the Sound X, which has an interested design with dual reflex subwoofers, made with good quality materials to maintain crystal clarity sound and a deep bass than many wireless speakers cannot compete with. What I loved about this speak is how well it syncs with the mobile device with Huawei share, beauty is when receiving a phone call, not only does it pause the music playing, it also reverts back to your mobile speaker instead of having the speaker broadcast your entire phone call, saving you the trouble from disconnecting the the device but if you want to have a conference call or having people listen in, just tap your phone to the speaker and it's done. 

Okay back to the phone, there's three models as many of you would know by now, the P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro+. Most of the insides stay the same but the camera various between them all. Huawei's theme for this phone was Visionary Photography and while we can all agree that they always had pretty dope cameras, they just getting better and better. Developed with Leica, the P40 comes with a triple lens camera, the P40 Pro a quad camera and the P40 Pro+ a Penta 5 lens system. Pro+ comes with a 50MP Ultra Vision camera, a 100x SuperZoom Array which is made up of two 8MP camera's, 40MP Ultra Wide Cine camera and 3D Depth Sensing Camera. All which make for extraordinary pictures with immense detail, better pictures in low light and with the AI, focusing the best shot for you every time. The P40 also takes multiple pics at once so you can chose the best one, the built in AI also edits out unwanted objects from your picture, something that you could only do via 3rd party apps in the past. The screen is certainly one of the biggest on the market so far with the curved edges now extending over each four sides, gives the you a limitless display. The P40 is 5G ready and really is a powerful device, prices for the device does seem a bit stiff given that Huawei are still trying to compete with a relatively unknown ecosystem. Whether sales will reflect positively for the brand is another thing 

Bucket Tech: Huawei Mate 30 Series - First Impressions

While still under a huge cloud of uncertainty over their relations with the US, Chinese tech giants Huawei launched their much anticipated flagship device series in Munich, Germany yesterday. The event which was live streamed world wide was hosted by Executive Director Richard Yu who showcased the companies latest assets in the Mate 30 Series as well as new wearables, accessories and a television!

The biggest question on everyone's minds was what was going to power the new Mate 30 Series seeing that Google had put a trade block on Huawei due to the US sanctions, well the answer was given, Mate 30 features Androids open source OS, Android 10 which runs on EMUI 10, the user interface is identical to that of your normal Android device until you realise there is no Google Apps. So no Gmail, no Google Maps, no YouTube, and most importantly, no Google Playstore. Whether or not you can download these apps via a 3rd party remains to be seen but for now, it looks like you have to access some of these apps the old fashion way, via the browser. Huawei though have their own AppGallery which has over 45,000 applications already. 

Now with the device taking such a big knock already due to the US sanctions in terms of OS capabilities, the phone has to make up for it right? Well Huawei weren't going to take this lying down, the device is powered by the most advanced 5G chip-set on the market being the Kirin 990, the device also has the most advanced cooling system on the market making it up to 30% more cooler at run time. The Huawei Mate 30 Series also has the most 5G antenna's making it the best connectivity device on the market. The 5G speeds capable by the Mate 30 are phenomenal beating competitors in a speed test by almost 600mbps! That's over half a gigabyte more in the same amount of time. Huawei claim to have the best overall 5G experience with this Mate 30 device, giving you faster speeds, with a cooler device, with dual 5G sim slots and better battery performance. 

Speaking of the battery, the Mate 30 Pro comes fitting with a monster 4500mAh battery which the company claim can give you two full days of heavy usage. Being such a big battery you'd expect it to be big and heavy but its not, its actually smaller and lighter than any other competitors battery which is a major plus. Overall size to screen ratio is vastly improved on the Mate 30 Pro as it features fully bezel sides. The screen which extend over to the side has functionality too, and aren't just there for appearance. You can control the volume and has camera functions built in as well. 

The camera on the Mate 30 has stepped up big time and features a quad camera system developed with Leica in an exquisite halo ring design. Inspiration for this was taken from Leica camera lenses them self. The Mate 30 Pro camera features a 40MP (18mm) Ultra Wide lens, a 40MP (27mm) SuperSensing Wide lens, 8MP Telephoto zoom lens and a 3D depth sensing lens to give you those bespoke Bokeh shots. While it doesnt have the periscope lens of the P30 Pro, it still is able to give you up to 3x Optical Zoom with 45x Hybrid Zoom. The massive step up is on the video size, with Huawei saying that they're giving users the world's first 40 MP Cine camera that is capable of filming in 4K at 60fps, it has 4K HDR time lapse and ISO 512 000 which can shoot video in extreme low light, so not only low light photography but videography too. It has a real-time Bokeh effect recording with depth of field and dual OIS + AIS for more stable recording. The biggest surprise was its ultra slo-motion feature which captions video at 7680fps! that just blows the competition away by miles with the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ only being able to achieve 960fps.

There's so much more to this device that really excites us and while the Mate 30 Pro is the one to have, the normal Mate 30 isn't too shabby either. Huawei also announced another Porsche Design Model with the Mate 30 RS. We will have to wait and see what the local offering and pricing is for the devices in the next week. So far its looking like the Chinese mobile phone manufacturer has steadied the tide against it with these but time will tell how the market will react to it. 

Bucket Tech: Huawei P30 Series SA Launch

Wednesday night saw the launch of the Huawei P30 Series on our shores, now many have asked me why do Huawei have the local launch a week after the international launch? Surely they could have it at the same time, do a live stream like others in the industry do and get it over with. I too didn't know the answer to that question until Wednesday night when Cheif Operation Officer for Huawei SA, Akhram Mohamed said that they have a separate local launch purely to show what Huawei's offering is to the country, so they customize the launch for our market, giving us more information on the devices we are getting and the prices. Which makes sense if you have to think about it, often we see these international launches and wonder if we're going to get most or all of what they are showing, here we know exactly whats coming, what its going to cost and it's more intimate with the local audience. 

Getting that out of the way, the launch itself was a glitzy affair, as per normal Huawei doesn't spare any expense on their events and this was probably the biggest one I've attended yet. Many Tech fundies of the industry were present as well as mobile operators, VIP guests and local celebs. Getting proceedings underway and introducing us to the P30 Pro was VP for Consumer Business Southern Africa, Likun Zhao. A key feature on the P30 Pro is it's four lens camera system that enables it to capture, details and light in very low light conditions, none more breathtaking that the capture of the galaxy taken by the P30 Pro in Nambia. Sure there were certain factors that had to contribute to this extraordinary picture, that being clear skies, probably a tripod being used and in night mode but still, for a mobile phone to achieve this, many professional photographers will agree that it is mind blowing. 

Giving us more details into the P30 series was Huawei's COO Akhram Mohamed, when it comes to the P Series range, the Chinese telecommunications giant always made it it's target to be the best in camera photography, they were the first to introduce dual lens technology, then the first to have triple lens technology and while they might not be the first to have a camera phone with four lenses the P30 Pro comes with it's own firsts, like the telephoto lens or "periscope lens" as they call it, since the device is so thin, Huawei had to put the lens horizontally in the phone and by means of a 90 degree mirror glass, like a periscope giving the user a lens with 5 X Optical Zoom, in a camera phone! I had the opportunity later that night to test this feature out, and to say I was blown away would be an understatement. The P30 Pro can achieve up to 50 X digital zoom and while at full 50 X, the picture will be grainy, you're still able read text and signs that is zoomed into. 

Another first for a mobile camera phone was with Huawei having their SuperSpectrum RYYB sensor allowing for more light to be included in their pictures, hence being able to capture great detail in low light conditions where other devices will fail. Huawei also achieved the highest score on the DXOMark score sheet, making Huawei the top 3 in their list. With the a dual stabilizer and AI stabilizer, most shots can be taken by hand with the user not having to worry if the picture will be blurry or shaky, the phone will take care of that for you. The stabilizers also work great with video, almost making it like a GoPro in your hand. Speaking of video, the P30 Pro will also have Dual-View Video capture, where the camera makes use of 2 lenses to record, one giving you an up close shot of the object with the second being a wide angle view. Huawei also have upped their software on the camera giving you options to capture bespoke bokeh shots with their Time of Flights Camera, which has depth perception, allowing you to capture an object and blurring out the background gradually by the distance it is away from the focal object.  The camera's on the P30 Pro include a 40MP main camera, 20MP Ultra-Wide Angle Lens, a 32MP front facing camera making it the best selfie camera on the market currently. 

Other impressive features on the P30 Pro, include it's battery which is a 4,200mAh, which is powered by a new generation Huawei's SuperCharge that can charge your device from 0 to 70 percent in just 30 minutes. It also features the 15W Huawei Wireless Quick Charge and the revolutionary wireless reverse charging technology, which can recharge any wireless device. The P30 Pro is an impressive device and Huawei have certainly brought a fight to their competition, as they do their home work in market research and allocate 14.1% of their revenue to research and development, allowing them to come up with these mind blowing features on their devices. The P30 Pro will be available in 3 stunning colours, Breathing Crystal, Aurora or Black. 

Huawei on the night also took the opportunity to showcase some of their other products which will be arriving in our country shortly, that being the MediaPad M5 Lite, the Watch GT Active and GT Elegant, Matebook 13 and the Gentle Monster Smart Eyewear. Mr Mohamed also announced the introduction to their online store, so consumers can bypass the mobile operators and purchase Huawei products direct. 

Pricing for the P Series Smart devices at time of launch

Huawei P30 Pro	R18 999
Huawei P30	R13 999
Huawei P30 Lite	R5 999

Bucket Tech: Huawei P30 Series

Today in Paris Huawei showcased its latest flagship smart phone, the P30 and the P30 Pro, along with other cool products and accessories to go with it. With Samsung having unpacked their artillery with the Galaxy S10 launch not so long ago, all eyes in the technology industry were keen to see what the Chinese had up their sleeve to match or beat the Korean's at and Huawei didn't disappoint. I won't be giving away too much in this post as I will be attending the local launch of the P30 Series next week and will have a more detailed analysis of the devices then but for now I'll just skim through the really cool features that was showcased at today's global launch.

The main feature or talking point about the P Series phones has always been it's camera, it was on the P9 that Huawei announced it's partnership with Leica and launched the world's first dual lens camera phone and it only got better from there. With the P30 much is the same with it having the world's first Leica Quad Camera, this helped  P30 Pro achieve the highest score ever by Dxomark Mobile of 112, the next  two phones on the list received 109 and those devices are also Huawei's, the Mate 20 Pro and P20 Pro. Some of the main area's Huawei targeted with the P30 camera is taking pictures in low light, with P30 Pro's camera brings in as much light as possible into it's pictures to get the best quality imagines in low light or the dark and it does this on auto settings with just one click. No need for a fancy tripod or night mode. At the launch Huawei were blunt as ever, having two of their competitors devices to showcase live to the crowd how much better their phone is.

The camera functions don't just stop there, with incredible pictures being able to be capture in auto mode, the night mode feature just takes it to the next level with you being able to capture the galaxy with the P30 Pro and Huawei's Richard Yu was quick to point out that the Samsung Galaxy couldn't replicate the feat. Huawei's P30 Series also comes with phenomenal zoom capabilities, with hybrid zoom which means you can zoom in and not lose quality of the picture or video, it truly is astounding as proven again by their live demo at the event. It also has the option of a dual video function, where the camera uses a wide angle lens and a normal lens for a cinematic effect, it will add a new dimension to videos going forward.

The battery on the P30 Pro is pretty impressive and it also has all the same qualities as the Mate 20 Pro with reverse charging and fast charging. With the screen to body ratio being so minimal, Huawei have made an acoustic display whereby the speak sits under the screen, transforming the screen into your earpiece speaker, quite revolutionary for a device and will be featured in many others to come. The P30 Series comes in a few colour options, my favourite being Aurora which I presume will be one of the favourites when launched locally. Cost wise, the P30 launched at €799 and the P30 Pro starting from €999. We will have to wait till next weeks launch to find out the costing for us in SA.

Also at the launch Huawei took the opportunity to launch other products like their new watch and wireless ear buds but one that stuck out from the lot was their Smart Eyewear which is the world's first Smart Spectacles. Well, yes Snapchat did have their one but this makes that one look like a Fisher Price toy, mind you the name of Huawei's product also sounds like a kids today "Gentle Monster". It's design is fashionable and trendy, it has no buttons and operates by touch. Has a built in antenna, microphone and dual speaker so you can take a call with it while doing whatever it is you're doing. You can even ask it for info like you would for your phone and it will give it to you. The glasses comes in it's own unique pouch which serves as a wireless charging station for it and is the worlds first contact less wireless charging device.

Getting back to the P30 Series, we've only touched on just a few things that this device is capable of doing, we'll have a more indepth look at the device once it's launched locally, and have local pricing available for the phone and to see what cool accessories Huawei chose to bring to the country. 

Bucket Tech: Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Since it's launch late last year, there has been a buzz about Huawei's latest flagship device, the Mate 20 Pro and it was with good cause. The Chinese electronics giant had invested a lot into the making of this phone, it has the best processor, the latest AI which learns along the way, the best camera and the list goes on. I said after the launch in South Africa that I can confidently say that this is the best phone on the market, not purely by its features but after seeing it in action. So towards the end of the year, Huawei sent me one to use for a few weeks and got to see if all that raving by me was worth it or if I was about to eat my own words in the end of it. Suffice to say no words were eaten by the end of it but here's my in depth review of the device. 

UNBOXING

It's probably the most exciting part when getting a new device and is an experience in its own right so we thought we'd give you the low down on unboxing the Mate 20 Pro. Huawei really take pride in everything about their devices, the boxes the devices come in are well designed and have that premium look to it. With the Mate 20 Pro it was very similar to what the P20 and the P20 Pro come in. A nice textured box which the lid slides off to reveal the device on top concealed in a foam/plastic pocket which sits in a molded tray to keep the device in place. Below that is the instruction manual and two boxes, one of which holds the Super Charger and the other, wired headphones along with an adapter for them since the Mate 20 Pro also doesn't have a dedicated headphone jack. Overall, very impressive package for an impressive device. 

DESIGN

The overall design of the Mate 20 Pro follows the same language as it's other devices but its finishing touches a much more distinct. The device is quite big with it measuring 72.3mm in width, 157.8mm in height and a depth of 8.6mm at it's deepest point as the device has a slight curve to the back. In hand feeling is very good, it has a textured back which improves grip, the device weights about 189g so it's much lighter than its previous generations. The overall design is very clean and the edges beveled smooth to allow for an easier grip and comfort in your hand. The phone I had came in the famous Twilight colour which changes colours in various angles you look at it. Definitely the colour of choice for many as that was the first to sell out. The Mate 20 Pro also features the bevel front which has the facial recognition camera as well as front facing camera. 

DURABILITY

The Mate 20 Pro attains an IP68 rating which is the highest of any phone on the market, this means the device is water, dust and splash resistant. The device is tested in a controlled environment and certified as such in specific situations all of which meets the IP68 classification standards as described by the international standard IEC 60529. I wouldn't advice one to go swimming with the phone, purely because I'd be too scared to but what this does allow you to do, is use the phone in the rain, if something happens to spill on it, it gives you time to wipe it dry or god forbid it does fall into a pool or puddle it should be fine. The phone itself is an aluminium uni-body with Corning Gorilla Glass screen. 

PROCESSING

Before the phone was announced to the world, it was known that the Mate 20 Pro would be running the new Kirin 980 chipset. It's the fastest processing chipset on the market at the moment and features 2 x Cortex -A76 based 2.6Ghz + 2 x Cortex -A76 Based 1.92Ghz + 4 x Cortex - A55 1.8Ghz units. Yup, its an Octacore processor, this required to power its impressive EMUI 9 AI feature. That's what brings the device to life and gives it a massive advantage over everyone else's product. Many have said that AI is nice but how does it make a difference to the normal user, well in short, it does a lot! Most of the phones processing is done via the AI so it thinks for the phone which puts less strain on the device and hence saves battery, it also puts less strain on you, the user. For example, when taking pictures, the AI detects just what is it you're taking a picture of and adjusts the camera settings appropriately for you to get the best picture every time. It also has a nifty feature where it can detect the type of food you're eating and give you approximate calories in it. Another handy feature is the product detector, where you just point your camera at an object, it detects what it is and gives you a list of places where you can purchase that product at. Memory wise, the P20 Pro comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. 

CAMERA

There's no escaping this camera, literally because the speed in which it captures. The Mate 20 Pro features the Leica triple Matrix system. The quad setup features a 40MP wide angle lens with f/1.8 aperture, a 20MP ultra wide angle lens with f/2.2 aperture and a 8MP telephone lens, f/2.4 aperture. The camera supports autofocus, laser focus, phase focus and contrast focus and as mentioned before, has AI capabilities to help you get the best shot every time. It's low light picture quality is simply amazing and supports Huawei AI image stabilization so you can take brilliant low light pictures by hand and need not worry about getting a tripod. The front camer is a 24MP, f/2.0 aperture which supports 3D depth sensing and is brilliant for selfies and the has the augmented reality animator which allows you to be one of many avatars. 

BATTERY

The Mates have always been boastful about their battery life and the 20 Pro is just the same, with it coming fitting with a 4200mAh battery, which can last up to 2 full days on one charge, depending on usage. I'm always on the phone, whether its making calls, taking pictures or on social media so for a phone to give me 10+ hours of use in one day is very impressive and that's what the Mate 20 Pro did. Just to give you a typical day for me, I'm up at 5am phone in hand, catching up on Whatsapp messages and Instagram all while getting ready to go to gym. From there into the car which is connected to the Bluetooth so I can listen to my music. At gym, 30 minutes of YouTube streaming at 4K quality, back home then to work where I'll be making phones, continuously on Whatsapp, Instagram Twitter and Facebook, back home, Bluetooth music for the journey home, maybe another phone call, more social media binge, and IM's till 11pm where the battery still had an average of 20% left.  The Mate 20 Pro is also the first device from Huawei that features wireless charging, but Huawei  didn't settle for the basic wireless charging but has the 15W quick charge, it also has reverse charge so you can charge other wireless devices from it!

VERDICT

There's still so much I can rave about this phone but essentially my advice to many was right, this is the best device on the market at Huawei got the timing right, just before Christmas as you can see many people using it already. I used the device as my primary phone and the adjustment from a smaller device wasn't too bad. The fullview display does take some time to get used to but you can turn it off if the "notch" annoys you. The facial detection which unlocks the phone is super fast as well is the in-screen finger print scanner. With so many ways to secure your phone, there isn't a worry that someone went through your phone if you had left it lying around. You can get the Mate 20 Pro in dual sim from selected mobile service providers and both sim slots are 4G capable. With all these cool features in one package, at the price it came in at R18,999, it really is value for money and prices competitively in the market. I've been having withdrawals ever since I had to give it back, I need it back in my life! 

Some pictures I took while I had the device, just to give you an idea of the versatility of the AI and camera.

Bucket Tech: Huawei Mate 20 Series

A higher intelligence has arrived,and it's in the form of the Huawei Mate 20. Launched at yesterdays glamorous event in London, Huawei Mobile showcased to the world it's Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro devices. This devices brings with it a whole lot of worlds firsts, with it having the worlds fastest processor in the Kirin 980 which takes AI to the next level and EMUI 9. With the local launch happening next week, I'm not going to divulge too much into the phone in this post but rather cover some key aspects of the device, well to be honest most of the features displayed yesterday were rather interesting and mind blowing at the same time, so lets get down to discussing some of them. 

First up, the design, nothing over the top from Huawei, keeping in general to what every smart phone looks like these days but the significant design difference has to be the bevel design. It's much wider than most phones giving the device a more rounded edge and with the unique cut design on the back giving the user more grip with the device. It also serves as an anti-slip mechanism which many other phones become quite slippery with moisture. The screen on the Huawei Mate 20 is brilliant, whether its the normal or pro you're looking at, with all devices carrying a FullView display with high screen-to-body ratio and a small notch at the top compared to other smartphones. The Mate also has a LCD display with a peculiar 18.7:9 aspect ratio and Huawei claim this is the brightest display on the market. The Mate20 also boasts an in screen finger print reader, one of the few devices on the market to have this feature.

The wonder of nature inspires modern technology. The #HUAWEIMate20 in Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Black, Pink Gold and Twilight. #HigherIntelligence pic.twitter.com/akObikS65r

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) October 16, 2018

Moving onto the camera, which is everyone's next talking point when it comes to smart phones, the Mate20 has a Matrix design which is 3 lenses and a sensor/flash in a quad format on the back. It certainly is more aesthetically pleasing to look at then having three in a row. The camera varies from devices, with the standard Mate 20 getting a 16MP (17mm) Ultra Wide Angle Lend, a 12MP (27mm) Wide Angle Lens) and a 8MP (52mm) 2 x Telephoto Lens,  the Mate20 Pro comes with a 40MP (27mm) Wide Angle Lens, 20MP (16mm) Ultra Wide Angle Lens and a 8MP (800mm) 3 x Telephoto Lens, all of which have been co-engineered with Leica. This along with the AI interface recognizes colours, textures, people and so much more. It also gives the user the opportunity to capture more detail at a closer distance with the camera able to get as close as 2.5cm away from an object, a first for a mobile device.

Be a director, photographer and creator. Introducing the world's first Leica Triple Camera with Leica Ultra Wide Angle Lens powered by AI. #HUAWEIMate20 #HigherIntelligence pic.twitter.com/LTlZqgBp5t

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) October 16, 2018

 

Another big talking point was the battery life on the Mate20, Huawei's Mate range has been known for its strong battery and with the Mate20 there it is no different. With it coming with a 4200mAh battery which supporter Huawei's new 40W SuperCharge which is the fastest charging phone on the market, capable of charging the device from 0-70% in just 30 minutes. If that wasn't enough, Huawei finally have come to the wireless charging party, with a 15W wireless charge which is also quite fast. But here's the kicker than had my mind blown, the Mate20 also has reverse wireless charge. What's that? Well if you have another device that can charge wireless-ly, be it a phone, car key etc, you can now charge it using your Mate20!

Giving you the gift of time. With the 40W SuperCharge, you can have 70% battery power in just 30 minutes. #HUAWEIMate20 #HigherIntelligence pic.twitter.com/RKh4HbijXy

— Huawei Mobile (@HuaweiMobile) October 16, 2018

As I said, I'm not going to chat too much about the device until I get to see it for myself next week at the local launch but so this is looking like bang on the money. Like Richard Yu, the CEO of Huawei Consumer BG said "Smartphones are an important entrance to the digital world. The Huawei Mate 20 Series is designed to be the best 'mate' of consumers, accompanying and empowering them to enjoy a richer, more fulfilled life with their higher intelligence, unparalleled battery lives and powerful camera performance". I often get asked, "what is the best phone on the market" and of recent I couldn't really give a proper answer because in reality there was no best phone, with such minimal things to separate each competitor, either one had an advantage over the other in some way another but with the Mate20, it's clear to say that Huawei are leading the pack on this one.  

Bucket Tech: Huawei P20

So about 4 weeks ago, I dropped my phone and the screen cracked...yup, it happened to me but thankfully it still fell under the warranty period with Huawei HiCare so after filling up a quick online form, the couriers were here in no time to pick up my phone for its free screen replacement. Now, I live my life with my phone and it goes everywhere I go, what to do? Coincidentally I was due a review phone, from Huawei as well! It was a device from the P20 series, but wasn't sure which one it would be, I was hoping for the Pro but when it arrived, I saw it was the standard P20. A bit bummed, I figured it was better than nothing and I had a phone to use while mine is in for repairs so I used that as my primary phone for the past 3 weeks and as you'll find out, I was won over by the P20 in every way possible. 

DESIGN

Huawei in general make great looking devices, we've become used to their great build quality, unibody design and great feel in hand, with the P20 much is the same. Slightly bigger than the P10, finished off in a more square full metal unibody, the P20 really is a delight to hold and feel. The back had a nice chrome, mirror type paint finish in a metallic blue, with the dual lens Leica camera protruding ever so slightly, flip it over and a nice large 5.8" LCD greeted you. Now the P20 does come with full view display, meaning they make use of as much as the phones surface as possible, hence at top you will notice notch, quite like the iPhoneX.  But if this bothers you, on the device settings, you have options to black out that top section so your screen is a perfect rectangle but for me it was pretty cool. Huawei have retained the button at the bottom of the phone from the P10, which doubles as a finger print reader. The sides of the device has a sliver chrome finish and on the right side, you'll find the volume and power buttons as per the norm with their device. Below is where things are changed slightly, with the doing away of the ear phone jack and only the power USB port present. 

DURABILITY 

Now the device is IP65, dust and splash proof rated but it looks so good, I wouldn't want to put that to the test but in saying that I did pull the phone out in occasions I generally wouldn't. Like in heavy rain, while riding in a golf cart. In saying that, Huawei again offers their HiCare for this device and for them to be so confident in this regard, it shows their put their money where their mouth is when it comes to the build quality and their ratings on their devices. 

PROCESSING

The Huawei P20 comes with Android 8.1, otherwise known as Oreo and is run on a Hisilicon Kirin 970 chipset which has an Octa-core CPU, which basically translates to 8 mini CPU's, of which 4 run at 2.4GHz and the other 4 at 1.8GHz, this has an overall improved processing speed, and with an on-board capacity of 128GB plus the 4GB of RAM, there really was no issues at all with speed and performance. In fact, I even used to leave multiple applications open while using it, so things like Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Twitter, all of which are heavy data and battery intensive applications, along with Google Play and other background apps running and not one issue. I think the massive hard disk space plays a big part with this, and with everything being cloud base, I don't really think many will fill all 128GB so it's nice to know that it's there. 

CAMERA

Big talking point on the P20 Pro is the triple Leica Lens, on the P20, it still uses Dual Lens Leica technology but to a greater degree than the outgoing P10. The camera makes use of the AI capabilities and its able to learn in a split second what you're taking a picture off. Whether its food, a sunrise, sunset, text, beach, you name it, it has 100's of built in settings to take the perfect picture almost every time. The shutter speed has improved with the dual 12 MP camera, so that means taking quick moving pictures that won't be blurred. Video's on the camera records at 2160p@30fps and are crystal clear. The issue with the Huawei mic seems to have been sorted out as well, so when you're at a concert, you won't get heavy feedback in your videos. On front, you have a 24MP secondary camera, this makes selfies all that much more better, with is also using AI tech, to automatically detect the scene and adjust the exposure to suit. The front facing camera also doubles as a face reader to unlock the phone when you look at it, so no need for the security codes or finger print, simply look at your phone and it unlocks. 

VERDICT

As much as I was disappointed not to have received the P20 Pro, I was not disappointed at the performance of the P20. This phone is probably under rated because of the shadow cast upon it by the Pro much like the iPhone 8 is with the iPhone X but the point of the matter is, it's a really great device! And personally, I think you're scoring with this one as it is much more cheaper, as you'll be paying between R500 and R600 month on contract for the P20 versus R700+ for the P20 Pro. While the Pro might have its key features, for an everyday smart phone that does everything well with no hassle, there really is no reason to doubt the P20. 

Some pictures, taken with the Huawei P20, unedited and auto adjusted by the AI for the perfect picture.