Last week global electronic giants Samsung dropped their all-new flagship business device, the Galaxy Note 10 range. Samsung say it's "designed to bring passions to life with next level power" and given that the Note has been the ultimate business companion over the past few years, one would expect nothing less with this new model. The Galaxy Note is a premium smartphone that combines elegant design with powerful performance productivity tools to help users make the most of the every moment. For the first time the Galaxy Note has been introduced in two sizes, the Note which comes with a 6.3" cinematic infinity display and the Note 10+ which features the biggest display on a Note device to date, a 6.8" cinematic display which Samsung say is on a device that is still easy to hold and use.
Samsung have pushed to the edge in terms of design, as the Galaxy Note 10 features an almost bezel-less design, giving the user an optimal screen to body ratio which also helps with the overall size of the device. It creates the most immersive display as a seamless experience between thought and action, viewing and creating. The screen is the best in quality, as it features the award winning dynamic AMOLED display with HDR10+ certification. It also has dynamic tone mapping which makes photos and videos brighter than previous Note devices. Eye Comfort was an important factor in the display and it reduces blue light without affecting colour quality for comfortable viewing.
A trademark and key feature of the Galaxy Note has been it's S Pen, while controversial to some as pen's on smart devices have become obsolete over the past decade due to the evolution of the touch screen, Samsung still make it work. The S Pen is Bluetooth enabled and has low energy usage so it won't die on you when you need it the most, like the Note 9, the S Pen on the Note 10 allows air actions, allowing you to control certain aspects of the device using gestures, with the S Pen. This can be uses in applications, as playing games. The key feature however is the handwriting to text feature where you jot down notes, and have it converted to text instantly on your device in Samsung Notes and export it to other applications including Microsoft Word.
The Galaxy Note 10 makes use of a triple lens camera, with the Note 10 having a 16MP Ultra wide angle lens, a 12MP wide angle and a 12MP telephoto lens. While the Note 10+ features the same but with an added depth vision camera. The camera's allow you to take pictures in low light which make photos at night all that more better to take as well as low light situations. Video recording has been upgraded on this device with premium video technology that has live focus video which adds depth of field adjustments, and has an improved super steady stabilizes to make sure the footage isn't shaky or blurry.
The Note 10 is 5G ready but with our networks still only supporting LTE, it's nice to know your device is ready when the switch will come about. Battery wise the Note comes with a 3,500mAh battery while the Note 10+ has a 4,300mAh battery which has super fast charging, wireless charging and wireless power share capabilities. Overall, The Galaxy Note and Note 10+ aren't here to play games, these are Samsung's premium flagship devices, not only do they look great but performance and features speak for them self. Both devices will be available locally from the 30th of August in Aura Glow, Aura White and Aura black. For more news you can visit the Samsung Mobile website.
Following the launch of the P30 Pro, Huawei have been featured a lot in the media but not for the right reasons. With the trade ban implicated on the Chinese tech giant, by the US government saw many of their partners terminate or halt trade with Huawei. Companies like Google who supply the main operating system for all of their devices, not to mention third party apps from their play store. Kirin, the chip-set manufacturer that supplies Huawei with the CPU's for their devices and the list goes on. While Huawei remains in court battling to overturn this ban, they have informed South African's that it will be business as usual with their current devices. We won't be affected with the ban at all and all important updates, whether for applications or critical Android updates will be available for us.
UNBOXING
Now back to the device it self, I was given the P30 Pro to test over the period of two weeks, I wish this was longer because damn its such a great device with so much to offer! The thing about this phone is that it things so well, you hardly realise just how well it runs. There has been no lag on any application, the processing speed is like nothing I've used before, and that camera, all I can say is seeing is believing with that. So unboxing the device was pretty straight forward, Huawei always has been getting their packaging right from the early days and not much has changed since then. The P30 Pro sits prominently on the tray as you lift the lid off, below is a box which stores the silicon phone cover which comes with the device and below that is the charge, USB cable and headphones which has a USB3 input so no need for adapters or other funny gadgets to plug them in.
DESIGN
Being the Pro, the device is bigger than the normal phones out there, it is longer and a bit wider than your average device. The build quality on it is impeccable with a full aluminum body and full glass front which interestingly isn't Corning Gorilla Glass 6 as used on other flagship devices. According to Huawei the P30 Pro uses aluminosilicate glass, which according to Google is a silicate in which aluminium replaces some of the silicon. Either way, the device has an IP68 dust and waterproof rating, not entirely sure about the shock test though. Well with a device like this, I doubt anyone would be taking chances by carelessly handling it. The sides have a bevel finish which really add character to that unibody design and the transition from glass to aluminium is seamless. The device is available in five colours, I had the most popular one from those which is Aurora, it has that opalescent colour changing finish which really is remarkable when looking at it closely. The P30 Pro has your standard buttons on the side for volume and power/ lock. The ins-creen finger print scanner is revolutionary as it saves space and doesn't make it awkward when you need to unlock the device. The bottom of the device has your speakers, and charger input.
DISPLAY
The P30 pro comes with a massive display screen which extends over the bezel, its 6.47 inches in size and has a 88.6% screen-to-body ratio. The notch for the 32MP selfie camera is quite evident but smaller than that of the Mate 20 Pro. It's an OLED capacitive touchscreen with 16 million colours with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 at 398 ppi density. It's super bright, super sensitive and works really well. The in screen finger print sensor is a stroke of genius from Huawei but I feel if you're using the facial recognition, there isn't really a need for the finger print scanner but it does come in handy for apps that require additional security for access, like banking and medical.
PROCESSING
Using the powerful HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset which is also found in the Mate 20 Pro, the P30 Pro is no slouch when it comes to usability, multi-app tasking as well as surfing the web. The CPU is an Octa-core which uses 2x2.6 GHx Cortex A-76 & 2x1.92 GHx Cortex-A72 & 4x1.8Guz Cortex A55 chips. That's a lot to digest but in brief, it has 8 chips in one. Now the P30 Pro boasts some pretty nifty features like app cloning where you can run two of the same apps on the device but from different accounts, so for example, two Instagram accounts, two Facebook accounts and even two Whatsapp accounts which works of the dual sim. The processing speeds show their true strength when multitasking, at one stage I had 20 pages opened on my web browser, mail app running, streaming music via Bluetooth and sending Whatsapp texts and it did all of that without a sweat. The AI interface also helps in these in circumstances, giving the device an idea on what item should have priority over which.
CAMERA
Now we move onto the main talking point about the P30 Pro, the camera. For the first time Huawei makes use of a quad system for the main camera. It features four lenses, a 40MP wide lens, a 20MP ultra wide lens, a TOF 3D camera and the star of the show, the 8MP Periscope telephoto lens which has 5x optical zoom all which have Leica optics. Huawei claim to have the best low light photography rating in the world and after testing it, I can believe that. The P30 Pro can find light in almost near dark spaces. This is achieved by using a Super Spectrum RYYB sensor, it allows more light to be included into the picture than the normal sensor. With this, it made for perfect pictures taken at night with free hand. The real stand out feature on the P30 Pro though is the telephoto lens, Huawei managed to achieve this by putting the lends side ways into the device then added a mirror to reflect through the front, just like a periscope, hence the name for it. While on test it just so happened to be a full moon and the perfect opportunity to test this feature out and as the saying goes, the results speak for itself. The integration of all the lenses along with the phones AI to identify the object and the auto calibration of the lens to clear up the right moment was mind blowing. To see a phone do this truly is remarkable. Obviously when zoomed in full at 50x hybrid zoom, any small movement will affect the object you're trying to take a picture off but that being said it wasn't very difficult doing it free hand but a tripod does help.
BATTERY
The P30 Pro adopts much of the same battery features from the Mate 20 Pro, it comes with a non-removable Li-Po 4200 mAh battery which last more than a days use, trust me I've put it to the test. From 5am, I'm checking social media, watching YouTube videos, on Whatsapp all day, Emails, calls, etc and by the time I'm done at 10pm, theres still 25% of battery life left on the device. The Supercharge feature got me really lazy as I would just charge the device for 30 minutes and it would be 80% or above there after. Moving back to my normal "fast charge" phone isn't cutting it at the moment! It also has the option to charge wirelessly, with a fast wireless charge at 15W, like the Mate 20 Pro it also has the option for reverse wireless charging to help friends in need of more power should their device be running low on juice and has wireless charging capabilities.
VERDICT
Overall, the P30 Pro really is a stunning product all round, the ease in which it gets the job done, whatever that might be is impressive. The camera is still black magic to me, the amount of light it allows in really bad conditions is mesmerising and that wide angle lens really is a treat to have when working in small spaces. The telephone zoom lens phenomenal, this phones camera has the ability to turn even the novice into a pro in photography as it makes you want to take an interest in photography. Get that perfect picture even if it means having a few goes at it. Size wise, I did find it a bit bulky at first and not very comfortable in palm bit the silicon cover it comes with helps alleviate most of this. In this current market environment it's hard to tell which is the best device on the market but let me tell you, this comes very close to it. It's a pity the holding company is making news for all the wrong reasons, I hope this matter gets resolved soon and the ban is uplifted, even though Huawei have a plan B, the world needs the marriage Huawei already has with its US partners and we all know how much the US needs Huawei.
Some examples of photos taken with the Huawei P30 Pro
After Samsung dropped their Galaxy Fold during their Unpacked event on the 20th of February, only time would tell when the next major phone manufacturer would launched a competitor to it, but we never thought it would happen in under a weeks time! The very same weekend Huawei dropped their Mate X folding screen device at the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona. The Chinese manufacturer have always been one of the industries great disruptive with their in your face marketing and calling a spade a spade when comparing their devices to others and it's with this you have to take your hate off to them. They're brave enough to call out the opposition then tell you why their devices are much better than the rest.
With the Mate X is more of the same, although folding screen technology is extremely new and none of the devices are ready for public purchase, one cannot deny that Huawei's offering looks miles advanced when compared to the Samsung. It's aesthetically pleasing, and the design making better sense than the Samsung with it have a single screen which folds and not 3 like the Galaxy Fold. also the Huawei Mate X is much more slimmer and when unfolded, has a seamless screen. Now while the Huawei may make use of a single screen, I have some concerns, the device folds outwards, meaning when the it's in phone mode, the other half of the screen will rest on the surface. So the quality of glass used must be scratch resistant and pretty hardy to survive impact all round.
While the device looks great, the features make it even better. The Huawei Mate X has EMUI 9.0 which was born with a minimalist natural design to harmonize technology with humanity. The upgrade enables quality of life and gives you an immersive experience with nature. Huawei say the UI is like nothing you've experience on a smart device and if you're going to have a special phone, might as well have a special user interface to go along with it. The Mate X is also 5G, making use of the Huawei Balong 5000 chipset, the worlds first 7nm multi-mode 5G chipset which has the industries leading 5G download speed. The dual sim port has support for 2G / 3G / 4G and 5G so no matter what sim you have the Mate X will handle it. The camera on the device was made by Leica and has a single file compact layout which is situated on the handle bar of the phone. It has a host of features with wide and ultra wide lenses and also allows mirror shooting for the best quality selfies. The handle bar negates the reason to have multiple cameras on the back and front, a real smart move by Huawei.
Security wise, the Mate X has super fast fingerprint reading technology, not sure if it has facial recognition but we presume it does. The battery is split into two, with a combined power output of 4,500mAh and has the world's fastest 55W Huawei SuperCharge technology so you can charge the phone from 0 to 85% in just 30 minutes! Overall the device looks great but as I said about the Galaxy Fold. Its of a tablet that folds into something small enough for you to carry in your pocket. While the features are great and the device looks pretty stylish I just don't see the need for this sort of device at the moment. No doubt its going to be pretty pricey when it hits our shores as well.
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.
Many ask "what is the best phone on the market?" but often the answer to that is an over priced, smartphone of which 80% of the features you would never use. What about the other phones on offer then? Not the bottom end ones but like the mid range ones that are decently priced and are decent enough devices? Not much gets said about them and I often feel that they don't get as much attention as they deserve. One of those devices is the new Hisense C30 Rock and I had the opportunity to play around with one for the past three weeks and while it not be the best phone on the market it certainly did surprise me in many other aspects.
STYLING
Upon receiving the device, I was please that the box it came in was small and compact and not full of other junk that just ends up taking a lot of space. Unboxing the device was quick and easy and too my surprise the phone was much larger than I thought it would be. It looked great, with a rose goldish/ copper border and screws, rubber sides and what looked like a carbon fiber back (not sure if it was real carbon fiber or not). It gives the phone a real rugged but cool look, which is part of the image Hisense is trying to portray with the device seeing that it's one of the most durable and hardy phones on the market.
DURABILITY
It's one of the only devices I know of that has an IP68 rating and IK04 shock resistant, so not only is it dust and waterproof but it can also withstand some heavy falls. Reading it on paper and testing it out for yourself is two different things, I was hesitant at first but as the tests went on I became more and more confident with the C30 Rock, where I went as far as pouring a glass of water over it at a crowded bar just to show people how waterproof it is. People we left amazed and so was I. There was a few drop test conducted as well, some purposely and some not so much on purpose, safe to say the C30 Rock didn't even get a scratch from any of them. So full marks on the durability tests and I agree 100% with them calling it "life-dimensional", where its ready to withstand whatever life throws at it.
PROCESSING
While the device might be pretty impressive in terms of build quality and strength, one still has to remember that it still has to work. The phone has an impressive chipset with the efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon octa-core 64 bit processor at its heart. It has 3GB of RAM and 32GB of on-board storage, with it running Android OS, of which it is the latest version of Nougat, you have access to Google drive so your storage capacity could be endless depending on the size allocated to your account. The phone boasts a 3000mAh battery with quick charge. There's a lot you can do with this phone before the battery dies on you. It even has an automatic battery saving mode to ensure a prolonged battery life. While its not the fastest phone I've used, it still wasn't slow and coped with most of the tasks I used it for.
DISPLAY
The C30 Rock does have a big screen, a 5.2" Full HD Display with 424 pixels per inch. Its a good screen but felt the quality of it did lack in brightness now and then but regardless, it was good quality to view on. The touch screen is extremely responsive with zero lag and the phone came with some handy tricks. For example, when watching a video, if my eyes for some reason deviate from watching the screen, the phone would pause the video and start playing it again when I focused on the screen again.
CAMERA
The C30 Rock comes with a 16 megapixel Q-Shot primary camera with LED Flash and takes some decent quality pictures and videos of which I cannot show you none because my SD card that I had in it got corrupted... It's shutter speed isn't the fastest so make sure your hand is steady when taking pics and hold in place until after the picture is captured for perfect results. Pics in low light are decent quality as well. It has a host of modes and settings for you to play with to get the perfect snap.
VERDICT
For the overall product you getting and at the price you getting it at, the Hisense C30 Rock is an absolute steal. If you're not to bothered with too many features and want a good quality phone that does the job and not going to give you heart palpitations if it falls or gets liquid spilt on it, the C30 Rock is for you.
