Bucket Tech: HUAWEI Mate50 Pro - Official Launch

The HUAWEI Consumer Business Group has announced the launch of the latest member of its flagship Mate series, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro and celebrates the fourth anniversary of the HUAWEI AppGallery in South Africa. The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro comes equipped with a range of cutting-edge technologies, breaking new ground, and expanding the scope of what users can expect from a smartphone.

Amongst its industry-first features, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro also packs an Ultra Aperture XMAGE Camera, which boasts the first-ever 10-scale adjustable physical aperture and the most versatile photography capabilities ever seen on a HUAWEI Mate smartphone. In terms of performance, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro is armoured by the ultra-reliable “Kunlun Glass”, which boosts drop resistance by 10 times. The smartphone’s design represents a major step forward in smartphone aesthetics, thanks to the symmetrical Space Ring Design.

Future-facing features that elevate performance and user experience

The HUAWEI “Kunlun Glass” consists of 10 quadrillion-level nanocrystals, the result of composite ion strengthening, which make it more resilient and drop resistant as verified by the first-ever five-star glass drop resistance certification from Switzerland’s SGS. This makes the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro models the first smartphone to ever achieve this certification. The smartphone supports IP68-rated water resistance of up to 6 metres underwater, allowing it to easily handle wet and dusty environments.

The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro display provides a window into a crystal-clear world. Combined with the P3 wide colour gamut, fine-tuned colours are calibrated to ensure absolute authenticity. The smartphone comes with a 6.74-inch HUAWEI FullView Display, a screen resolution of 2616 x 1212 pixels and a high refresh rate of 120Hz and 1440Hz PWM dimming, to reduce flickering and relieve eye fatigue.

In addition, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro packs a 4700 mAh battery within its slim body. It offers 66W HUAWEI SuperCharge wired and 50W HUAWEI SuperCharge wireless fast-charging solutions to strike an optimal balance between battery life, fast charging and portability. Moreover, with an innovative low-battery Emergency Mode that activates when the battery level falls to 1%, SuperEnergy Boosting enables the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro to extend standby time by three hours or 12 minutes of call time.

The SuperStorage feature removes duplicate files in an imperceptible way and compresses rarely used apps. This preserves up to 20GB of space (on a phone with 256GB of ROM), leaving more room for the abundance of photos and videos that today’s users capture.

The ground-breaking Ultra Aperture XMAGE camera

HUAWEI launched its very own mobile imaging brand “XMAGE” in 2022, with the goal of offering consumers a new shooting paradigm that fuses science with culture and aesthetics with technology, for an improved shooting experience. The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro features a cutting-edge Ultra Aperture XMAGE camera with a 10-size adjustable physical aperture, which incorporates key advances to the optical system, mechanical structure, imaging technology and image processing. The smart aperture adjusts to match the aperture size with the scene and shooting scenario identified in Auto mode. Switching to Professional mode allows you to manually adjust the depth of field and degree of blur.

What’s more, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro has advanced hardware and algorithms that are deeply embedded to enhance static image shooting. The Ultra Aperture Camera comes equipped with an F1.4 large aperture, working with the XD Fusion Pro image engine and high light intake to set the image brightness, light and shadow details, as well as cold and warm comparisons to perfection.

Portrait mode applies natural background blurring to make the subject stand out from their surroundings. Night mode captures photos with highly distinct bright and dark regions, even in dimly lit environments. The periscope telephoto camera supports a zoom range of up to 200x, bringing scenes from the great beyond right in front of your eyes.

The wide-angle macro camera magnifies details from tiny worlds, presenting millimetre-level strands and dew droplets with outstanding clarity. The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro also supports macro video shooting and macro picture-in-picture (PiP) to accurately convey scenes in motion.

The first of its kind: A well-crafted classic design

In addition to the signature Mate Series design language of iconic symmetry and Space Ring Design, the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro makes use of the elegant Clous de Paris step-patterned embossing design for the first time ever, showcasing a new kind of ordered beauty that is crafted down to the last detail.

The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro has two different types of rear covers namely glass and vegan leather. The glass cover is available in two colours, Silver and Black, which gives the phone a distinct and elegant finish. The vegan leather version comes in Orange and is inspired by the radiant orange rays of the sun.

Being the first smartphone from HUAWEI to run on EMUI 13, which streamlines daily interactions with an effortless one-touch navigation, EMUI 13 introduces the Super Device SuperHub feature, which is an innovative file transfer capability. Users can simply press and hold on any text, pictures, videos and files, drag to the SuperHub’s floating window to store the files temporarily. Users can then switch to another application, select the files within the SuperHub for a seamless cut and paste. With the batch transfer capability, users can in addition use SuperHub for multi-files transfer between their smartphone, tablet and PC.

The HUAWEI Mate50 Pro comes pre-installed with HUAWEI AppGallery - the third-largest app marketplace in the world. Users can download a wide selection of global and Local apps. The HUAWEI AppGallery is  available in more than 170 countries and has over 580 million active monthly users.

Launching, alongside the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro, HUAWEI also introduced the new HUAWEI FreeBuds 5i and the HUAWEI MatePad SE 10.4-inch, which will be available for retail in South Africa in the coming months.

To pre-order the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro, visit the HUAWEI online store or go to selected network providers, including Vodacom, MTN, Telkom or Cell C. Pre order today in order to receive a free gift courtesy of HUAWEI.

Moreover, introduced in the latest version of HUAWEI’s backup power solution for homes, is the HUAWEI Power-M, backup power solution, along with the updated FusionSolar App.

You can light up your home with HUAWEI Power-M. The stackable modular design allows the system to be customised, providing a maximum of 15kW with 45kWh storage. Power-M also supports various power sources and uses the safest electrochemical cell material, lithium iron phosphate, and supports a very wide voltage range from 90V – 300V. This power makes it a safe and reliable choice as a residential power backup solution. Users can also use the FusionSolar mobile phone app to check the status of their system’s running and energy yield anytime, from anywhere

Bucket Tech: Huawei Mate 40 Series

Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG) yesterday bolstered its product line-up with the advanced HUAWEI Mate 40 Series, the latest revolutionary flagship smartphones that empower users to leap further ahead. Showcasing the pinnacle of Huawei technology, the new Series reinforces Huawei’s dedication to innovation and its unrelenting determination to create the best Mate ever.

The HUAWEI Mate 40 Series has the Mate Series DNA at its core. Over the last eight years, there have been 10 outstanding generations of Mate Series devices and now the latest flagship smartphones will take the Mate to new heights with the best technology in the industry. From powerful performance to unique user interactions, everything about the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series has been fine-tuned to provide the most exciting smartphone experience possible. HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ incorporate the world’s first 5 nanometer 5G SoC, Ultra Vision Cine Camera system and the iconic Space Ring Design. The series comes equipped with a smarter, more attentive digital experience.

Richard Yu, Executive Director and CEO of Huawei Consumer BG said: “Each year the HUAWEI Mate Series brings the most exciting technology together into one stunning package. This is what defines the Mate Series DNA and is all made possible by our dedication to innovation. In these unprecedented times, we remain committed to creating a better future, with innovative technology that delivers a positive and meaningful impact on the lives of consumers. In the future, we will continue working closely with our partners to bring the Seamless AI Life experience to consumers all around the world.”

Leap further ahead with the iconic Space Ring Design

Marrying an iconic design with innovative technology, HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ are informed by the design principle that form manifests function. The uncompromised design of the HUAWEI 88° Horizon Display creates an immersive viewing experience in a compact package, while the silky curve also means the devices are comfortable to hold. The handsets also offer IP 68 dust and water resistance, a choice of both virtual and physical volume controls and enhanced mistouch prevention algorithms. 

Objects of sheer beauty, the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ devices carry a small front camera cut-out, which is packed full of technology, with 3D Face Unlock, an Ultra Vision Selfie Camera and Smart Gesture Control.

Turn the devices over and you will see that the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series adopts the Space Ring Design, an evolution of the HUAWEI Mate Series’ iconic circular and symmetrical design. HUAWEI Mate 40 and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro are available in Black and White, as well as an enchanting Mystic Silver, a finish with a colour-shifting effect that evokes the mysteries of the unseen. There are also two vegan leather variants, Yellow and Green. Meanwhile, HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ features an exquisite nano-tech ceramic back panel available in two iconic colours: Ceramic White and Ceramic Black.

Leap further ahead with Kirin 9000 setting a new standard for performance

Powering the best Mate ever, the Kirin 9000 Series is fully equipped for 5G, capable of handling intensive computations and multi-tasking operations with ease. Embedded in HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+, the Kirin 9000 is the most sophisticated 5nm 5G SoC available, delivering vastly improved performance and power efficiency over its predecessor. For the first time ever, the flagship 5G SoC has more than 15.3 billion transistors[1], making it one of the most dense and full-featured 5G SoC to date. The powerful CPU features a three-level power efficiency architecture with cores running at clock frequencies of up to 3.13GHz. Also integrated into the SoC is a 24-core Mali-G78 GPU, as well as an innovative NPU featuring two big cores and one tiny core, taking on-device AI to a new level.

The 24-core Mali-G78 GPU in HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ is the most powerful GPU ever seen on a Huawei device. This delivers advanced graphics performance and is complemented by an amazing audio-visual experience for immersive gaming. The 90Hz display works together with 240Hz touch sampling rate for greater responsiveness and now provides haptic feedback to correspond with the visual experience. This entertainment set-up is completed with dual stereo speakers to create experiences with super bass stereo.

The HUAWEI Mate 40 Series is also equipped with the battery technology that is needed to keep up with the demands of 5G, supporting the fastest iteration of HUAWEI SuperCharge.

Leap further ahead with an all-round imaging system engineered to make photography simple

The camera system on the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series has been co-engineered with Leica to provide the best camera solution possible and sees breakthrough upgrades to the ultra-wide angle lens, powerful high-definition main camera, impressive telephoto camera and more. With the Dual Cine Cameras and Dual Ultra-Wide Cameras on HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+, users can capture amazing wide angle videos and images from both the front-and rear-facing cameras.

When it comes to cinematic videography, the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ are unparalleled. The Dual Cine Cameras feature a 3:2 cinema-style shooting ratio sensor. Capturing high quality footage is easier than ever with Steady Shot, while the XD Fusion HDR Video ensures balanced exposure, even when users are capturing with extreme lighting contrast. Other evolutions include Tracking Shot, while Story Creator allows for true cinematic effects. Background music, filters and effects can also be added with ease. Not neglecting audio, HUAWEI Mate 40 Series features Audio Focus, Audio Zoom, and dual stereo speakers.

The Ultra-Wide Cine Camera now offers an even wider field of view, as well as richer detail, improved low light performance and distortion correction algorithms, allowing users to capture beautiful expansive landscapes, while the Super Sensing Wide Camera provides true high definition shots. Image quality has been further enhanced with Full Pixel Octa PD AutoFocus. Improved distortion correction targets the face, body and limbs, making the ultra-wide-angle lens useful in more scenarios than ever. HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro features a Periscope Telephoto Camera to support 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom, and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ takes it further with a dual-telephoto camera system that enables 20x hybrid zoom and 100x digital zoom.

The Ultra Vision Selfie Camera on the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series take selfies and videos to new heights with support for 4K capture and the option to shoot in one of three available fields of view, ranging from up close and personal to ultra-wide. Slow-Motion Selfie adds even more versatility to the front camera by letting users add dramatic flair when documenting their fast-paced actions.

Leap further ahead with an all new user experience

HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ are set to revolutionise how consumers integrate smartphones into their lives with new user-centric features including Smart Gesture Control, which allows total hands-free control of your device. Simply hover your hand over the device to wake it up or navigate your phone by swiping left, right, up and down. There is also an air press gesture for call answering.

A device that is always there for you, the all new dynamic Eyes on Display on HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro+ can be activated at a glance, with fully customisable interactive displays hosting all the information you need from your phone. The ring of incoming calls can be reduced by making eye contact with your phone.

Improved MeeTime functionality is a gateway to a better connected, more intelligent life. When combined with the power of Huawei’s 1+8+N ecosystem, Multi-screen Collaboration offers an intuitive way for users to operate multiple devices at once, running several apps simultaneously, combining smartphone and PC to deliver unique experiences.

When it comes to privacy and security, the EMUI 11 operating system has always featured comprehensive security solutions to protect Huawei device users. The Trusted Execution Environment operating system is CC EAL5+ certified, which is the highest certification level for commercialised security microkernel. EMUI 11 also comes with new privacy features. When transferring images, users can easily purge sensitive personal data such as location, time and device details from the file before it is sent.

HUAWEI Mate 40 Series comes equipped with the innovative Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), bringing users a smarter, richer, more convenient and secure smartphone experience. During the launch, Huawei also unveiled new apps available for global Huawei users, including Petal Search, a search engine with support for multiple types of searches; Petal Maps, a map app that utilises the HUAWEI Mate 40 Series’ gesture control feature; and HUAWEI Docs, a unified word document service. These apps come together to lead the way towards a better digital life for the 700 million Huawei device users worldwide.

Pricing and availability of the HUAWEI Mate 40 series in South Africa will be announced at a later stage.

Bucket Tech: Apple iPhone 12

Last nights Apple Event saw the American tech giant launch their all-new iPhone 12 range. The range includes the iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max. Big news from the launch is that all variants will come standard with 5G network access and powered by Apples new A14 chipset, which they claim is the most powerful chipset in a smartphone currently. Seeing that the rollout of 5G is going full steam ahead in the US, despite the urban myth of the tech being the cause of the current pandemic, this is a good move by Apple. They have reported testing of 5G with speeds up to 3.5GB per second in good network conditions and down to 1GB per second in poor network conditions, the iPhone 12 also adapts it's network connection depending on how data conducive the apps or functions you are using. So for example if you're making a normal voice call or using apps that do not require data, the phone will switchover to LTE instead of utilizing 5G which is very power demanding.

Cameras on the iPhone 12, the standard and Mini have a two lens camera system with both main lenses being 12MP. Apple have invested a lot of their time into improving low light photography on these cameras which allows 27% more light than before. This translates to brighter, less noise, more detail and great depth perspective. The ultra-wide lens has a 120-degree field of view with 13mm focal length, the night model feature has been improved and now features a night mode time lapse. Apple's new Smart HDR 3 system is featured on both devices and has the ability to shoot HDR video with Dolby Vision at 30fps. 

The iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max feature a triple camera system with the same two lenses as the standard iPhone 12 but has an additional telephoto lens to the camera eco-system. This lens is a 52mm f/2.0 and able to take Deep Fusion photos. The big addition to the Pro camera is the inclusion of a a LiDAR sensor, which has massive benefits in low-light situations. Apple say the LiDAR sensor assists in faster focus times, up to 6x faster in most cases and even in poor lighting conditions. The LiDAR also allows you to take portrait pictures in Night Mode. Video capabilities on the Pro and Pro Max step up big time with Dolby Vision HDR recording at 60fps as well as Dolby Vision video editing on the device, making it easier for you to shoot, edit and share from your phone. 

Other noteworthy things about the new iPhone is that it comes with MagSafe which is apples new trademark wireless charging system which has a magnetic field to ensure the phone connects properly to the wireless charging unit, now with this being magnetic, Apple has capitalised on this by adding snap on accessories for the device, like covers, wallet pouches and so on, you could probably use the phone as a big fridge magnet too, a very big and expensive one but it can be done. As you may have noticed, the design of the device is very similar to that of the iPhone 4 which was one of the best designed devices of their range, its a full metal uni-body with stainless steel surroundings which also serve as the devices antenna. One of the gripes so far is what's in the box, while pricing still remains very similar to other devices on the market, Apple have decided to just give you a phone and  USB-C charging cable. So no headphones or charging adapter, they claim its because people do not use these, I understand the headphones as many would opt to buy ear pods but the charging adapter? Really?

US pricing was released with most devices bar the Pro Max being available for order from the end of this week. No word from Core Group on availability or local pricing on the iPhone 12 range yet. 

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.