REVIEW: Huawei Mate 20 Pro

Dubai - Newest flagship wants to 'power' its way to the competition

Well, for some reason, we finally got our demo unit of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro only recently.
So, as late as we are already (our apologies), let's cut the crap and dive in head-first to this monster of a device, shall we?
TALE OF THE TAPE

As always, it's a bit unfair to compare different series, so, despite the P20 Pro having a triple-lens camera, we still need to stick with the Mate 20 Pro's predecessor a year ago, the Mate 10 Pro.
And of course, we all know Huawei's chips, starting with last year's 10-nanometre Kirin 970 on the Mate 10 Series, are blessed with artificial intelligence. The Mate 20 Pro, meanwhile, is armed with the all-new Kirin 980, its power-packed details you can read here (where the hell did our online version go?). And, ICYMI, Huawei's already working with what has been dubbed the 5G-ready '990'.
Save for the RAM (and asterisked video parameter), practically all aspects have been improved on the Mate 20 Pro. And while the internal storage remains at 128GB, Huawei decided to add an expandable storage slot to the Mate 20 Pro. But this isn't your ordinary memory card: alongside the Mate 20 unveil in London last month, Huawei introduced its very own NM Card - Nano Memory Card - for use on their new devices. They say it's 45 per cent smaller than microSDs:

^{Interesting. (via Android Authority)}
Now, here's the problem with that: since the Mate 20 Series only utilises those new NM Cards, it obviously renders all your stack of microSDs useless. And here's another beef with that: as I write, there is still no word on when these NM Cards will be out in the market, much more how much it would cost. I scoured the Web and stumbled upon a listing Amazon UK, apparently already selling the card for a cool £53.95 (roughly Dh254) - now that's practically more than double what you would pay for a regular microSD. And I'm not even sure if it's an official listing.
 
^{There; I'm not making this up. And it doesn't even ship here to the UAE}
That means, dear Mate 20 users, you won't, for the time-being, be able to expand the memory on your devices. And if that listing above is any indication, the price would also be a concern, and with good reason: Huawei partnered with only one manufacturer - Toshiba - to make those NM Cards, so it can get a bit pricey when they do come out. I'm not sure if this is a good move, especially going forward and on the basis of if it could be an industry standard.
Anyway, back to the task at hand: the build of the Mate 20 Pro boasts curved-screen edges, reminiscent of the one Samsung first introduced years ago. It still has a notch on top, which houses Huawei's version of face-recognition technology, dubbed as 3D Face Unlock. This biometric way of unlocking the device works pretty fast, even in total darkness (pretty much standard in all phones that have it).

Look at the shine on that
And if you'll notice, there isn't any fingerprint scanner anywhere on the device, and it's because Huawei incorporated that other unlocking option into the screen. When you raise the Mate 20 Pro or touch it, a fingerprint icon will pop up at the centre, about one-third from the bottom, which Huawei describes as a 'convenient' spot for it. I agree with that, but in-screen fingerprint sensors can take a little more (albeit insignificant) time to unlock a device.

^{There's your fingerprint scanner}
To be fair, I haven't reviewed any other smartphone with an in-screen fingerprint scanner - those from Vivo, OnePlus, Xiaomi and even Huawei with its Porsche Design Mate RS from earlier this year - so I have no basis to compare this feature, even if it's reported that it is, indeed, slower than scanners off the screen. But I can actually feel the lag - I sometimes even have to press a little harder so that it could recognise my thumb.
In terms of performance, meanwhile, you won't have any problem with the Mate 20 Pro - not a single time did I experience any significant lag or app crash. There is no app tray; you just have to slide left to access your apps, while doing so to the right reveals feeds that will provide you some of the most important information you'll need.
There are also some new gestures, as shown below:

^{Some look so familiar, don't they?}
Furthermore, you can also customise the virtual keys at the bottom, as well as adding a navigation dock for even more convenience:
 
^{You'll never run out of options}
Battery
One of the features Huawei has highly touted in the Mate 20 Pro is its battery. It clocks in at a rather large 4200mAh, so it should do wonders.
And wonders it does. Our staple one-hour YouTube-at-full-brightness test yielded an impressive result: only 6 per cent of juice was sapped. That handily beats out the Samsung Galaxy Note9's 11 per cent and the iPhone XS Max's 10 per cent, based on our review of them.
That said, I was able to go through over a day-and-a-half without reaching out for a charger - and I even stretched it out to almost two days with minimal use. But naturally, the longevity will vary if you toggle the screen resolution; setting to its highest, WQHD+, will certainly drink up some more juice.
The Mate 20 Pro also has a lightning-quick charge feature that, according to them, nets you 70 per cent in just 30 minutes. In my test, it did go up to 'only' 67 per cent - but you get the point; that's lots of energy in just half-an-hour of plugging it in.
And finally, Huawei decided to introduce wireless charging on its smartphone - but even that isn't a headliner, because it's what the other thing it can do is what's more noteworthy: the Mate 20 Pro has reverse wireless charging, meaning it can act as a power bank and wirelessly charge other devices, as long as they support the Qi standard.

^{Yep, it's charging it alright}
Now, taking the cue from that half-hour basis, a few tests on that wireless thingy. Using the reverse wireless charging feature, I charged an Apple iPhone XS Max and, after 30 minutes, found out that it gained only 8 per cent, while the Mate 20 Pro lost 16 per cent.
For comparison, I then charged the iPhone on a standard non-branded wireless charging mat, and I got a good 15 per cent boost. The Mate 20 Pro, meanwhile, wasn't far behind, climbing 13 per cent on the said charging mat.
The point here is, the Mate 20 Pro gives out more energy while its recipient receives much less. That doesn't seem to be a fair fight at all, especially for the Mate 20 Pro.
Now if you want to really optimise the battery, head over to its settings area and you can toggle a few things that can let you squeeze out more life. There's also 'Darken interface colors' that not only saves power, but also gives a cooler feel, which I really like:

^{Yep, the 'darken' mode is way cooler}
One last thing before we leave the battery talk: I also noticed that it does take some time before the reverse wireless charging kicks in. In my initial run, it took about eight minutes before the mobile being charged ticked up 1 per cent. Now, out of curiosity, I repeated the process, but this time the receiving device was on aeroplane mode; it started charging about after four minutes.
To be fair, wireless charging - in any manner - isn't exactly the fastest of charging methods. But still, the Mate 20 Pro's reverse wireless charging is a really cool feature, especially in situations where you can't wring a charger out of anyone near you. Sharing is caring, indeed.
Camera
Here we go (raise your hand if you bypassed everything above and directly scrolled down all the way here).
Huawei, as we all know, boasts some of the best tech when it comes to cameras - even all the way down to its more budget-friendly Honor line-up. For the Mate 20 Pro, Huawei promises crisper shots and, of course, more intelligence.
Let's begin with Santa Claus and some Christmas stuff:

^Ho-ho-ho!
Zero issues in bright situations. Even if we zoom in, detail is still clear as day:

^{How's Rudolph doin'?}
Speaking of zooming in, the Mate 20 Pro has a macro shot function that can take super-close-up shots. See that white flower on the centre of the Christmas tree above? Here's how it looks like when I took a shot with the lens uber-close to it:

^{Just the right distance}
The smartphone has the capability to take clear shots of subjects up to 2.5cm close - the result of which is on the left; anything nearer than that and you'll get a blurry image, as shown on the right.
A couple of things to point out here: first, I've noticed that the Mate 20 Pro takes a little long to focus on its subject with super-macro shots. Second, as in the case of the photo on the right, there are times that a shot may not be able to result in a totally clear picture - even if it is within the 2.5cm-or-more range. This may be because the sensors on the camera system are dealing on which part of the subject to focus on, which, in turn, results in it not being able to fully grasp the entire thing.
Here's some more colourful shots: 
 
^{Have you bought your decors already?}
Here's one funny thing that came out: the Mate 20 Pro, of course, has scene recognition (quite standard in high-end phones lately), but check out these screenshots:

The race car and tree were correctly identified as 'car' and 'greenery', but the Christmas balls were, for some reason, pegged as 'food'. Well, to be fair, they tend to look like fruits anyway, so we'll give it a pass (for now).
There's another goof-up that I failed to replicate and screenshot: while pointing at curtains, it detected it as 'historical building'. Oh-kaay.
One more colourful shot for good measure:

^{Have you been naughty or nice?}
Of note in this shot: zooming in will show smudges on it; let's compare a zoomed-in angle of the photo and compare it with the first Christmas tree shot above:

^Hmmm... 
If you look closely, you'll see smudges on the right, while the one on the left holds up pretty well when zoomed in. I've tried some more shots and the results were a mixed bag - and I don't exactly have shaky hands.
Now for some pretty shots (pun definitely intended), using the front camera:

Oh what 'Joy' it is with this camera
I like the way the front camera recognises the background and blurs it as necessary, resulting in some semblance of balance in the overall shot. On the second photo, though, the lining on the hair near the shoulder isn't perfect. This can also be seen below:

^{That's it! Pizza for dinner!} 
Now, let's tool around more with the bokeh effect. Here's our base shot:

^{I have no idea why she chose cereals for her background.}
Huawei added a little more pizzazz to its bokeh game. Aside from the usual default way of applying this filter, they added more options, as seen below (self-explanatory):

^{'Pretty' blur} 
A little bonus on the circle and box effects: you can move them around, adjust its size and, in the case of the latter, even tilt it in any angle you want:

^{She's probably trying to inspire herself in her futile weight-loss programme.}
So, yeah. The more (effects), the merrier, I reckon.
Now, for what has been labelled as the most important feature of the Mate 20 Pro's camera system: the ultra-wide lens camera, which, as you can tell, can get more into your frame without budging from your position, moving further away or doing all sorts of contortionist stuff just to squeeze everything into your shot.
You can enable the ultra-wide-angle mode by the swiping camera app's zoom figure down to 0.6x. Here's a sample from - once again - my balcony, at around midnight, which will also serve as our Night Mode sample:

^{Taken after the 'November rain' in Dubai}
Indeed, ultra-wide-angle shots will serve you well. It's a great thing to have when trying to fit in structures like, of course, the Burj Khalifa.
Last sample: let's compare the photos above with these, which used the default photo mode:

^{Still holds up well}
You'll readily notice that you'll get more brightness by using Night Mode; things get a bit grainy if you don't. And here's some more camera and video options on the device just for you:
 
^{Options, options...}
Video's okay as well, as it captures good overall clarity, with subjects appearing crisp. Overall, the camera on the Mate 20 Pro is up for some serious business. My only issue with it is that, after taking a shot, you (again) have this sharpening-the-photo-please-hold-steady message. This means that you can't immediately move after tapping the shutter button, which could explain those smudges earlier. In particular, when using Night Mode, you have to wait for up to several seconds before the shot is finalised. I noticed that moving a bit in this mode affects the final lighting of your picture, so steady hands are a must here.
AND SO...
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is certainly a great way to end this year's season of flagship smartphones. It's a more-than-complete package, but the verdict is still out on whether its two unique features - reverse wireless charging and that NM Card - will gain widespread acceptance. Huawei, though, isn't the first to challenge the status quo - and they definitely won't be the last.
It's also below the prices of other certain flagships. Huawei has been known to offer premium devices at rather reasonable costs, but it would be interesting to see how they'll be able to sustain this philosophy, since advanced innovation doesn't get any cheaper. This device is definitely a serious challenger in the market - and it could be a sneak peek of the 'expect-the-unexpected' mantra as the smartphone market rolls into 2019.
GOODIES - Excellent battery life, wireless/reverse wireless charging, ultra-wide lens
BADDIES - Camera software could use some tinkering, no memory expansion until proprietary NM Card comes out
EDITOR RATING: 4.5/5
- alvin@khaleejtimes.com

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