When you think of Huawei you might think of Trump or the Google Ban. I look at it as an adventure against all odds. Here you have the Second largest phone manufacture in the world despite these 2 issues. A company driving beyond what people thought they could. Their new phone the P40 Pro comes with its hurdles like the company itself. Let get into why you should or should not get this phone.
We are going to break this down into 4 segments.
- Initial experience. What is in the box, feel and design
- Real world use and how did it hold up day to day
- THE NERD STUFF. Tech specs, Benchmarks, and other things I find useful to know
- Final Thoughts. Likes and dis-like
Initial experience
Simple packaging. Nothing fancy. Clean White box design. Opening the box you get the Phone on top under that you have your normal Headphone, cable, Charging block and some reading material regarding warranty and what not. Pretty standard. Oh and I got a clear tpu case with mine.
Now the phone is anything but standard. Color was silver frost. It is a matte finished silver but even those it is Matte it has a shimmer. Stunning color. Probably one of my favs this year. Wrapped around the edge is a high polished silver mid frame that separates the very substantial 6.58 display from the rear.
Along the bottom you have sim car tray, USB-C charger and a speaker. On the right side you have a well-placed Volume up and down as well as Power. The reason I say well placed is because if your playing a game or watching a video it does get in the was as some phones do.
Display have a 6.58 OLED 90Hz refresh rate and quad curved display. All 4-sides curve it is actually very nice sitting on the table ?. Colors are rich and full of life. Don’t mind the Double camera display punch out in the top left.
Speaker is ok. It puts out sound. Not very loud but clear enough.
On the back like everyone’s phones (seems to be the hot item) there is a huge camera module in the top Left. It has a fairly large bum (there are bigger) But it needs to house its monster camera.
Real world use/ THE NERD STUFF
Huawei is no stranger to making power devices and this one fall right in line. We will talk about the camera but not yet.
BATTERY POOOOOWERRRR!!!! I have to say Huawei just kills it in the battery game. 4200 mAh ia=s no slouch and with there power management system It seems to last forever. I never had to charge it through the day. NOT once. Almost once though ?. Most days of normal use. 1-2 hours YouTube, Several photos and vids, about 45 minutes of calling and tons of text and emails. I would be at about 35-45% battery at bedtime. One day I got to 4% battery come bed time. Around 1.5 hours of games, 1-hour YouTube, 2 hours Netflix, streaming Spotify for about 2.5 hours, 3 hours of calling and 30 minutes of hotspot. Plus tons of text and emails. So ya battery has game. So much game that it out preforms my note 20 ultra (4500mAh) by a fair distance.
Under the shinny exterior lies a beast in waiting. Quietly waiting to pounce on whatever task you toss at it. With the all impressive Kirin 990 5G Octa-core Processor (2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.86 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.36 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.95 GHz). On ANTUTU benchmark I saw an average score of about 47000. As a comparison the NOTE 10+ was about 44000. Is it faster then devices just released like Note 20 Ultra, NO. but that’s OK. Its plenty fast.
I see you I said from behind my phone staring at the image rendered by the most beautiful camera in the market. What was this creepy sounding photo you ask? It was a cup of coffee from McDonald’s.
When people think who has the best Camera in their phone it always bounces between Samsung Apple and the Huawei. The Camera module is large and there is some great tech in there to validate that size. Its size is a little annoying as I found when holding the phone, a kept touching the lenses. That means clean before each photo. I loved the photos though. Clarity was amazing, colors were stunning. You have 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera, 40 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle), 12 MP SuperSensing Telephoto Camera, 3D Depth Sensing Camera. Do I need to say more?…oh yes I should. Photos options a plenty, Portrait mode, underwater mode, super insane slow-motion option, etc… The Pro mode really gives you maximum control over your photos. If you like being a semi pro phone photographer this is the phone.
Now let’s talk about the ELEPHANT!!! In the room. NO GOOGLE SUPPORT. This does not mean no android it means no google services. This includes but not limited to. Gmail, G-maps, G-calendar, uber, etc… pretty much anything the requires access to google can not run on this. BUT!!! There is an app gallery through Huawei where you can get top tier games, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram and more. You can also use the phone clone app to bring over a lot of your current apps over with you. Finally, is Petal search. The app will scan the internet for apps that are android but not on the Huawei app gallery. This was you can have the largest selection of apps available. There were a few apps like one drive that could not be found in my region. But a lot of my apps were. If they did not use google services.
If your curious about gaming. Yes, It can pull that off easy enough. With 8gb ram and the 90Hz display Warzone was sexy silky smooth. Lots of me dying because I am horrible at that games. But worked amazing.
With the 12gb ram, 90Hz display and UFS 3.0 Storage it moves smooth and zippy. You will get done what you need done fast. No doubt about that.
Important specs
CPU: Kirin 995G
Octa-core
2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.86 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.36 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.95 GHz
Display
6.58 inches, 16.7 million colours, OLED up to 90 Hz frame refresh rate, Resolution 2640 x 1200 Pixels
P68 Water and dust-proofing
8 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM (UFS 3.0)
Rear Camera’s 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera, 40 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle), 12 MP SuperSensing Telephoto Camera. 3D Depth Sensing Camera, Image stabilization: OIS + AIS
Front Camera: 32 MP Selfie Camera, Depth Camera
Battery 4200 mAh
HUAWEI SuperCharge (Max 40 W)
Full Detailed specs can be found here .
Final Thoughts. Likes and dis-like
Here is the deal, Huawei comes through with another powerhouse and stunning cameras. But is that enough? Better yet is that enough for $1,750 CND ($1300 USD)
Likes:
I am a fan of the camera and all the great features it comes with. You would be hard pressed to find a phone with a camera this good. There are phones that are close but with image quality and features non that I think of yet. The display is beautiful and fast (not the fastest). The UFS 3.0 storage and 8gb Ram make using it zippy and un-cumbersome.
Dis-likes:
For all the things I love. The biggest issue I ran into was how many apps I use that needs google services. The lack of access to google service was an issue for me but not everyone will have the same impact. All of my work programs need google services to run. If I was running a second phone, One for work and one for personal I could make the jump to P40 Pro with little impacts. And I really done like position of the camera bump. Always touching it.
Overall
Powerful and clean with its own unique speed bumps. If you do not rely heavily on google service then this is a beast. If you love taking phots with your phone you will love it. If your looking for a phone you can use for the foreseeable future without needing to upgrade. This phone is worth every penny. But you will have to re-learn a few things. You will have to find a few apps on your own. If you can make the adjustment to that I will make you happy for years to come.
