At the end of this week, Huawei presented its new P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro + smartphones, belonging to the most important and prestigious series among those produced by the Chinese company. The line is designed to compete directly with the Samsung Galaxy S20 and the most recent iPhones, and is usually highly appreciated by users for the relationship between quality and price.
Huawei will have the difficult task of convincing its potential customers to buy Android smartphones which, however, cannot use the official Google applications, following the decision of the United States government to ban the company, accusing it (without concrete evidence) of do espionage on behalf of the Chinese government.
Like other major smartphone manufacturers, Huawei usually presents its new products at major events held in the world's major capitals, where it invites journalists, industry experts and celebrities. This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company had to give up its plans and fall back on a streaming presentation, during which the main features of the new P40s were exposed. Richard Yu, one of Huawei's top executives, explained that the company had started production of the P40s at the end of 2019 and that it expects to be able to meet global demand, without particular problems related to slowdowns in production in China due to the coronavirus.
Three models
The new smartphone line is available in three variants: the P40 is slightly smaller in size, just under 15 cm high and 7 cm wide, while the P40 Pro and P40 + have equal dimensions with a height of almost 16 centimeters for a width just over 7. All three models have a similar thickness, which at the maximum point (where there is the bulge for the cameras) it reaches about 9 millimeters. The weight for smartphones is never to be underestimated: the P40 weighs 175 grams, while the P40 Pro and P40 Pro + exceed, albeit slightly, the 200 grams.
Design
Huawei has a particular attention to the design of its most important smartphones and even the current ones are well designed, with rounded glass screens and, in the case of the P40 Pro +, with a ceramic back finish. Aesthetically they are quite reminiscent of the new Samsung Galaxy S20, which in turn resembled the iPhone 11 and models from other manufacturers such as Xiaomi. The rear of the three smartphones has a conspicuous rectangle for the cameras, a constant among phones produced in the last year.
Screen
The screens on the new P40 offer remarkable definition and good brightness, even for use in full sunlight. The P40 has a display 6.1-inch (OLED) with a resolution of 1080 × 2340 pixels and an image refresh to 60Hz (means they refresh 60 times per second).
The P40 Pro and P40 Pro + models instead have a 6.58-inch screen with a resolution of 1200 × 2640 pixels. Both models employ a 90Hz refresh rate which makes on-screen animations much smoother and more natural than the base model. Huawei didn't hit 120Hz like Samsung did on its latest Galaxy, but stopping at 90Hz seems like a good compromise to improve the display while not draining too much battery (a problem Samsung Galaxy S20s can exhibit if you keep the frequency always so high).
The screen integrates a fingerprint sensor, which can be used to unlock the smartphone, if you don't want to use facial recognition.
Cameras
In the rankings on the best cameras in smartphones, Huawei's “P” line has always achieved very high scores, both for sensors and for lenses, and the equipment of the new models should maintain expectations.
The P40 has three rear cameras: the main one is 50 megapixel, accompanied by a secondary with 16 megapixel super wide angle (17mm) and finally an optical zoom lens up to 3 x 8 megapixel. The sensor that receives the light from the cameras is among the largest ever used in smartphones, and this allows the phone to take sharp shots even in poor lighting conditions.
The P40 Pro has a 50 megapixel main rear camera, accompanied by a 40 megapixel super wide angle and an optical zoom of up to 5x, 12 megapixels. The zoom performance is good, but as for other smartphones that offer this feature it becomes less appreciable if you go beyond the optical magnification, continuing with the digital one.
The P40 Pro + has two telephoto lenses: one with 3 magnifications and one with 10 magnifications, made possible by a “periscope” system that Huawei had already tested on last year's models. To avoid having an excessive thickness in the part dedicated to the camera, the most powerful telephoto lenses are aligned parallel to the longer side of the smartphone, and then have a system of mirrors to take the image.
The lenses were made in collaboration with Leica, a famous brand of cameras and optics, a detail on which Huawei often returns with logos and indications to make this known. This of course does not imply that on smartphones there are systems adopted by Leica on its cameras.
The main app for cameras offers the classic features and some based on “artificial intelligence” systems. As with previous years' models it is not entirely clear how “smart” these solutions are, but regardless of the definition they allow you to remove reflections, automatically adjust the camera settings and, if someone accidentally ends up in a shot, automatically delete it from the camera. 'image.
5G and battery
All three new smartphones use a 5G Kirin 990 processor, which proved reliable on last year's Mate 30 models, and antennas for connect to next generation 5G networks. The P40 has a 3,800mAh battery and can be charged with a current transformer up to 22.5 Watts, with relatively short charging times. The P40 Pro and P40 Pro + models instead have a 4,200 mAh battery and the ability to be charged faster at 40 Watts.
Software
The new P40s use the latest version of the Android operating system, therefore 10, but with extensive customizations due to the EMUI 10.1 interface made by Huawei. Due to the ban in the United States, Huawei cannot work with Google and consequently can no longer offer the services of the US company on new smartphones. It means that the Google Play Store app store cannot be accessed from the phone, and that an alternative one offered by Huawei, called App Gallery, must be used.
Huawei has tried to reduce any inconvenience to users as much as possible, for example by making sure that the most popular apps from the Google Play Store are also available on the App Gallery. The company has also created an application called Phone Clone, which allows you to easily transfer apps downloaded via the Google Play Store from your old phone to the new one. The system can be used for most applications, but not for those of Google which are more closely integrated with Android. The drawback is that the applications transferred in this way cannot be updated when new versions come out, unless you download them again on the old phone and then transfer them back to your P40 via Phone Clone.
Most of the apps offered by Google are replaceable without particular problems, for example those for reading mail or browsing online, things could be more complicated for maps. Google Maps is by far the best service for getting directions on smartphones, and not everyone may be willing to give it up. There has been talk for some time about a collaboration between Huawei and TomTom, which could help reduce the problem, but many details are still missing.
From the App Gallery you can still download “TrovApp”, an application that allows you to search for applications on other Android stores, including Google Play. In this way you can download Google applications such as Gmail and Google Maps, and get most of the services that are usually used with Google. WhatsApp, Instagram and other popular applications are also available.
The US ban could also be removed or loosened, giving Huawei some more leeway to return to partnering with Google.
Pricing and availability
The new Huawei P40 will be available starting April 6, but can already be ordered online. The starting price for the P40 is € 799, while for the P40 Pro it is € 1049.
