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We spent 6 weeks with the new Mate 20 Pro kept in our pocket together with our iPhone 8 and we can say without fear of being proven wrong that, at least from the point of view of flexibility and the quality of the images that can be obtained, there is no more comfortable and powerful tool in the form of a smartphone.
Power comes from two factors: a good processor, perhaps not up to par in performance also of iPhone 8 (or iPhone X of a year ago) but exploited with intelligence and by a trio of lenses that practically allow you to throw away the compact that maybe still could seem useful to you and combine the shooting and sharing capacity of a smartphone that must and can always be connected to the network.
The proof is simply in these two shots taken at Eima in Bologna, the fair of agricultural machinery sector like this huge Jonh Deere: the two shots were made by in the same position and from the same phone respectively with magnification 0,6x and 10x.
But let's go in order and examine aspect after aspect of the current top of the Huawei range (excluding the Porsche Design refurbished Extra Luxury that share the same “engine”)
The packaging
Here the phone with “open box” 
the back without fingerprint sensor of digital: now it is on the screen 
Detail of the “matrix” configuration 
The accessories supplied: there is also the minijack-usb-c adapter 
The super powerful power supply 
the speaker is all 'inside the USB-C 
Access to the sim cards is in the lower part 
At the top there is the IR emitter for remote control 
The side and the curved screen
Design and Ergonomics
Mate 20 Pro is certainly beautiful and fascinating with the perfect symmetry of the back that encloses the three cameras and the dual LED in a 2 × 2 matrix, the elegant, non-slip surface and above all, and it looks like a miracle these days, anti-fingerprints.
The large OLED screen on the front has curved sides like some Samsung models and this in addition to making the front less original causes some problems that affect ergonomics. In fact, right from the start, thanks to the lack of a case in the test package, we found ourselves a bit in difficulty in handling the phone correctly.
It will be for our “fat fingers” that were going to touch some interface elements but the tapering of the hips made sure that in addition to making the grip, especially during photo shoots, our fingers activated some “random” function.
The solution was the purchase of a simple cover with a minimum side thickness and non-slip so that the fingers did not slip towards the front of the smartphone.
In short, the profile and the curvature effect are aesthetically appreciable but they must not be to the detriment of manageability and perhaps a “bumper”, a minimal case that leaves the front and beautiful back of the phone free, is absolutely d 'obligation. Fortunately, a semi-transparent case model is provided in the basic equipment on the market.
For the rest the phone is perfect, well made, curves with fascinating connections and symmetry even in the base thanks to the disappearance of the Jack audio and inserting the speaker into the hole of the USB-C socket.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro 
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
The screen
The screen is a delight to the eyes and, as we said, if you like the curvature on the sides and you don't find sites or apps that have forgotten to leave a suitable border, it will also be convenient to read books and scroll ne the contents. What is certain is that after working for weeks with a screen of this size it is difficult to go back to 5 “.
The colors are a little saturated but this is a characteristic of the OLED but there is 'to say that Huawei also allows a saturation adjustment that adapts to the tastes of different users and there is obviously also the adjustment of the night vision.
The notch is well present and here much wider of P20 Pro but 3D facial recognition wants its part. Always excellent the opportunity to mask the entire upper part of the screen by inserting the notch in a black band at the expense of the full screen effect but in favor of those who just can't stand that insert in the upper part of the screen.
Authentication systems: Huawei's Face ID, the fingerprint under the screen and … the numeric code
If last year at the presentation of iPhone X someone (like us) had wondered if it was the case to abandon the Touch ID sensor for facial recognition with the Mate 20 Pro has the opportunity to test the effectiveness of the two systems in comparison.
In our extended test we have to say that Huawei's Face ID, based on triangulation with the front camera and the three-dimensional detection system (the technology is called 3D Depth Sensing and is able to detect 3000 points with the 3D Face Unlock) behaved very well but personally the need to lift the phone to be framed appears to us in some cases uncomfortable. The alternative is to enter the numeric code or the use of the fingerprint which in this case uses the detection from under the screen.
The sensors for 3D depth detection
Effectively , since the 3D Face Unlock is already known in its Apple incarnation is the recognition of the fingerprint under the screen (combined with the other system) the real novelty in the field of authentication. We must say that the results in our experience are good but not very good: it is necessary to have your finger absolutely dry because if a light veil of humidity is interposed between the glass and your fingertip, the recognition is somehow distorted. Nothing that cannot be solved by passing the thumb over the jeans but sometimes it is a bit weird for those who observe you! With a firmware update in the last few days, recognition (as well as facial recognition) has improved but we preferred to repeat the registration of the fingerprint and face for greater effectiveness.
Basically we appreciated very much the possibility of choosing the most comfortable method for our habits.
We must however observe that the 3D Live eMoji, which we can define as “inspired” by Apple's Animoji are still in an embryonic state and the answer to the movements of the face it is still woody but here too we hope for one of the next firmware updates of the Mate 20 Pro which, in the excellent tradition of Huawei, do not fail to bring news on models already on the market for months or years.
Interface, OS and UI
For the interface we are here to repeat what d In our review of the P20 Pro: having to work in parallel with an iPhone and an Android phone, we have no major problems, the interfaces with Android 9 and the new Emui 9.0.00 are always closer and the gestures, now that they can also be used on This full-screen phone looks more natural in the long run than looking for a virtual button or icon on the screen. here you can manage everything however we like.
The cameras and software for photographing
And here we come to the Mate 20 Pro's highlight, that (with good reason ) more advertised and highlighted by the company itself that makes photographic skills the strong point of its top-of-the-range models.
Is it true glory or just marketing? For the now multi-weekly experience with Mate 20 Pro we can say that it is a well-deserved pride: at this moment (late 2018) this is certainly the most powerful and flexible phone from a photographic point of view on the market.
Powerful because it has a 40 million pixel camera that ensures an exceptional level of detail that cannot be physically obtained with smaller sensors. Flexible because the three cameras on board (8 Mpixel for tele and 20 Mpixel for wide angle), although in “mixed” mode, provide images of only 10 million pixels, they are able to solve any photographic need almost instantly.
From a large, very bright screen for framing and on the other side a wide angle for architectural photos (with photos of 20 million pixels), to the freezing of an instant in a night scene, to the macro (which arrives up to 2.5 cm away from the lens) to reveal the detail of a coin or a stamp or the print screen of a label at the zoom to let you frame a detail for a photo to post on Instagram: flexibility is almost at the highest levels.
Normal shooting 
Macro close to 2.5 cm: see the screen
We wrote “almost” for a reason: the power and flexibility of the mate 20 Pro continue to clash, as with the predecessor P20, with a somewhat Byzantine interface in which shooting modes such as HDR are a little too distributed in the direct menus and in the “other” menu, in the Pro version and in the commands immediately on the screen losing a bit of immediacy.
In any case with Mate 20 Pro after a little you will always be able to bring home the result and to have a good photo at the end you can concentrate on your creative skills and on the framing.
Obviously in recent weeks we have made a lot of shots that we present in some galleries below. From the images you can see how the phone has an infinite number of resources for each type of shot.
1x 
0,6x 
3x 
5x 
10x 
0,6x 
10x (find the detail from the previous photo) 
0,6x 
1x 
3x 
indoor night photo outdoor night photo 
0.6 x 
1x 
5x 
0.6x 
1x Photo 
1x Nocturnal 
3x 
5x 
10x
In addition to the capabilities of the objectives, there are those of “Artificial Intelligence” which intervenes to “improve” the shots and manage portrait and bokeh modes.
As on the P20 Pro we have shutter reaction times of less than half a second and this is exactly what instant photo curtains: you can use the volume down button to shoot with a blank screen and you are sure to take the result home here too. The AI motion analysis mode allows you, for example, to create macro images of a flower even in the presence of wind.
40 MP 27 mm 
0.6 x 1x 
3x optical 
5x optical 
10x digital
We must say that compared to the experience with P20 Pro here the AI intervenes with more judgment, (we do not know if thanks to the more powerful processor or due to a variation in Huawei's algorithms) but certain chromatic exaggerations when framing blue skies and vegetation are disappeared and portrait modes now have smoother contours and allow for very meaningful effects also useful when framing people in groups and on a not reduced depth.
The room front
If the cameras on the back are the top in terms of shots, the presence of a 24 Mpixel camera on the front and the same AI algorithms from Huawei with a more powerful should have brought the shooting for selfies to a new level of quality: we must say that the jump is partially successful: the portrait mode works better but the selfies are always a little overexposed at least in the photos
. The video footage seems more balanced.
The bokeh effect has certainly reached a new level even if the slightly more forgiving depth adjustment could insert some passers-by passing behind it into the focus …
The videos
Even if Huawei does not seem to devote the same attention to the improvement of the video section as the presence of the photographic of the new processor feels and the possibility of continuous zoom from tele to wide angle in 1080p mode (with even an AI mode that follows the subject) somewhat compensates for the lack of optical stabilization for 4K that we now consider mandatory for a phone of this price. If we are “satisfied” with full HD, surely the footage is of the highest level but a top of the range should reach a higher level to compete with iPhone, Google and Samsung in this respect.
Very interesting are the shooting modes that have been made available with the latest firmware updates: here the power of the Kirin processor comes out, allowing you to isolate the subject from the background even in motion.
The battery, fast charging and wireless charging
If there is one thing the top-of-the-range Huawei excel at is the battery: the company's engineering capability and use of “economical” processors leads to extraordinary results despite the use of a large OLED screen: for the same volume of the smartphone, the batteries have a high capacity and this translates into the duration in use. We never managed to make the phone “die” from 8 to midnight except on a day when we took 500 photos and 10 videos and spent 5 hours editing and revising in addition to normal web, social and phone use.
In a long weekend of relaxation with little use of the cell phone on the evening of the third day the phone still had 10% battery. They are not absolute data but they certainly demonstrate an extraordinary duration that allows use even during busy days and intense use without the fear that the phone will turn off in the middle of work or in the evening consultation.
And if the 4200 mAh battery seems a bit in trouble or you forgot to recharge it in the morning before going to work you can connect it to its power supply and get super fast or wireless charging thanks to the option finally present on the mate 20 pro: 70% in 30 minutes … verified in the field.
The novelty of this latest model is 'the capability of wireless “power delivery”: in practice it wirelessly recharges a phone that has wireless charging. We tried it with the iPhone and we must say that it works discreetly as long as you get rid of the cases.
Do not pretend to wake up a completely discharged phone: we have not succeeded and we think that the phone while giving up charge does not have the sufficient “cue” to resurrect the paired one: better to use it when the other phone is still a bit charged.
USB-C and presentation mode also Wireless
As in the Huawei P20 Pro we have a presentation mode that allows you to use all the basic applications (browsing, file management, access to the photo library, etc.) in desktop mode by connecting a mouse and a keyboard (wired or wireless): practically a USB-C hub like those that you use for MacBook and iPad Pro 2018 to connect videos and peripherals (but here the mouse works).
In the Mate 20 Pro the same thing is achieved wirelessly and mind you it is not a mirroring of the screen that has always been present in mobile phones but of an extension of the capabilities of the desktop version phone that can be useful i n case of presentations or in an emergency when your computer is having a tantrum or you have left it in the office.
We have experimented with the function for an emergency in the hotel and we must say that by connecting the Mate 20 Pro to the TV in the room and using an emergency keyboard that we carry with us (to work with the smartphone on the plane) we replaced the computer for a good hour by uploading an article to WordPress with related photos.
Features
Huawei Mate 20 Pro € 960.00 Brand: Huawei and Honor Category: Smartphone Add to Compare
Specifications
SmartPhone
Operating system Android 9.0, EMUI 9.0 Cellular Network GSM / HSPA / LTE For sale by … October 2018 Dimensions 157.8 x 72.3 x 8.6 mm 
Weight 189 gr SIM Single SIM (Nano-SIM) r Hybrid Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) Screen – Type AMOLED Screen Size 6.39 “, DCI-P3 – HDR10 Screen – Resolution 1440 x 3120 pixels, 538 ppi Screen Protector Corning Gorilla Glass Chipset HiSilicon Kirin 980 (7 nm) CPU Octa-core (2×2.6 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2×1.92 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55) GPU Mali-G76 MP10 Internal Memory 256GB, 8GB RAM or 128GB, 6GB RAM Card Reader NM card, up to 256GB (use SIM 2 slot) Main Camera 40 MP, f / 1.8, 27mm (wide ), 1 / 1.7 “, PDAF / Laser AF 20 MP, f / 2.2, 16mm (ultra wide), 1 / 2.7 “, PDAF / Laser AF 8 MP, f / 2.4, 80mm (telephoto), 1/4”, 5x optical zoom, OIS, Camera – Other Leica optics, dual-LED dual-tone flash, panorama, HDR Video , , (gyro-EIS), Front Room 24 MP, f / 2.0, 26mm (wide), , HDR Sound – alarms Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones Sound – Loudspeaker Yes – Stereo Mini Jack 3.5 mm No Wi-Fi wi-fi Wi- Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, aptX HD, LE GPS dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS Radio FM No USB / Charge 3.1, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go Sensors Face ID, fingerprint (under display), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, barometer, compass Messages SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM Navigation HTML5 Other Fast battery charging 40W (70% in 30 minutes) – Qi wireless fast charging 15W – Wireless charging of another phone – DivX / XviD / MP4 /H.265/WMV player – MP3 / eAAC + / WMA / WAV / FLAC player – Document editor – Photo / video editor Battery – Type Non-removable Li-Po 4200 mAh Colors Emerald Green, Midnight Blue, Twilight, Pink Gold, Black Water resistance IP68 dustproof / water (up to 2 for 30 minutes) Accessories Included Fast Charger, Headphones, USB Type-C Cable, USB-C Headphone Adapter Price 1090 €
Presented on October 16th, this is the new top of the range H uawei for 2018. It has three cameras including a brand new ultrawide, a tele and a 40 Mpixel primary lens.
Offers
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The price
As you will have noticed from our recent iPhone reviews the race to the top of the prices of range smartphones do not seem to us a trend destined to last long even if it allows companies such as Apple and Huawei to capitalize on investments and innovation. In the case of this Huawei it seems to us that the starting price is too high especially for the gap that is created with the “younger” brother Huawei P20 Pro which has been on sale for some time. 1,099 Euros are really a lot even for such a flexible and powerful terminal and, as often happens, it is the market, especially near Christmas sales that “calm down” the starting prices.
At first the “calmiere” effect is created by the company by offering free kits to the very first buyers and then the discounts and offers from operators and large retailers arrive. There is no doubt that it is a premium phone with a good basic configuration (128 GB, very fast charger included, headphones adapter headphones) but the “real” price is what you buy on Amazon right now (about 960 Euros) or on eBay (around 899 Euros) and in various large retail stores. And it is certainly a price commensurate with the actual value of the smartphone.
Conclusions
You can see many of the conclusions in the Pro and against that it is usually much more “dry” this because Huawei has accustomed us well with the P20 Pro in the photo section and here it has reached even higher levels and above all because the phone has a premium price and should get the most out of every score. There are still some things to fine-tune for the videos and the front camera but as mentioned several times the photographic section and its versatility have a very high importance quotient in the daily use of the object.
Some uses of Huawei's Face ID such as the 3D EMoji seem to be in an embryonic state and there will still be growth but Huawei has also accustomed us to add new features to the models already released and Mate 20 Pro can still improve.
Compared to the 1099 Euro list price The “street” price of about 900 Euro (for the single sim on eBay) is certainly more competitive especially in relation to the younger brother P20 Pro which, apart from the wide angle, offers a section respectable photographic.
Pro
Photo section to scream: a perfect mix of wide -normal and tele that allows you to take shots in any position and, in Night mode, in any condi tion of light. Super handy and powerful Super Macro
Improved and less intrusive AI, Spectacular portrait mode on many occasions.
Management of the blur in post production now with full control.
Great screen and multiple quick and effective authentication options
Outstanding battery with very fast charging times and duration beyond all expectations
Against
The curved screen on the sides may not please everyone and a bumper or a case is required for good handling.
Video section a lot improved but still not up to iPhone
High List Price – look for year-end bargains.
Public price
Official price 1099 Euro VAT included. It is available at 960 Euros on Amazon and 849 Euros on Ebay for single SIM devices.
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Buy on Amazon 960 € View Offer
