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Should you buy…the Huawei P20 Pro?

Huawei’s new flagship is the first genuine threat to the Apple/Samsung smartphone duopoly.
Huawei’s new flagship is the first genuine threat to the Apple/Samsung smartphone duopoly. Huawei’s new flagship is the first genuine threat to the Apple/Samsung smartphone duopoly.

If you’re looking for a stand-out Android phone, there are traditionally a handful of places you look – Samsung, Google’s Pixel range and perhaps HTC and LG.

Chinese firm Huawei wants to change that, and with the P20 Pro – the company’s newest flagship phablet – it is closer than it’s ever been.

The P20 Pro is the best phone the company has ever made, combining a stylish design with one of the best cameras currently available on a smartphone.

It is Huawei’s most premium feeling and looking phone, even if it still does have some faults.

(Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA) (Martyn Landi/PA)

The 6.1-inch FullView display fills most of the front panel of the device with only a slim bezel at the bottom for the home button and an iPhone X-like notch at the top for the front-facing camera.

The size of the screen means that having a slim bezel at the bottom of the display isn’t too much of an issue in itself, but it doesn’t look quite as sleek when placed next to ‘all screen’ devices such as the iPhone X or the Samsung Galaxy S9.

That notch is also a talking point. Huawei made a point of highlighting how the notch on the P20 is slimmer than its iPhone X counterpart so that more notification icons could be displayed at the top of the screen, providing a better user experience.

Fine in theory – but in practice, the top end of the P20 Pro screen looks cluttered compared to the neater icon layout on the iPhone X. Huawei talks a good game, but the result isn’t quite what the company wants it to be.

However, everything about the form of the P20 receives high marks. The display itself is bright and vivid thanks to its HDR support, meaning everything from wallpapers to photos and video content look much sharper when being viewed.

(Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA) (Martyn Landi/PA)

The glass and metal body is well crafted, and the transitions between the different panels are smooth and make the device comfortable to hold.

It is IP67 rated, meaning it is dust and water resistant, and the blue and twilight colour finishes for the rear of the device are both eye-catching in the mostly black and silver world of smartphones.

As for day-to-day life with the P20 Pro, it’s by far the best of anything Huawei has ever offered. The battery life is hugely impressive – in some instances lasting two days on a single charge, even with reasonably heavy use.

It holds its charge almost unbelievably well, and it supports fast charging, meaning that when you do eventually have to plug it in it won’t be for long.

The overall software experience is an improvement on previous Huawei devices too – the ‘skin’ the Chinese firm layers on top of Android to mark the phone as a Huawei is not a clumsy or overly prominent as in some past devices.

The pre-loaded bloatware apps that are one of the biggest downsides of Android are still there – company branded or extra apps that in some cases, as with email, create a needless second app of exactly the same function.

Interestingly, Huawei also includes a tool that enables users to get rid of the notch should they so wish – one that blocks out the screen space either side of the notch to make it disappear.

(Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA) (Martyn Landi/PA)

On the one hand, it’s an attentive feature that shows willingness to offer users the chance to deeply personalise the device, but on the other hand it suggests Huawei’s inclusion of the notch is little more than an attempt to force comparisons with the iPhone X.

The decision hints at a lack of conviction in a notch being the best form of design, rather a shortcut to headlines.

But in general the P20 does let Android 8.1 Oreo software shine, and is all the better as a phone for it.

The best parts of using this phone are not about software though, they come from using this device’s powerful camera system.

Huawei has once again used its partnership with camera firm Leica to engineer its lens, of which there are three on the rear – a first for a smartphone.

Crucially, what this triple camera system is able to do is improve the detail and quality of images while also boosting colour reproduction.

This ability also applies to zoomed images, with the 5X Hybrid Zoom on the P20 able to capture detail from a distance that rival devices simply can not.

The night mode is also a must-use feature – taking around four seconds to capture an image in low light in order to stabilise and capture all the detail and clarity it can, in most cases leading to images that are much brighter and clearer than photos shot in the same settings with the likes of the iPhone X and Galaxy S9.

(Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA) A dark courtyard captured on the P20 Pro (Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA) …And on the iPhone X (Martyn Landi/PA)

The P20’s camera is also heavily tied up in Huawei’s artificial intelligence system, which is hardwired into the device and at the heart of how the camera operates.

While this is very useful in many quick ‘snap and go’ instances, there are moments when the AI and range of camera settings on the P20 overdo it.

The automatic scene recognition, which can identify when you’re shooting a green landscape, for example, has the tendency to over-saturate photos – the greens in some countryside images taken during testing looked almost artificial.

(Martyn Landi/PA)
(Martyn Landi/PA) (Martyn Landi/PA)

Luckily, there are enough controls in the camera app to take control of this yourself, so users can wield the striking power of the P20 cameras as they see fit.

The P20 Pro then is the first Huawei flagship that can truly be considered a viable alternative to Apple and Samsung’s phone offerings.

It’s a stylish, well-built phone on the outside, and on the inside has the specs to at least match the iPhone X and Galaxy S9, while remaining competitive on price by starting at £820.

The brand name may not yet be a household name, but this phone could help change that.