Huawei Launches the P20 and P20 Pro with First Ever Triple-Camera Setup

The wait is finally over and Huawei’s new flagship phones, P20 and P20 Pro, have been unveiled in Paris. Both the phones have stayed in the rumor mill for well over 4 months and were initially expected to come out in February during the MWC.

Now that everything is official, let’s get down to what the devices offer. (Spoiler: Almost all leaks turned out to be true.)

Huawei P20 Pro

First off, we take a look at the more powerful and exciting Huawei P20 Pro. As mentioned before, the leaks turned out to be true so it does bring the world’s first three-camera setup.

Design & Display

Just as expected, it packs a 6.1-inch IPS LCD with a notch. The screen comes with an odd aspect ratio of 18.7:9 and a and resolution of 1,080 x 2,244 pixels. Despite being an LCD, the screen uses a Pentile RGBW matrix, much like the Huawei Mate 10.

 

Huawei P20 Pro display design front back

The screen is also accompanied by a multi-purpose fingerprint sensor at the front. It is of the always-on variety and supports gestures to replace capacitive buttons.

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P20 Pro’s design brings a major change from what we’ve seen in the previous two generations. Instead of metal, Huawei chose to go for a trendy dual-glass body supported by a metal frame.

The Pro version also comes with IP67 water and dust resistance for a complete peace of mind when using the phone around water.

P20 Pro will be available in five colors – Black, Midnight Blue, Pink Gold, Champagne Gold and a signature color – depending on the region. The signature color is named Twilight and has a very noticeable gradient with a color shift.

Hardware & Software

There are no surprises as far as the performance is concerned. The P20 is powered by a Kirin 970 – an octa-core processor (4x A73 + 4x A53). There is only a single storage configuration, i.e. 128GB, coupled with 6 gigs of RAM. Thankfully, you get a hybrid SIM+microSD card slot so there’s a possibility to add more storage (upto 128GB).

The graphics are handled by the G72MP12 chip. The Kirin chip also includes a dedicated NPU for machine learning and AI optimizations.

Huawei hasn’t held back in the software department as the phones come with the latest Android 8.1 with EMUI 8.1.

The stereo speakers from the previous generations are still present as well.

We all know that 2018 is the year of annoying notches but Huawei has added a nifty feature which lets you hide the notch by darkening the area around the notch as if there was none. Of course, you will still notice some light leakage as it’s not an OLED panel. If only they had removed the notch altogether!

Camera

Let’s move on to the part we all were waiting for – the three-camera setup. Leica’s Triple Camera system uses a 40MP large 1/1.7″ color sensor with f/1.8 lens and OIS accompanied by an 8MP color telephoto lens with an f/2.4 lens. The third sensor gets a separate slot in the back and uses a 20MP monochrome sensor with an aperture of f/1.6.

Huawei P20 Pro Camera closeup

There’s 4-way autofocus (PDAF, laser, contrast, and depth detection), a dual-tone LED flash and a color temperature. Huawei claims the new camera setup is capable of 3x optical zoom and 5x hybrid zoom.

It doesn’t end here. Other astonishing features include an amazing ISO of up to 102,400. Huawei claims “instant” autofocus on anything closer than 3 meters and a sleep to shoot time of just 0.3 seconds.

There’s more. Huawei has caught up with Samsung and Sony’s last year’s ultra slow motion videos and now supports 720p video at 960fps. Huawei is relying heavily on its AI for lots of camera features and effects.


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With all the new rear camera tech, the front camera almost goes unnoticed. Huawei made use of a 24MP sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. It’s capable of Face Unlock via 2D mapping among other things like background, beauty and lighting effects.

The company claims its Face Unlock is twice as fast as Apple’s iPhone X. It makes use of the screen in case there isn’t enough light.

Battery, Price & Availability

As always, Huawei made sure all this hardware doesn’t die out within hours as the phone boasts a large 4,000mah battery. You also get Huawei’s proprietary Super Charge which can charge up to 58% in 30 minutes.

All these features come at a price though, a deep dent in your bank account. The phone is priced at €900 (roughly Rs. 130,000). The phones are available globally and a Pakistan launch should be expected within days.

Huawei P20 Pro Specifications
  • CPU: 4×2.36 GHz A73+ 4×1.8 GHz A53 octa-core
  • Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 970
  • OS: Android 8.1 Oreo, with EMUI 8.1
  • Networks: 2G, 3G, 4G LTE Dual SIM
  • Display: 6.1″, 18.7:9 aspect ratio, FHD+ (1080x2240px) resolution with notch
    • ~81.9% screen-to-body ratio
    • ~408 ppi density
  • Design:
    • Dimensions: 155 x 73.9 x 7.8 mm
    • Weight: 180 g
    • IP67 certified – dust/water resistant (up to 1m for 30 mins)
    • Stereo speakers
  • Memory:
    • RAM: 6 GB
    • Internal: 128 GB
    • Card slot: yes, up to 128GB (uses second SIM slot)
  • Camera:
    • Primary: Triple: 40 MP (f/1.8, 1/1.7″, OIS) + 20 MP (f/1.6) + 8 MP (f/2.4), Leica optics, phase detection and laser autofocus, dual-LED dual-tone flash, 3x optical zoom and 5x hybrid zoom. 2160p@30fps, 1080p, 720p@960fps
    • Secondary: 24 MP, autofocus, f/2.0, 1080p
  • Connectivity: USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi, GPS
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Battery: 4,000 mAh; SuperCharge fast charging tech
  • Price: ~Rs. 130,000 (€899)

Huawei P20

Next comes the smaller P20 which lets go of several features that we’ve seen in the Pro variant but is still quite competitive at the flagship market segment.

Design & Display

The P20 comes with a smaller 5.8-inch screen with the same resolution (1,080 x 2,244 pixels) and makes use of the same screen technology. There’s still a notch at the top and a multi-purpose fingerprint sensor at the bottom.

Black Huawei P20 front and back look

The design and build are the same as the P20 Pro, however, the smaller sibling leaves out IP67 certification for a more modest IP53 splash-proofing and dust resistance.

All the color options we’ve seen for the P20 Pro are also available for the P20 including the exclusive signature Twilight and Black, Midnight Blue, Pink Gold, Champagne Gold colors.

Hardware & Software

Not much has changed as far as the performance is concerned as the octa-core processor Kirin 970 (4x A73 + 4x A53), with AI features, powers the device. The RAM has cut down to 4 gigs while the storage has been halved at 64GB. The hybrid SIM-microSD card slot is still available though.

P20 makes use of the G72MP12 graphics chip as well. Stereo speakers are also present.

The smaller flagship makes use of the same software as the Pro variant i.e. Android Oreo 8.1 with EMUI 8.1. The notch-hiding feature is present as well.

Camera

The Leica Triple Camera setup we saw in the P20 Pro is gone, replace by a typical Huawei dual camera setup that makes use of a monochrome and a color sensor.

The main sensor is a new 1/2.3″ 12MP RGB sensor with OIS, f/1.6 lens and 1.55µm pixels while the second one makes use of the same 20MP monochrome sensor, behind a f/1.6 lens, we saw in Mate 10.

The rest of the features are carried over to the smaller sibling as well. P20 has 4-way autofocus, dual-tone LED flash and 720p 960fps ultra slow motion videos.

While the camera can do portraits and lighting effects, optical zoom is reduced to 2x.

The front camera makes use of the same 24MP camera with f/2.0 lens. P20 can also do Face Unlocks like the Pro variant.

Battery, Price & Availability

The phone comes with a decent 3,400 mAh battery with support for Huawei Super Charge.

The P20 costs €680 and is available globally. Expect a Pakistan specific announcement very soon.

Huawei P20 Specifications
  • CPU: 4×2.36 GHz A73+ 4×1.8 GHz A53 octa-core
  • Chipset: HiSilicon Kirin 970
  • OS: Android 8.1 Oreo, with EMUI 8.1
  • Networks: 2G, 3G, 4G LTE Dual SIM
  • Display: 5.8″, 18.7:9 aspect ratio, FHD+ (1080x2240px) resolution with notch
    • ~80.7% screen-to-body ratio
    • ~428 ppi density
  • Design:
    • Dimensions: 149.1 x 70.8 x 7.7 mm
    • Weight: 165 g
    • IP53 certified
    • Stereo speakers
  • Memory:
    • RAM: 4 GB
    • Internal: 64 GB
    • Card slot: yes, up to 128GB (uses second SIM slot)
  • Camera:
    • Primary: 12 MP (f/1.8, 1/2.3″, 1.55 µm, OIS) + 20 MP (f/1.6, 27mm), Leica optics, 2x lossless zoom, phase detection and laser autofocus, dual-LED dual-tone flash. 2160p@30fps, 1080p, 720p@960fps
    • Secondary: 24 MP, autofocus, f/2.0, 1080p
  • Connectivity: USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5, Wi-Fi, GPS
  • Fingerprint scanner
  • Battery: 3,400 mAh; SuperCharge fast charging tech
  • Price: ~Rs. 95,000 (€649)

He is the Chief Content Officer at ProPakistani. Reach out at aadil.s[at]propakistani.pk



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