O HUAWEI MATE 30 PRO €1099 ++++,
SUPERTEST SMARTPHONESHuawei go again... but could
you buy a G-free Android?
When it comes to writing the
2019 chapter in the history
books, there’ll be plenty of
bonkers stuff to include. There
was Nigelfest, the theft of a gold
toilet from Blenheim Palace, and
the ‘Wagatha Christie’ saga
involving Coleen Rooney and
Rebekah Vardy... but one of tech’s
weirdest tales is probably Donald
Trump’s ongoing beef withHuawei. In case you aren’t in the
loop, at the time of writing the
US government has still blocked
Huawei from having access to
the Google Play Store and other
Google apps.
Its latest flagship, the stunning
Mate 30 Pro, is the first casualty
of this war – and we’re warning
you, despite its sensational
design, innovative camera systemand ample power and battery,
this is going to be one bittersweet
write-up... not least because our
review handset was a Chinese
import, so regional device
functionality and performance
may vary.
All things said and done, the
Mate 30 Pro looks and feels like
a slice of the future. It’s bold, is
arguably the best-looking phoneof its generation, has a champion
of a camera, and comes with
stacks of power.
Getting it with no Play Store
is an expensive gamble, though,
which makes it impossible to
recommend to almost anyone
in the west. Until then, admire
from afar that two-star app
support and (almost) five-star
everything else.Huawei P30 Pro
from £750 /
huawei.com
It’s been out since
April, but given you
can now get a P30
Pro with £150
knocked off, it’s
worth considering
for the camera alone.
It set a stratospheric
benchmark of
zooming capabilities
on smartphones
at no compromise
to battery life
or performance.
Partnering with Leica
really has been
Huawei’s smartest
move yet.
Stuff says +++++Huawei’s new UI gives
you in-game options to
eke the most out of the
experience and turn the
display’s corners into L
and R buttons – which
work like a charm.CAMERA
Shots fired
The camera excels across the
board, but comes alive at night.
A 40MP main sensor encores
after debuting on the P30 Pro,
but now there’s an ultra-wide
‘cinema’ camera with a 40MP
sensor and an f/1.6 lens. The
telephoto camera features
8MP resolution with an
f/2.4 3x zoom lens, and
a depth sensor joins the party.
Meanwhile, the front camera
has a terrifyingly sharp 32MP
sensor. Macro shots are solid,
standard shots top-quality and
dynamic range only bettered by
the iPhone 11 Pro Max, while it
makes light work of 4K at 60fps.
OOOOOOOOOODESIGN
Hear the sirens coming
Put the Mate 30 Pro in your
hand and it sucks you in like
a siren’s song. The sliver of
metal along the sides, the
polished top and tail and the
curved glass either side all
make it feel as good as it looks.
You’ll find a power button but
no volume rocker – swapped
for some side-tapping slidey
nonsense. There’s a lone
USB-C port, a dual-SIM slot
and that bold round camera
surround. Available in three
eye-catching colours plus
some vegan leather editions,
it’s IP68-rated with Gorilla
Glass 6.
OOOOOOOOOOPERFORMANCE
Kirin in the name of
Performing sensationally with
everything thrown at it, this
phone benchmarks like the
best with its Kirin 990 and 8GB
of RAM. Its biometrics work to
perfection too, with an under-
display fingerprint scanner and
secure face-unlocking.
OOOOOOOOOODISPLAY
It’s a wrap
The almost-wraparound
6.53in OLED display is glorious,
with a 94.1% screen-to-body
ratio and 18.5:9 aspect ratio.
Resolution isn’t quite as sharp
as the OnePlus 7 Pro but
remains crisp if you don’t
have microscopes for eyes.
OOOOOOOOOOFOR
A BIT
LESS