Amateur Photographer - UK (2020-02-22)

52 22 February 2020I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113

Testbench SMARTPHONE ROUND-UP

Samsung Galaxy Note 10+

●From£869●samsung.com/uk

IFYOU’REconcernedaboutthe

Huaweifurore,butyou’realso

keenforyoursmartphonetooffer

multiplelensesanda well-

featurednativecameraapp,then

theobviousalternativeis

Samsung.TheGalaxyNote 10

providessomeverysimilar

features,withouttheadded

Trumpdrama.Therearetwo

sizes,withthelargerGalaxy

Note10+alsobeingavailablein

a 5Gversion.

Onlythelargerdevicehasa

fourthDepthVisioncamera,which

is a TOF(Timeof Flight)camera

usedforjudgingdepthand

distance– handyforcreating

shallow depth of field effects.

Boththestandardandlarger

sizeshavethreecameraswhich

youactuallyshootwith.There’san

ultra-wide13mmf/2.2camera,a

telephoto52mmf/2.1lens,plus a

standard26mmlenswitha

variablef/1.5-2.4aperture.

Thenativecameraappoffersa

wealthof differentshooting

options,includinga

straightforwardPhotomode

whichworksasa point-and-

shoot,a Nightmodeforlow-light

shooting,anda well-featuredPro

mode.TheNote 10 alsocomes

witha Stylus,whichcanbeused

withthecameraasa remote

release– idealforthoselooking

todosomethingcreative,suchas

longexposures,aswellasselfies

andgroupshots.

In thestandardPhotomode,

thephonewilldecideforitself

whichis thebestaperturetouse

butyoucantakecontrolof it in

Promode,somethingwhichis

unusualfora smartphoneand is

uniquein thisgroup.

Overall,imagequalityis

fantastic– witha gooddegreeof

uniformitybetweenthethree

differentlenses.Detailis also

good,withnicelysaturated

colours.Low-lightshootingis very

good,butNightmodeis notquite

asfinessedasthosefromthe

other models shown here.

Huawei P30 Pro

●From£899●consumer.huawei.com

IT’SHARDtomisstheheadlines

thatHuaweihasattractedover

thepastcoupleof years.Finding

itselfin themiddleof a fallout

betweenChinaandtheTrump

administrationin theUS,

Huaweihasbeenbannedfrom

accessingAndroidappsand

updatesonitsnewestphones.

SincetheP30Prowasalreadyin

themarketwhenthebanwas

announced,it escapedtheveto.

Atthetimeof writing,it appears

thattherewillstillbecontinued

supportfortheAndroid-system

asfoundonthisdevice.

Withoutthesupportof Android,

newerHuaweimodels– suchas

theMate 30 Pro– haveyettobe

officially released in the UK, and

mayneverbeso.Thesamecould

wellbetrueforwhateverreplaces

theP30Pro,too.

Fornow,thelatestflagshipin

theP range– whichhasbeen

traditionallyaimedmoresquarely

at photographersthanits

stablematein theMaterange–

includesa triple-Leica-lens

set-up,withanultra-wideangle

(16mm),standard(27mm)anda

5xopticalzoom(125mm)lens.

Oneof thethingswelikebest

aboutHuaweismartphonesis just

howextremelywell-featuredthe

nativeappis. Notonlydoyouget

a verywell-performingautomatic

mode(simplynamedPhoto),

whichallowsyoutojustpointand

shoot,youalsogeta greatPro

modetogiveyouextracontrol,as

wellasshootin rawformat.

There’salsoa plethoraof other

shootingoptions,suchasthe

excellentNightmode,anda

Monochromeoption.

Overall,imagequalityfromthe

P30Prois excellent,withthe5x

opticalzoomlensbeingespecially

impressiveforcapturingdistant

subjects.Theonlydownsidehereis

thatthereis a relativelylargegap

in focallengthsasit jumpsfrom

27mmto 125mm– youcanget

aroundthisbyusingdigitalzoom

forthelengthsin between, which

performs fairly well.

ALL PRICES ARE APPROXIMATE STREET PRICES

GOLD GOLD

We continue to be impressed by Huawei’s excellent Night mode The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ has a well-performing ultra-wideangle lens

Ataglance Ataglance

●3500/4300mAhbattery

●256/512GB(5Gmodelonly)storage

●Triple-lensrearcamera

●’S Pen’ stylus

●Triple-Leica-lensrearcameras

●128GB/ 512GBstorageoptions

●4200mAhbattery

●5x optical zoom lens