T3 - UK (2022-06)

78 T 3 JUNE 2022

Tested

Huawei P 50 Pro

£ 1 , 099

huawei.com

ny review would have to admit that

the Huawei P50 Pro is a fantastic

phone – it’s good-looking,powerful

and the camera system isstellar. But

it does havetwo bigproblemsholding it back:

you will miss out on Google’ssuiteof apps and it

also doesn’thave5G support. Both are flaws that

could bedealbreakers for a lot of people.

As we have come to expect from Huawei

devices,the Huawei P50 Prois a looker.e best

word to describe it is ‘premium’with itssleek

reflective glass back and metallic frame. By looks

alone, the elegant design can only be compared

to the top dogs from Apple and Samsung.Our

onlyqualms with it are that it’squite a slippery

handset, and it’sprone to fingerprintmarks,

although both of those issues are solvedif you use

the included clear protectivecase.

On the front of the phone,the curved OLED

screen looks lovely. It’s6.6 inches and hasa

resolution of 2 700 x 1228 pixels, which is ever so

slightly lower than elsewherebut, even so, you

can’t deny the quality of this screen.

e phone nowsports a 120Hz refresh rate, up

from 90Hz on the P40 Pro.What thatmeansis

that it will feel even smoother to scroll, swipe

and tap on. Mobile games have never felt so

effortless and animations appearseamless.

Wherethe Huawei P50 Proreally thrives isin

photography,thanks to a four-lens rear camera

system and advanced AI-based software. It’s

made up of a 50MP main camera, a 40MP

monochrome lens, a 13MP ultra-wide-angle

A

This fantastic but flawed flagship phone is

a good choice – as long as you don’t need

access to Google’s apps

Huawei P 50 Pro

PRO-SO

WE’RE IMPRESSED Excellent

4-lens camera system; 6 .7-inch

120Hz OLED screen; impressive

performance; elegant design.

WE’D IMPROVE No 5 G

support; lacks Google apps and

Play Store; processor isn’t up to

date; prone to fingerprint marks.

THE LAST WORD One of the

best camera phones in the world

with stunning looks to match, but

you still can’t use Google apps

and there’s no 5G support either.

VERDICT

Find great deals on the Huawei

P50 Pro at: bit.ly/t3hwp40pr

camera and a 64MP telephoto camera. ere’s

also a13MP selfie camera.

e result? Stunning shots at any time of day.

It uses AIto adjust the imageaccording to the

scene so you don’t need to worry about faffing

around with the settings.On its regular and

AI-basedpoint-and-shoot settings, the camera

boosts colours enoughto give the pictures some

energy butwithout making them look

unrealistic. It also manages to capturetons of

detailand provides an excellent balance between

light and darkareas of the shot.

Lagging behind the competition, the Huawei

P50 Pro uses the Snapdragon 888 processor,

whereasmost recentflagships boast the next

generation, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Here the processor is paired withthe Adreno 660

GPU, 8GB RAM and 256GBof inbuilt storage.

A verysignificantdownside isthe lack of 5G

support, something that has long been the norm

in high-end flagship phones and has even started

filtering down intothe cheaper end of the market.

Besidesno Google apps, there aremanyothers

that you’ll miss out on too.In the UK, those

include BBC iPlayer and the NHS app. While

some people insome regions may be able to look

past that, most here inthe UK will struggle.

All in all, the Huawei P50 Prois a great phone

witha lot going for it. But, and itis a very big but,

it is lacking insome very significant ways. You’re

boundto feel hard done by paying such an

eye-watering amountof money on a device that

doesn’t have 5G or Google apps.