It's not that easy. Gcam uses, variously, the pixel's npu & the hexagon dsp.Take a look over in xda to see the problems they've had porting the gcam to non-qualcomm soc devices.
"P for Photography" is pure market talk. The main sensor's daylight performance has regressed to P20P levels (Pixel remains the only one retaining realistic texture) and low light is basically as excepted given the sensor size and aperture, they claim an additional...30%?40%? sensitivity with the RYB but I don't see that, and I believe the jump from the wildest colors (in P20P) to the most muted colors (among the current generation of flagships) is to mask the RYB's lack of color information. I saw some samples in which the shrubs (green, obviously, from other smartphones) are rendered grey, but that doesn't stand out unless you paid specific attention, which I believe is their intent. And of course there's the issue of swapping the 3x telephoto for 5x and bragging about "50x zoom", we knew that sub-3x crop performance was worse than the 2x competition before, but now most of the range from 1.1x-4.9x is worse from that swap. The night mode is a notable improvement, but their 1/1.7" still doesn't match Google's 1/2.55" in this respect. If you have to pick a phone, for serious photography, the Pixel's probably still your best bet. This, they're advertising as a sort of spy cam, or for voyeurism, I would have to agree on that.
Not only that, this Huawei brand is overpriced to north. The OLED is cheap, its 1080 class panel with over 6", at 5.5FHD Pentile is limit. Over that effective resolution is down, and the Mate 20 durability of curved failed so they went with non Samsung copy cloned this time. Add the retarded proprietary trash NanoSD that all forget.
The biggest disaster is the EMUI with it's aggressive nature of blocking Apps and the worst of all being No Bootloader unlock. Add the stupid UI skin iOS clone as well.
Kirin CPU might be good, but the Mali sucks big time as well.
Add the Chinese CPC. EU is a joke nowadays, look at their migration crisis due to far leftism and this company gets into Audi and other cars ?
No thanks. Don't buy this phone, just for camera get a Sony RX100 series (Point and Shoot) that alone will decimate all smartphone gimmickry with one massive sensor. DSLR will blow all of them to stone age though.
PR Marketing speaks a lot nowadays with Propaganda as their motto like DXO Mark people should be smart to OWN their HW not to be leashed on with them like Apple and other ecosystems.
Not a fan of the immigrants in Europe I take it..Chinese CPC..? TSMC made the processor for them which is the same company that makes the processor for Apple in Taiwan. The screen though does seem to be a bit over stretched as far as pixels is concerned so I will give him that.
I'm 99% sure there is no point in comparing smartphone to Sony RX100 or DSLR (really?).
Ian, too bad you didn't get chance to test camera in low light. REsults seems to be mind blowing (saw single photo comparison to Huawei Mate 20 (non-Pro version)).
Yeah as much as I enjoy using my old Canon 40D/24mm lens, I don't carry it around in my pocket all day every day. It would look a bit odd using that to take pics of info I see in shops etc.
Plus I have to say I love the aperture effect on my Mate 10 Pro using the monochrome camera.
You cannot put a sony rx100 in your pocket though. I have your mindset before, that if you want to take good pictures you buy a separate camera. But you are missing the point. The ability to just take a photo out of the blue with your phone is so underrated. You dont even have to carry something around your neck, do not even have to pull out your laptop just to upload the pictures. Right now i have a 200$ MiA2 with google camera mod and i can tell you that I don't need to bring another equipment to take good pictures for me.
The thing is no matter how good your camera is, since digital photography has meant you can take as many shots as you like, no one wants to look at them anyway. With film I was always happy to look at friends and family's pictures. I might have had 36 or so to endure. Now I run the other way and don't start on the hours of pointless 4K video...
I think you have a point on the resolution. I saw that it was 1080P at ~6" and I was put off immediately. I think 1440P is required at this screen size unless you're using LCD where you can just get away with it. I suspect a couple of things are going on here and one of them will be that this phone is now directly competing with Samsung's offerings and guess who makes the nice Samsung OLED screens? Er.... Samsung... So I suspect that if they wanted the contrast and power benefits of OLED then they had to go with whatever they could get which may have been Samsung saying they'd sell them 1080P screens or it may be a different manufacturer. If this had been a "value flagship" I'd have been happy with this but when you're asking the best part of a grand, you simply can't offer 1080 at this size in OLED unless you've resolved (geddit?) the pentile array issues.
I think you're being a little unreasonable comparing it to a high end dedicated camera. They aren't comparable and I know I don't have the money to get a decent phone and a decent camera. I just don't and I won't. You're comparing a £500 dedicated camera to what's basically an entire computer with a camera system and mobile capability. Of course, the dedicated camera is going to be better. And a DSLR will, of course, decimate smartphones but if you can fit one in your pocket, you're doing well. A DSLR is a pain in the arse to lug around, requires skill and knowledge and the correct use of one is an art form which must be taken seriously. A camera phone..... not so much.
I'm also not sure where the politics come in. Yes there are issues in integrating Chinese technology into core, critical infrastructure but that'd be the same with any third party nation or foreign company (unless it was a company in an allied country and they allowed you adequate vetting procedures). China has its best interests in mind when doing things. Duh, that's what countries do and definitely what the US does. If I was building critical communications infrastructure I would avoid foreign technology wherever possible (the US spied on the German Chancellor!) so your argument about China is somewhat odd. Yes, the EU has issues with ex commies and far left agendas, we agree but I do not see how that influences whether I should buy a phone or not. So Chinese tech makes it into an Audi? And?? AND?! As long as it works and people are paid appropriately I couldn't care less.
I think the arguments for not buying this phone are clear: same price as Samsung which has better software, screen may well be substandard resolution for the size (given the price) and the lack of a bootloader unlock. I don't tend to root my phones but I like to be able to in case I need to. The other thing I really don't like is the lack of a 3.5mm jack on the pro version. Crappy in-cable DACs and dongles are a solution to a problem that needn't exist. I shall be buying phones with a 3.5mm jack until I have no other option. I have never met a pair of Bluetooth headphones which aren't suffering one of the following; horrifically expensive (given I have bought decent wired ones already, why should I have to buy new?), easily lost, connection stability issues, compromised sound when compared to wired. USB-C dongles often have crappy DACs and prevent charging and listening at the same time (I do this regularly) as well as being something to just lose or break.
"EU is a joke nowadays, look at their migration crisis due to far leftism and this " Wow, LOL. Except that most in the parliament are rightwingers and it's mostly rightwingers who want to go on their little imperial adventures in these countries and cause the refugee problems to begin with. Most refugees do not come to Europe though (about 6%) and Europe is still a lot safer than USA.
Yes, i remember the article, but i do not remember to be called "impressive" or even useful, as you guys couldnt determinate if it was really a notable difference with and without it.
I'll be interested to see photos from that zoom lens at f/3.4. That's a very narrow aperture for anything but sunlight. From my experience with the telephoto on the Galaxy S9+, it will probably have trouble indoors. I mostly use the telephoto outdoors anyway, but it is useful inside from time to time.
That's a pretty good situation for the camera, though. Outdoors and still subject. It's still impressive, of course, but I want to see it indoors (museum) or outdoors with a moving subject (dog or child). I find the Galaxy S9+ compensates for the narrower aperture by slowing down the shutter speed, which makes it harder to take photos of anything moving without getting blur. That's at f/2.4, and the P30 Pro goes much narrower to f/3.4. Maybe they can compensate with better ISO performance.
Shame you can't get the best cameras in the smaller form factor. I could live with an extra 1mm thickness to squeeze the cameras into the P30 but the Pro is just too big for me.
I don’t see the new P30 Pro having LTE Bands to support T-Mobile and Verizon LTE Bands for those who travel internationally. Single speaker also? Any comments on audio quality and speaker sound volume? What cell signal and Wi-Fi signal reception strength? Seems like only focus is on camera only which we now know is pretty good.
There are many Chinese who travel back and forth between China and the US. In fact millions travel between China and the US so that would be an important feature for them to add. It is just a band which should be very easy for them to add regardless of whether or not they want to sell it in the US.
You know that if you use data from Chinese carriers the Great Firewall of China follows you abroad? In the past most people would use local data in the form of rented mobile Wifi hotspots, but then China Mobile slashed international rates incentivizing use of its own data, however you'd still be walled off international services from Facebook, Google, etc. if you use that data.
Well at least the non-pro version has a 3.5 mm jack. This is the only version worth buying.
They really should be using higehr res displays on phones above 6 inches imo, because you can actually start to see blurriness in text if you compare it with a non pentile display side by side.
The lack of wireless charging is a real showstopper for me. Was thinking of this phone for my upcoming trip overseas but the alas the cheaper version has no wireless charger, a feature without which I can no longer live.
I'm still looking for an article about Huwai and all their wiretapping spying bullshit. I can't believe you guys actually push this Chinese shit. Should really stop advertising for communists. Makes me wanna boycott this whole site!
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XelaChang - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Would be interesting to see how the low light mode compares to Google's Night Sight.nathanddrews - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
... and to see how it works with the gcam apk.hanselltc - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
People ported Gcam to Kirin phones? Good stuff.haukionkannel - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Most likely same software. Any phone våcan get nightvision. Just pot the google software to it... may phones allready have that.tuxRoller - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
It's not that easy. Gcam uses, variously, the pixel's npu & the hexagon dsp.Take a look over in xda to see the problems they've had porting the gcam to non-qualcomm soc devices.5080 - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Great phone, too bad they still have a notch.watzupken - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
At least the notch is significantly smaller than what is on the iPhone. I am glad that Huawei removed the face recognition sensors.Marlin1975 - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
I thought P was for chinese Propaganda for Huaweis.yu - Friday, March 29, 2019 - link
"P for Photography" is pure market talk.The main sensor's daylight performance has regressed to P20P levels (Pixel remains the only one retaining realistic texture) and low light is basically as excepted given the sensor size and aperture, they claim an additional...30%?40%? sensitivity with the RYB but I don't see that, and I believe the jump from the wildest colors (in P20P) to the most muted colors (among the current generation of flagships) is to mask the RYB's lack of color information. I saw some samples in which the shrubs (green, obviously, from other smartphones) are rendered grey, but that doesn't stand out unless you paid specific attention, which I believe is their intent.
And of course there's the issue of swapping the 3x telephoto for 5x and bragging about "50x zoom", we knew that sub-3x crop performance was worse than the 2x competition before, but now most of the range from 1.1x-4.9x is worse from that swap.
The night mode is a notable improvement, but their 1/1.7" still doesn't match Google's 1/2.55" in this respect.
If you have to pick a phone, for serious photography, the Pixel's probably still your best bet. This, they're advertising as a sort of spy cam, or for voyeurism, I would have to agree on that.
damianrobertjones - Sunday, April 14, 2019 - link
Nah. It's a great camera.Arbie - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Upsell... to a model without a 3.5mm jack. Not to me.Quantumz0d - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Not only that, this Huawei brand is overpriced to north. The OLED is cheap, its 1080 class panel with over 6", at 5.5FHD Pentile is limit. Over that effective resolution is down, and the Mate 20 durability of curved failed so they went with non Samsung copy cloned this time. Add the retarded proprietary trash NanoSD that all forget.The biggest disaster is the EMUI with it's aggressive nature of blocking Apps and the worst of all being No Bootloader unlock. Add the stupid UI skin iOS clone as well.
Kirin CPU might be good, but the Mali sucks big time as well.
Add the Chinese CPC. EU is a joke nowadays, look at their migration crisis due to far leftism and this company gets into Audi and other cars ?
No thanks. Don't buy this phone, just for camera get a Sony RX100 series (Point and Shoot) that alone will decimate all smartphone gimmickry with one massive sensor. DSLR will blow all of them to stone age though.
PR Marketing speaks a lot nowadays with Propaganda as their motto like DXO Mark people should be smart to OWN their HW not to be leashed on with them like Apple and other ecosystems.
HardwareDufus - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
tell us how you really feel.techgadgetgeek - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Not a fan of the immigrants in Europe I take it..Chinese CPC..? TSMC made the processor for them which is the same company that makes the processor for Apple in Taiwan. The screen though does seem to be a bit over stretched as far as pixels is concerned so I will give him that.Tabalan - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
I'm 99% sure there is no point in comparing smartphone to Sony RX100 or DSLR (really?).Ian, too bad you didn't get chance to test camera in low light. REsults seems to be mind blowing (saw single photo comparison to Huawei Mate 20 (non-Pro version)).
jabber - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
Yeah as much as I enjoy using my old Canon 40D/24mm lens, I don't carry it around in my pocket all day every day. It would look a bit odd using that to take pics of info I see in shops etc.Plus I have to say I love the aperture effect on my Mate 10 Pro using the monochrome camera.
s.yu - Monday, April 1, 2019 - link
The results are not "mind blowing", what's mind blowing is what Google could achieve with that single 1/2.55".YoloPascual - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
You cannot put a sony rx100 in your pocket though. I have your mindset before, that if you want to take good pictures you buy a separate camera. But you are missing the point. The ability to just take a photo out of the blue with your phone is so underrated. You dont even have to carry something around your neck, do not even have to pull out your laptop just to upload the pictures. Right now i have a 200$ MiA2 with google camera mod and i can tell you that I don't need to bring another equipment to take good pictures for me.jabber - Thursday, March 28, 2019 - link
The thing is no matter how good your camera is, since digital photography has meant you can take as many shots as you like, no one wants to look at them anyway. With film I was always happy to look at friends and family's pictures. I might have had 36 or so to endure. Now I run the other way and don't start on the hours of pointless 4K video...philehidiot - Sunday, March 31, 2019 - link
These people aren't friends, they are bastards who were born too late to take up their true calling as an interrogator for the Soviet Union.philehidiot - Sunday, March 31, 2019 - link
I think you have a point on the resolution. I saw that it was 1080P at ~6" and I was put off immediately. I think 1440P is required at this screen size unless you're using LCD where you can just get away with it. I suspect a couple of things are going on here and one of them will be that this phone is now directly competing with Samsung's offerings and guess who makes the nice Samsung OLED screens? Er.... Samsung... So I suspect that if they wanted the contrast and power benefits of OLED then they had to go with whatever they could get which may have been Samsung saying they'd sell them 1080P screens or it may be a different manufacturer. If this had been a "value flagship" I'd have been happy with this but when you're asking the best part of a grand, you simply can't offer 1080 at this size in OLED unless you've resolved (geddit?) the pentile array issues.I think you're being a little unreasonable comparing it to a high end dedicated camera. They aren't comparable and I know I don't have the money to get a decent phone and a decent camera. I just don't and I won't. You're comparing a £500 dedicated camera to what's basically an entire computer with a camera system and mobile capability. Of course, the dedicated camera is going to be better. And a DSLR will, of course, decimate smartphones but if you can fit one in your pocket, you're doing well. A DSLR is a pain in the arse to lug around, requires skill and knowledge and the correct use of one is an art form which must be taken seriously. A camera phone..... not so much.
I'm also not sure where the politics come in. Yes there are issues in integrating Chinese technology into core, critical infrastructure but that'd be the same with any third party nation or foreign company (unless it was a company in an allied country and they allowed you adequate vetting procedures). China has its best interests in mind when doing things. Duh, that's what countries do and definitely what the US does. If I was building critical communications infrastructure I would avoid foreign technology wherever possible (the US spied on the German Chancellor!) so your argument about China is somewhat odd. Yes, the EU has issues with ex commies and far left agendas, we agree but I do not see how that influences whether I should buy a phone or not. So Chinese tech makes it into an Audi? And?? AND?! As long as it works and people are paid appropriately I couldn't care less.
I think the arguments for not buying this phone are clear: same price as Samsung which has better software, screen may well be substandard resolution for the size (given the price) and the lack of a bootloader unlock. I don't tend to root my phones but I like to be able to in case I need to. The other thing I really don't like is the lack of a 3.5mm jack on the pro version. Crappy in-cable DACs and dongles are a solution to a problem that needn't exist. I shall be buying phones with a 3.5mm jack until I have no other option. I have never met a pair of Bluetooth headphones which aren't suffering one of the following; horrifically expensive (given I have bought decent wired ones already, why should I have to buy new?), easily lost, connection stability issues, compromised sound when compared to wired. USB-C dongles often have crappy DACs and prevent charging and listening at the same time (I do this regularly) as well as being something to just lose or break.
I've ranted long enough.
Kaleid - Wednesday, April 3, 2019 - link
"EU is a joke nowadays, look at their migration crisis due to far leftism and this "Wow, LOL. Except that most in the parliament are rightwingers and it's mostly rightwingers who want to go on their little imperial adventures in these countries and cause the refugee problems to begin with. Most refugees do not come to Europe though (about 6%) and Europe is still a lot safer than USA.
dudedud - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
"as are the impressive GPU Turbo on certain games"Was that sarcasm, a press release or for real?
Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
We tested GPU Turbo - it's an innovative AI based technology and works. Downside is that it's game specific.https://www.anandtech.com/show/13285/huawei-gpu-tu...
dudedud - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
Yes, i remember the article, but i do not remember to be called "impressive" or even useful, as you guys couldnt determinate if it was really a notable difference with and without it.cfenton - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
I'll be interested to see photos from that zoom lens at f/3.4. That's a very narrow aperture for anything but sunlight. From my experience with the telephoto on the Galaxy S9+, it will probably have trouble indoors. I mostly use the telephoto outdoors anyway, but it is useful inside from time to time.Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
There's one of them in the newscfenton - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
That's a pretty good situation for the camera, though. Outdoors and still subject. It's still impressive, of course, but I want to see it indoors (museum) or outdoors with a moving subject (dog or child). I find the Galaxy S9+ compensates for the narrower aperture by slowing down the shutter speed, which makes it harder to take photos of anything moving without getting blur. That's at f/2.4, and the P30 Pro goes much narrower to f/3.4. Maybe they can compensate with better ISO performance.BedfordTim - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Shame you can't get the best cameras in the smaller form factor. I could live with an extra 1mm thickness to squeeze the cameras into the P30 but the Pro is just too big for me.techgadgetgeek - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
I don’t see the new P30 Pro having LTE Bands to support T-Mobile and Verizon LTE Bands for those who travel internationally. Single speaker also? Any comments on audio quality and speaker sound volume? What cell signal and Wi-Fi signal reception strength? Seems like only focus is on camera only which we now know is pretty good.Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
This is just the announcement, you'll have to wait until the review.Also, I travel internationally with Huawei devices. No issues. No focus on specific US band support, because the US don't want the devices.
techgadgetgeek - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
There are many Chinese who travel back and forth between China and the US. In fact millions travel between China and the US so that would be an important feature for them to add. It is just a band which should be very easy for them to add regardless of whether or not they want to sell it in the US.s.yu - Monday, April 1, 2019 - link
You know that if you use data from Chinese carriers the Great Firewall of China follows you abroad? In the past most people would use local data in the form of rented mobile Wifi hotspots, but then China Mobile slashed international rates incentivizing use of its own data, however you'd still be walled off international services from Facebook, Google, etc. if you use that data.darkvader75 - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Given that they seem to be an arm of China's version of the KGB. I doubt I would buy a P-anything from them at this point.Tabalan - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Umm, sorry, but do you even know what KGB is?If anything Huawei is more like Chinese Google or Microsoft (later cooperated with "american KGB", NSA, while former might have done so).
techgadgetgeek - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Google and Facebook are not much betterlevizx - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
So Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Twitter seem to be arms of US' version of the KGB, got it.HardwareDufus - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
It seems like the 20 series phones literally just came out. wow. fast cadence.Ian Cutress - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
Once a year, like clockwork. Then the Mate series six months aftercubebomb - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
They will take their photos with a DSLR AGAIN and this time, really hide it. Stupid cheaterslevizx - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
What a stupid comment. DxO and GSMAren among many others have already tested it.sweetca - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
I prefer my spying domestic.levizx - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
Domestic where they could actually do you harm, good strategy.techgadgetgeek - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
If you live in China then you want one from US but if you live in America then you want from China. Most governments care more about the local stuffsweetca - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
You got this!0iron - Tuesday, March 26, 2019 - link
It's nice to have different writer for smartphone's launches occasionally with his different style. Nice write up & I enjoyed the reading.beginner99 - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
Too big.Lord of the Bored - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
That's what SHE said.LiverpoolFC5903 - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
Well at least the non-pro version has a 3.5 mm jack. This is the only version worth buying.They really should be using higehr res displays on phones above 6 inches imo, because you can actually start to see blurriness in text if you compare it with a non pentile display side by side.
s.yu - Monday, April 1, 2019 - link
The larger display is not a Pentile, it's a layout with much worse density than Pentile by BOE.dropme - Wednesday, March 27, 2019 - link
Which is better - Sony or Leica?gaborb - Friday, March 29, 2019 - link
The lack of wireless charging is a real showstopper for me. Was thinking of this phone for my upcoming trip overseas but the alas the cheaper version has no wireless charger, a feature without which I can no longer live.damianrobertjones - Sunday, April 14, 2019 - link
He looks at his phone, plugs in a cable, charges. Goes on with his life.Hrel - Saturday, March 30, 2019 - link
I'm still looking for an article about Huwai and all their wiretapping spying bullshit. I can't believe you guys actually push this Chinese shit. Should really stop advertising for communists. Makes me wanna boycott this whole site!jaju123 - Sunday, March 31, 2019 - link
There's no proof yet that their phones are spying on anyone. Just suspicions.s.yu - Monday, April 1, 2019 - link
Well there's this:https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-spots-crit...
Who knows if it's a sloppy backdoor or a sloppy vulnerability. Just sloppy, something detectable by Windows Defender.