Mark Bondoc | Cocco de Leon | July 11, 2018
We've seen, heard and done a lot of things with the P20/P20 Pro phones since its official launch in the Philippine consumer market. So how does it perform after having it for a few months now?
The P20 Series phones turned a lot of heads not only because of the notch and the vertical camera placement resembling that of Apple's iPhone X, but also because of their new camera software and hardware combo. Both devices were the first to provide a very capable "handheld Night Shot" mode. This, as the word implies, makes it possible to shoot a low light/night shot photo without the use of a tripod within 4 (in our tests it sometimes reaches 5) seconds. Everyone knows that for an effectively clear night/low light photo, we need to have it mounted on a tripod or basically placed on a steady surface while shooting. With the updated Night Shot mode, all you need to do is hold the phone as steady as you can and let the phone do the rest.
Hardware department - one of the biggest sensors installed on a smartphone is in the P20 Pro. This provides better low light shots as it captures more details. Most of the time and for smartphones before, chances are that photos taken at night or where there is less light end up grainy, washed out or not really good. Over the past few years, smartphone brands have been shifting to bigger lenses/apertures (you see this as f1.6/f1.7/f1.8/f2.0 on the specifications). For the new P20 series, we're looking at f1.8 and f1.6 sensors/lenses. These provide bright low light shots with much of the details intact.
So let's have a quick recap of what the P20 series offered upon launch and did they live up to our expectations:
Handheld Night Shot capability - yes
Largest sensor in a smartphone to date - yes BUT this only applies to the P20 Pro
Triple camera system - yes BUT (again) P20 Pro only
Notch - yes and for those who were/are against it, we can say that you hardly notice its presence actually.
Twilight colored phones - yes | P20 Pro
Stereo and loud speakers - yes - we compared this with the mate 10 series and they are definitely louder. They also added DOLBY Surround which makes watching movies or even simply listening to music really enjoyable.
Removed the 3.5mm headphone jack but included a type-c adapter - yes but sadly the included adapter doesn't give that much "kick" to your listening experience. (Third party adapters are currently in the market - way better than the bundled adapter)
P20 Pro triple camera system - 40mp RGB, 20mp monochrome, 8mp telephoto lenses - yes and they really work great (good job!)
Master AI - yes they really work and for those who do point and shoot will not be disappointed - this feature is just a tad bit too aggressive at times but luckily there is an on/off switch in the settings.
Super Slow Motion - 960fps recording for about 2 seconds - yes but there is a minor quality concern. Comparison made between the P20 and Sony's XZ Premium slow motion and you can definitely see the difference. Smoother rendering for Sony as compared to the P20 series.
Super charging and 2 days battery life - yes BUT this depends - Super charging is applicable from around 3% to 70+% because the rest going to 100% will become slower and 2 days battery life is subjective but possible if you minimize your usage to only essential tasks like sms, a photo here and there, less on mobile data or wifi consumption.
Moving on to the overall performance since we used the phone...
Charging and Battery Consumption
This will always be an important part of any smartphone. Bigger capacity does not always equate to longer battery life. For the P20 Series, battery performance is not an issue unless you are a heavy user. For regular daily tasks, 1 full charge (100%) can last 1 day with data or WIFI on. This can be like a day in the office and still have enough battery juice to last you until you get home before charging the phone again. In our observation, leaving the phone overnight on WIFI while you are sleeping usually just loses 1-2% of charge until the next day.
For the regular P20 we were able to get an average SoT (Screen On Time) of 3-4 hours with moderate to heavy usage. Consumption/activities include: Data switched ON for most of the day, social media, browsing, gaming (Asphalt 9 on high settings and the regular calls and texts. Reducing and conserving power consumption by limiting data usage and switching to WIFI, less games, browsing, social media and only running essential functions provided a much longer SoT result - average of 5 hours.
The P20 Pro as always has the bigger battery capacity of the 2 with 4000mAh (same with the Mate 10 series). Using almost the same setup as the regular P20, we were able to get an average of 6+ hours of SoT with heavy usage and between 6-7 hours of moderate to heavy usage.
Please note that these results do not represent everyone's experience with the devices as these are dependent on the person's actual usage and habits BUT with the help of the built-in AI processor alongside Android 8.1, the phone is also optimized for efficiency and less power consumption whenever possible.
Both P20 flagship phones use Type-C reversible ports with Huawei's proprietary "Super Charge" technology. This enables and provides a very quick means of charging up your phone from 0 to 70% in about 30 minutes and they even mentioned that you have a day's charge when you need it. We were able to test and indeed it chargers really fast but you still end up charging the phone at an average of 1 hour if you plan to max it out at 100% battery. Still not bad as this is actually a safety feature also present in other phones. Charging slows down as it nears 100%.
Screen and Navigation
The regular P20 uses an IPS LCD panel whereas the Pro uses OLED. Both screens provided excellent detail including brighter screens. For those familiar with the EMUI user interface, everything is pretty straight forward. By default we have the interface displaying all the apps installed (iOS like) with the added option of using an app drawing to hide all your apps in a menu. Organizing is also the same across Android devices. Press and hold, drag and create folders by combining apps.
Not much difference between Android 8.0 and 8.1 interface wise. Very minimal design and layout changes as majority of these changes cannot be seen. Android 8.1 focuses more on performance improvements and under the hood changes. One accessible feature that we found a little tedious to do was setting the screen's auto brightness. In Android 8.0/EMUI 8.0, you can easily access this toggle from the pull down menu/status bar. A small tick box is available to turn on or off. In the P20 series/EMUI/Android 8.1, you need to go through the settings menu going to the display where you will now be able to toggle the auto brightness.
The Notch is quite a nice feature now that we've been used to seeing or actually not seeing it during our time with the device. We hardly noticed its presence as we tend to look at the screen from the center. And most apps automatically have a bar which blends the notch within making it appear "not there". This is probably because the notch has a very small footprint as compared to the screen unlike that of the iPhone X (being the trend setter of the notch) which had a wider coverage for its notch (of course it has its purpose - a kinect sensor shrunk to fit a mobile device).
Gaming
With the Kirin 970 on board the P20 Series phones, gaming is a breeze for the most part. The graphics processor delivers average to above average gaming quality and performance. There are times where the graphics is not enough to set some games on their maximum quality but the GPU TURBO update is currently on the way which promises better performance for supported devices.
All high graphic games are playable on both the P20 and the P20 Pro. Users might have to adjust their settings if they experience stuttering during gameplay.
Sound, Bluetooth and Connectivity
The P20 and the P20 Pro both have Dolby Surround with stereo speakers installed. Just like the P9 Plus, P10 Plus and Mate Series 9 and 10, they provide stereo surround when the phones are set in landscape orientation. The bottom speaker provides additional bass sounds whereas the earpiece speaker acts as a tweeter type of speaker for the treble. The new Dolby Surround software provides a boost in audio quality when however you are listening.
Both the regular P20 and the Pro no longer have the 3.5mm jack and so we either connect via Bluetooth speakers or use the type-c to 3.5mm adapter that came with the package. Bluetooth connection between devices work without problems aside for handful of instances that should have been cleared by recent updates.
WIFI is of course a standard in today's wireless world. You can connect to a wireless network, serve as a WIFI hotspot or extend an existing connection via WIFI Bridge. For those not familiar with the WIFI Bridge function, this started with the P10 series phones. What it does is if your phone is connected to a WIFI hotspot, you can share the same connection to other people by enabling the WIFI bridge function on your phone. This allows a maximum of 4 users to connect to you, while you connect to the wireless router. Your phone now acts like a range extender/router. Simply check and search for WIFI bridge in the phone's search box which is on top when you open the Settings menu. Configuration should be a breeze as it's basically similar as setting up your phone as a hotspot.
Huawei's EMUI Desktop
A new feature that started with the Mate 10 series is the desktop mode. This provides the user with a desktop environment when the phone is connected to an external display via type-c to display adapter. This is a working desktop environment similar to Windows but of course limited to Android apps and settings.
Requirements for Desktop Mode to run:
Monitor or TV via HDMI or VGA
Type-c to HDMI/VGA adapter - a multiport adapter is required if you plan to connect a keyboard, mouse or hard drive while running desktop mode to gain access to these peripherals
HDMI/VGA cable
bluetooth or wired speakers for sound.
bluetooth keyboard/mouse if you prefer using these.
** power drain is constant when using your P20 phones in Desktop Mode. From our experience, the bundled power adapter and cable will not be able to provide continues/increasing charge to the phone. It only appears that you need a POWER DELIVERY capable adapter to push enough power to the phone in case you are going to use for long periods.
** YOU CANNOT USE A LAPTOP for Desktop Mode. Laptops are made for video out (laptop to display devices) only.
** it is possible to connect a monitor, keyboard/mouse, external drive/usb and power all at the same time but it requires an adapter similar to this as seen from Aliexpress's online store. Sold separately.
CAMERA
Huawei's headlining feature: the triple camera setup on the P20 Pro with the largest sensor in a smartphone since the Lumia 1020. We will not go into the numbers and scores to describe these lenses but overall, they have the best output when it comes to photos. We have the 40mp RGB, 20mp monochrome (black & white) and the 8mp telephoto lenses. All these lenses are stitched together by software for the superb output that is to be expected given the things they showed everyone. With this setup, we have 3x zoom (lossless) and then 5x (hybrid) and then 10x (digital). If you know how to maximize the zoom, you will definitely get incredible results.
By default, the camera's resolution is set to 10mp for use to be able to use all 3 lenses. Switching to 40mp, disables the 20mp and 8mp lenses. We can now shoot at 40mp resolution to get all the details even if we crop and zoom in the output photo. Zoom will be automatically disabled as mentioned the 8mp lens will be off. The camera interface has also changed. Now we have swipe/slide gestures to change between modes. No need to swipe left and right to access the settings and modes. The settings can now be accessed through the cog icon located on the upper right corner (portrait orientation) or upper left (landscape orientation).
Now for both the regular P20 and the P20 Pro, photo output quality is always better during daylight or with complete and proper lighting/well lit conditions. Most phones struggle in low light situations with the exception if the phone/s are capable of shooting in manual mode. The bigger sensor is only present in the P20 Pro though. For night shots and low light shoots, Huawei has introduced their Super Night Mode or Handheld Night Shot mode for both the regular P20 and the Pro. As mentioned earlier and described by Huawei themselves, now you can shoot a 4 or 5 second night shot with only your hands. That's right, no tripod just with your hands.
For the P20 Pro, the recent updates added additional ISO options when using the manual/pro mode. Users can now select 12800, 25600, 51200 and the maximum of 102400! A word of caution though, higher ISO's often produce high noise/grainy photo outputs but nevertheless, the added settings are great. Also, once you choose between 12800 and 102400, you will no longer be able to manually set the other
You can check our night shots album here.
Videos are currently a mixed bag. Both P20 devices have Super Slow Motion but as we described earlier, it may not be your go to option when it comes to quality (Sony still has the best output that we've seen). BUT again, overall the video output is great. Huawei introduced AIS which means AI (and OIS as suggested by other reviews) helps in stabilizing the video output. This can be seen as a toggle in the settings when using HD and FHD resolutions just not the FHD @ 60fps and 4K.
Check out the samples by clicking here.
Wrapping Up and Team TCR's Recommendations
For those currently using any of the 2 devices, performance has definitely been consistently great. After having used the phone on a daily basis, we haven't experienced any problems that would prompt us to either reformat/factory reset the phones or take it to the service center for repairs.
For their price point, comparing it to their direct opposites from other brands, they are definitely cheaper but with features and updates that makes them worth it especially with the trend of the almost Php 50,000 priced phones. The Mate 10 Pro and the regular P20's retail price (brand new) appear to be right next to each other and so we get the question: Which of the 2 would be better? Of course this will always depend on your preferences and what you are looking for in a device:
Mate 10 Pro - 4000mAh ** P20 - 3400mAh
Mate 10 Pro - 8mp front camera ** P20 - 24mp front camera
Mate 10 Pro - IP67 rating for water and dust resistance** P20 - IP53 water and dust resistance
Mate 10 Pro - IR blaster ** P20 - none
Mate 10 Pro - OLED display ** P20 - LCD
Mate 10 Pro - 128GB/6GB storage and ram ** P20 - 128GB/4GB
Mate 10 Pro - larger screen / no notch ** P20 - smaller screen + the notch
Same processor and chipset
From the partial list above, we can see that each phone definitely has its PROs and CONs but whichever you choose, these phones do not disappoint.