The month of October was one of the most busiest we have ever seen, with multiple Android smartphone announcements including Google Pixel 3, LG V40, and Razer Phone 2. Huawei has also joined party and recently launched the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. The newest devices from Huawei might be better than any smartphones announced yet. The devices are successor to the Mate 10 series and Huawei has come a long way in the last year. The new Mate 20 devices cost more than last year’s devices but they offer a very compelling package. Let’s check out the new features and decide whether they are worth your money.
Design
The Mate 20 series gets two phones like last year, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. The Huawei Mate 20 has 6.5 inch screen, whereas the Mate 20 Pro has 6.4 inch screen. So the pro version has a smaller screen but with higher resolution with qHD display whereas the Mate 20 has a full HD display. You can quickly tell the difference between the two devices as the non-pro device has a drop shaped notch. The designs are quite a bit different. Both devices have a notch but the Mate 20 ha s a very tiny notch that Huawei calls tear drop notch. The Mate 20 Pro has a much wider notch, like iPhone XS, as it includes the 3D sensing camera and it has many other sensors in the notch. The Mate 20 is a slim line design with very small bezels and skinny sides, which is traditional but compact. The Mate 20 Pro mimics more of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 design with curved OLED edges to replicate an infinite display. On the back side of hte devices, the deign is very similar with all glass design and gradient of colors. Huawei is continuing the twilight color option that it first introduced on the Huawei P20 Pro. The twilight color provides a gradient color with a mixture of purple and blue. At the center of the back, both devices have a 3 camera setup instead of single or dual camera. The camera setup is unique in a square format with three lenses in L format and flash on the top left corner. It looks really cool and different that will surely catch everyone’s attention. It is very distinctive design that we have not seen on any other devices. The level of craftmanship is very impressive with industrial build quality, which is apparent in the way the back blends in to the front.
Performance
Along with the unique design, Huawei is using its own chipset called HiSilicon Kirin980, which provides a very quick and responsive performance. The devices come with either 6 GB or 8 GB of RAM with 128 or 256 GB of storage options. The Mate 20 devices are also loaded with artificial intelligence, which is all over the phone. The AI is powered by the new dual Nova processing unit, which is expected to provide 130% increase in object detection.
The 4200 mAh battery on Mate 20 Pro charges from 0 to 70% in half an hour. You also have wireless charging. The Mate 20 Pro charges at 15 watts, which is very fast compared to most other phones. The most unique feature of Mate 20 Pro is its ability to work as a wireless charger, Huawei calls is Reverse Wireless Charging. If you bring another phone with wireless charging capability in close proximity, the Mate 20 Pro will start charging that device. So you can use the large battery of the Mate 20 Pro to power up your friend’s phone.
The Mate 20 Pro also has some biometric sensors sa well. On the Pro device, the big notch houses the 3D recognition sensors for secure facial recognition. The Mate 20 Pro has an under the screen fingerprint sensor. The finferprint sensor works relatively quickly and it is surprisingly accurate.
The Camera
We already know that Huawei is leading the pact in the camera department as the Huawei P20 Pro is still top smartphone camera on the market. The Mate 20 just takes the camera to another level. Both Mate 20 devices have the same camera with 40 MP main lens with f/1.8, 20 MP wide angle lens with f/2.2, and 8 MP zoom lens with f/2.4 that provides 3x zoom. The lens are all independent, so you can utilize them as you wish. The camera software provides AI support for all of these lenses, so if you point at a nature or person, the screen will detect and adjust the settings accordingly. The improvement to AI engine allows usage during video as well. The cinema video is AI powered, which will adjust the lining and filters as you are shooting.
Software
Huawei’s Mate 20 series of smartphones are running EMUI as expected, on top of Android 9 Pie. The Software experience is quite similar to other Huawei devices as the user expeirence is a mixture of Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS. You will not find the app drawer as the EMUI interface uses multiple homescreen setup taken straight from iOS. This means that all of your applications and any bloatware apps will have to be organized on your homescreens rather than the drawer.
One limiting feature we noticed that was unique to EMUI was the fact that you can’t interact with notifications on the lock screen. On the other hand, the phone offers gestures for navigation that are intended to work just like Android gestures on Pixel 3 and iOS gestures on iPhone X. However, we had some issues using the gestures as the Mate 20 devices had hard time recognizing left/right swipe on the display.
The overall software experience with EMUI feels half baked and all over the place. Huawei has a lot of work to do in the software department as the icons, notifications, settings menu are still not hard to operate and unpleasing to look at.
Display
The Huawei Mate 20 has 6.5 inch full HD screen, whereas the Mate 20 Pro has 6.4 inch qHD screen. The resolution of the display is very sharp and the panels are among the best displays available on the market right now. The OLED display provides very deep rich blacks and very high contrast. The displays have very natural looking colors with vibrant looking colours that are not oversaturated.
The displays provide many different color options including cooler, warmer, and vivid mode to change the saturation of the display. The displays also support High Dynamic Range (HDR) video; however, the this only works on YouTube as Netflix and Amazon do not support this feature at the moment.
Pricing and Availability
The Mate 20 series is available for purchase in the UK, France, Italy, and the United Arab Emirates. It is expected the devices will come to other countries at a later time. Given the security concerns raised by the US government, the Mate 20 series will not be available for purchase in the United States. This means that you will have to import the devices if you want to get one.
The Mate 20 series will be available in four versions:
- Huawei Mate 20
- 4GB RAM + 128GB Storage — €799 (~$927)
- 6GB RAM + 128GB Storage — €849 (~$985)
- Huawei Mate 20 Pro
- 6GB RAM + 128GB Storage — €1,049 (~$1,217)
- Huawei Mate 20 X
- 6GB RAM + 128GB Storage — €899 (~$1,043)
- Porsche Design Huawei Mate 20 RS
- 8GB RAM + 256GB Storage — €1,695 (~$1,966)
- 8GB RAM + 512GB Storage — €2,095 (~$2,430)
Final Thoughts
Huawei continues to make strides in the smartphone industry with high end phones that rival the competitors. The Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro smartphones are packed with great features including a very good high resolution display, super fast charging (including reverse wireless charging), in-display fingerprint scanner, and amazing battery life. The only improvement we would suggest is an option for stock Android experience, as Huawei’s software remains a weakness and user experience could be vastly improved with Google’s stock UI experience.
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I am officially a tech addict and enjoy providing my views on matters related to this industry. I am always interested in trying out new tech gadgets and I have owned multiple smartphones including the legendary HTC One, SGS2, Nexus 4, iPhone 4, 5S, 6S, XR, Note 9. You can ask me any tech related questions in the comment section or on twitter @hookedNav