Huawei Mate Xs 2 review

Portrait mode

Portrait mode on the Mate Xs 2 comes with the usual selection of 'effects' (the background blur style) and a 0-10 beautification feature. Additionally, you can capture portraits at three zoom levels - 1x, 2x, and 3x, all of them sourced from the main camera.

At the native 1x, images are of very high quality. The subject is sharp and detailed, the separation from the background is very competent (unless our wooden wall panelling is involved) and the blur level is well judged to ensure believable results. Colors and dynamic range are great as well. And it's worth pointing out that the Mate's comparatively longer focal length on the main camera means that you're not in your subject's face so it's not an uncomfortable experience for the two parties, plus facial features don't get as distorted as they do with some of the wider cameras.

Portrait mode samples, 1x

At 2x, sharpness and detail on your subject take a noticeable hit, though if you're after that 50-ish mm lens perspective and you won't be examining the photos from up close, they just might be good enough.

Portrait mode samples, 2x

The 3x setting, on the other hand, we'd straight up avoid.

Portrait mode samples, 3x

Selfies

Selfies out of the actual selfie camera of the Mate Xs 2 aren't very good, for one specific reason. Not once did we get a sharp face out of it, while backgrounds are consistently so. We're not entirely sure it's because of the focus distance Huawei has chosen - the rendition of the face has more of a misaligned stacking look, rather than out of focus softness, but it's so consistently the same that it makes sense to be the latter.

That's somewhat unfortunate because the images have otherwise excellent dynamic range and likeable colors. Still, with the option to shoot selfies on the main camera and preview them on the rear portion of the screen, the Xs 2's selfie camera is easily relegated to just video calls and for that it should do just fine (and face unlock if you're into that).

Selfie samples

A few words on the less than ideal logistics of rear camera selfies, before we get to quality. The thing is, you need to open the camera on the main screen and enable the rear screen preview from there and then turn the phone around. Once you've done that, there's no software shutter button on the back, so you need to press the volume rocker and squeezing the phone is both dangerous for it and prone to introducing camera shake. There's also no option to change cameras or modes from the back - switching between photo and portrait mode or between the main and the ultrawide cameras must be done from the front.

Some on-screen controls would be nice

By the looks of it, Huawei's engineered this preview so that the people you're taking pictures of can look at themselves, more so than with selfies in mind, seeing how there's no actionable interface in it. There's also the matter that if you're taking selfies this way, there will be a fully functional camera interface on the opposite side of the phone - other people will see it, but also you may interact with it accidentally. It's not ideal, but fully fixable in software if they open their eyes to this alternative use case.

Once you get past those hurdles, the resulting rear camera selfies are great. The amout of detail is excellent, though it can have a rather gritty processed rendition in some cases. Colors are vivid overall and skin tones look pleasing, though there can be a tendency for brightening of faces in some instances. Whatever occasional flaw there might be, these are some of the best selfies with a life preview you can get on any phone.

Selfie samples, main rear camera

They do also have a nice level of natural blur thanks to the combination of bright lens and close subject distance. But if you'd like some extra separation from the background, there's also the Portrait mode. Realistically, at arm's length you'll only be using it at the 1x magnification. As with shooting other people, we found it to work great.

Selfie samples, main rear camera, Portrait mode

While the selfie-selfie camera is relatively wide itself, it's nowhere as wide as the rear ultrawide camera. That one lets you do odd perspective shots or better put you in the context of your surroundings. With no option for on screen shutter release, the requirement for your hand on the volume button inevitably puts your appendage too close to the camera and shots can often end up containing a whole lot of arm. Of course, more experienced selfie-ists will know workarounds.

Selfie samples, ultrawide rear camera

Video recording

The Mate Xs 2 records video up to 4K60 with its main and ultrawide rear cameras. The tele is capped at 4K30, though a zoomed in 4K60 mode is available too, albeit outsourced to the main camera. There's no 8K recording capability, not that we'd complain about it. Stabilization is always on in all modes. The usual option for using the h.265 codec as opposed to the default h.264 is there in settings too.

The 4K30 (34-40Mbps) videos out of the main camera are decent, but not the best ones we've seen. For one, detail is a touch too soft for our liking, when you look from up close. There's also the excessively contrasty tone curve that's leaving both shadows and highlights underdeveloped. Colors are neutral which is probably a good thing, but we'd take a warmer more saturated rendition. It's not a dealbreaking performance overall, just not one of the Mate's strong suits. For what it's worth, the 4K60 mode looks essentially the same, despite having a lower bit rate (30Mbps).

The utrawide camera records more likeable colors - warmer, and more saturated, but not off-the-charts so.The high contrast/limited dynamic range point still stands though and the detail isn't pin sharp, though it's still good as ultrawides go.

Squeezing 3840x2160px footage out of a camera with a nominal resolution of 3264x2448px with the necessary cropping for the image stabilization has to involve some upscaling. Indeed, that shows in the videos captured at what the video viewfinder calls 4x zoom. We'd call these usable, but the Mate won't be our top pick for zoomed in video.

Low-light footage out of the main camera is pretty solid. Dynamic range wasn't great during the day and it's not gotten better now, but in this context where all phones tend to suffer, the Mate is actually doing more than alright. Detail is good, noise is well controlled, colors are on point.

The ultrawide is doing a decent job itself. Of course, the shadows are relatively soft and noisy, and bright lights will end up blown out, but moderately lit areas are rendered quite well.

The telephoto is struggling to gather enough light at night and its clips end up underexposed. There's a general softness to them as well, and pretty strong haloing around light sources.

Stabilization works wonders on the Mate Xs 2. Footage from both the main and the ultrawide cameras is free from walking shake and there's no focus hunting. Pans are smooth too and just pointing the phone in one direction results in a very stable picture.

The telephoto, on the other hand, can be a little wobbly and exhibit the occasional focus hunting. Though at 4x zoom that's not such a bad result.

Here's a glimpse of how the Huawei Mate Xs 2 compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Huawei Mate Xs 2 against the Galaxy Z Fold3 and the Oppo Find N in our Video compare tool