Huawei P50 Pro hands-on review

Huawei P50 Pro hands-on

The first word that comes to mind when looking at the Huawei P50 Pro is luxurious. There is no denying the design is exquisite with these curved glass panels and the two unique round camera holders on the back. You can even stop and ponder if those look like two large cameras or the latest pair of Prada sunglasses. Or the Wall-E eyes.

Huawei has always designed the P and Mate series with great attention to detail, and the new P50 Pro is no different. It's a really-well made device, and you can feel it the moment you take it out of its box.

The P50 Pro is fully waterproofed - it's IP68-rated for dust and water resistance. It has curved glass panels on both ends and a thin aluminum frame between those.

It seems that BYD Electronics makes the aluminum frame and the rear glass panel. From what we could gather, the curved back sheet is the first high-aluminum lithium glass to be ever used on a smartphone, co-developed with Huawei. It's supposed to be tougher than regular glass panels, but how tough exactly - we don't know. There is no info on the front glass, but we suspect it's another type of tempered glass.

Huawei P40 Pro and P50 Pro

The Huawei P50 Pro is indeed one thin smartphone and feels even thinner because of the curvature of its long edges. It reminds us of the Mate 20 Pro, which was as large, as curved, as thin, and as heavy.

Huawei P40 Pro and P50 Pro

Of course, the P50 Pro is also a P40 Pro lookalike, and even if these two share similar shape and size, the P50 Pro is lighter and feels and looks thinner.

So, the Huawei P50 Pro introduces an upgraded 6.6-inch OLED screen with the P50 Pro. It now supports a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colors, HDR10+, and offers 300Hz touch response in selected apps. The resolution stays similar to the P40 Pro's - 1,228 x 2,700 px. Huawei also says it has an improved dimming process with reduced flickering.

Even though the screen appears to be curved, it's not. The illusion has been done on several Huawei and Samsung devices, and it's coming from the glass.

The panel improvements may not be immediately noticeable. But what Huawei fans will see right away is the small perforation around the top for the single selfie camera - a welcome departure from the pill-shaped eyesore on the P40 Pro with its dual-front camera.

And since there is no large cutout anymore, there is no 3D face unlock on the P50 Pro. You still get the under-display fingerprint scanner, and that's enough by our books. In fact, we'd always prefer the fingerprint solution before a large screen notch for Face ID, but that's just us.

Another major improvement since the P40 Pro is evident in the sound department. The new flagship offers stereo speakers, symmetrically placed on the top and bottom. The top one doubles as an earpiece and has a razor-thin cutout above the screen, in addition to the holes in the frame. Having two outings also compensate for its weaker loudness, and overall, the P50 Pro should deliver well-balanced stereo sound.

The back of the Huawei P50 Pro is equally interesting as well. The showstopper - the quad Leica camera - is a looker, and it's worth stopping for a bit to appreciate its unique looks.

The rear glass is as curved as the front, as we established. It's all glossy and as slippery as it looks. There is one giant pill-shaped glass that's jutting out a bit - it's the holder of the two round black pieces, both once again jutting out a bit.

The first black circle contains the 50MP primary, the 40MP monochrome, and the 13MP ultrawide-angle cameras. The second black piece has the 64MP telephoto camera and the dual-LED flash. You cannot really see the camera, but just the end of its 90mm periscopic lens - it sits quite deep inside and looking at it is almost mesmerizing. Around here, there are a few hidden features that you might miss at first glance - the laser AF sensors and a mic for video capturing.

The LED-looking thing between those circles is the multi-spectrum color temperature sensor, which helps capture each scene with the most accurate color temperature or white balance.

The aluminum frame is mostly flat and quite thin across the long sides. It is glossy, but because it's not curved, this thin frame is probably the only part of the P50 Pro that provides some grip and makes the P50 Pro usable without a case with a secure enough grip.

The short sides are also flat, and if placed carefully on a desk, the P50 Pro can stand on its own.

The phone has two mics and an IR port on its top, in addition to the speaker outlet. The bottom has the other speaker, the SIM tray, the USB port, and the primary mic.

The Huawei P50 Pro looks and feels like a flagship device, with a premium touch courtesy of the unique, fashion-oriented design. It's also water-resistant. We really like how it looks and how it handles.