Weekly poll: the Huawei P40 phones are so good, but can you love them with no GMS on board?

29 March 2020
Huawei has already replaced much of the Google ecosystem and is offering camera hardware that is (currently) unrivaled. Is that enough?

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • ib7
  • 30 Mar 2020

I already live without GMS
Playstore I use QooApp
Maps I use Waze
I don't use chrome
Easy

    • m
    • mooox
    • ucv
    • 30 Mar 2020

    Anonymous, 30 Mar 2020If i am buying a $1000 phone i SHOULD NOT have to do that. ... moreIs a $1000 phone a big deal? I would assume that most people thinking of getting this phone would be those that makes at least $1000 every week. There are phones for those people who can't afford to spend so much too, you know...

      mooox, 30 Mar 2020Problem is that Huawei P40 Pro's higher resolution images a... moreWhy does it matter? The sensor is not even supposed to be used in full resolution mode anyway, you get much better details out of 12.5MP (or 9.1MP to be exact) photos.

        • m
        • mooox
        • ucv
        • 30 Mar 2020

        AlienKiss , 30 Mar 2020What is your opinion on the fact that huawei has blocked th... moreI'm wondering why everyone's so tied up about rooting. It's not as if people only have 1 phone nowadays right?
        I root my S9 to use it to clone hotel keycards etc, Note 9 to remove the bloat and stuff, use my Note 10+ for its functionality (Haven't gotten Samsung Pay or various local banking apps to work reliable on a rooted phone) and camera.
        If you're getting a Huawei Phone, I'd presume it'll be for its photography chops, just live with it. Root other phones!

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • LaT
          • 30 Mar 2020

          mooox, 30 Mar 2020Not sure how anyone will bother with google playstore in 2 ... moreSamsung already have their own app store built in to the galaxy phones

            Fearghast, 30 Mar 2020Don't tell me, they had the lowest bitrate all the time. H... moreGSMArena's review suggests that they haven't tweaked the bitrate from Mate 30 Pro.

              without whatsapp or facebook messager, you won't have many friends to talk to with,

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • vV5
                • 30 Mar 2020

                Anonymous, 29 Mar 2020How if your Games acc bind to google how can you login it o... moreDepends on what game you're playing, if the game is from Huawei Appgallery then you login with Huawei ID not Google. But otherwise you can login by Facebook if the game gives you that option. If not, nothing you can do 🤷‍♂️

                  • m
                  • mooox
                  • ucv
                  • 30 Mar 2020

                  Nick Tagataka, 30 Mar 2020GSMArena's studio camera comparison chart is evenly lit acr... moreProblem is that Huawei P40 Pro's higher resolution images are poorer than other camera's lower resolution images...

                    It is not even an issue not having GMS. It is actually preferable not to have it if you care about privacy. I have installed /e/ from e foundation on my phone which is privacy centruc ungoogled android. It is great to know that Google cannot collect my location data or emails.

                      • m
                      • mooox
                      • ucv
                      • 30 Mar 2020

                      dbjungle, 29 Mar 2020I mostly agree with this. Google and other corporations wa... moreNot sure how anyone will bother with google playstore in 2 years if and when
                      1) all the chinese manufacturers abandon google play store to go on a chinese platform
                      2) Samsung abandons google play store to start its own store.

                      I mean currently the android ecosystem is mostly Chinese manufacturers, Samsung, and the OTHERS.
                      the OTHERS are mostly the ones with users who can't afford premium phones and can't afford to keep paying for apps to keep developers interested.

                      Will google play store even be a thing in the future? We'll have to see.

                        Anonymous, 29 Mar 2020Downscale to 12MP, you'll see huawei loses. I do not kn... moreGSMArena's studio camera comparison chart is evenly lit across the frame, so of course phones with higher native resolution sensor will naturally resolve more textures. The biggest problem with XZ2's camera was how unevenly it treated textures in well lit areas and in shadows, it turns fine details into extremely overdenoised mush whenever they are not directly lit by strong light sources. On top of that it also had a severe problem with sharpening and overexposure, and XZ2 by no means had a good camera at that time.

                          • m
                          • mooox
                          • ucv
                          • 30 Mar 2020

                          Anonymous, 29 Mar 2020Do you really not see a difference between legitimate priva... more"Huawei was banned from sensitive projects in the West for valid reasons. No amount of disinformation will change this fact."

                          I think Huawei was banned from sensitive projects out of US pressure and bullying of smaller and weaker economies. Down to why US banned Huawei, because it's better and cheaper than anything that US has (proven fact)? It can't be because Huawei is a China controlled company (not a proven fact) or that it collects data (not a proven fact despite the full resources of the US UK and the west to prove it).

                          If we're talking about discussions that does not need any validated facts, then let's talk about how the US president needs to have a brain implanted because it definitely went for a holiday.

                            • m
                            • mooox
                            • ucv
                            • 30 Mar 2020

                            Shui8, 29 Mar 2020Do you realize in good light there, P40 gave natural detail... moreFor your convenience I've cut out how bad P40 images are here:
                            https://paste.pics/b9483607404553bbb8daa692405d0f93
                            https://paste.pics/eb775253f292c1482f4a1e45d410be3a
                            https://paste.pics/e7f65fb24a8a7e5753f329f607247585

                            did you look at the images or are you just talking based on internet knowledge? Just look at the horrible lack of details.

                            Of course, if you examine the whole images carefully, you'll see that the lens of this particular camera is probably misaligned, that the images are OOF on the right side. There's a possibility that this is due to a bad lens assembly. As an experienced photographer, I can spot it.

                            However, how many people are experienced to tell when a lens is misaligned? Would a phone shop allow you to return the phone because of misaligned lens? We can only take it that the QC isn't there, and that P40 cameras are screwed up.

                            I've been shooting full frame cameras for more than 12 years. and I know what full frame images are capable of. Trust me, P40 images are nowhere near "good" for a large sensor.

                            Agreed though, every manufacturer over sharpens the XXXX out of the images. Apple enhances the local area contrast by a crazy amount. That said, garbage in garbage out. The P40 can't get good quality images at full 50MP resolution, and the pixel binning algo doesn't work out well enough leading to bad bad bad moire that cannot be saved.

                              If there were Bootloader unlocks and Dev support available to it, like Xiaomi and OnePlus phones - which are also Chinese by the way- I would've grabbed one immediately.

                              Huawei is shooting itself in foot, especially in these times, by still insisting on keeping all customer friendly things locked.

                                Game over for Huawei with these ridiculous prices and cut corners of basic p40. S20 line up is much more appealing for same price. Who the hell Huawei think they are? No GMS, less features than competition in same price ballpark. I think it is time for Huawei to focus only on its Chinese market and say goodbye to others, because know one will buy its overpriced crap.

                                  • A
                                  • AlienKiss
                                  • 3RM
                                  • 30 Mar 2020

                                  Adoogle, 30 Mar 2020All the talk of Huawei phones not having GMS thereby curtai... moreWhat is your opinion on the fact that huawei has blocked the bootloader unlocking service and their phones are not rootable anymore?
                                  If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you shouldn't even bother replying.
                                  By the way.. are you the owner of this brand?? I don't see any real reason to defend them under any other circumstances.
                                  You go ahead and use one of their wannabe not-rootable spying replicas. I know I never will.

                                    • m
                                    • mooox
                                    • ucv
                                    • 30 Mar 2020

                                    LilPhone, 30 Mar 2020You're viewing it from your phone so that's why the camera ... moreI'm viewing on a $1500 32inch monitor made for editing photos, and it covers close to 100% of the Adobe RGB spectrum. I think I know what I'm seeing.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • nmJ
                                      • 30 Mar 2020

                                      Jay, 29 Mar 2020I bought Honor 9X with no GMS onboard, Guess what? Upon pho... moreThat's because the Honor 9X has GMS. That's why it asked you for a back-up from Gmail, as any Google certified device would. Without GMS, that part of setup does not exist in the phone.

                                        • ?
                                        • Anonymous
                                        • vV5
                                        • 30 Mar 2020

                                        LilPhone, 30 Mar 2020You're viewing it from your phone so that's why the camera ... moreHe posted links to the desktop website, not the mobile website. That tells you that he was using a computer and not a phone to view the pictures.