Huawei P20 Pro review

12 April 2018
Huawei was among the front-runners in the dual-camera race with the P9 and then the Mate 10, so who better to take things to the next level? The Huawei P20 Pro one-ups all current major players and comes with three cameras on its back, each unique in its own right.

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  • N
  • Nick
  • vmF
  • 12 Apr 2018

Anonymous, 12 Apr 2018Gsmarena also doesn't criticize that Huawei's multi frame n... moreHDR+ and Night Mode on P20 Pro are entirely different things - from how it works to the end results.

HDR+ shoots up to 9 underexposed images within a second successively and merge them using multi-frame image averaging and aligning, then all the post-processing such as defogging and saturation/contrast boost are applied.

Night Mode, on the other hand, merges multiple long exposure shots with different exposure settings while also applying the post processing in real time, and so that the users can decide the amount of exposure in their photos and stop shooting whenever they want to by pressing the shutter button again(it is a bit similar to how bulb exposure on DSLR works).

HDR+ is really great for moving subject as the exposure time of each image is short, and the aligning algorithm is intelligent enough to detect moving portions of the picture and corrects them to prevent ghosting. There's one huge caveat though - Noise level becomes higher as the scene gets darker and there will be a point where the hardware can't catch up, and that's where it starts to fall apart.

Night Mode, on the other hands, has no such issues. Since the number of stacked images is not limited unlike HDR+, if the scene gets darker, it just needs to stack more images. Even though when the phone is handheld the total exposure time will be limited to 4 seconds, it's still far longer than HDR+'s roughly 1 second limit. The dynamic range will be much better too, since it works more like a "real" HDR where images with different exposure are combined into one. The problem with this mode, however, is severe ghosting and aggressive noise reduction which smudges out fine details even when it is completely unnecessary, and I understand why some people are hating it. I wish I can turn NR off, too, on my Mate 10 Pro!

In summary, HDR+ is better for handheld night time photography when there are lots of things in motion: even though it says "HDR" in its name, its overall mechanism much more resembles that of handheld night shot mode found on compact cameras. But Night Mode is a clear winner for still object and photography in very poorly lit conditions where HDR+ cannot keep up. Darker it gets, better the results Night Mode will produce compared to HDR+, despite strong NR being applied.

    • M
    • Mumbai-Indians
    • fC8
    • 12 Apr 2018

    Excellent, however one suggestion though Angie's presence should be better/must in each review, specialy in Camera Selfie section..

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • nw}
      • 12 Apr 2018

      shoot in raw

        • D
        • AnonD-145316
        • CDE
        • 12 Apr 2018

        AnonD-303606, 12 Apr 2018Great phone but... - Display is good but not the best. ... moreJust shut up!! When something is good its good!! Where can you get a flagship phone now that ticks almost all the boxes?? Other than Huawei's flagship. Display,performance, camera and Battery are the strengths of Huawei flagships which other manufactures find it difficult to balance.

          • K
          • KaneJ
          • mT@
          • 12 Apr 2018

          My 5 year old Nokia 808 Pure View King of camera phones still beats this hands down...

            • ?
            • Anonymous
            • S7x
            • 12 Apr 2018

            10Mpix photos look on pair or even worse than other native 12Mpix cameras. Shame really.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • nUL
              • 12 Apr 2018

              @GSMarena or anyone who owns both P10 and P20: how does the camera and selfie performance compare? Thanks.

                Surprised auto-brightness switch has been taken out of quick settings menu. This is a step backwards IMO.

                  • ?
                  • Anonymous
                  • pp}
                  • 12 Apr 2018

                  AnonD-511827, 12 Apr 2018Why no Headphone jack.. Why are you doing this Huaewei.. ?Type-C port is HJ.

                    • K
                    • Kajmik73
                    • pIe
                    • 12 Apr 2018

                    AnonD-303606, 12 Apr 2018Great phone but... - Display is good but not the best. ... moreGarret14: Price in Europe is on par S9+ which is very high.
                    Price is same as Samsung S9 (not S9+) in central Europe (CZ, SK...):
                    Huawei p20 PRO: €848,90
                    Samsung S9: €848,90 (S9+ costs €948,90)
                    From this comparison p20 PRO is better in most areas
                    storage: 128GB x 64GB
                    RAM: 6GB x 4GB
                    Battery: 4000 x 3000
                    *camera is usually better and may be improved by SW updates (has great potential)
                    *Huawei offer "PREMIUM SERVIS" - P20 and P20 Pro customers are eligible for one free screen repair or replacement within the 3 months/first year (depend of country). Customers can arrange for free collection and delivery from their home or office for two years.

                      • D
                      • AnonD-511827
                      • fBh
                      • 12 Apr 2018

                      Why no Headphone jack.. Why are you doing this Huaewei.. ?

                        • p
                        • pora
                        • ftd
                        • 12 Apr 2018

                        AdamBoy64, 12 Apr 2018Man, this has to be contender for device of the year. It t... moreI agree with you!!!

                          • p
                          • pora
                          • ftd
                          • 12 Apr 2018

                          In South Africa this phone is priced very well compared to S9 and iPhoneX. If you get it on contract, then it's not just cheaper but they include the P8 Lite 2017 with the deal... Honestly the best "Premium" phone money can buy!!!

                          Had mine for a couple of days already and I'm very happy!

                            • A
                            • AdamBoy64
                            • Fv4
                            • 12 Apr 2018

                            Man, this has to be contender for device of the year.
                            It ticks so many boxes. If you can get around it having a notch (or if that doesn't bother you), then wow, this is a brilliant device.

                              • ?
                              • Anonymous
                              • pp}
                              • 12 Apr 2018

                              AnonD-303606, 12 Apr 2018Great phone but... - Display is good but not the best. ... moreGreat phone:

                              -Very good display
                              -Excellent audio
                              -The best camera
                              -Great battery life
                              -Best 1080P video
                              -Good 4K video
                              -Kirin 970 is very good.....

                                • M
                                • Mark
                                • HX5
                                • 12 Apr 2018

                                AnonD-303606, 12 Apr 2018Great phone but... - Display is good but not the best. ... moreDidnt check the most imprtant boxes? R u kidding me?

                                -make/receive calls.
                                -browse internet.
                                -recieve/send email.
                                -calendar/diary
                                -camera

                                  • D
                                  • AnonD-303606
                                  • mVC
                                  • 12 Apr 2018

                                  Great phone but...

                                  - Display is good but not the best.
                                  - Audio is good but not flagship level.
                                  - Camera stills look good but not for the purist because of to much post-processing. Great for Instagram though and Nightmode is a nice feature.
                                  - Camera video is not great at all. Too much issues here.
                                  - Battery endurance is good but at 4000mAh I expected more.
                                  - Performance of Kirin 970 isn't top notch (I know it's not the most important thing)

                                  - Twilight color looks great but not for sale in every country.
                                  - Price in Europe is on par S9+ which is very high.

                                  So to summarize things up and don't want to be negative. The P20 Pro didn't check the most important boxes and I haven't mentioned all things. So even I like the phone I think the rating is to high. It's not on flagship level yet, besides the price

                                  If you have 900 euros to spend, I think there are better options. This phone should be priced around 700 euros.

                                    • r
                                    • r33fd
                                    • LaC
                                    • 12 Apr 2018

                                    So the photo mode is like dslr level almost but video is like a very poor point and shoot.
                                    I think Huawai went for the wow aspect but the camera is far from the best out there.
                                    I would like to see a gsmarena comparison between p20 pro and S9.

                                      • ?
                                      • Anonymous
                                      • Fvi
                                      • 12 Apr 2018

                                      Where is the super slow mo. video? Want to knowhow huawei implement it.

                                        • Z
                                        • ZloiYuri
                                        • 352
                                        • 12 Apr 2018

                                        This phone could be great but notch... No. Garbage, sorry.