Huawei P20 Pro long-term review

19 July 2018
It was an exciting flagship season this spring, yes, but once the dust has settled, there was only a handful of devices that left lasting impressions. On top of that shortlist is the tri-eyed beast that is the Huawei P20 Pro and it was high time we do a long-term review of this one while using it as a daily driver.

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  • D
  • AnonD-754421
  • s$k
  • 23 Jul 2018

Nick Tagataka, 20 Jul 2018Because Night Mode is really just there to extend dynamic r... more"especially at night"
No, only at night, reliably.
The iPX is falling behind among flagships because Apple stubbornly clings on to its 1/3" which is too small by any modern measure, but the P20P's smearing NR and ugly oversharpening means in some daylight shots the iPX may still yields higher quality, moreover the iPX has a reliable 2x optical meaning the P20P loses clearly in the 2-2.9x zoom range.
At night the single 1/3"'s weakness in photon collecting is amplified and the 1/1.7"(surprisingly weak on its own, see phonearena's night shot comparison) and 1/2.3“ BW's combined output has the advantage.

    AnonD-754421, 23 Jul 2018"almost no noise reduction or sharpening applied" You don'... moreI take back "almost no noise reduction" part but it is true that in PORTRAIT MODE (btw I've never talked about NR/sharpness applied in auto mode, pay more attention to what people say) the software processing is more laid back than other phones with the same feature. Take a look at P20 Pro vs S9+ article on this website to confirm what I'm saying here.

      AnonD-754421, 23 Jul 2018One more thing, I should repeat that sub-3x zoom on the P20... moreIt is also not mentioned that sub-3x digital zoom on P20 Pro is called "Hybrid Zoom" (The same name but it's different from 5x zoom) and is still quite a lot better than normal digital zoom which only involves upscaling of the cropped image. And because of this the 1.1-1.9x zoom on P20 Pro is more detailed than what you can find on devices like U12+/S9+/iPhone X etc. And don't forget on P20 Pro you can use both hybrid and optical zoom in low light situations as well, unlike others which completely disable the secondary lens whenever light is not sufficient.

        • D
        • AnonD-754421
        • s$k
        • 23 Jul 2018

        J-K, 20 Jul 2018Read just about every review on this phone and I don't thin... moreI'll add about the fake 960fps that this post on xda: "the truth of 960 fps slow mo", by ketman5001(posting links may cause issues so please do a search), contains a lot more information.
        It seems to record in 240fps then either interpolates the framerate to 960fps or just plays back 240fps video in 1/4 the normal speed (effectively 7.5fps) depending on the quality of the frames which are in turn determined by lighting condition, very interesting.

          Walter C. Dornez, 23 Jul 2018Ah, I see. How is it?Sux with the unnatural fps on the back, but great phone for my usage. Gaming, talking, editing pictures and video from my Canon. And great for the money ;-)

            • D
            • AnonD-754421
            • s$k
            • 23 Jul 2018

            Nick Tagataka, 21 Jul 2018"Others justify it as okay as long as you aren't pixel-peep... more"almost no noise reduction or sharpening applied"
            You don't know what you're talking about, never say that about a phone camera, or anything under 1". And since auto mode doesn't fit your description(much more apparent NR and sharpening compared to the competition) I don't think you've been paying proper attention, or that you're just saying that without valid comparison.

              • D
              • AnonD-754421
              • s$k
              • 23 Jul 2018

              AnonD-754421, 23 Jul 2018"long-exposure shot" "The Night Mode is one of this camer... moreOne more thing, I should repeat that sub-3x zoom on the P20P is entirely digital and is of notably worse quality than what the 2x opticals could achieve, for some reason the comparison was made on this site yet this is omitted in this article.

                • D
                • AnonD-754421
                • s$k
                • 23 Jul 2018

                "long-exposure shot"
                "The Night Mode is one of this cameras highlights and it works exactly as advertised."
                "The results it produces seemed impossible without a tripod until the P20 series arrived"
                Is this still the same team that did the review and comparisons with other models?
                1. It's *not* long exposure, it's stacking short exposures, and it's been documented to leave severe ghosting in many instances. You also won't be shooting light trails because it's simply *not* long exposure.
                2. Night mode smears considerably more than auto mode (I think most on this site have already seen the pastel-like effect of the render) and should not be relied upon unless under conditions where auto mode fails.
                3. Compacts have had multi-frame NR(essentially the same as this "night mode" "long exposure") for many years, even the RX100 supports that through Playmemories, it's a simple software trick that only maybe Huawei first ported to a smartphone.
                4. A real professional using a smartphone as backup would definitely want a model with proper bayer, S9, Pixel2, HTC U11 etc all render much more predictably and with better compatibility with professional post processing software like LR.

                  Zenodroid, 22 Jul 2018Op6. The p10 plus is still the same price as the op6, here.... moreAh, I see. How is it?

                    Walter C. Dornez, 22 Jul 2018Man that sucks. What phone do you have now Op6. The p10 plus is still the same price as the op6, here. So I just went with the newer one.

                      • m
                      • marc
                      • 05m
                      • 22 Jul 2018

                      i was able to use this phone yesterday as one of my friend got this phone and i was amazed with the picture quality. very crisp and clear almost a dslr like quality. though im still a fan of LG and will always stay with wide angle lens for now

                        • ?
                        • Anonymous
                        • MsM
                        • 22 Jul 2018

                        Soccer T, 21 Jul 2018One of most overrated phone till date. Daylight photos ... moreAgree

                          Zenodroid, 21 Jul 2018Great camera when using pro mode. Great battery life time a... moreMan that sucks. What phone do you have now

                            • J
                            • James
                            • inM
                            • 22 Jul 2018

                            Lu, 20 Jul 2018Yes, it seems that the "long-term" review is written by som... moreAgree to your points and also the use of glass without wireless charging is pointless. All for the looks without added functional benefits.

                              • J
                              • James
                              • inM
                              • 22 Jul 2018

                              Zenodroid, 21 Jul 2018Great camera when using pro mode. Great battery life time a... moreAgree...they over did the AI on the photo

                                • J
                                • James
                                • inM
                                • 22 Jul 2018

                                My sim card tray got stuck twice on the P20 pro. Huawei repair shop said I didn't place the sim in tray. Well as it turns out, I took the sim card out and there no sim card in side. The string inside is defective but Huawei refuses to admit it and wanted to change the motherboard .... thanks but no thanks! Be warned.

                                  • F
                                  • Fury
                                  • Lb4
                                  • 21 Jul 2018

                                  I have been using it for 2 months now. I'm just loving it. Great phone from HUAWEI.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • pp}
                                    • 21 Jul 2018

                                    Samsung and Apple fans are so jealous it's fun to watch....this triple camera setup is only thing that is new on any flagship phone this year.......kudos to Huawei.

                                      One of most overrated phone till date.

                                      Daylight photos aren't spectacular.

                                      AI is pretty bad. It oversaturates the photos, which make them unnatural.

                                      960 slo mo looks bad.

                                      Videos camera is a horrible mess.

                                        Great camera when using pro mode. Great battery life time and fast phone for editing pictures better than the crappy ai. But my 2 p20 pros was the worst phones I ever had, since Samsung galaxy s6. Ui lags, like we know from Samsung. Random crashes and reboots on my phones. My wife's p20 pro has none of the flaws mine had. The ai is ok, but overdoes the edit. Even when turning off the master ai, the ai still screws with the standard point and shoot. P10 plus was the best point and shoot phone ever. P20 pro is the best manual shooter.