Huawei Mate 20 X review

29 January 2019
Arriving a few months after the rest of the Mate 20 series phones, but considered by many as the best phone in the family, the Mate 20 X is finally stepping in by offering all the screen real estate you could possibly want in a phone.

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  • ?
  • Anonymous
  • pQr
  • 30 Jan 2019

"The telephoto snapper has darker f/2.4 lens, which explains why Huawei isn't even trying to use it" Actually that's not the complete explanation because an 80mm crop of the main camera is equivalent to Huawei's tele camera sensor with f/2.4 lens in terms of captured light. The reason is that the 80mm camera has more read noise because it has more pixels than a crop. Furthermore the autofocus of the main camera might be better. The last reason is that 80mm cameras need a faster shutter speed for capturing more details than a 27 mm camera when you don't hold the phone steady in low-light conditions. When an 80mm camera uses the same exposure time as a 27mm camera in low-light conditions, then the amount of details can be the same due to hand vibrations. And when it uses a faster exposure time, it captures less light than a crop of the 27mm camera. Less light increases noise and more noise can reduce the amount of details.

    "If you really need to shoot in 40MP - you can do it - but the samples you'll get are far from impressive. The resolved detail is nothing impressive, the images are soft and noisy"

    Not sure what you're seeing there. Take your standard shot of the snail with the bushes to the right of it, downscale the 40mp image to the same dimensions as the 10mp and compare the detail between both. No camera phone i've ever seen comes close to that level of detail and that was taken on a dullish winters day. The Pixel 3 couldn't capture that detail even with the lovely mid-summers day lighting it had available - https://www.gsmarena.com/google_pixel_3-review-1847p5.php#image9

    I'm not really sure what Huawei are doing but their 10mp images are nowhere close to the quality of the 40mp shots downscaled using standard bilinear resampling in photoshop. I thought that was the entire point of the 40pm sensor.

      • S
      • Shui8
      • KZ8
      • 30 Jan 2019

      Walter C. Dornez, 30 Jan 2019Okay, don't get me wrong. The photos are great... But IDK, ... moreNo doubt about that. U cant beat physics as Lumia 1020 has the larger sensor. Moreover it oversample images to 5mp resolution, sacrifice a lot on todays standard. What it lacks are older lens & camera algorithm, producing soft pictures & noisy low light pictures. Nokia should revive again their greatness in camera.

      Mate 20 Pro (same as Mate 20 X) in the other hands, while not accurate in color science, its not far off. It just add a tiny vibrancy to it, unlike the oversaturate P20 Pro. Newer lens provides more sharper pictures & newer camera algorithm provides excellent dynamic range, clearer low lights pics (not the Night Mode) with the best highlight preservation till date.

      The only downside on Mate 20 Pro camera are a bit oversharpened, higher noise reduction & a bit too brighter exposure on the software side. But that only visible if u pixel peeping. As an one image without zooming in, it gives an excellent overall impression.

        Okay, don't get me wrong. The photos are great... But IDK, it's just not as good as the old Lumia 1020. IDK how that phone still manages to be at the top of my list, maybe it's the HDR and color science, but I really wish that quality can come back to regular phones

          Mate 20 X literally could've been the perfect phone for me and has everything I want to have on my phone, except for a low-res display which is unfortunately a dealbreaker for me. It's also such a pity that this phone is not widely available worldwide unlike its smaller siblings.

          However if I were told to choose between Mate 20 X and Mate 20 Pro, I would pick this one over Pro any day. This is easily the best Android flagship phone when it comes to performance, speaker quality, camera versatility and battery life/charging speed, and yes, it even keeps the headphone jack! I don't care what anybody says, I believe that this is the true flagship of 2018 from Huawei, not Pro.

            • S
            • Shui8
            • KZ8
            • 29 Jan 2019

            This is a beast in everything. Performance, Battery, Speakers, Cameras, Screen.

            It should be called, the Mate Titan.

              • ?
              • Anonymous
              • Tab
              • 29 Jan 2019

              4.6 seems like a very accurate score. I have had a Mate 20 X for the past 2 or so months and have no complaints.

              How did you guys review the phone so quickly after receiving it not that long ago?

                • A
                • AngryLithuanian
                • nI0
                • 29 Jan 2019

                Basically a perfect multimedia machine on the go. Good job Huawei !

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