Huawei P20: Snappish snaps, but for £200 less than Pro, it’s Notch bad

The launch of the Huawei P20 Pro has prompted much debate over its camera: is it great or an over-hyped fraud? With the £799 triple-lens phone grabbing all the attention, the much more affordable P20 has been overlooked. The P20 also offers several of the party tricks on offer in the £799 triple-lens offering, albeit with a …

[Anonymous Coward]

Huawei's biggest threat?

Xiaomi.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Huawei's biggest threat?

The Justice Department?

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Huawei's biggest threat? - @DougS

Barring Huawei from the world's largest market, and from being able to buy stuff from US based companies like Qualcomm, Intel, AMD, and Microsoft is probably a bigger threat to them than if the entire rest of the world refused to do business with them EXCEPT for the US.

[teknopaul]

Re: Huawei's biggest threat? - @DougS

1% with a lot of money does not equate to a market for phones.

Chinas economy is pretty big these days. The phone market was bigger that the US in 2015

[CrazyOldCatMan]

Re: Huawei's biggest threat? - @DougS

Barring Huawei from the world's largest market

I thought that they could sell in both China and the EU? (Both bigger markets than the US).

[Stuart 22]

Notch too much for me

I remember when £599 was a flagship price - or more. IMHO its getting silly to put a grand (or even half a grand) of very breakable plastic/glass in your pocket which will be junked in a couple of years anyway. A camera phone is useful when you unexpectantly see something photographical. It is no substitute for a proper camera and half a grand buys you one of those.

One which will last you a decade or more 'cos the technology doesn't change that fast. That it is worth investing in accessories (mainly lenses) to take more interesting pictures.

Which is why the priorities of phone manufacturers and me appear to be diverging. A phone is primarily a communication device. Concentrate on that - you know, batteries that last more than a day. Communication kept secure with security updates. Phones that are repairable. Phones that don't break.

Is that asking the for the moon ... ?

[Gene Cash]

Re: Notch too much for me

> Notch too much for me

Perhaps if you'd deigned to actually read the article, you might have seen "Unlike the iPhone X, the Notch can be "turned off" to present a smooth horizontal border"

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Notch too much for me

The P20 non-Pro uses LCD, which can't display true blacks like OLED, so it probably won't hide the notch all that well - at least not in dimmer light.

[adnim]

Re: Notch too much for me

"Is that asking the for the moon ... ?"

Nope but it is taking away the stick that that the manufacturers beat the customer with, the stick that generates the best financial reward... Continuous upgrade cycle.

Now if you asked for the moon on a stick...

[89724905708169238590784I9305670349743096734346773478647852349863592355648544996313855148583659264921]

Why use a rotting melon, Mr Reviewer?

Everyone likes big and healthy melons!

[0laf]

Re: Why use a rotting melon, Mr Reviewer?

They are far more photogenic as well.

[juice]

But as reader "juice" points out

Ooooo - I've been quoted! My 15 microseconds of fame have come at last!

I feel all faint and funny. Perhaps I should go for a lie down. Or, seeing as it's Friday, a medicinal beverage may be in order.

Beyond that, the photos all look decent enough - it's amazing how far we've come since the days of the webcam-quality cameras which were bolted onto the early handsets!

[nohatjim]

What phone to get

My iPhone 6s battery now lasts half a day. The phone is over two years old but I can’t find a replacement. I just want a decent smart phone that I can run Skype, boxer, Facebook, eBay, no games reasonable camera but must have headphone socket.

Guess I am going to end up with an Android but my one android phone I have had was far too frustrating.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: No idea...

My Note 3 is pushing 4 years old now... I do have a second battery, but I could not tell you which one I have installed, as both last about a whole day (I do use power savings mode though, so YMMV)... Oh, and did not have to butcher the phone to put said battery in it.

Yours died after 2 years? Sorry to hear... but is it not time we all learn from our purchase mistakes?

My next phone will probably be another Note 3 or 4... or anything with a replaceable battery, plastic casing/back (does not shatter like glass/ceramic and does not fatally bend/dent like metal) and a headphone socket!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: What phone to get

IPhone SE is the only phone worth buying.

[d3vy]

Re: What phone to get

@nohatjim

Buy a replacement battery from eBay for £15.

Odds are it will come with the tool you need - they normally do. It's a 5 min job to switch a bettery.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: What phone to get

”My iPhone 6s battery now lasts half a day“

Unless you actually want a new phone - in which case stop complaining - just get a replacement from Apple for $29/£25. Cheap as chips, and guaranteed.

[Anonymous Coward]

"See more stuff"

Removes button to increase screen estate... adds notch that eats into screen estate (yes, I know they can *extend* into the top of the phone, but most applications I've seen allow the notch to ingress instead).

I don't know if I should hate the engineers for going along with this, the marketers, or the consumers for buying it.

[Jason Hindle]

Tips for getting the best out of the camera...

Obviously, the monochrome sensor is higher resolution but, so far, I’ve only managed to use it with the Phone's own camera app (Select Mono, then either Pro or Portrait). For colour photography, download Adobe Photoshop CC and use that as your camera. It takes DNGs, and Adobe Sensei (just press auto) does a reliable job of processing these with near zero effort. The camera isn’t fully supported, at the moment, so noise management is a bit off for photos processed in Adobe.

Sample photos:

https://flickr.com/photos/33337735@N00/sets/72157689868399490

https://flickr.com/photos/33337735@N00/sets/72157695798253475

https://flic.kr/p/244XQ2A

[TrumpSlurp the Troll]

All about the camera?

First it was a phone, then a computer, now all the adverts are about a camera.

So why not start with a decent camera (good sized aperture for plenty of light and an optical zoom) and then tack a phone onto it?

Then again I think someone tried that a while back but it didn't take off. :-(

[armyknife]

Something to play with from your pocket.

Two hundred pounds cheaper, therefore the 600 quid phone must be a bargain. :hmm:

[d3vy]

I've just replaced my HTC one M8 after six and a bit years with a refurbished one plus 3t.. £280 no notch all the same features as these new phones (as far as I can tell) and a fraction of the price.

So glad to have realised that the constant annual phone refresh was a massive waste of money!

[remainer_01]

All I want is a snapdragon 845, waterproofing, Wireless charging, long battery life and an audio jack. Easy customisation and rooting are a bonus. What I don't want is a Samsung because planned obsolescence makes me angry, as does the insanity around locking the phone down.

I have been wanting to replace my OnePlus 2 for a while now, there just isn't anything on the market that ticks these boxes. What makes me shake my head and strongly consider a feature phone once again is the constant hoopla around cameras. Even this review barely mentions practical considerations of a phone (radio effectiveness, battery life, overall system performance,) and spends a lot of time talking about the camera.

[jimprdx]

But... how well does it photograph cats? The author even mentions the importance of cat photography, but fails to include a single cat photo! (I'm only half-joking, most of my photos are of cats!) :)

[CrazyOldCatMan]

most of my photos are of cats

Ditto[1].

Although, to be fair, I did take two photos of the swans and cygnets[2] at my local park yesterday..

[1] With 7 cats it's easy to find subjects..

[2] 10 cygnets! Hopefully, most of them will reach adulthood. Assuming the parents don't repeat the mistake of last year and roost on the bank where the foxes can get at them..

[Lord Elpuss]

A near-as-dammit carbon copy of the iPhone X hardware design. Even the marketing shots are ripped off.

If Apple stole as blatantly as this, El Reg would tear them a new one - and rightly so. Huawei gets a free pass tho, it seems.

[Lord Elpuss]

"3 thumbs down"

Downvoting because you don't agree, or because you don't like the truth?

[Anonymous Coward]

Theft is okay . . .

The theft is justified if it results in a lower price to consumers - it's the Robin Hood effect.

[Lord Elpuss]

Re: Theft is okay . . .

Theft is okay...

Leaving aside whether I agree with you or not, the point is it’s hypocritical to kick Apple in the balls when they (allegedly) copy something, then not even mention it when somebody else does it.

You think theft is okay, I happen to disagree; regardless of who’s doing it. Which means that Huawei is now on my personal shitlist for being unoriginal copycat junk peddlers. I wouldn’t buy their phones anyway but I am in the market for a 4G MiFi - which now won’t be one of theirs.