Huawei isn’t having the best time with US press and governments right now, but that doesn’t affect the quality of their phones. Earlier this year Huawei announced its new flagships, the P20 and P20 Pro, for mass markets. Unfortunately, the phones aren’t sold in the US, so it’s been a little hard to get our hands on one, but we finally did! I’ve been using the P20 (not Pro) for this past weekend, here are my initial thoughts and annoyances.
Hardware
The P20 packs great specs in its beautiful glass and metal package. It houses a 5.8” LCD FHD display with 4GB of RAM, 128GB of Storage, and a 3,400mAh battery. There are a small notch and chin with a fingerprint reader on the front. On the back, we have a dual camera setup consisting of a 12MP RGB sensor and a 20MP Monochrome sensor.
One definite thing I can state about the P20 is that I love the design. The notch is minimal but actually looks like a notch instead of Essential’s nipple-notch. The chin is also actually doable since it houses a fingerprint reader — unlike what’s expected from the Pixel 3 XL The phone overall is slim and sleek, and very manageable to maneuver in one hand.
I haven’t been using the phone with a case and have managed to save it from dropping twice, but I’d love to rock a Peel case on this device. Not all the time though because again I love the feel. Also, the speakers are surprisingly loud.
Software
The biggest drawback to Huawei devices is their software. Huawei devices run a software skin named EMUI and I’ve never been a fan of it or any skin similar to it. Luckily with Android, you can swap out launchers, change icons, and more very quickly. I have yet to change the launcher even though the wallpaper is skewed off axis. It’s based on the Google Launcher, and you can even have the Google feed on the left.
There’s a lot of AI features built in the P20’s software. There’s a Google lens-esque information accessor in the camera – which I’ve never used or even wanted too. A weekend (with a full-time job) doesn’t allow the most time to dive into all the Huawei AI software features, but know that there is a lot packed into the phone and its skin. There’s also a bunch of pre-installed apps, stop that Huawei. Lastly, there’s a blue line/bubbles that appears when I swipe down from the top right corner, but I can’t figure out what it does or how I activate it.
Camera
The camera gives the opposite experience of the general software. The UI looks a little sad, especially the shutter button, but the features are godly. Huawei includes a variety of modes, including my favorite ‘Pro’ mode where you have near-total control of the sensor settings. You also have recent favorites such as Night mode and Portrait mode — with different lighting effects, similar to that one company’s camera app. You can trigger the camera from a locked screen via double pressing the volume down, but that doesn’t work if the screen is on at all. Picture quality though is rather amazing.
The pictures I’ve taken recently with the P20 are very detailed and colorful. Even without the extra sensor from the P20 Pro, the little brother is keeping up and giving other devices from this year a run for their money. The only other annoying part of using the camera is the insistent AI popping up at inconvenient times. Otherwise, I love the camera app and possibilities.
There are a few other small things about the phone I must mention that I’ve noticed. The power button has a red line on it, which is a small neat touch. There is no headphone jack, which is to be expected from everyone but Samsung. Also, even with its glass back, the P20 can’t wirelessly charge. The biggest faux pas though is there is no waterproofing on the P20. Huawei, what the ..!
Conclusion
After these first few days, using the Huawei P20 has shown me that it is an excellent phone. Naturally, Huawei focused more on the Pro version, but this standard version can beneficially support many consumers. I can already tell I will be enjoying this phone, especially after I can spend a whole day personalizing it without having work interrupt me. Our full review will be available in a couple of weeks, and other articles may arrive soon as well. See you soon.
I really wish the Pixel 3 XL shared a similar design of the P20….
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