The TIPA General Assembly has recognised the HUAWEI P30 Pro as one of the Best Products of 2019, naming it the “Best Photo Smartphone.” For the third year in a row, this prestigious title has been awarded to a HUAWEI P Series flagship, proving Huawei’s dedication to constantly improving quality, performance and design to change the world of mobile photography.

Representatives from photo and imaging publications from around the world confirmed the HUAWEI P30 Pro as the best following a rigorous process of testing and comparison. The P30 Pro’s Leica Quad Camera System, sporting a versatile 40MP HUAWEI SuperSpectrum Sensor and 20MP ultra-wide camera, alongside a stabilised SuperZoom Lens, provides clarity and zoom never before seen on a mobile phone. Additionally, the all-new fourth HUAWEI Time of Flight Camera captures depth for better bokeh effects producing photos with incredible detail and beautiful dynamic range in any lighting situation.

TIPA Chairman Thomas Gerwens said: “Huawei, together with Leica, is pushing the limits of smart photography again with the introduction of the new P30 Pro, enabling users to shoot photos and videos in fantastic quality.”

With the P30 Pro, Huawei has once again proven itself to be the benchmark for smartphone photography. Providing the best low-light performance of any smartphone camera to date, as well as class-leading zoom capabilities, this handset was awarded the highest score in the history of DxOMark — the industry standard for camera and lens image quality measurements and ratings. The impressive 112-point score highlights the significance of Huawei’s dedication to research and design, especially in providing an ultimate experience for smartphone photography.

The HUAWEI P30 Pro goes on sale in New Zealand on Friday 12th of April 2019.

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Huawei bring it again. The magic, the wizardry, the camera smarts with their latest super phone, the  Huawei P30 Pro.

The 6.47 inch wrap screen features of course an almost zero bezel, top and bottom with the finger print sensor placed under the glass as we first experienced, ever, with their Mate 20 Pro late last year.

The P30 Pro features Huawei’s own Kirin 980 CPU. How do you ensure that a phone has enough grunt under the hood to ensure a seamless experience, whether gaming, watching media or multitasking, you create your own – which is exactly what Huawei have done.

The P30 Pro model has 8GB RAM 2GB step up from the Mate 20 Pro) and a 256GB internal storage (ROM). This is a more than modest memory and storage inclusion, with 128GB and 512GB variants. Unfortunately there is no microSD slot but the bay does feature allocations for dual Sims one of which can be used for a proprietary Huawei Nano MicroSD.

The two Sims arrangement has changed aswell to an Active format, whereby you can now use both Simcards simultaneously, as opposed to prior passive set up (where certain tasks can be assigned to specific Simcards). The dual sim feature will not in work in New Zealand though.

The camera is where Huawei have it over anyone else at the moment.

Continuing their partnership with Leica, the P30 Pro features a Tri-Lens housing on the rear, three lenses working together including the Telescopic lens which will allow you to zoom in at 50x Digital zoom. In all there are four cameras on the back and one on the front. The P30 Pro is a 5 camera phone.

Your usual array of A.I. smarts when taking a pic and A.R. goodness, including avatar and the animation of still objects are still included, whatsmore, there’s 4K video recording with a one-touch easy as A.I. editor, wide angle lense, 3D depth and more. One of my personal favourites is the Aperture mode and the killer Bokeh effect. The rear camera specs are one of the highest on any smartphone to date, weighing in at 40 MP (Wide Angle Lens, f/1.6 aperture,OIS) + 20 MP (Ultra Wide Angle Lens, f/2.2 aperture) + 8 MP (Telephoto, f/3.4 aperture,OIS) MP. If you haven’t already done the maths, that’s a combined MP count of 68 MP. Wow.

Time of flight is also a standout feature, with superb image stabilisation using a proprietary and Huawei developed laser autofocus.

Low light is pure witchcraft. Huawei have replaced the Green hue in RGB with Yellow is suck in more light in a darkened shot. Taking a pic in darkness to the human eye reveals detail and light that we mere mortals cannot see.

The front lens is housed in a dew drop placement. Smaller than the notch and dew drop appears to be a favourite among other phone manufacturers at present. The front camera also has AR and A.I. 3D smarts, and comes in at an astounding 32 MP.

New owners of the P30 Pro will immediately notice one very pleasing change with the EMUI OS which is overlayed on top of Android 9.

Everything is gesture based. In order to minimize any screen clutter and maximize the entire screen, the new operating system enables you to swipe to close an App, in multi-view mode, swipe move the App that’s open to display another.

Operating the P30 Pro is entirely gesture based. No longer is a Back and Home Button to be found anywhere.

External audio has also had an oerhaul with an external depth sounding speaker now at the rear of the device. For the headset connected experience Dolby Atmos is builtin with three settings; Music, Film and Smart (auto adjusts to your media).

Coming in three differing flavours, Black,  Breathing Crystal (White-ish) and Aurora (Blue) the stunning gloss shimmer of the P30 Pro resounds a million dollar look.

But that’s not the price tag. The Huawei P30 Pro is priced extremely competitively downunder, where for a considerable less cost of the nearest competitor you’ll get yourself one of these bad boys with a camera that current rivals have no way of matching.

Huawei’s P30 Pro is built for digital photography. Totally. Yet it still has way more than enough juice to tackle high end Android games to the likes of ARK: Survival and PUBG without breaking a sweat or even putting a dent in the battery after a couple of hours.

The wirelessly chargeable P30 Pro also has reverse charging, wireless reverse charging. First experienced on the Mate 20 Pro, you can add a bit of life to any other device by placing it on the back of the P30 Pro.

Having received a P30 Pro from Huawei, I have tried out the Samsung Buds, Note9 and iPhone XS Max. All happily charge up from the P30 Pro. From full charge on the P30 Pro, a quick 10 minute charge of the iPhone XS Max removed a mere 3% from the 4200 mAh battery. The Samsung Buds fully charged over 20 minutes and I lost only 2% from a full charge on the P30 Pro.

Theoretically the large capacity battery inside the P30 Pro would set you right for a few days with mid to moderate use.

After a 24 hour period, having wirelessly charged the Samsung buds, streamed Spotify for most of the day and tested out PUBG for an hour the battery only dropped 12% from a 100% level.

If you need reliability you’re not going to go wrong with the P30 Pro in this respect.

Huawei continue to innovate – building upon the smartphone greatness that they produce each year, surprisingly going above and beyond, making sure that those that own one of their smartdevices are really getting value for money, and not just another phone-clone which we are currently seeing from its nearest competitors.

While we all wait in anticipation for the rise of the foldables coming out this year including Huawei’s Mate X the traditional smartphone that we have all used and evolved with over the years is still forging ahead in bounds that we could have only imagined not that long ago.

Huawei P30 Pro, it’s a keeper, a winner and a digital photography powerhouse.

*Huawei P30 and P30 Pro release on the 12th of April 2019.

The post Huawei P30 Pro Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

We all need a good, loyal and dependable mate.

Luckily Huawei have this already sorted for us in their unstoppable Mate (Ascend) series of Android smartphones.

My first introduction some years back to Huawei in the mobile market was with a review handset for the Mate 7.

Back then it was a big phone. Six inches, gold and one of the first to have a fingerprint sensor for security. Huawei are not scared to be the first to champion innovation.

I was hell impressed and even now it is still one of my favs.

As each year passed a new Mate handset released. Mate 8 and then Mate 9 grew upon the previous iterations as advances in both camera and chipset technology grew.

And now we have the all screen, innovative tri-lensed camera Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro. (There’s also the behemoth 7.2 inch Mate 20 X but this is only available in certain countries).

STG received a Mate 20 Pro from Huawei Mobile, built with Android 9.0, to put through its paces.

First noticeable feature is the large quadrant on the top rear of the 6.3 inch handset. Three Leica lenses are encased in the large square with an LED sensor / flash.

Taking and upping from this year’s P20 Pro, the rear camera utilizes an additional telephoto lens for extreme close ups (up to 5x) and a really nifty feature is a 0.6x ‘zoom’ if you will, that will broaden the spectrum of your environment, as though you are further away from an area than what you actually are. This was a superb feature to have when taking photos of landscapes and scenes.

In all the rear lenses come in at a whopping 40MP.

The front camera houses a whole set of sensors for 3D Facial scanning and recognition, A.R. and more with two lenses, coming in at an excellent 24MP. This ultimately shames any other of other top shelf smartphones and their lower spec’d front camera’s. There is so much going on in the front camera lens bay that the notch on the Mate 20 Pro is wider than what we have seen on any of Huawei’s other devices this year.

Then there’s the whitening beauty filter. Yep it’s there, but you can turn the filter off or tone it down to avoid not looking like you’ve had extreme plastic surgery and an overload of Botox and skin whitening creams.

Master A.I. leaps from the P20 Pro to the Mate 20 Pro and has gone through a series of upgrades aswell. The A.I. will 9.9 out of 10 times accurately recognise what you are taking a pic of and adjusts the focus and camera accordingly for the best shot. The low light is superb. No better than superb. In a darkened environment it will pull in as much reflective light it can and still manage to produce a FHD clear picture with Night Shot.

Master A.I. has over 1,500 scenarios in 25 categories. There is a wealth of filters on the device; Bokeh, 3D Panorama, Slow-mo, Underwater (Mate 20 Pro is waterproof – but to use the Underwater mode you will need to encase the phone in an approved underwater casing), Light Painting, various Filter options and more,. In all 14 differing modes that have their own varying options.

It doesn’t stop there. Shooting in 4K video also has a suite of enhancements;  AI Colour, Suspense, and up to an additional three more. More filters for both video and camera are also downloadable. I certainly loved playing the AI Colour, where you can colorise one object (or person) in a video and black and white the rest.

Then there’s the much fun (for a while) A.R.

Turn yourself in to a cutsie animal, make an avatar of yourself and more. One of the features that I REALLY wanted to try out has not been released yet – but is scheduled for the next EMU 9 update – animating toys.

Being an avid action figure collector – I really wanted to see my plastic heroes come to life. This is an update I am so looking forward to.

With the Mate 20 Pro there really is no need to own a big DSLR anymore.

The front of the Mate 20 Pro is all screen. Gone are those super slim bezels that Huawei was known for. It’s now curved. There’s no tactile or touch Home Button and in a world’s first the finger print scanner is under the glass of the screen.

When the phone is asleep, picking it up will prompt the finger print scanner, or a lightning fast 3D face unlock.

Under the all screen and glass  non fingerprint smudgy casing of the Mate 20 Pro there’s 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage (ROM) and the most powerful chipset in any Android phone currently; the Kirin 980 with smarts of its own.

The Kirin 980 chipset comprises of four large main cores and four smaller cores. The 980 will intuitively recognise processes as they occur and spread the workload as it is required. Sitting idle the Kirin 980 will only activate one of the smaller cores. Listening to music or media it will distribute over two or three of the smaller cores. Playing mobile games, you’re likely to need the smaller four cores and potentially two of the larger ones (depending in what the game is).

This distribution of power to the cores as and when required over a sub-set of chips through to the main ones aides in preserving the Mate 20 Pro’s battery life.

And what a battery it has. A mega 4200 mAh will see you right for three to four days on moderate use. Playing PUBG on the Mate 20 Pro for a couple of hours didn’t even cause a sweat for the smartphone and shaved next to nothing off the full battery.

A quick charge of 30 minutes will set you at around 70% from empty. The Mate 20 Pro is also equipped to wirelessly charge, and even charge other devices – including iPhone 8 / X series. Huawei are getting close to that utopian ever-lasting battery I’m sure.

Then there’s the speed. Not just the speed of the phone’s processors, the speed in which it can download on WiFi. Another world’s first from Huawei, blistering 1.4 Gbps LTE Cat.21 smartphone which will pull data from the cloud up to 1,733 Mbps on WiFi.

I was surprised that 8GB RAM was not adopted on the Mate 20 Pro however. The 128GB storage is good for most folk, for me, a bit low. Normally I would throw in my microSD (something sorely missing from the P20 Pro), but alas Huawei have taken an interesting and risqué approach to adding external storage.

The Mate 20 Pro’s dual nano sim tray shares it’s dual bay with a yet to be released Huawei proprietary nanoSD.

At the Mate 20 launch in London a couple of weeks back the nanoSD was introduced as being a super small 256GB storage card to use with the Mate 20 Pro.

It’s a risk. Looking over other manufacturers that have gone proprietary with their crucial accessories it has not always worked out as planned. Remember the Sony memory stick, and the stupidly expensive and low storage PS Vita memory cards? Even Apple and Samsung have had their moments.

Sure, the other side of the argument is that you are not forced in to buying external storage or proprietary accessories for a Huawei device (unlike Apple who do force their customers in to purchasing ridiculously priced accessories to make full use of their i-devices), but given the caliber of the Mate 20 Pro’s camera, those that do own a Mate 20 or Mate 20 Pro are likely to be super snap-happy people that most likely will save and store every wondrously detailed picture and video they take on the device.

With Apps, media and general use the 128Gb will choke before you know it. I am most definitely keen to see how a Huawei nanoSD performs, so watch this space.

The Mate 20 Pro, is a complete retool of this year’s super phone, the P20 Pro. Newcomers to the Huawei super phone market are likely to notice once they fire up Spotify or transfer their music to the phone that there is no headphone socket.

As with the P20 Pro, the Mate 20 Pro utilises a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter.

And thankfully Huawei supply this adapter with the phone (looking at you Apple who make us buy one). Or, of course you can just use Bluetooth.

Dolby Atmos audio filtering is built in with a small array of options for your media including Smart which does it’s best to adapt to whatever you are listening to.

Through the handset’s dual speakers the audio is better, louder and clearer than HTC’s BoomSound (this currently held that trophy for me for a while). Through headphones, one of the best mobile audio experiences I’ve had this year on a mobile device.

Those wanting to break in to the super phone market, or looking to upgrade from their existing handset will be set back NZD $1,499.00. This is actually cheaper than what the rest of the world is paying for a Mate 20 Pro though.

And I think that, now, it’s a given that if you are wanting to wield a top tier phone (and in this case Huawei’s second super phone) you’re not going to get a lot of change from $1.5 to $2K.

The Mate 20 Pro is mix of delight and surprises.

It has the looks, it definitely has the smarts and it is a super phone that most definitely warrants the investment.

Get yourself a truly dependable mate with more smarts than any other smartphone and world firsts – the Mate 20 Pro.

Mate 20 Pro Gallery

The post Huawei Mate 20 Pro Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

When does a smartphone become a superphone? When it’s a P20 Pro.

The Chinese based tech company who are also responsible for 4.5G and the upcoming 5G technology solutions, Huawei, have launched their newest flagship device, the P20.

But it’s not just one smartphone, there’s four flavours to cater for all users; P20, P20 Light, P20 Pro and P20 Plus.

I was supplied with a P20 Pr0 one week before the P20 release date and immediately threw my simcard in to the dual sim phone and began to play.

The P20 Pr0, which releases here in New Zealand early May (2018) boasts 6GB of onboard RAM for the super multi-taskers out there and 128 GB ROM (storage).

There is no microSD slot to expand the devices storage, but at 128GB you’re probably not going to need to need that extra digital room. You can use a USB-C external drive though.

Releasing in a metallic, liquid looking glass blue, rose gold,  or black finish, the P20 Pro also does not have a headphone jack. No 3.5mm socket means that your personal audio needs to connect via a USB-C headphone adapter, which is supplied in the box.

Of course, you can just go wireless with bluetooth.

As I’m finicky about my audio, I’ll start with the sound quality.

The P20 and P20 Pro come with Dolby Atmos enhancement built in.

Within the Sounds Menu there are differing options where you can tailor the experience for music, Music, Film and Smart, which utilises an A.I. (Artificial Intellegence) of sorts to tweak the audio that is produced according to what you may be listening to. Up until now, HTC had ben the front runner forHQ audio in an Android device. That crown now goes to Huawei and their P20.

Loud enough, deep enough and intricately detailed audio will be pumped in to your ears like never experienced on an Android based phone. Via Bluetooth – the HQ remains aswell. This will depend on the set of earphones or earplugs (or Bluetooth device) that you use.

So I recommend a top shelf set or as close to. Unfortunately, in the box, Huawei have packed standard ear plugs that do not do the sound quality justice.

I connected up the Sennheiser Momentum Free Bluetooth earplugs first and was blown away by the rumbling bass and sheer detail within audio tracks. This made me excited to connect up my aging but still unbeatable wired UE Triple Fi earplugs. I was in audio nirvana.

Impressed is an understatement and how the Dolby Atmos uses the Smart function was also impressive – tweaking audio on the fly as tracks changed. As media changed from music to movie, from spoken word (audio book) to gaming. An intuitive A.I.

Speaking of… The Camera A.I. that we experienced in the Mate 10 has returned, this time dressed up to the nines.

The P20 is essentially a high end digital camera, that doubles as a phone.

With the P20 Pro, I happily went out snapping. The A.I. builtin to the phone will accurately predict what you are taking a pic of. A person, a pet, text or scenery. You name it, the AI knows what it is and will adjust and recalibrate it’s focus or focal points accordingly, on the fly. Instantly.

As your photo is being saved, the A.I. doesn’t stop. It will process the picture as it is being saved, ensuring that you’re getting the best snap you possibly could.

With three lenses to rule them all, the P20 Pro has three lenses at the rear. The Leica Tri-lens camera has an astounding 40 MP (RGB, f/1.8 aperture) + 20 MP (Monochrome, f/1.6 aperture) + 8 MP (Telephoto, f/2.4 aperture). That’s the highest MP in ANY smartdevice and almost in any top digital camera.

The Front selfie camera has not been forgotten. Take those glamorous shots of yourself with the 24 MP. Again, it’s the highest MP on any smartdevice… but I probably didn’t need to repeat that line, I’m sure you already knew that.

With phone photography becoming a more seriously considered profession, the P20’s Leica Tri-lens is a must have.

There’s a wealth of picture taking Modes. The light painting that was introduced a couple of P Series generations back is still there.  You have Night Shot, which fares better than anyother I have tried over the years of reviewing.

Monochrome and Panorama are staples, then there’s Pro Mode, where you can take over the wheel and fine tune your lenses to your liking. Portrait and Aperture offer Up a 3D option aswell.

Of course you have the usuals of 4K recording, but wait, there’s also Slow Mo.

My advice on owning a P20 is to get a phone case as soon as you can. The lenses on the P20 are raised, which means if you’re not careful they could get scratched on any type of surface when laying the phone flat on its back. Being that the P20 is all about it’s camera – it’s an investment that you’ll want to care of.

Moving on to the screen. The P20 Pro sits in at 6.1 inches. The FHD OLED boasts 16.7 M colours and is a hair’s width of being totally full screen.

There’s a thing called the Notch. This makes the P20‘s screen appear similar to Apple’s iPhone X. The Notch can be toggled on or off. When turned off you do lose millimeters of the top screen.

I believe that most people like me will leave it turned on.

The P20 and P20 Pro are powered by Huawei’s Kirin 970 chip, and man this phone responds fast.

Huawei have added facial recognition as a Security feature. Within less than an 8th of a second or thereabouts the P20 will unlock.

But if facial recognition isn’t for you, the finger print sensor on the P20 and P20 Pro is at the lower slim ‘Home’ indent on the front screen. On the P20 Lite the finger print sensor is on the back.

Running Android 8.1 (Oreo) the P20‘s interface is Huawei’s proprietary  EMUI, updated to 8.1.

While no one has quite managed to create an everlasting mobile phone battery, Huawei are getting damn close to it.

I am a heavy user and for the most part a phone will survive a day, needing a full charge after around 10 to 12 hours use.

Not with the P20. At the time of writing this, I last charged (full charge) the P20 Pro that I have two days ago. I haven’t minimized my usage and over 48 hours later, I am sitting on just above a 30 per cent charge.

During the last two days I have made and received countless calls, hammered the 4G and Wifi connectivity with emailing and browsing. I’ve used Bluetooth in the car for handsfree and music. I even watched around an hour of Netflix and played a couple of usually battery chomping games for a few hours.

The P20 Pro is mightier than the Energizer Bunny. And then some.

A quick charge of around 10 to 15 minutes will get you to approximately 60 or 70% from totally flat in my test and this can get you through a couple of days with moderate use.

The P20 Pro is also water resistant up to 1 meter for 30 minutes. Dust resistant also.

Over the years that I have been testing and reviewing smartphones, I had always hope that one phone manufacturer would take all of the goodness from differing devices and pack jam them in to one. Huawei have done exactly that. The P20 is perfection.

You will most certainly do and see mooore with the P20 series. It’s not a smartphone, it’s a superphone.

Photos Taken with the P20 Pro.

The post Huawei P20 Pro Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Huawei is set to solidify its position within the top tier of smartphone manufacturers with the release of its highly-anticipated HUAWEI P20 series.

The HUAWEI P20 Pro features the world’s first Leica triple camera and both devices include unprecedented AI advances, combining technology and art to bring to life a groundbreaking smartphone experience. The HUAWEI P20 is available in stores for New Zealand customers on Friday 13th of April 2018, while the HUAWEI P20 Pro will be available for pre-order on Friday 13th of April 2018 and in stores on Friday the 4th of May 2018.

Building on concepts first introduced in the groundbreaking HUAWEI P10 Series and introducing the Leica triple camera system for the first time, the new HUAWEI P20 Series delivers the world’s most advanced camera system, a new generation FullView Display and 3D glass screen, and built in AI systems for the best user experience yet. The handsets are designed to look and feel beautiful, too, with the silky-smooth devices available in a sleek Black and Midnight Blue for New Zealand consumers.

The HUAWEI P20 Series delivers ‘Master AI’, which makes capturing professional quality images a truly effortless experience for everyone. With real-time scene and object recognition, the superphone recognises specific photographic scenarios and automatically adjusts for optimal results. With the shot taken, it automatically grades images and highlights your best shots. The selfie has never enjoyed such popularity, with AI beautification and AI image stabilisation, every P20 selfie is a winner.

“In the age of intelligence, our customers are asking for solutions that improve their lives every day. Photography has become one of the key features for the modern smartphone and by focusing AI on this function, we’ve delivered a superphone that will exceed all previous expectations and redefine the capabilities of the handheld device,” says Gavin Cheng, general manager, Consumer Business Group Huawei New Zealand. “The HUAWEI P20 Series takes a flagship position in our range of devices. It’s another leap forward in our mission to drive superlative user experience that puts Huawei in a class of its own.”

The HUAWEI P20 Series introduces an advanced new camera system, which brings consumers features that ultimately enhance every part of the smartphone photography experience. The HUAWEI P20 Pro features a Leica triple camera with the highest pixel count available on a modern smartphone – the camera configuration is comprised of a 40MP RGB sensor, a 20MP monochrome sensor, and an 8MP sensor with telephoto lens. It also features an exclusive new Leica colour with a dedicated ISP and color temperature sensor for better colour reproduction.

With f/1.8, f/1.6 and f/2.4 wide aperture to capture crisp, clear details with perfect clarity, the HUAWEI P20 Pro also includes a brand new Leica VARIO-SUMMILUX lens with 3x optical zoom to capture long-range photography of up to 5x Hybrid Zoom as well as a highly sensitive image sensor of 1/1.7 inches model (about 7.76mm x 5.82mm) to capture low light images photos with up to ISO 102400.

The HUAWEI P20 builds on the foundation of its predecessor, with an all new Leica dual camera featuring a 12MP sensor with a pixel size as high as 1.55 μm, and a 20MP monochrome sensor, enhancing the HUAWEI P20’s ability to capture photos in low-light settings.

Both the HUAWEI P20 Pro and HUAWEI P20 support six-axis stabilisation and 960fps super slow motion, which is four times higher than the standard 240fps and captures details that cannot be seen with the naked eye. With Ultra Snapshot mode, both devices can capture an image in as little as 0.3 seconds by just double clicking the down volume button, even from an off screen.

In addition, both the HUAWEI P20 and HUAWEI P20 Pro feature a 24 MP selfie camera with AI beautification and 3D portrait lighting – the result is beautiful selfies with healthy-looking skin tone adjustments, delicately outlined face details, and realistic 3D feature enhancements.

The HUAWEI P20 Series’ Kirin 970 processor and dedicated Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU) enable truly effortless photography. AI-powered scene and object recognition can identify more than 500 scenarios and objects in 19 different categories and automatically selectsphotography modes and camera settings to deliver incredible, professional-looking images. Brand new to Huawei’s advanced camera system is 4D predictive focus, which predicts and focuses on moving objects with extreme efficiency to capture minute detail.

AI-Assisted Composition provides intelligent suggestions to frame group shots and landscapes, and AIS (AI Image Stabilisation) steadies handheld night shots for incredible pictures without a tripod.

The HUAWEI EMUI interface 8.1 (based on Android 8.1) delivers premium performance and a smooth user experience. EMUI is fully customisable with AI support and includes HUAWEI Share 2.0 to seamlessly share files between Huawei phones, PCs, and Macs.

Additionally, the HUAWEI HiAI Ecosystem enhances a variety of app experiences. For instance, the HUAWEI P20 Series includes on-device Prisma processing, which supports real-time filter recommendations based on scene and object recognition – the calculation speed is three to four times that of the cloud version.

In partnership with Google, the HUAWEI P20 Series supports Google ARCore delivering advanced AR capabilities.

The HUAWEI P20 Series includes the best Bluetooth audio quality with 990 kps bandwidth to support Hi-res audio files. Like the HUAWEI Mate 10 Series, the HUAWEI P20 Series features TÜV Safety Certified HUAWEI SuperCharge and a 4000 mAh battery on the HUAWEI P20 Pro – and 3400 mAh (typical value) on the HUAWEI P20 – with AI-powered Battery Management.

The 5.8-inch screen HUAWEI P20 and 6.1-inch screen HUAWEI P20 Pro feature ultra-thin bezels and impressive screen-to-body ratios for better viewing experiences with more on-screen information, whether reading or gaming. The HUAWEI FullView Display seamlessly blends with rounded edges, making the device comfortable to hold and beautiful to view. Both models are available in a striking Black and Midnight Blue finish for New Zealand consumers.

With steady growth for six consecutive years, the HUAWEI P20 Series is expected to further drive consumer enthusiasm for powerful, unique devices. The HUAWEI Consumer Business Group recorded a YoY growth of 30 per cent and achieved revenues approximately 36 billion USD, with smartphone shipments exceeding 153 million units. In 2017, global smartphone market share reached 10.4 per cent (IDC, 2017), ranking third globally; share of high-end market (USD 600 and above) grew from 3.4 per cent in December 2016 to 8.4 per cent in December 2017.

SPECS & PRICE:

The post Introducing the HUAWEI P20 Series appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Huawei have proudly announced to us here at STG of the release of their mid range HUAWEI nova 2i, a new smartphone that delivers a stunning combination of performance and power, and features a Huawei first – front and back dual-lens cameras.

The HUAWEI nova 2i is designed to keep up with every selfie, every image and every social network that matters to today’s dynamic consumers with a new immersive HUAWEI Full View display. The HUAWEI nova 2i is available immediately from select leading retailers nationwide.

“Through significant research and development, we know what’s essential to today’s consumers, so we have created a new device that packs powerful features to keep up,” says Gavin Cheng, general manager of Consumer Business Group Huawei New Zealand. “Designed to help users engage with everyone, wherever they are in the world, the HUAWEI nova 2i sets a new standard in innovation with its incredible performance, stylish design and advanced camera features.”

Like the celebrated HUAWEI P10, the beautifully designed HUAWEI nova 2i brings to life advanced new ways to capture, share and experience the world and demonstrates Huawei’s commitment to crafting the highest quality devices.

The HUAWEI nova 2i features brand new HUAWEI FullView display technology and delivers a high-quality 5.9-inch screen. With impressive 83 per cent screen-to-body ratio and 18:9 aspect, users are treated to a beautiful widescreen viewing experience for crisper, clearer and brighter images.

Initially debuted on the HUAWEI P9 in April 2016, the dual-lens camera redefined smartphone photography and set a new industry standard. The HUAWEI nova 2i continues and extends this level of camera quality, as the brand’s first smartphone to offer front and back dual-lens cameras that deliver an exceptional photography experience, whatever the subject and setting. The front-facing 13MP/2MP selfie camera takes portrait photography to the next level featuring a new Selfie Toning Flash, which gives users studio quality lighting for more vibrant, beautiful images. The rear-facing camera combines a 16MP lens and a 2MP lens. Both dual-lens cameras feature hardware-level bokeh for cleaner, more artistic photos and improved performance in low-light situations.

The HUAWEI nova 2i’s sleek design begins with the expansive FullView screen, and flows seamlessly into the soft, curved edges of a unibody crafted from high-quality industrial materials. Each component – cameras, fingerprint sensor, USB socket, sensors and flash – is meticulously placed on the front and back, to deliver a design that is as beautiful as it is intuitive to use.

Powered by an 8-core Kirin 659 chipset, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of ROM, the HUAWEI nova 2i is capable of multitasking several applications while streaming content. The UX is deeply integrated with Huawei’s Android-7 based EMUI to provide a smooth, seamless experience by utilising machine learning to optimise performance based on user behavior. The deep integration between hardware and software means the HUAWEI nova 2i’s 3,340mAh battery is long lasting. Additionally, its smart fingerprint sensor utilises machine learning to become more accurate and secure with every use.

The HUAWEI nova 2i also features the company’s proprietary Huawei Histen audio system to deliver extraordinary sound experiences for immersive video and gaming experiences.

At a modest price of $499.00 NZD, the HUAWEI nova 2i is available now from selected leading smartphone retailers throughout New Zealand.

The post Huawei Release the Nova 2i appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

After a stellar and local star studded launch event in Auckland City, New Zealand, Huawei released it’s next top shelf P Series smartphone to the masses, conjointly with Leica.

Built on Android 7.1 the P10 ticks all boxes for those that are after a smart device without needing to have overly large pockets.

The phone comes in at 5.1 inches (P10+ 5.5 inches and the P10 Light 4.7 inches) and the 16M LCD screen is both vivid and of course FHD. Myself, personally, I am a fan of larger sized handsets. I use my phone for gaming (no surprises there) and the odd movie aswell as music, so for myself, using the 5.1 inch P10 was a few steps down in screen real estate than what I was used to, but after a short while, I hardly even noticed. The benefits to this I also found is the handset can be used with one hand.

The P10’s screen has almost no side bezel, meaning that the face of the unit gives the full benefit of the capacitive LCD, the body of the phone is perfectly curved and soft to touch, making it the smoothest and most comfortable handset to hold currently on the market.

As with the P9 Huawei once again teamed up with Leica (manufacturers of high end professional camera lenses). Dual lenses that work as one on the rear of the phone make a welcomed and returned feature with 3D facial detection, dynamic illumination and a suite of studio quality enhancements. The dual lenses give 20MP in total. The front camera, although at a lesser 8MP, also utilises a front facing Leica lens.

Powering this beautiful piece of artistry is a Kirin 960 chip with four times 2.4 GHz Octa-Core processing coupled with 4GB RAM. So yes, multitask like a pro. This processing power also plays a part in the superb camera function which takes some of the most striking and excruciatingly detailed snaps seen on a smartphone.

Huawei have retained the microSD function and there are two storage variants of the P10, 32GB (which I tried out) and a 64GB.

There is a non-tactile ‘Home’ button on the front of the device, this is a finger print sensor to lock / unlock your P10. So many times I would tap it expecting to be taken back to the Home screen – only to realise that the Home button is on the lower end of the active screen. I can see why Huawei moved the finger sensor to the front of the phone, it’s for ease of use – but I’ve always preferred and thought it more logical that the sensor should be on the rear of the device – as Huawei used to do and (hopefully) still do on their Mate series.

Another hugely important aspect to me is the audio quality. Let’s be honest, whether a phone has dual speakers, front facing, back facing, or just a single speaker, they all sound… well, a bit tinny. So generally it’s the headphone audio that I find to be most important.

DTS is still an included and builtin media enhancement and I remember being wowed by this a while a go with the Mate 7. The DTS audio has improved considerably since then with audio clarity, loudness and deep bass tones. To really experience it I recommend using high end headphones or earplugs.

Emotion UI is Huawei’s reskinning of Android. Emotion UI 5.1 is very similar to what we have seen on the Mate 9, but unlike the Mate 9, there are no restrictions to being able to completely customise your phone to your liking. As always the OS is pleasingly intuitive, responsive and designed for optimum user experience.

As for battery life – the handset will see you right for a couple of days before needing a full charge, if used moderately, heavy usage will see it last a full day with a bit left over.

Huawei have included the fast charging feature in the P10, where roughly 10 minutes of charge will get you through almost an entire day.

Huawei are unlike other high end smartphone manufacturers, in the sense that as a company they take great interest in to their customer base both locally and internationally. Instead of creating a smartphone and then pushing it out to the masses, Huawei take both pride and great care to tailor their phones to specific corners of the Globe. Huawei are the only ones to include Te Reo Maori as a selectable language option, and this is included in their P10 range.

This is an impressive inclusion and Huawei have not done this to win over customers, they have included Te Reo as they ultimately recognise Maori culture and the Maori language as a part of New Zealand.

Huawei’s P10 is more than a smartphone, it’s a professional digital camera, a high fashion accessory of coveted proportions and it is made by a company that takes a valued and financial interest in their customers

The post Huawei P10 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

New Zealand consumers who demand the best now have access to the Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus smartphones, which combine beautiful hardware with the latest advances in software. Available in striking colours and finishes, the Huawei handsets introduce new Leica front and back cameras with advanced portrait features to make every photo a cover shot.

The P10 and P10 Plus are the world’s first smartphones to offer Te Reo Māori as a standardised language option, which will also be available on selected Huawei devices supplied new in New Zealand in the future.

“As culture and technology continue to intersect in every aspect of our world, we want to deliver new products and experiences that ultimately improve and enhance life,” says Roson Luo,General Manager Consumer Business Group Huawei New Zealand. “The new Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus weave together the exceptional imaging capabilities of Leica and our stand-out design and hardware innovations to bring users a powerful device experience.”

The new devices are built around 5.1-inch (P10) and 5.5-inch screens. Powered by Android 7.0, the handsets are equipped with Huawei’s EMUI User Interface, include larger batteries for extended operation and offer 64GB + 4GB RAM of memory.

Key Features

• Leica Dual-Camera 2.0 for the Huawei P10 and Leica Dual-Camera 2.0 Pro Edition for the Huawei P10 Plus, featuring artistic portraits with precise 3D facial detection, dynamic illumination, portrait enhancements, natural bokeh effect (out of focus blur) and Huawei Hybrid Zoom.
• The world’s first Leica front camera with a new, brighter sensor and larger F/1.9 aperture (F1.8 for the Pro Edition) for outstanding self-portraits.
• Trendy colours and design, including the industry’s first Hyper Diamond-Cut metal finishing and colour variants created in the first cross-industry partnership with Pantone.
• Kirin 960 processor, Huawei Ultra Memory and new EMUI 5.1 with industry-leading 4×4 LTE MIMO antenna system and 2×2 Wi-Fi MIMO antenna system for unparalleled performance.

With beautiful pictures, every time with P10-ography, recognising that discerning smartphone owners appreciate outstanding cameras, the P10 handsets establish new benchmarks for integrated photography. With a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor, a 12-megapixel RGB sensor and enhanced fusion algorithms, the P Series sets a new standard for technical and artistic photography on a smartphone.

Facial detection is the foundation of Huawei’s dynamic illumination and portrait enhancement features. The P10 Series offer portrait features driven by precise 3D facial detection technology that leverages 190 detailed identification nodes for rapid, accurate feature recognition. A smart imaging algorithm automatically applies studio-like re-lighting and beautifying effects for radiant portraits.

Using a depth-of-field algorithm, a natural bokeh effect creates sharper, clearer and more vivid colours in the foreground, while the background remains elegantly blurred. The effect is available in the RGB and monochrome modes, and can be refocused after the image is taken.

Portrait features are also available with the 8-megapixel front camera for exceptional selfies. The Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus automatically detect when a user is taking a selfie; if the device detects a selfie with multiple people, it switches to wide-angle mode.

The Huawei P10 Plus features the Leica Dual-Camera 2.0 Pro Edition. This includes new Leica SUMMILUX-H lenses with a larger F/1.8 aperture and higher optical capability. These lenses capture sharp close-ups, quick actions shots and more light in low-light conditions.

The Huawei P Series handsets are beautifully designed masterpieces inside and out, and available in two unique colours. The result of a partnership with the world’s foremost colour authority, Pantone Color Institute, Dazzling Blue and the Pantone Color of the Year 2017, Greenery, create a glow-effect finish.

Dazzling Blue and Dazzling Gold are available in an industry-first Hyper Diamond-Cut finish – a high quality crafted metal that offers a subtle reflective look and repels fingerprint marks, adding to the P10 Series’ contemporary aesthetic. Both will be available to purchase in New Zealand alongside Prestige Gold and Graphite Black. Other colours in the range not currently available in New Zealand including Greenery, Rose Gold, and Mystic Silver with a sandblast finish, and Ceramic White in gloss finish.

The Huawei P10 is sleek and slim for a comfortable hold at 6.98mm, with the camera window is flush with the back of the device. Both its 5.1-inch and 5.5-inch models feature the latest Corning Gorilla 5 Glass protection and narrow bezel edges, while the Huawei P10 Plus has a 2K display for more detail.

The fingerprint sensor replaces the navigation bar and is located on the front of the phone, under one continuous pane of glass, making the screen view bigger, with smart touch navigation gestures faster and more ergonomic.

The P Series is powered by a Kirin 960 System on a Chip (SoC), with optimised multicore performance and a GPU which delivers a 180 percent improvement in performance and a 40 percent increase in power efficiency over its predecessor.

Huawei’s new user interface, EMUI 5.1, incorporates a machine learning algorithm to learn user behaviours and anticipate app usage; in tandem, Huawei Ultra Memory anticipates app usage and manages RAM, so most-used apps and services load faster and outperform in multitasking.

With 3,200 and 3,750 mAh batteries, the P10 and P10 Plus handsets support Huawei SuperCharge technology for low voltage, low temperature fast and safe charging.

With 4×4 MIMO (four physical antennas) and support for 4.5G networks, the handsets deliver faster, more stable connections even when the signal coverage weakens. Similarly, dual antenna 2X2 Wi-Fi MIMO delivers fast Wi-Fi coverage.

The Huawei P10 and P10 go on sale in New Zealand on Wednesday 12th of April 2017. The P10 is available from all major network providers and major electronics retailers, priced at NZD $999, and the P10 Plus is available from 2degrees, Vodafone and major electronics retailers, priced at NZD $1199.

All P10 and P10 Plus devices come with a three month, accidental breakage free screen replacement (T&Cs apply). Huawei also offers a free nation-wide pickup and delivery service to all customers.

Additionally all new devices from Huawei will support Te Reo (Maori) as a standard language feature for New Zealand consumers including the Huawei P10 Lite, also in store from Wednesday 12th of April 2017.

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The post Huawei Launches the P10 & P10+ in NZ appeared first on Shane the Gamer.