The upcoming launch of the HUAWEI P30 Series on March 26th, 2019 (March 27, New Zealand time) at the Paris Convention Center has the internet buzzing. The Huawei P Series has been shaking up the smartphone industry for the past two years with its groundbreaking smartphone photography features. The photos we’ve seen so far tease the super zooming capabilities of the P30 Series – something that has created excitement amongst fans, but what else will the device include?

There has been speculation on what will be included in Huawei’s latest offering, but a week ahead of the launch, Huawei is thrilled to reveal some facts as to what can be expected, as well as a look back at the incredible journey of the P Series that has led them to launch the highly anticipated P30 Series.

Huawei P10

The Huawei P Series truly hit its stride in 2016. In the launch of the P9 Series, Huawei officially announced the partnership with Leica to develop the most advanced smartphone camera in history, starting with the first ever dual Leica camera built within a phone.

Huawei took a step further with its P10 Series by improving the device’s phoneography quality, as well as offering superior low-light photography with the ability of the lenses to pick up more light. The front camera on the P10 is also equipped with a Leica lens to capture great selfie portraits.

In 2018, the P20 and P20 Pro achieved the revolutionary breakthrough by offering triple Leica rear cameras, a concept that has since been offered by competitors. The setup has also seen the P20 Pro topping the DxO Mark Mobile list for months, eventually sharing the crown with the Mate 20 Pro.

Huawei P20 Pro

Looking ahead, Huawei has ambitiously declared its intention to rewrite the rules of mobile photography with the HUAWEI P30 Series. The new P30 will feature a sophisticated design and will continue to write the future of imaging technologies. The new flagship devices will set a new standard for videography and will launch consumers into a new era of smartphone photography with the first mobile “Super Camera Phone.”

The P Series stands as the flagship smartphone series of Huawei and has international prestige since the launch of its first-generation device, the Ascend P1 that was introduced in 2012 in Canada. The subsequent generations have been launched in other prominent global stages such as London, Barcelona, eventually settling in Paris for the latest launch in the series, the P20 and the upcoming P30.

Huawei P30

Paris has always been one of the most popular subjects if photography and is home to some of the earliest inventions of cameras. That’s why it is the perfect destination to launch the P30 Series and highlight the incredible photography capabilities and advancements in the wake of the infamous P20.

Huawei is eagerly anticipating the launch of the P30 Series as it will mark another chapter in the illustrious history of smartphone evolution and will no doubt continue on the success of Huawei’s P Series devices.

The post Looking back @ HUAWEI P Series appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

On 21 February 2019, Samsung launched the next offering in its Galaxy series – the S10. While the device has some impressive new features, what the announcement from Samsung revealed is they are playing catch up to other Android devices already offering much of the same technology – namely Huawei’s Mate 20 Series.

The S10 Series devices feature some big upgrades from its predecessor the S9, including a triple lens camera, reverse wireless charging and an on-screen finger print scanner, however all of these were already released on the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro back in October 2018.

With Huawei’s next offering mere weeks away, the company anticipates that a lot of consumers will wait to see what the P30 Series brings to the market before committing to purchasing a device.

Comparing the main specs and features of the Samsung Galaxy S10+ with the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro reveals some interesting findings.

Samsung has given its camera features significant upgrades with the triple-rear-camera system, offering greater photography features such as enhanced zooming and low-light performance but these features were available on Huawei devices long before.

The HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro’s 40MP+20MP+8MP against the Samsung S10’s 12MP+16MP+12MP showcases the specs advantage that Huawei has over Samsung when it comes to smartphone photography capabilities. Additionally, the Huawei Mate 20 Pro occupies the top spot of DxOMark Mobile alongside its sister product, the P20 Pro.

Huawei has been the first to introduce the world’s first Leica triple camera with an ultra-wide-angle lens. The main 40MP RGB camera, coupled with other lenses, offers impressive night photography with a good lighting configuration.

The ultra-wide-angle 20MP camera of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro also brings in a broader and spacious perspective of multiple sceneries with a 0.6x zoom. It supports macro photography that could focus on an object as close as 2.5cm. The Galaxy S10+ has followed suit by incorporating a 16MP ultra-wide-angle lens.

The 4,100 mAh battery life has been hailed as a significant upgrade on S10+. Although Samsung’s flagship phone still failed to match the Mate 20 Pro’s gigantic 4,200 mAh battery capacity. Huawei’s 40W SuperCharge technology allows for 70 per cent battery power charged within 30 minutes. It has long set the Mate 20 Pro apart from its competitors.

Samsung has introduced the Wireless PowerShare on S10 and S10+, though the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro was the first to introduce reverse wireless charging technology to the market.

According to its official site, Samsung S10+ seems to be finally supporting the Dual SIM model (Hybrid SIM slot). It is a feature supported by most Android phones. While both the SIMs are active, if you are using a particular SIM, incoming callers from another SIM will find you unreachable.

However, the Mate 20 Pro already featured the dual-VoLTE technology along with a dual-SIM feature. It allows you to pick up calls from one SIM when you are actively using another SIM to play games or take calls. In simple terms, this means you don’t need to ignore your girlfriend’s call while playing PUBG with your friends.

And if that does not answer your question, take a look at the list of comparison.

Specifics Comparison of S10+ with Mate 20 Pro

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Huawei has announced the release of the EMUI 9.0 update to Huawei smartphone users in New Zealand following the launch of its latest flagship smartphone chipset Kirin 980. Based on Android Pie that was introduced earlier this year, the new OS update will introduce a customised next generation user experience.

“We are excited to launch this new update in New Zealand. As one of the leading smartphone manufacturers in the global market, Huawei’s latest EMUI 9.0 update contains the newest features to make the user experience on the Mate 10 and P20 Series even better than before” says General Manager of CBG Huawei New Zealand, Gavin Cheng.

The enhanced UX and high-speed performance of EMUI 9.0 enable an unmatched OS for Huawei phones that are intuitive and simple. EMUI 9.0 is now available on Huawei P20 Pro, Huawei P20, Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Huawei Mate 10. The beta version will be available on Huawei Nova 3i, Huawei P10 Plus and Huawei P10 to users who register to join using the HiCare application.

The EMUI 9.0 achieved another milestone with a wide range of incredible features. With a concept to ‘enable a quality life’, this unique user interface (UI) system is improves the usability and experience through the numerous breakthroughs, including the following highlights:

Offering up an enhanced and intuitive user experience with seamless gesture navigation to streamline and optimise the smartphone experience, Huawei has introduced a new and improved gesture-based navigation system for an even more intuitive navigation experience. The gesture-based navigation gives users the ability to swipe either left or right for a seamless ambidextrous experience. Additionally, Huawei has redesigned apps such as the world clock and photos to implement advanced single-handed control features, allowing users to easily control apps from the top to the bottom of the screen without overextending their thumb.

The EMUI 9.0 update reduces the number of setting items by 10 per cent, taking it from 940 to 843. This makes it easier for users to enable all location services with one touch, instead of enabling GPS, WLAN, and mobile location services separately, streamlining the process and saving time. Reducing the number of items has ultimately led to a more superior user experience.

EMUI 9.0 brings nature into the home of Huawei users by incorporating nature-inspired sounds. All new alarm ring tones include natural ambient sounds ranging from the sound of water flowing to birds chirping. EMUI 9.0 leverages the Smart Colour Picker to improve the contrast and vibrancy of the UI as well as the readability of text, creating an immersive and natural experience. The new system focuses on a faster and smoother animation, minimising the possibilities of lagging between the usage of different apps and functions.

The update also includes features that are designed to improve quality of life when it comes to smartphone usage. Colors & Eye Comfort offers options for a paper-like viewing, a customized viewing, or an Eye Comfort viewing for more comfortable reading at night. The update also comes with a variety of settings to achieve true digital balance with the ability to access a comprehensive break down of their screen time, as well as how often users unlock their devices. Users also have the ability to set boundaries with the option to restrict screen or app time without limiting the device from performing essential tasks such as Messaging and Dialer.

Speed is everything to Huawei and that is reflected in the EMUI 9.0 update. Not only is Huawei one of the first handset makers to launch a custom OS based on Android Pie, but the new system also boasts a smoother performance with 12.9 per cent improvement from its predecessor.

The app launching time has also shortened by a noticeable amount. It can launch popular apps such as Instagram 12 per cent faster and Spotify 11 per cent faster as well.

One of the heavyweight features of EMUI 9.0 will be its GPU Turbo 2.0 technology, the second generation of Huawei’s innovative graphics processing acceleration technology. GPU Turbo 2.0 can enhance touch controls in games and works in tandem with the App Assistant feature to deliver a smooth, premium mobile gaming experience. These features all allow for a more efficient user experience while operating the phone.

EMUI 9.0 is now available on Huawei P20 Pro, Huawei P20, Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Huawei Mate 10. People with Huawei Nova 3i, Huawei P10 Plus and Huawei P10 will be able to register for the EMUI 9.0 update by the end of March 2019.

Updating to EMUI 9.0 can be easily done by following the below steps:

1.  Find the Huawei HiCare application
2.  Check the “update” in QUICK SERVICES.
3. Register to join EMUI 9.0

The post Huawei Release OS update to Mate 10 & P20 Series 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.