In my couple of weeks with Huawei P40 Pro, I realized that this phone is made to get me out of my comfort zone. That is not a pleasant experience and especially with it comes to smartphones. I want to feel holding something special and at the same time, feel like home. Here’s how my experience went.
Design
I love the design of this phone. coming from iPhone 11 Pro max, the design surprisingly fits perfectly in hand, thanks to its narrow design. The frosted, matte-finish glass looks great. I wish Apple to implement this design element in their phones too. The Huawei logo changes its color depending on the light hitting it. The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra like camera bump looks elegant. the camera layout looks neat, differentiating each lens and minimalistic design.
The not-so-sharp-edge-design feels comfortable in hand, thanks to rounded corners so they do not dig into your palm. I am not a fan of curved glass and this one is no exception.
The device is hefty because of the camera and battery, but I don’t mind that. Great on the part of Huawei to include a silicon case with the device cause it can get a little slippery.
Display
The 6.58-inch OLED screen is sharp and vivid with 2640 x 1200 pixel resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. There is an in-display fingerprint sensor, and face unlock, too. On the top left, you will find the dual-lens selfie camera. It does take valuable screen space and it’s not easy to unsee it. It’s always there, staring at you and you can feel it.
Videos look great on it and at par with any other high-end smartphone screen when it comes to colors and detailing. The audio does deteriorate the experience a bit with a single main speaker on the bottom of the phone.
Cameras
The main highlight of P40 Pro is its camera. The main sensor is a 50-megapixel, followed by a 40-megapixel ultrawide-angle sensor, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera. There is a 3D Depth sensor as well. With the help of the Telephoto camera enable 5x optical zoom and a 10x hybrid zoom and 50x digital zoom.
the 50x digital zoom is what it is, a gimmick. I don’t think you are ever going to need to take a picture on 50x digital zoom. Having said that, it is impressive though.
Below are the sample shots of the difference between 1x and 50x digital zoom.
Portrait shots are impressive as well. thanks to the larger sensor, the natural bokeh looks great as well.
Videos look amazing in 4K resolution at 60 fps, and in slow-motion to 7,860 fps. the only thing bad about the camera is that shots with different lenses look different. Exposure and color balance varies quite a lot when you are changing the lens. And sometimes the 5x zoom keeps guessing which camera it wants to use depending on the scene.
Selfie Portrait 
Without Night Mode 
with Night Mode 
With Night Mode 
without Night Mode 
Without Night Mode 
With Night Mode 
With Night Mode 
Without Night Mode 
Wide Angle 
5x Zoom 
50x zoom 
10x Zoom 
50x Zoom 
Portrait Mode 
Aperture Mode 
Portrait Mode
Software
Here is your biggest compromise you will make, the P40 Pro does not have Google Mobile Services (GMS) installed, which means no Google Play, Google Maps, or any other Google-backed app or service.
Instead, you have all to make-do with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) and the Huawei App Gallery App Store.
Using the phone on daily is very fluid and simple, thanks to the refined EMUI OS and 90Hz display refresh rate.
Our friends at GNTech have a great video on workaround on how you can install Google Services in Huawei Mobiles.
If you are using Google services every day and rely on certain apps that are not available in App Gallery, then you will face some problems changing over to P40 Pro.
The P40 Pro has an IP68 water resistance rating, but because of the glass isn’t the most durable. I would suggest keeping in a case.
Performance
P40 Pro is built with Huawei’s own Kirin 990 Processor, an octa-core chip based on the ARM Cortex A76 architecture with a separate Neural Processing Unit (NPU) for AI. It has a built-in 5G modem for improved reception and efficiency. I have not been able to test the 5G connection though. It has 8GB RAM and 256GB Storage.
Verdict
With a marvelous camera and killer hardware and the long-lasting battery, you get the most of both worlds. the software is a compromise that is not Huawei’s fault for not coming with Google Play Store. The IP68 water resistance rating will get to by for a few years, but it is not durable as it’s made from glass. The App Gallery is getting better over time and provides more apps that we want. If you are ready to tweak yourself and install Google Mobile Services in it on your own, then there is a lot to offer with very few downsize.
