Huawei P20 - review and technical specifications of the smartphone

Chinese smartphones have long ceased to be second- or even third-class gadgets. Today they can give odds to the most advanced smartphones of our time, made in the USA or Europe. Moreover, the bulk of smartphones are manufactured in China. This industry is developing so rapidly that in many ways the Chinese have almost caught up with the Apple iPhone or Samsung Galaxy. And even surpassed them in some aspects. Of course, professionals from the Middle Kingdom often sin by copying, but there are more than enough original features that other companies then adopt.

The Huawei P20 gadget model is quite promising in terms of functionality, which we will now review. Against the backdrop of a relatively affordable price with an excellent functional and visual solution, these Chinese smartphones are being raked in almost buckets. And few buyers regret it. Even if the smartphone breaks, you don’t feel sorry for it, because the price is quite affordable. And this smartphone came out not very long ago - it was announced in March of this year, and launched on the market even later - in May. At the same time, the P20 and P20 Pro models quickly found warm support among users.

Specifications

We can talk for a long time about the technical characteristics of Huawei P20. The parameters of this smartphone model are very good:

Android 8.1, EMUI 8.1;
High-quality screen 5.84”, 2240×1080, 425 ppi. It has automatic brightness adjustment (brightness 400 cd/m2). The viewing aspect ratio is also good - 18.7:9 (2,074:1). LTPS IPS;
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (2.4/5 GHz) 4x4 MIMO, Bluetooth v4.2, USB Type-C 3.1, NFC, IR transmitter;
The HiSilicon Kirin 970 chipset is used with 8 cores (4xCortex-A73 2.36 GHz + 4xCortex-A53 1.8 GHz) and 64 bit, 10 nm. i7 coprocessor. Graphics accelerator Mali-G72 MP12;
Battery Li-Pol 3400 mAh. There is a fast charging function;
Regarding Honor's characteristics in terms of memory, the Huawei Honor P20 has 4 GB of RAM (LPDDR4) and 128 GB of internal memory (UFS 2.1);
Supports two nano-SIM cards. There is one radio module;
To identify the user, there is a fingerprint sensor on the front panel, and the gadget can also recognize the owner using the facial recognition function. In addition, the gadget has light, proximity, acceleration sensors, a compass and even a gyroscope;
The cameras on the smartphone are as follows. Front camera, 24 megapixels, autofocus, f/2.0. Main camera 12 megapixels (color)/20 MP (b/w) megapixels, f/1.6/1.8, OIS, LED flash, 4K video recording;
Full dimensions of Huawei P20: 149.1 x 70.8 x 7.65 mm. Weight – 165 grams.

Huawei P20 review: one of the best camera phones on the market

Against the background of news about Huawei's leadership in the smartphone market in Russia, we could not ignore this company. And we examined from all sides the central device of the line - Huawei P20. Spoiler: perhaps the best camera for the money.

So, any acquaintance with a gadget begins with the box. Like all Chinese companies, Huawei puts a bunch of all sorts of goodies in the package: the smartphone itself, the HUAWEI SuperCharge charging unit (note one Apple company - this is fast charging), a headset with Type-C, an adapter with USB Type-C C to 3.5 mm headphone jack, as well as a silicone transparent case.

Ergonomics and design

At first glance, it is difficult to discern the Huawei P20 among thousands of different Android smartphones. It doesn't have any distinctive features or special features. Perhaps the unique inscription on the back cover will help you distinguish this device from any other:

The smartphone is made of very pleasant materials: everyone’s favorite metal and glass on both sides. The device fits well in the hand, the metal frame and the absence of sharp corners allow you to enjoy the aesthetics of the phone. There is no need to talk about the impact resistance of such a design, but if you are interested, you can look at:

There is no good video from P20, so watch from P20 Pro

All control buttons have been moved to the right side. Of course, as a user of Apple devices, at the beginning it was difficult for me to feel the volume and power buttons with my fingers, but within a few hours the problem of this situation decreased to zero. On the bottom panel there is only one simple Type-C connector and speakers - unfortunately, they do not have stereo sound.

Looking at the front panel, the smartphone greets us with a fashionable bang, which, starting with the iPhone X, has conquered almost all Chinese mobile devices on the market. Large screen and one single button, which, by the way, is touch-sensitive and has a built-in fingerprint sensor.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the button does not feel “mechanical”. A regular vibration motor does not respond to taps like the Taptic Engine on the iPhone 7, but it has a number of advantages. Firstly, it supports so-called gestures (turned on in the settings); secondly, it has a very fast fingerprint sensor - unlocking the screen occurs almost instantly.

On the back cover you will see elements of different nature, combined in pairs. This is a dual camera, double flash and two microphones at once. In addition, on the cover you can see the beautiful inscription LEICA, which tells us that our phone’s camera is not simple.

Camera

The smartphone is equipped with two cameras: 12 MP color and 20 MP monochrome. Fashionable AI technology should help you take better photos. True, in my opinion, it is almost useless: all its functionality comes down to defining the scene and not the most accurate selection of settings.

However, even this way the photos turn out very good. We will compare the quality of the camera with the iPhone X in several usage scenarios at once: daytime shooting, night shooting, good lighting conditions, 2x zoom, portrait mode and front camera.

— Daytime shooting Compared to the iPhone X camera, the P20 has much higher detail. The amount of noise and artifacts is kept to a minimum. But in terms of color reproduction and HDR performance, the “ten” is clearly the favorite. In principle, this cannot be called a big advantage, because the picture can always be drawn out in the Lightroom photo editor.

Huawei P20

iPhone X

Huawei P20

iPhone X

Huawei P20

iPhone X

—Night photography Let’s leave these photos without comment. Apple's once flagship loses in all three scenes. The highlights and detail on the P20 are just sex. There is very little noise and artifacts.

Huawei P20

iPhone X

Huawei P20

iPhone X

—Good lighting conditions In such conditions, both cameras cope with a bang, but the main thing here is to keep an eye on the P20 smart camera, otherwise you may end up with a shot like this:

Huawei P20 (Zelel Mode)

Instead of this:

Huawei P20

iPhone X

— 2x zoom The camera has a 2x zoom, but the maximum image resolution at which it works is 12 MP. By moving to the 20 MP level, you lose this feature.

Huawei P20 (with built-in processing)

iPhone X

Combined with low light, 2x magnification showed simply amazing results. Again, the amount of noise and artifacts is minimal.

Huawei P20

iPhone X

— Portrait mode Meanwhile, portrait mode works better on the X, the contours are clearer. Huawei P20's photography seems to be in a white veil.

On the left is iPhone X, on the right is Huawei P20 (model @valeriya_366)

- Front-camera

On the left is iPhone X, on the right is Huawei P20 (model @valeriya_366)

Screen

The 5.8-inch display is made using IPS technology. The screen resolution is 2240x1080 with a pixel density of about 428 ppi and an aspect ratio close to 19:9. Now let's move on from dry numbers to sensations.

The screen is good. Of course, there are no such deep blacks as on models with OLED technology, but even in this case, the color rendition is pleasing. It’s nice that there is “Natural Tone” technology - an analogue of Night shift in iOS and macOS. It doesn't work as well as Apple's, but it's the best implementation of the technology among most Android smartphones.

The most important advantage of the screen is its high brightness: even on the sunny day in Rostov-on-Don, I read the news on our website perfectly and did not know any grief.

Performance

The phone is equipped with a HiSilicon Kirin 970 processor, which is manufactured using a 10-nanometer process technology with 4 cores: ARM Cortex-A73 (2.36 GHz) and ARM Cortex-A53 (1.8 GHz). Together with a fairly powerful processor, there are as many as 4 gigabytes of RAM. What do we get as a result?

The phone copes with all tasks, absolutely any games run without problems or lags. In terms of heating, everything is still within normal limits - yes, the phone gets warm in the upper part, but this does not cause any discomfort when using it. You can play WoT on high settings or play Asphalt without any problems.

Autonomy

In my usage scenario, which is: social networks, watching videos on YouTube, casual games, and always-on Internet, the phone asked to be charged late in the evening.

This is slightly better than the iPhone X, which requires recharging as early as 6-7 pm (note that I start using the phone at 7 am).

Conclusion

I definitely liked the Huawei P20: it has a very good camera, elegant and modern design. Together with a good processor, it gives the feeling of a mini-flagship. However, it is definitely not worth the money. At the moment, its official price is 39,990 rubles and, in my opinion, a price of 28-30,000 rubles would be much more ideal for this smartphone. The difference with the Pro version is not that significant, but for the price, in terms of the number of options you get, the difference is colossal. However, it is always better to pay a little more for a flagship and live happily with it.

Would I replace my iPhone X with a P20? Definitely not, because I'm too attached to the Apple ecosystem. Call me an “apple slave,” however, as for me, in combination with a watch, the equipment of the Cupertino company is much more ergonomic and convenient. Although who knows, maybe the HUAWEI Mate 20 Pro with Watch GT will change my opinion. However, this is a completely different story...

Modern design in Iphone X style

People who do not understand the technical characteristics and operating nuances of smartphones look first at the design. In this context, the Huawei P20 smartphone also did not disappoint.

Despite the fact that the developers clearly wanted to emphasize the similarity of the Huawei P20 with the Iphone X line, the smartphone turned out to be original. The materials used to create its body are glass and plastic. In particular, the main part of the gadget (front and back panels) is made of tempered glass. It was decided to make the edging using aluminum alloy. It turned out quite stylish.

The Huawei P20 body has no sharp corners. They are neatly smoothed. At the same time, even the edges are pleasantly sloping, allowing you to comfortably hold a rather massive gadget in your hand. But the main highlight of this smartphone is not even this, but its very elongated shape.

The design of the Huawei P20 Black Eml L29 smartphone is frameless. But it was not possible to completely get rid of the frame. The developers left the so-called bang, like the Apple iPhone X. It houses the speaker and the front camera. And under the display we also managed to place a fingerprint scanner. Therefore, the fingerprint sensor has noticeably stretched out and become flatter.

As already mentioned, the gadget lies very comfortably in the hand. Despite the fact that the panels are glass and glossy, they do not slip. At the bottom there is a multimedia speaker and USB Type-C. And on the back side there is a vertical block with a dual camera and a powerful flash. And at the top there is an additional microphone. On the right side of the panel are the power and volume control keys. On the left side of the panel there is a slot for nano-SIM cards.

The material and workmanship are very high quality. There are no noticeable creaks - all the parts fit like a glove. Inside there is a 3400 mAh battery with Huawei SuperCharge fast charging function.

Smartphones appeared on the market in the following colors:

Blue(Midnight blue);
Twilight (Ultra violet);
Black (The new deep black).

The dimensions of the gadget are slightly different from the P10 model. Height – 149.1 millimeters, thickness – 7.7 millimeters, width – 70.8 millimeters and weight – 165 grams. In general, we can say that the Huawei P20 smartphone is not only attractive, but also durable. And not least because the developers gave preference to high-quality materials.

Design Features

In appearance, the model with the “Pro” prefix differs little from the basic version. Characteristic differences include larger sizes and a third camera eye. The design of the new product is compared to the appearance of the iPhone X. The body has polished edges, vertical placement of cameras, and an identical back surface without a scanner.

The following color options for the mobile device are available:

classic black;
night twilight (Twilight);
regular blue;
stylish pink.

Pro model not available in gold color. Flagships with a gradient lilac shade look impressive and unusual. The case turned out to be easily soiled and fingerprints quickly appear on it. By the way, the body of the devices is protected according to the IP67 standard.

The beveled corners of the new product will allow you to use it comfortably. At the bottom of the display there is a button and a fingerprint sensor. The glass body compares favorably with the all-metal shell of last year's versions.

Display

One of the main features that a buyer pays attention to before making a choice is the gadget’s screen. The Huawei P20 uses an elongated screen with an aspect ratio of 19:9. Such an original solution became available for the gadget thanks to a dedicated “forelock” where the earpiece and front camera are located.

The Huawei P20 display itself has a diagonal of 5.84 inches and 425 ppi. Its resolution is 2240x1080 pixels. That is, this figure is even slightly higher than that of a FullHD+ screen. LTPS matrix.

You can unlock the screen using the face recognition function. It works fine, just like the fingerprint scanner. Although in fairness, it must be said that the facial recognition function on the Huawei P20 sometimes does not cope with the task. But this does not interfere much with using a smartphone.

The decision to enlarge the screen made it possible to keep the gadget quite compact, but at the same time use an overall matrix. It turned out that the display occupies more than 80% of the front panel area. There are frames, but they are so thin that they are almost invisible. The smartphone has unexpectedly pleasant viewing angles and high brightness.

So, the display parameters are as follows:

Type IPS LCD (Full View Display, LTPS, cutout in the screen);
Resolution 2244 x 1080;
Screen protection is provided by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, 2.5D;
Screen diagonal 5.8 inches (18.7:9);
Color rendition 16.7 million shades;
Pixel density 429 ppi.

The display supports multi-touch.

Design and appearance

This is not to say that the design of the Huawei P20 is outstanding. The smartphone looks great, but does not claim to be a work of technological art. It is compact and very comfortable to use with one hand. The front and back of the smartphone is covered with glass. The choice of glass for the back cover is not due to support for wireless charging, although such an option would add points to the smartphone. The frame of the case is aluminum. The similarity with the iPhone X is obvious, and it’s unnecessary to blame the company for this, because this is how marketing works nowadays - if you need good sales figures, then you should follow the beaten path. Beaten Apple. There is a possibility that Huawei had design reasons for placing the camera vertically and adding a notch in the screen, but something tells us that everything is much simpler here. And the similarities lie only in this. Otherwise, the devices are completely different.

In Huawei's approach to design, I really want to praise them for the colors of their smartphones. We have a smartphone for review in midnight blue and it looks very cool. At first I didn’t want to look away. Huawei P20 is also available in classic black. Other colors are available in some regions.

Power and volume controls are located on the right side. The unlock button is decorated with a nice inclusion, painted red. Looks nice. There is a fingerprint scanner under the display. It may look like a physical button, but it's touch sensitive. There is no point in arguing about tastes, and some won’t even pay attention to it, but not everyone in our editorial office liked it. But its functionality is at the highest level - one press performs a backward action, holding is equivalent to the home button, swiping left or right opens running applications, swiping up launches Google Now. At the bottom there is a USB Type-C connector for charging and symmetrical cutouts for the speaker and microphone. There is also a microphone on the top end, and on the left there is a slot for 2 SIM cards. There is no support for memory cards here.

Sound

On the Huawei P20, quite close attention was paid to sound. The smartphone has a loud external speaker, which allows you not to miss a call because the person did not hear the melody playing.

Despite the fact that the quality of the speaker is high, slight distortion is still observed at low and high frequencies. But this is a common problem for smartphones in this series, which does not greatly affect the enjoyment of using the Huawei P20. In particular, because people listen to music on headphones, and when there is a call, few people enjoy the melody.

As for the conversational speaker, it showed its best side. In a conversation, the person on the other end can be heard perfectly. No extraneous noise or distortion was noticed.

For convenience, the developers included Bluetooth 4.2 in the package. In addition, the gadget supports almost all major LTE frequencies. Let's take a closer look at the multimedia capabilities of the Huawei P20:

Loudspeaker – yes;
Supports audio formats: AAC, AAC+, AMR, ASF, FLAC, M4A, MIDI, MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, eAAC+;
Audio jack – yes;
FM radio – yes.

There are two perforations for a multimedia speaker. There is no stereo sound, as there is only one speaker. Because of this, if you block it with your hand while holding the phone horizontally, the sound is noticeably lost. There is no 3.5 mm jack. It is impossible to listen to music with headphones and charge your smartphone, which causes some discomfort.

Huawei P20 and P20 Pro - release date and cost, price in Russia and on foreign sites

Smartphones of the P20 line have begun to appear in Russia, but prices are still far from adequate everywhere, especially considering that the most popular option is the P20 in Midnight Blue, which not all tough men may like. More brutal black looks more attractive, but girlish pink is almost impossible to get. Prices in the official Huawei store in Russia are 44,990 rubles. For blue and black, pink is not sold.

Huawei P20 Midnight Blue - 44,990 rub.
Huawei P20 Black — 44,990 rub.
Huawei P20 Pink - not yet available

On foreign sites the price tag is approximately the same, but all three color options are presented. For example, in the Etoren store you can buy a black Huawei P20 for 44,250 rubles, blue and pink for 45 thousand.

The situation with the older model Huawei P20 Pro is more interesting. Although the official Huawei store has an attractive price of 54,990 rubles, there are no smartphones in stock and the exact delivery dates are unknown. Everything is sad online too: the minimum price tag reaches 61 thousand. and there is no color choice at all: only the Midnight Blue version is on sale.

In this case, buying Huawei P20 Pro on Etoren turns out to be much more profitable:

Huawei P20 Pro black — 58,200 rub.
Huawei P20 Pro blue — 58,200 rub.
Huawei P20 Pro twilight (Twilight) — 60,300 rub.

The last color is generally unique and its appearance on the Russian market is a big question.

Why we recommend Etoren, and not some supplier from Ali, is because of the reliability of this store. Not only do all parcels arrive safe and sound, but also the official guarantee from the store is a really working thing, and not an empty piece of paper. If the smartphone is faulty (which is unlikely), it will be replaced or your money refunded. Plus, Etoren understands Russian and you don’t have to listen to endless Hello friend!, as happens with other sites...

Cameras

Definitely, one of the strengths of the Huawei P20 is its excellent camera. The gadget received a stylish and powerful dual Leica camera model. The main camera has a 12-megapixel sensor. Its distinctive feature is excellent image stabilization and good aperture ratio (1.8). It is paired with a monochrome 20-megapixel module with an aperture ratio of 1.6. The front camera is also strong – 24 megapixels and F/2.0 aperture.

Another important detail is the large pixel size. Thanks to this, you can shoot even in relative darkness. In any case, the image will be clear. Digital noise in photographs is kept to a minimum. As a result, photos taken with this smartphone resemble in quality photos taken with a DSLR camera. And, of course, I’m very pleased with the range of the camera. It is wide and dynamic, which makes the picture quality even higher.

When reviewing the Huawei camera, you need to indicate that the user has the ability to record video. Moreover, in the popular 4K format today. The device can be unlocked through the facial recognition system installed on the front camera.

Let's take a closer look at the camera's characteristics:

The main camera consists of two parts: 12 megapixels + 20 MP, 4000 x 3000 pixels (RGB + monochrome);
Dual two-color flash;
Front camera: 24 megapixels and F/2.0 aperture. There is a front flash:
The gadget has geo-tags;
It is possible to make video calls;
Video is recorded in 2160p (4K). Takes 30 frames per second;
Uses 2x zoom;
Ability to use panoramic photography;
There are different modes available on cameras. For example, portrait, night (with shutter speed up to 5 seconds), etc.;
Autofocus, regulation using gestures, Time Lapse, HDR;
Detects smiles and focuses when you tap on the screen.

In Huawei P20, the developers tried to implement the artificial intelligence algorithm as much as possible. The smartphone determines what exactly we are photographing and automatically improves the image. As a result, even if you take a photo in a dark room, you will get a clear picture and not blurry spots. And all because the camera compensates for the lack of lighting by reducing shutter speed.

Huawei P20 takes photos quickly. There are no shutter lags (they are minimal). Even pictures taken automatically look great. Moreover, if the lighting on the street is good, then it is almost impossible to distinguish between pictures taken on this gadget and on the more advanced P20 Pro model.

What's special about the P20 Pro

We offer a detailed review of this innovative device. The model with the “Pro” prefix differs from the basic version not only in technical specifications. Its main feature is the presence of three rear cameras. One of them is quite simple, the second is monochrome. The third photo module is a zoom camera with triple magnification.

Huawei P20 Pro smartphone

The smartphone takes photos equally well at any time of the day, copes with portrait photography, and zooms in on the frame without losing quality. Good optics minimize “noise” in the photo, and the color sensor operates over a wide ISO range. The resolution of the photomodules is:

8 MP – simple camera;
20 MP – monochrome;
40 MP – high-quality color sensor.

The pixel size is 1.55 nm, but this only improves the quality of the images. A 20 MP monochrome sensor allows you to take excellent pictures in the dark, and a 40 MP module is complemented by a five-fold hybrid zoom.

The Pro version can photograph even distant objects at lightning speed. The telephoto lens, together with the correct operation of artificial intelligence, allows you to take pictures with a shutter speed of just 4 seconds. This model and the base P20 are excellent at recording slow-mo videos.

AI cameras detect significantly more scenes. When you turn on the front camera of your smartphone, artificial intelligence detects an object and automatically uses a bokeh effect in the background.

The camera also has laser autofocus and an RGB sensor, with which you can accurately set the photo parameters. Depth and contrast focus together with laser provide predictive focusing.

Memory and memory card

In terms of memory, the developers spared nothing. Users can also get a good amount of RAM (4 GB is more than enough for the gadget to work fully). They also did not spare the built-in memory. With 128 GB of free space, this is quite enough even without additional memory card slots.

More details about the memory of this smartphone:

Volume of permanent memory (ROM) – 128 GB (UFS);
Random access memory (RAM) – 4 GB (LPDDR4X;
There is no separate slot for a memory card; there is a micro-SD, which is used instead of a second SIM card.

Front-camera

The front camera has a resolution of 24 megapixels and f/2.0 photosensitivity. The pictures come out very clear. Among the features here are the effects of jewelry that smooth and brighten the skin of the face. You can also apply staged lighting effects. By the way, they are also available for the main camera in portrait mode. It works much worse than Apple's iPhone. Overall, this camera can easily take a beautiful self-portrait.

Connection

Users who have already purchased a Huawei P20 and used it have no complaints about the connection. Signal reception, wireless interfaces and sensors are excellent.

Let's discuss this indicator in more detail:

The gadget has a hybrid nano-SIM slot for 2 SIM cards;
The GSM communication standard is used;
The following 2G networks (GSM) operate: GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900 MHz;
It is possible to work with the following 3G networks (HSDPA): HSDPA 850, HSDPA 900, HSDPA 1900, HSDPA 2100 MHz;
Supports the following 4G networks (LTE): LTE 700, LTE 1900, LTE 900, LTE 1700, LTE 850, LTE 2600, LTE 1800, LTE 800, LTE 2100, LTE 2300 MHz.

Battery life and performance

The Huawei P20 has a non-removable Li-Po 3400 mAh battery. It supports Huawei Super Charge fast charging mode, but you cannot charge the gadget wirelessly.

The operating time in different modes is as follows:

Standby mode – no more than 290 hours;
Music listening mode – no more than 40 hours;
Talk time – no more than 14 hours;
Video viewing mode – no more than 8 hours.

The Huawei P20 has an octa-core Kirin 970 processor with a maximum clock speed of 2360 MHz. At the same time, four cores use the Cortex-A73 architecture, which has high power. The processor was equipped with an NPU chip. His task is to be responsible for the work of artificial intelligence built into the gadget. High performance is ensured by a high-quality Mali-G72 MP12 graphics accelerator.

Essentially, the Huawei P20 has almost the same specifications as the P20 Pro. Of course, there is less RAM, but this is not a big deal. This gadget showed its performance in GeekBench. It scored 1886 points in the single-core test and 6728 points in the multi-core test. At the same time, for comparison, the performance of the Galaxy S9 in multicore is 9 thousand points, and the iPhone X is 10 thousand.

The device in question can easily cope with any task. For example, a smartphone can easily handle almost all games at maximum settings. However, it gets warm when playing.

Loading apps is fast too. The interface does not sag and works relatively smoothly. Of course, the work cannot be called ideal, but the gadget behaves more than worthy, so it can be included in the list of top flagships.

Price

Naturally, after considering all the above-described parameters of the smartphone, you want to buy it. Or at least find out how much such a miracle costs. So, the price of the gadget is quite high, considering its parameters. This is a device that combines quality and an affordable price threshold.

In domestic stores, prices for Huawei P20 start at 39 thousand rubles. The average cost of a smartphone is 42,750 rubles. The minimum cost that we were able to find in stores is from 38,580 rubles, and the maximum is up to 47,690 rubles.

Smartphone impression

Of course, this smartphone has its drawbacks, like any gadget. While making a full review of the Huawei P20, we must not forget about them. Let's look at them in more detail:

No wireless charging;
There is no stereo sound (there is only one speaker);
The facial recognition feature sometimes lags;
No memory card.

Despite the above disadvantages, Huawei P20 is one of the best models in terms of price-quality ratio. It has an excellent camera, holds a charge for a long time and has many other positive qualities. To summarize, we can say that the Huawei P20 is an inexpensive gadget that has the features of the most expensive flagships. Therefore, the device can be called a worthy choice.