Huawei P30 Pro - My first thoughts

[Elliot B.]

EDIT: Updates are at the bottom.

 

I am upgrading from a Samsung Galaxy S8+ (2017) to the Huawei P30 Pro (2019) (128 GB storage, 6 GB RAM, black version).

 

So far, I've been playing with it for a few hours.

 

The charger USB cable sticks out, unlike Samsung’s, which is begging to be accidently kicked whilst plugged in.

 

The charger.

 

The in-box boxed 50W fast charger uses proprietary technology, so using it with a Samsung Galaxy or Google Pixel won't fast charge those phones. However, my Galaxy S8+ charger charged my partners Pixel 2 XL and vice versa. It's a shame this will be lost.

 

The P30-series use their own proprietary memory card, if you want one. However, 128 GB of built-in storage is plenty of space for most people, especially in the days of Netflix, Spotify and the likes.

 

Make sure you don't accidently poke the SIM ejector tool into the microphone holes up top or down bottom! They are the visually very similar to the SIM card tray, though the tray is easy enough to spot at the bottom. Just don't get 'trigger happy' at the top of the phone with the tool.

 

It arrived with two cheap stickers on the back. No idea why.

 

Ugly rear stickers.

 

Nova Launcher installed (of course!). Saying that, Huawei's launcher is actually rather customisable and, I imagine, fine for most people to live with.

 

The back button is on the left by default (as it is with most Android phones). I understand the logic behind it but it's not like there's a forward button on the right, and I use the back button a lot more than the multitask button, so it makes sense for me to put the back button nearest to my right thumb. This can be changed in Settings.

 

I'll be turning off Huawei Share ("lets you quickly share files with nearby Huawei devices without using mobile data") and Printing Service to save the battery/CPU time they both use as I won't be using them, though I doubt they use hardly any of either.

 

I've enabled Always on display (disabled by default).

 

Changed the screen resolution from the default/maximum 2340x1080, down to 1560x720. I ran my S8+ at 1480x720 (instead of 2960x1440), also. Couldn’t tell any difference on the S8+ and I can't on this phone, either. May as well save a little CPU/GPU power.

 

Being able to display network speed in the status bar is nice; something my previous Galaxy phones never offered. You can also choose to hide the carrier name. Would be nice if there was an additional option: 'Only show carrier name whilst roaming'.

 

Pressing Settings in the camera only displays settings for that mode only. So you have to tap on Settings whilst on the rear camera, the front camera, in video mode etc. separately to change the settings. They're all on one page on Galaxy phones, which is preferable to me.

 

You can mute the camera shutter sound.

 

There's no 4K60 video mode, unlike with the Galaxy S9 and S10-series. 4K30 only.

 

On most camera modes, there is a 'colour mode' option up top offering: Standard, Vivid colours and Smooth colours. Vivid colours looks like 'Samsung photo mode' - though I'll have to test this more.

 

It’s very nice finally having the selfie camera in the centre. No more off-centre selfies!

 

You can't control the brightness of the flashlight, unlike the 4-levels available on my S8+.

 

IR blaster! I'm off to PC World to mess with their TV section...

 

Searching for 'OLED' in their themes store brings up nothing. However, Settings > Battery does have a 'Darken interface colours' option that works very well.

 

There are no 15W-capable wireless charging stands for a reasonable cost, yet.

My Samsung Galaxy S8+ on its 10W-capable wireless charging stand.

 

The phone, by default, counts your steps and displays them on the lock screen. Why not, I suppose.

 

Updates

 

09/04/2019:

 

It appears I can no longer set a live wallpaper on the lock screen and home screen, only the home screen. That's a shame.

 

Add your Hotmail e-mail accounts as an Exchange account, instead of as a Hotmail account. That way, you can enable 'Sync frequency' as Push, instead of every 15 minutes or more.

[Steven P. Administrators]

One of the stickers seem to suggest it was shipped out of Amsterdam, 25mins away by car from where I live 😛 

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

How long have you had the phone, it'll be interesting to see what the battery life is like under real life usage.

19 minutes ago, Elliot B. said:

Changed the screen resolution from the default/maximum 2340x1080, down to 1560x720. I ran my S8+ at 1480x720 (instead of 2960x1440), also. Couldn’t tell any difference on the S8+ and I can't on this phone, either. May as well save a little CPU/GPU power.

Also, it'd be interesting to see if the above makes a difference given the OLED panel. 

 

I actually just walked past an O2 shop to get some lunch and had about a 30 sec look at the P30 Pro. It's a very nice looking and feeling phone. 

 

I'll definitely be interested in a follow up when you've had more of a chance to play around with it. 

[Elliot B.]

4 minutes ago, dipsylalapo said:

How long have you had the phone, it'll be interesting to see what the battery life is like under real life usage.

Also, it'd be interesting to see if the above makes a difference given the OLED panel. 

 

I actually just walked past an O2 shop to get some lunch and had about a 30 sec look at the P30 Pro. It's a very nice looking and feeling phone. 

 

I'll definitely be interested in a follow up when you've had more of a chance to play around with it. 

I've only been playing with it for a few hours, so far.

[Kris. Mac]

Had mine a few days battery seems to last 2 days of normal usage. Its the best flagship device in terms of battery life from most YouTube reviewers and has not disappointed.

Camera seems decent. Night shots are simply amazing. The only thing what triggers me is the curved edges of the screen. 

[Steven P. Administrators]

2 hours ago, Elliot B. said:

It appears I can no longer set a live wallpaper on the lock screen and home screen, only the home screen. That's a shame.

Does Nova not allow this? I long press on the homescreen (with Nova as my default launcher) and I can select Wallpapers and set a live one. I have the Google Live Earth one ripped from Pixel and repacked via XDA Developers website 😛 

On my Galaxy S8 btw

[Elliot B.]

1 minute ago, Steven P. said:

Does Nova not allow this? I long press on the homescreen (with Nova as my default launcher) and I can select Wallpapers and set a live one. I have the Google Live Earth one ripped from Pixel and repacked via XDA Developers website 😛 

In Nova, when I tap Wallpapers > Live wallpapers, it shows my live wallpapers.

 

I tap one the one I want and then I get Settings (which is the live wallpaper's settings itself) or Apply.

 

Tapping Apply isn't allowing me to set for both lock screen and home screen, it only changes it for the home screen.

 

It was possible to set it for both on my S8+

[dipsylalapo Supervisor]

Do you not see something like the following? 

 

 

[Brandon H Supervisor]

5 minutes ago, Elliot B. said:

In Nova, when I tap Wallpapers > Live wallpapers, it shows my live wallpapers.

 

I tap one the one I want and then I get Settings (which is the live wallpaper's settings itself) or Apply.

 

Tapping Apply isn't allowing me to set for both lock screen and home screen, it only changes it for the home screen.

 

It was possible to set it for both on my S8+

yeah that's a Samsung tweak I believe. you can't natively have a live wallpaper on the lock screen in Android I don't believe.

 

I'm able to set a live wallpaper on my A6 lock screen as well but never could with my previous Honor 6X

[Elliot B.]

3 minutes ago, dipsylalapo said:

Do you not see something like the following? 

 

<screenshot snipped>

 

<screenshot snipped>

 

Tapping Apply just drops back to the home screen.

Just now, Brandon H said:

yeah that's a Samsung tweak I believe. you can't natively have a live wallpaper on the lock screen I don't believe.

 

I'm able to set a live wallpaper on my A6 lock screen as well but never could with my previous Honor 6X

How very disappointing