Huawei launched its Mate20 series at the ExCeL in London on Tuesday, with the Mate20 Pro as its flagship and the most important phone to come out of the set of devices.
As the launch happened, in so many words, the top leadership at Huawei claimed that the Mate20 Pro does just as well as Apple’s iPhone XS, a brand it sees as a competitor, and even better than the XS in some respects.
Celebrities and top international tech enthusiasts were in attendance at the global launch of Mate20 Pro, with Danish singer Christopher Nissen as the face of the new series.
CEO Huawei Consumer Business Group Richard Yu unveils the new flagship device Mate20 Pro at ExCeL.
Nissen performed at the event, followed by a detailed demonstration on the Mate20 Pro’s various features by CEO Huawei Consumer Business Group Richard Yu.
The phone, which will launch in Pakistan in November, boasts of a "higher intelligence" and promises to deliver a number of interesting features, some of which Mr Yu compared with those in the iPhoneXS and Samsung’s Galaxy Note 9.
What’s more interesting to smartphone users this time around is Huawei's claims of surpassing most other phones when it comes to speed and optimisation.
Presenting the Mate20 Pro as the ultimate AI phone for anyone to have, Huawei has claimed that the Artificial Intelligence mechanisms in the device increase system optimisation, and that this will in turn reduce the degree of degradation when it comes to the device’s performance over a period of time.
The AI is also meant to help the device carry out scene detection as well as automatic image processing when one’s taking a picture.
The Mate20 Pro also boasts of super charging speeds, where it can also begin to act as a powerbank itself. During the launch event, there was a moment where Mr Yu said that perhaps the Mate20 Pro could also charge the iPhone XS, leading to chuckles from the audience.
Jim Xu, Vice-President Global Product Marketing, Huawei CBG, spoke to journalists on the sidelines of the launch event, and said that the Mate20 Pro and the entire Mate20 Series is for "professional and personal use both, especially for those who love taking photographs from their smartphone".
How well will the Mate20 Pro do compared to its so-called rivals, the XS and Galaxy S9, in the market is still unclear, but it does seem like an interesting entrant that is likely to make the smartphone landscape more interesting.
Following is a quick snapshot of the flagship phone’s specifications.
Display
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro has a 6.39-inch OLED display and has slightly curved sides. It is equipped with FullView Display, with a 3120 x 1440 resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and also has HDR support.
The phone weighs 189g and is 157.8 x 72.3 x 8.6mm when it comes to its dimensions.
It also has a fingerprint scanner integrated into the phone’s screen.
The device isn't slippery, is easier to hold and comes with the claim that it doesn't collect fingerprints as much as some of Huawei's previous phones.
We did test it out in the device demonstration area where members of the media were checking the device constantly, and yet the fingerprints didn't seem to collect and show as badly as we thought they might.
Operating system
The Mate 20 Pro is the first Huawei phone with the latest EMUI 9, an operating system based on the Android 9 Pie, which is said to have been optimised to speed up regular tasks.
Huawei says the EMUI 9 delivers the users a smooth experience and will allow them to interact with their device more efficiently with the new gesture navigation support.
It claims that the quality of the OS would not erode even with extended use.
The OS also introduces new AI features that enable the Mate 20 Pro to carry out and power through a range of tasks "from object identification to food calorie counting".
The Mate20 Pro also supports 3D Face Unlock. Huawei says the device quickly and securely authenticates users within 0.6s at a false acceptance rate of below 1/1,000,000.
Using the 3D Depth Sensing Camera System located at the front, the Mate20 Pro can read the features of a subject and recognise small details.
Furthermore, using 3D Live Object Modelling, a feature which Mr Yu also demonstrated to the audience during the detailed demonstration, consumers can create a fun digital avatar to dance or interact with.
Speed
The Mate20 Pro boasts of being “the world’s first smartphone to support the 4.5G LTE Cat. 21 standard” and allowing users to download at speeds of up to 1.4Gbps.
It further boasts of supporting “the world’s fastest Wi-Fi connection speeds”, with the telecom giant saying it will only take 10 seconds to download a 2GB footage.
The Mate20 Pro also supports dual-band (L1+L5) GPS positioning technology and Huawei says the AI GPS Satellite Selection technology enhances the positioning accuracy "across a wide range of scenarios".
Cameras
The phone features the Leica Triple camera system at the back: this includes the 40 MP wide angle lens with a f/1.8 aperture, a 20 MP ultra wide angle lens, with a f/2.2 aperture and finally, an 8 MP telephoto lense with a f/2.4 aperture.
The camera system supports autofocus and also entails Huawei’s AI image stabilisation features.
The 24 MP front camera, with an f/2.0 aperture also supports 3D depth-sensing.
Huawei says the Mate20 Pro lenses capture better pictures than some of its competitors, irrespective of how close or wide the shot is.
Chipset and storage
The Mate20 Pro has Huawei's new Kirin 980 and has a minimum of 6 GB RAM and 128 GB ROM. Another version of the phone is also available, with its RAM at 8 GB and a storage space of 256 GB.
A MicroSD card and Huawei's Nano Memory card.
Aside from this, one can get more storage space via Huawei’s Nano Memory cards which have replaced MicroSD cards in the brand’s latest Mate 20 series.
These Nano Memory cards look just like the Nano SIM cards when it comes to size and shape and can simply be perched on one of the dual-SIM slots of the phone.
This means one will have to pick between keeping that other SIM card or going for greater storage, which is up to 256 GB in this case.
Battery
The Mate20 Pro houses a large, high-density 4200mAh battery, and supports a 40W HUAWEI SuperCharge, which charges the phone to up to 70% in 30 minutes.
Moreover, Mate20 Pro supports 15W HUAWEI Wireless Quick Charge, a fast wireless charging solution, and Wireless Reverse Charge, which enables the device to work as a power bank for selected electronic devices supporting wireless charging.
Colours
The Mate20 Pro is available in five colours — Midnight Blue, Black, Pink Gold, Emerald Green and Twilight.
Pricing
The phone isn’t one on the lower end or even what one may call mid range. With a price tag of 1,049 euros ($1,215), the Mate 20 Pro is one of Huawei’s most expensive smartphones on the market and on par with some of the latest Apple and Samsung devices. But would it also be at par when it comes to its claims and over a sustained period of time? That will be the real test.