Oppo’s Find N2 Flip Lands in The UK

The Oppo Find N2 Flip may well draw comments regarding its similarity with Samsung’s Z Flip 4, but there is lots to like about the N2 Flip.

Firstly, and the most striking difference, is the N2 Flip’s 3.26-inch portrait cover screen. Not only does this trump the Z Flip 4’s slim landscape display in size, it actually looks more like a regular smartphone screen. While we can all agree that size isn’t important (right?), the larger Oppo display enables it to show more notifications at a time (up to six) and offers a larger preview viewfinder for those crucial selfies.

On the subject of cameras, the Oppo Find N2 Flip boasts a 50MP (f/1.8) Sony IMX890 main sensor sitting on top of an 8MP ultrawide unit with input from Hasselblad. In addition, a third camera can be found inside, above the 6.8-inch inner OLED display. This has a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz (the cover screen maxes out at 60Hz), and Oppo says that the N2 Flip has “the smallest crease in any flip phone yet”.

The Find N2 Flip uses what Oppo calls a “Flexion” hinge with an “improved waterdrop design”, which the company says is thinner, smaller and stronger than the previous hinge found inside the original Find N launched last year. However, it never made it beyond the Chinese market.

Finally, the Find N2 Flip is powered by a MediaTek 9000+ chipset and has a 4,300mAh battery.

Oppo Find N2 Flip UK Prices

Priced at £849 to buy outright from Amazon, the Oppo Find N2 Flip is also available from Vodafone starting at £36 a month (£49 upfront cost) with 8GB of data on a 36-month device plan and a 24-month airtime plan. Voda also adds that you can save up to £240 on your airtime plan if you order the Find N2 Flip before 30 March.

O2 starts at £30.00 upfront and then £42.30 per month for 36 months which gets you 30GB of data.

Plans on EE start at £58 a month. If you’re considering that, you may as well add another £7 and get a massive 165GB of data on EE’s Essential Plan.

It’s still cheaper than Samsung’s flippable phone. Tempted? Find more information at Oppo or head to Amazon to buy SIM free.

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Huawei Watch 3 Series and new MatePad Pro Launched with HarmonyOS 2

Huawei has launched a range of smartwatches and tablets powered by its new HarmonyOS 2 operating system, including the Huawei Watch 3 Series and the Huawei MatePad Pro.

Harmony OS has been in the pipeline for a while, but now it’s hitting the ground running in its 2.0 flavour as it is powering a raft of new products.

Huawei is pinning its hopes on HarmonyOS as becoming the Android slayer where BlackBerry, Symbian, Windows Phone, Firefox OS, et al failed. Naturally, the company has had its hand somewhat forced thanks to the ongoing political situation between the USA and China.

Harmony OS first appeared on some IoT devices and the much publicised Smart TVs. Now 2.0 boasts apps that will appear on the brand’s Huawei smartphones, such as the P40 and Mate 40, as well as tablets and watches.

HUAWEI Watch 3 Series

Huawei’s brand-new flagship smartwatch, the Huawei Watch 3 Series, features a curved glass 1.43-inch circular AMOLED display that totes a 326ppi pixel density and 316L stainless steel case. There is also a brand-new 3D rotating crown that senses different pressure levels and provides haptic feedback in response to user input.

Naturally, there are stacks of health and fitness tracking baked in, too. The Huawei Watch 3 Series supports more than 100 workout modes. In addition to a broad range of healthcare support options, the watch can now monitor skin temperature with a new, high-precision temperature sensor. It also supports fall detection and SOS functions so that you can monitor and manage another user’s health in real-time.

The Huawei Watch 3 Pro has a quoted battery life of 21 days in ultra-long battery life mode or five in smart mode, whereas the Huawei Watch 3 can last three days in smart mode and 14 days in ultra-long battery life mode.

Connectivity comes through Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, and eSIM, enabling you to make and receive phone calls and listen to music using the same phone number and data plan as your smartphone.

Pre-orders run from June 2nd to 17th in the UK, with the Watch 3 going on sale on June 18th priced at £349.99. As for the Pro model, that costs £499.99, and pre-orders are active between June 2nd and 27th, with the watch becoming available on June 27th.

Those who place a pre-order with a deposit – £20 for the Watch 3, £50 for the Watch 3 Pro – will get that money off their watch of choice at purchase and will be able to redeem a pair of the company’s FreeBuds Pro true-wireless earphones at the same time.

HUAWEI MatePad Pro

We’re told that the new Huawei MatePad Pro features a 12.6-inch OLED FullView Display and has bragging rights to a 90% screen-to-body ratio, the highest among all tablets currently available on the market, they say. 

Every display comes with a Delta-E colour difference of less than 0.5 for incredibly high colour accuracy. It promises to deliver a crisp, colour-accurate picture that is on par with professional monitors. The Huawei MatePad Pro also has an ultra-high contrast ratio of 1,000,000:1 and supports a DCI-P3 colour gamut.

Loaded with Kirin 9000 series chipsets, the MatePad Pro should deliver the goods as it is also supported by the distributed data management and task scheduling capabilities of HarmonyOS. This means that the tablet can work together seamlessly with smartphones and PCs to double your productivity and creativity in different scenarios, “whether you’re in the office or at the drawing board”.

The nifty MatePad Pro also supports multi-screen collaboration with PCs and supports cross-device file dragging and dropping, delivering a more efficient and collaborative multi-device experience.

The second-generation M-Pencil was also unveiled together with the MatePad Pro. The new smartpen features a new platinum-coated nib for high-precision handwriting and ultra-low latency, accurately differentiating between 4,096 levels of force. 

The MatePad Pro is available for £499.99 and comes with a free keyboard cover and mini speaker when purchased directly from the Huawei website.

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While 2020 may be the year of lockdowns, it also presents a bit of a watershed as far as mobile phones are concerned. You see, unless you go really cheap with your choice of smartphone, you can pretty much guarantee that it will offer a decent screen, above-average build quality and it will take a reasonable photograph.

So, it might be worth asking the question, “have we taken the slab phone as far as we can?” Well, not quite. Granted, many of the big hitters seem to have some spin on the folding screen design, Huawei included, but it seems that there’s still life in the old dog yet. 

Sexy silicon

Huawei’s Mate series has traditionally been the company’s showcase for its latest Kirin chip which, in this case, is the Kirin 9000. The Kirin 9000 boasts 5nm technology — the same as Apple’s A14 Bionic — but the Huawei’s flagship silicon one-ups the Cupertino chip in that it has an integrated 5G modem built-in. Also, it has the grunt to thumb its nose at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 865.

Partnering that incredibly powerful processor with built-in 5G is 8GB RAM and a capacious 4,400mAh battery that easily lasts a day. Furthermore, when it does need recharging, it can take advantage of the blistering speeds afforded to it by way of its 66W charger and 50W wireless charging capabilities. This is all wrapped up in a chassis that boasts an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.

Heavenly hardware

The exterior of the Mate 40 Pro is nothing short of gorgeous. Beyond the pearlescent finish on my review model, the overall aesthetic follows the design language set by the Mate 20 and 30 Pro. So, you’ll find a centrally located camera module, curved Horizon screens, and a 3D facial scanning system for possibly the most accurate face unlocking tech available on a phone.

The 88° curved Horizon Display is vibrant and matches the best out there right now where viewing angles and brightness are concerned. The display eschews accidental touch commands thanks to Huawei’s software algorithm and, I can assure you, it does an excellent job of ignoring passing touches when navigating the striking 6.67-inch display. Additionally, the screen has a 90Hz refresh rate. Whilst this might not be the fastest out there, animations are smooth and scrolling through menus is slick. 

It’s hard not to notice the rather large cut-out in the upper left corner of the display, especially after using a P30 Pro with its little central hole punch. However, this slot houses a powerful front-facing camera system that features a 13-megapixel selfie camera, a wide-angle camera with a field-of-view of 100-degrees, and an infrared camera for face scanning. All of a sudden, that cut-out doesn’t seem so big after all, does it? Moreover, all of the kit packed into that little slot works incredibly well.

The rear of the Mate 40 Pro is covered in glass that’s coated in a soft-touch finish and is reasonably resistant to fingerprints. I love that the hardware volume rocker has returned to the Mate’s side, and stereo speakers are back too! But, it is the way that the Mystic Silver of our review model shimmers and changes colour as you move the mobile and the back catches the light that had my jaw on the floor.

Mate 40 Pro cameras 

The Mate 40 Pro’s main camera system consists of a triple-lens setup. The star of the show here is the 50-megapixel f/1.9 primary sensor, and that is joined by a 20-megapixel ultrawide-angle camera and a 13-megapixel Periscope camera.

That 50-megapixel lens boasts the largest image sensor currently in a smartphone at 23mm. Add to that Huawei’s custom-built RYYB sensor, and you can see why the Mate 40 Pro will be found at the top of the mobile photography charts getting Huawei another raft of prizes, no doubt. Night photography is still best in class, in my opinion.

Daylight snaps – click to enlarge

Low-light shots – click to enlarge

Huawei’s 20MP ultra-wide camera, dubbed “Cine Lens”, features an f/1.8 aperture and shoots at a 4:3 aspect ratio. Also, it doubles up as the Mate 40 Pro’s default video camera. It has a narrower field-of-view than the ultrawide lenses on Apple’s or Samsung’s flagships. Still, Huawei’s 20-megapixel ultrawide camera packs significantly more detail in the shot thanks to cramming in more pixels, and a larger aperture enabling more light to the photo. 

Zoom – click to enlarge

Next in line is the Mate 40 Pro’s 12MP camera, which uses a periscope system to offer 5x optical zoom. This is further bolstered by optical image stabilisation. The upshot here is that zoomed shots don’t become a big blur of smudgy pixels. Granted, go full digital zoom and things can go a bit wonky, but then how often will you need 100x zoom? I would say that any shot up to 20x zoom is more than strong enough to taunt the competition.

Huawei’s love for ultrawide lenses carries over to that front-facing Ultra Vision selfie camera, too. Like ultrawide unit at the rear, this lens keeps sharpness and exposure consistent with the primary selfie camera, allowing a much wider field of view. Furthermore, you also get excellent digital image stabilisation, which all adds up to the Mate 40 Pro being a vlogger’s dream. Not only do you get smooth video, but the frame is wide enough to ditch the selfie stick – which is always a good thing! 

By-the-way, video is shot in HDR by default. Furthermore, the camera will track your video subject as it moves without you having to move your phone—very clever stuff. 

The tricky bit

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro has excellent hardware, and the company is still at the top of the photography and videography game, then. At this point in any other regular review, this would be a done deal, and I’d be suggesting that you part with your cash right now. However, cool your jets for a bit.

These days two, perhaps three, things can make-or-break a phone. One is its camera and, as we’ve covered, the Mate 40 Pro pretty much has that wrapped up. Secondly, some people will look for battery life. Again, no worries here – the Mate 40 Pro will even wirelessly recharge other phones. Thirdly, and this is where this otherwise superb phone gets a little nervous, is app support. 

Let me start by saying that EMUI 11, the newest version of Huawei’s Android skin, is pretty slick and world’s apart from my first encounter with the OS about five years ago. Also, AppGallery is growing at an impressive rate of knots. This isn’t just homegrown talent that Huawei is packing into its app store either. Flicking through the list, you’ve got All 4, Sky, Amazon, Tinder, as well as all the leading social networking sites. The thing is, right now, there are some gaps. I’m not saying that these won’t be plugged in the next few months, but I have to review the phone as it is now. And, thanks to the software restrictions placed on Huawei’s phones by The Donald and his government, the Mate 40 Pro cannot run Google services, such as Play Store, YouTube, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Photos.

I did manage to get plenty of my apps ported over from my P30 Pro via PhoneClone. In fact, most of them came across. And Huawei’s built-in Petal Search did its best to find and install all other apps online from sources such as APKPure. However, I couldn’t get Outlook working (required for two out of my three jobs), but Gmail, oddly, appeared to be okay. For Outlook, I simply bookmarked the Office365 app to the home screen, which was mostly fine but, obviously, I wasn’t notified when stuff landed in my inbox. Also, I couldn’t have the unified inbox that I have on my P30 Pro. Microsoft Authenticator, on the other hand, worked without issue.

Additionally, JustPark migrated over but refused to work without talking to its buddy, GooglePlay. Also, while we’re on the subject of car parks, RingGo, an app I use to pay for parking at most of the studios I rehearse and record at was absent. The same goes for UberEats, Deliveroo and Costa’s app.

All that said, Huawei’s Maps app works really well from what I have experienced, although it’s yet to get walking/cycling directions or a Street View equivalent. I also noticed it doesn’t do the satellite view thing, but I can live without that. My Nationwide app worked fine as did a few other surprise ones. I guess it depends which apps you use, how often and, if they are not yet available on Petal Search/ Hauwei’s app store. It’s all about compromise right now. Are are happy to use a workaround such as saving a shortcut to the phone’s home screen which I used for Microsoft 365, for instance? 

Huawei Mate 40 Pro review conclusion

Huawei’s Mate series is always worth checking out and the Pro, as the name suggests, is the flagship. The Mate 40 Pro continues that heritage of astounding aesthetics, potent performance, and a superb snapper. Typically, it would be a shoo-in for a perfect score underlined by ‘Must Buy’ in flashing lights. However, in the Mate 40 Pro’s case, it’s more a ‘try before you buy’ situation. Don’t get me wrong, this is a top tier phone as far as fit, finish, and fotography (sorry) goes. It’s just that not all apps are available to it right now. That could well change as we look to be ushering in a new POTUS. I’m just not sure that giving Huawei access to Google will be one of his priorities.

As with most of 2020, it’s just not quite worked out how it should.

Price and availability

The Huawei Mate 40 Pro is available now with an RRP of £1099.99.

The post Huawei Mate 40 Pro Review appeared first on GadgetyNews.

Samsung is looking to reward you with one of its top-flight Galaxy S20 phones when you opt to buy any 2020 QLED 8K TVs.

If you’re in the market for an 8K telly and your phone isn’t exactly the last-word in latest tech, then this might well be a sign. Bag on of Samsung’s 8K QLED TVs and you’ll also scoop up a rather swish Samsung Galaxy S20 worth up to £899. 

What’s that? You daren’t move away from iOS? In that case, why not take them up on their offer of up to £400 cashback instead? That will also work if you’ve already upgraded your handset recently, obviously.

That Galaxy S20 might be handy with 8K still being something of a newcomer and there not being overly much material out there as the phone can shoot in 8K. Why not recreate some classic flicks not yet available in 7680 × 4320 resolution?

That said, the latest 8K TVs do a sterling job of upsampling from HD and 4K so what’s left is just which Samsung set to by. Naturally, the more you spend on an 8K TV, the more money Samsung will repay you in kind. For instance, opt for the 55-inch Q700T for £1999, and you can claim £250 back. Go large on an £11,999 85-inch Q950TS, and you’ll get £400 back.  

This offer is open to telly buyers in the UK and Ireland until the 22nd September 2020 through Samsung.com and at Samsung 8K TV retailers, such as Dixons, Richer Sounds, AO, Argos, Harrods, Selfridges and various independents.

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KIOXIA – that’s the new name for Toshiba Memory and the new fleet of storage certainly looks impressive with cards hitting 1024GB.

KIOXIA has announced its EXCERIA microSD and SD cards will soon be available and packing up to 512GB on microSD and 1024GB of memory on SD cards. They promise to expand the potential of any device, from a smart phone up to a professional photographer’s camera, by using BiCS FLASH 3D memory.

In comparison with conventional Floating Gate NAND technology, BiCS FLASH 3D memory offers increased storage capacity with lower power consumption, increased power efficiency and reduced per gigabyte storage costs. For example, the 256GB EXCERIA HIGH ENDURANCE microSD card stores about 24 hours of Full HD video footage. These cards are designed specifically for dashcams and surveillance cameras, enabling continuous writing and rewriting, while reducing the possibility of video recording failures.

Delivering the performance demanded by professional photographers and videographers alike, the EXCERIA PRO SD card is suitable for high-speed photography as well as 8K and Full HD video recording (V90, UHS speed class U3, SD speed class C10). For example, the 256GB capacity SD card stores over 38,000 18Mpixel photos or more than 5 hours of 4K video footage.

These are the following new available storage capacities:

microSD cards
• EXCERIA HIGH ENDURANCE 32/64/128/256GB
• EXCERIA PLUS 32/64/128/256GB/512GB
• EXCERIA 16/32/64/128/256GB

SD cards
• EXCERIA PRO 64/128/256GB
• EXCERIA PLUS 32/64/128/256/512/1024GB
• EXCERIA 16/32/64/128/256GB

We have yet to have confirmed UK pricing.

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Huawei today announced the availability of the P40 Pro+, P40 Pro and P40, the company’s new flagship smartphones, in the UK. The new P40 series could well be the phone to grab if photos and videos are your priority. 

As you would expect, the Huawei P40 range features not only cutting-edge designs but, ground-breaking camera innovations. Firstly, the sizeable 1/1.28-inch sensor has a binned pixel size measuring 2.44?m. This, according to Huawei, boosts light intake in a big way for enhanced low-light performance. Additionally, the phone’s new periscope design makes it possible to sport a 10x true optical zoom. 

Naturally, the Huawei P40 Series sports 5G by way of a Kirin 990 5G chip that also supports Wi-Fi 6 Plus. All of that tech is topped off with a Quad-curve Overflow Display that delivers outstanding fluidity and responsiveness, says the manufacturer. 

Huawei P40 Photography

We once again find Leica embedded in the latest Huawei smartphone and here is the advanced Ultra Vision Leica camera system, available in triple-camera, quad-camera and penta-camera configurations. This means that the Huawei P40 will undoubtedly deliver outstanding photographic results with ultra-wide-angle, wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The P40 Pro adds an evolution of the Leica Quad Camera with a more powerful Ultra Wide Cine Camera and ToF Camera alongside 50x SuperSensing Zoom. While, the P40 Pro+ adds a SuperZoom Array, which supports 10x true optical zoom and 100x maximum digital zoom.

The Ultra Vision Sensor housed in the P40 is Huawei’s largest CMOS sensor to date. Measuring 1/1.28 inches diagonally, it supports pixel binning to achieve a pixel size of 2.44?m and Full Pixel Octa PD AutoFocus for high-speed focus at any time of day. Meanwhile, the HUAWEI XD Fusion Engine integrates and processes data from multiple cameras to generate a comprehensive improvement in picture quality. 

The optically stabilised Ultra Vision Wide Camera and SuperZoom Array work in tandem with AI to realise Triple OIS+AIS for vastly improved photo and video stabilisation. 

Huawei continues to offer faithfully reproduced skin tones and textures thanks to a new Multi-spectrum Colour Temperature Sensor and AI AWB algorithm that boosts colour accuracy by 45%, apparently. Of course, real-time portrait optimisations, as well as Bokeh reproduction, are available. However, the Huawei P40 Series also introduces HUAWEI Golden Snap, which includes AI Best Moment, a new smart photography feature that chooses the best frames from a Moving Picture. AI Remove Passerby and AI Remove Reflection can do away with unwanted subjects and glare from the frame.

Huawei P40 Video Camera 

The 40MP Ultra Wide Cine Camera in the P40 Pro and P40 Pro+ has a focal length that is equivalent to 18mm and a 1/1.54-inch sensor supporting the 3:2 aspect ratio. SedecimPixel Fusion Technology is built in to support 16-in-1 pixel binning, producing superpixels that measure 4.48?m to boost light sensitivity up to ISO51200 and enable 7680fps Ultra Slow-Motion video capture.

You also get Bokeh effects for videos. Similar to the results of a wide aperture lens, this feature adds progressive Bokeh to help highlight the main subject of the footage. The telephoto camera can capture high-quality zoom footage as well as 4K time-lapse videos. Directional Audio Zoom, available on HUAWEI P40 Pro and HUAWEI P40 Pro+, allows users to zoom in on an audio source and amplify its sound at the same time.

Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG, told GadgetyNews:

The HUAWEI P Series has always been about innovative aesthetics and making premium imaging hardware accessible, representing the very best of industrial design and technology. With an outstanding sensor, camera systems that we co-engineered with Leica, powerful chipset and HUAWEI XD Fusion Engine, the HUAWEI P40 Series exemplifies our focus and offers an all-day Super Definition experience to help consumers realise their creative vision.

Sporting super-narrow bezels and streamlined round corners the P40 ensures an ergonomic in-hand experience and a near borderless look. Moreover, an enhanced in-screen fingerprint reader offers 30% faster biometric authentication. 

The P40 series is available in three glossy glass finishes – Ice White, Deep Sea Blue and Black – and two innovative refractive matte glass finishes – Blush Gold and Silver Frost. Also, the HUAWEI P40 Pro+ features an exquisite nano-tech ceramic back panel that is kilned and polished to ensure it stands the test of time with incredible durability and timeless style. This unique design comes in two iconic colours: Ceramic White and Ceramic Black. 

Price and availability

The HUAWEI P40 Pro (8GB RAM, 256GB Storage, RRP £899) will launch in the UK in Black and Silver Frost. The devices are available from The Carphone Warehouse, Virgin Mobile and selected retailers, and with Three as well as direct from Huawei. 

The HUAWEI P40 (8GB RAM, 128GB Storage, RRP £699) will launch in the UK in Silver Frost (Carphone Warehouse only), and Black (Virgin Mobile and selected retailers). 

Both devices go on sale on April 7th. 

Both the P40 and P40 Pro are also available to purchase directly from the new UK Huawei Store: 

• P40 Pro: https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/phones/p40-pro/buy/
• P40: https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/phones/p40/buy/

HUAWEI P40 Pro+ pricing and availability will be announced soon.

The post Huawei P40 Series Lands in UK appeared first on GadgetyNews.

We were in Munich recently for the Huawei Mate 30 launch. We also spent some time with the new handset. While there was the usual rush of people posting their thoughts, we thought we’d take some time to reflect, and also see if we could get some more details – this was no ordinary launch.

The Mate 30 is Huawei’s second hero phone of 2019, following the excellent P30 Pro which is still our daily driver – and camera. 

Naturally, the Mate 30 sports usual expected upgrades of cosmetic tweaks, uprated display and cameras. So, what else were we waiting to find out? Well, this was no straight forward launch.

Awks

Unless you’ve been avoiding the news (which we totally understand), you will know that President Trump is upset with China and so has prevented the likes of Google playing with them. The upshot of this hissy fit is that Huawei is unable to release the Mate 30 loaded with the Play Store. The result of this is no Google Maps, Google Pay, Gmail app, you get the idea. It sucks. 

As discussed with fellow tech journalists out there, everything felt a “tad awks” before, during and after the launch. That’s not to say it wasn’t impressive with many gasps, applause and the rest of it; it’s just that there was also a slight undercurrent to the whole proceedings.

Anyhoooo – enough of that. What about the phone?

Mate 30 Pro hands-on

The Mate 30 Pro certainly has the looks and the spec to claim its crown as a flagship. 

The newcomer boasts a curved ‘Horizon’ display, a super-powerful chipset, and a huge camera sensor. Additionally, there’s mind-melting slow-mo and 8K capture skills, ToF (Time of Flight) modules front and back, and a battery with super-stamina as well as a range of charging options.

Mate 30 Pro and Android

OK – let’s get tackle the irritating pachyderm in the room first. The Huawei Mate 30 Pro runs Android 10. Is that a confused look on your face after everything we’ve said? Let us explain – this is the AOSP version (Android Open Source Project) which is free to use across the world. All previous Huawei Mate phones used the “standard” version of Android, which includes all the proprietary software many of us use every day. So – you get Android, just not the Google apps.

Huawei already has the apps needed to replace much of the Google suite. There is an app store, a mail client, a browser, a fitness tracker and a cloud storage service, but we know that this might not be enough. We reckon we won’t see the likes of Netflix, WhatsApp, even Facebook appearing in the Huawei app store anytime soon – but we could be wrong. We suppose that some apps have browser versions we could use…

During our hands-on time with the phone EMUI10 (Huawei’s Android wrap) seemed to work smoothly with no hint of any loss of full-fat Android.

What were we waiting for?

Originally, Huawei’s Richard Yu stated that bootloader unlocking would be available to give customers “more freedom.”

We limited [bootloader unlocking] because we wanted to guarantee more security for consumers. But this time we will leave more freedom for the consumers so they can do more customisation by themselves.

Naturally, everyone read that as it’s making it easier to install Google apps.

That glimpse of light, however, was soon diminished after the company then said it has “no current plans” to allow bootloader unlocking.

Did Yu misspeak? Did he show Huawei’s hand too soon? Only those closer to the situation than us knows for sure.

Mate 30 Pro improved camera

This is what most people will be interested in after the P30 Pro grabbed awards left, right and centre for its snapper.

Seeing the Mate 30 Pro in the flesh for the first time, the most noticeable thing that grabs you is the new circular lens array. Dubbed Halo the circular lens grouping looks great to us. If you recall, the 20 Pro rocked the square-style, much like the latest iPhone does.

Camera quartet

The flagship 2019 edition Mate boasts a quartet of cameras on its rear.

Firstly, there’s a standard-view 40-megapixel sensor, then an 8-megapixel 3x zoom and a 40-megapixel ultra-wide. Finally, there is the ToF (time of flight) depth sensor.

The P30 Pro is still king of the zoom, although the Mate 30 Pro is very capable; however, it is the Mate’s ultra-wide that steals the show with its performance thanks in part to its 1.54-inch sensor.

If you’ve used a P30 Pro, then the Mate 30 Pro’s camera app will feel very familiar. You can zoom in by 5x and still get decent results, or up to 30x if you don’t mind a slight hit-and-miss aspect to your shooting. 

We weren’t able to test the Mate 30 Pro’s night mode, but it is still one of the P30 Pro’s stand-out skills, so we assume the new Mate will match it. Again, Huawei is using an RYB pixel set up in the main sensor that swaps the typical green pixels (RGB) for yellow pixels. The result is that the sensor can capture more light and so the bright f/1.6 lens with OIS, along with some software magic, means the phone can shoot pictures in near darkness.

The snaps we took in Munich (although not able to keep them) showed the expected good dynamic range, even without HDR engaged. The images seemed to have plenty of detail on screen with very low noise.

The Mate 30 Pro gives you a decent macro camera too, enabling you to take incredibly sharp shots as close as 2.5cm from the object.

Video

The Mate 30 Pro boasts a dedicated cine camera so videos promise to be top-notch.

Slo-mo is really impressive looking at the specs. Where 960fps has become the high-end mobile standard for slo-mo video, the Mate 30 Pro trumps that (so to speak) and goes up to 7,680fps, for 256x slo-mo.

This uses smart interpolation skills thanks to complicated algorithms that works out what the frame between two others should look like.

Would we ever use that setting? Perhaps not. However, that upper limit does mean that 64x, 32x, 8x and 4x is silky smooth.

Mate 30 Pro front cameras

On its front, the Mate 30 Pro sports another three lenses.

In addition to a primary 32-megapixel selfie snapper, the Mate 30 Pro features an ultra-wide-angle shooter and another ToF sensor.

Overall, the Mate 30 Pro is armed with a mind-bending total of seven cameras.

Curvy display

The Mate 30 Pro comes with what Huawei calls a “Horizon” display.

This essentially means the curves on the display’s sides are more prominent than on its curvaceous rivals such as the P30 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S10.

Also, the added curvature makes the hardware look more like a single piece of glass than any of its competitors. The display curves 88 degrees to the sides, and if you look at the phone head-on, you practically don’t see any side bezels. 

The curvy 6.53-inch display is also called in for volume control dutues as the Mate 30 Pro has no physical volume rocker. A double-tap on the side wakes the virtual slider up and then you make the adjustments. It seemed to work well during our time with it.

We were a little concerned about accidentally triggering things while the phone is in our hands with that extra bit of side-screen, but all seemed well. We were told that the side areas were “switched off” for the most part – which explains the need for the double-tap to wake the volume control.

Sophisticated notch

Huawei has created “the most sophisticated notch” – is this going to be the new battleground for phones? 

It’s a lot smaller than the Mate 20 Pro‘s and still manages to pack in a gesture sensor, a 3D (ToF) depth camera, a proximity sensor and a selfie camera.

Rolling the Mate 30 Pro around in our hands it certainly feels like a premium device thanks to its all-glass and forged metal casing. Additionally, you get a choice of Space Silver, Emerald Green, Cosmic Purple and black colourways to choose from. There’s also cool-looking vegan leather options too, available in orange and green. We fell in love with the orange pleather in a rather major way.

The phone’s IP68 rating should protect it from water and dust, which is a good thing.

The single, bottom-ported speaker, however, not such a good thing.

5G-ready

The Mate 30 Pro is powered by Huawei’s new Kirin 990 chipset.

The Kirin 990 comes in two variants – one that supports 4G networks and another with 5G capabilities.

Most notably, the 5G version has support for the next-generation networks built-in, meaning an external modem is not required.

We hear plenty of people saying 5G skills are unwarranted right now but as 3 year contracts are commonplace, we would rather buy a handset that is ready for tech coming in the next 1-2 years.

Mate 30 Pro – Neat tricks

We saw a demo of the Mate 30 Pro’s AI gesture control. Using the front-facing sensors you can interact with the screen without touching it. For example, we were able to scroll through web pages simply by waving our hand. Additionally, using another gestrure we could perform screen captures.

Auto Rotate is cool and all but it can be easily confused, especially if you’re reading in bed or on the sofa. However, AI Auto Rotate can detect your head movements and rotate the screen from portrait to landscape automatically as you move around.

We also really liked AI Private View. Here your privacy is further enhanced. The phone is able to detect if there’s somone trying to see your screen and so hides the content – for your eyes only.

Mate 30 Pro battery

Of course, we were unable to test the battery life on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, but we’d expect it to be excellent with its 4500mAh cell inside. There’s fast-charging technology on offer, plus fast wireless charging.

Mate 30 Pro first impressions

Huawei has certainly created the best Mate yet with the 30 Pro. 

The Mate 30 Pro has it all – a fantastic display, impressive stamina, and excellent picture quality, all of which hinges on class-leading performance. 

It is just rubbish timing that the ‘leader of the free world’ as decided to prevent the company from pre-installing Google apps for its users. Knowing full well that his decision makes the Mate 30 Pro practically unusable in the Western world without some sideloading antics which could open the phone up to security concerns.

Nevertheless, as Walter Ji told us, Huawei has faced challenges throughout its 32 years and this is just another one to overcome.

However, the moment Google gets the license to provide products and services to Huawei, then you will see Samsung, Apple and all the rest run for cover.

Price and availability

We haven’t got an exact release date for the Mate 30 or even if it will ever come to the UK.

Huawei gave pricing of €799 for the Mate 30 and €1,099 for the Mate 30 Pro. The 5G model has an asking price of €1,199.

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Zhiyun, the maker of some rather natty gimbals, has just announced the launch of the ultra-lightweight, pocket-sized SMOOTH-Q2 mobile gimbal. 

It appears that the Kickstarter campaign exceeded the company’s expectations, and so welcome the SMOOTH-Q2.

The new gimbal is small yet robust and boasts a 17-hour battery life and a micro USB port that acts as a power bank for your phone. 

The SMOOTH-Q2 works by accessing the native camera apps on iOS and Android phones. Furthermore, the SMOOTH-Q2 enables you to perform timelapse, Vertigo shots, object tracking and panoramas. Also, the full-range POV mode and Vortex mode features allow you to express your personal movie style.

The five-way quick mode switching joystick and photo/video record buttons keep everything simple. Additionally, the ¼ inch screw hole allows you to add accessories. 

Measuring only 204mm long the gimbal is extremely portable – practically pocketable. The aluminium-built body is crafted for maximum solidity. Coated with soft silicone, the handle is comfortable in your hand.

Pricing and availability

The SMOOTH-Q2 is available now for an MSRP of £139.

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IFA 2019 saw HUAWEI announce two new beautiful colour options for its class-leading HUAWEI P30 Pro smartphone. The new options offer you more choice when it comes to the look and feel of your smartphone.

The new P30 Pro comes with newly upgraded photography and video editing features. Moreover, it is ready for the all-new EMUI10 based on Android 10.

The HUAWEI P30 Series has garnered global attention and fans since its launch in March 2019. Over 10 million units of the smartphone series were sold within the first 85 days. That’s a new record for Huawei’s flagship device shipments and a testament to its technological innovation.

New Aesthetic Design

At the HUAWEI Keynote in Berlin, we were told that the new colour options for the P30 Pro were inspired by nature.

Mystic Blue is said to be reminiscent of the sky reflecting the sea.

Whereas Misty Lavender is designed to evoke a beach at sunset.

We do like how the camera lens area has been re-designed. The new models have a high-gloss surface at the top portion that blends into a new matte finish for the hand-held lower half. That latter portion seems to be much less of a fingerprint magnet too.

Camera Upgrades

The latest photography upgrades to the HUAWEI P30 Series include a new super night selfie function. This comes by way of a software update on existing devices. The feature uses a high image sensing portrait algorithm to brighten subjects at night while lowering the brightness of the light source in the background. The result appears to be natural, crystal clear selfies even in low light conditions.

Thanks to the upgraded HUAWEI Vlog AI editing function, you can create music videos from your gallery with just one click. Once the video has been created, you can customise it with your favourite music, filters, effects and movie scales and even add more clips.

EMUI 10

The HUAWEI P30 Series will be the first to upgrade to the all-new EMUI10 operating system. The system, which adopts revolutionary distributed technology, offers a smooth and smart user experience.

EMUI10 features a magazine-style design for the lock screen. The new-look provides a simple and clear user interface thanks to wider spacing and concentrated grid design.

Additionally, the design of the settings, calendar, contact list and other interfaces have also been enhanced to improve the visual experience.

Finally, EMUI10 now comes with an enhanced Dark Mode to offer a more comfortable and immersive reading experience.

Availability

The Huawei P30 Pro Mystic Blue will be available from Carphone Warehouse from September 23.

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At the usual small gathering of close friends and family, the Cupertino firm has unveiled its iPhone 11 range of handsets. Naturally taking cues from its rivals, the new iPhone range features more cameras than ever before. Additionally, the new fruity phones pack an updated processor that’s faster yet more economical with power.

Apple iPhone 11

Apple stated at the show-and-tell that the two Pro models would last between four to five hours longer than their XS predecessors.

5G-less

An area where Apple has yet to catch up to the competition is by outing a 5G model. Granted, the 5G infrastructure is yet to be anything like useful at the moment, but, interestingly, companies such as Huawei can fit modems that are ready for full-fat 5G. Apparently, the lack of 5G is down to Intel not being able to develop the required modem in time. 

Personally, if I were going to be signing up to a three-year contract, I’d want to know that my smartphone was at least ready for next year’s tech.

The iPhone 11 sports a 6.1-inch Liquid Retina display, which is the same size as the screen on 2018’s iPhone XR. Also the same as last year’s model is the position and size of the notch.

The dimensions of the phone are 150.9mm x 75.7mm x 8.3mm, and it tips the scales at 194 grams.

You should be able to bathe with your iPhone 11 as it’s water-resistant, boasting an IP68 rating. 

Camera

On its glass-covered rear side, the new iPhones introduce an “ultrawide” camera, offering 2x optical zoom-out.

The Pro models add the new lens to the telephoto and standard lenses as per the last generation’s XS and XS Max, giving them three lenses. Some have likened the lens format to a fidget spinner while other reports say that the design has triggered people’s trypophobia (the fear of small holes).

The cheapest iPhone 11 rocks a dual-lensed rear with an ultrawide and standard lens.

Night Mode

Apple has watched Samsung, Google and especially Huawei sprint ahead in the low-light photography stakes and so proudly announced the iPhone 11’s new Night Mode.

The iPhone 11 Night Mode automatically brightens the image if needed as well as mitigates the digital noise produced as a result.

Deep Fusion

More interestingly, Apple’s Deep Fusion was touched upon. The sci-fi-sounding tech takes nine snaps with a variety of exposures and then sorts through them “pixel by pixel” finding the best parts from each to create a superior image.

The uprated camera tech also includes the ability to shoot slow-motion videos with the front camera as well as the rear.

Power

Under the hood, you’ll find the upgraded A13 Bionic processor.

Apple boasts that its CPU and GPU are both more potent than those featured in any Android phone.

Additionally, the chip’s “neural engine” has been optimised to handle matrix calculations better. Furthermore, they say its 20% faster than the A12.

No Poking

If you were fancying using the Apple Pencil stylus with the new iPhone 11, well, you can’t. Also, the new phones are not able to wirelessly recharge other accessories, unlike Samsung and Huawei’s premium phones.

iPhone 11 Price and Availability

The iPhone 11 starts cheaper than its XR forerunner in the UK, ranging between £729 and £879 depending on storage. That said, the Pro models are more spendy than the XS ones, with an asking price of between £1,049 and £1,499. 

The new iPhone 11 comes in Purple, White, Yellow, Green, Black and Product Red. 

You can pre-order the iPhone 11 from September 13, and it’ll ship (and be on the shelves) from September 20.

Apple Subscription services

Tim Cook announced that the upcoming Apple subscription services that would each cost £4.99 per month – Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade.

The Apple Arcade all-you-can-eat game service comes with a 1-month free trial. 

You also can get Apple TV Plus for free for a year if you buy an Apple device such as a set-top box or computer. This TV show and movie-streaming platform will carry exclusive content and make its first programmes available on November 1.

In the presentation, it wasn’t stated whether Apple would bundle these new services with the company’s existing cloud storage, and music offerings for a discount, as was previously rumoured.

The New iPad

The seventh-generation model has a 10.2in (25.9cm) Retina Display screen – making it bigger than before.

The new iPad runs on the new iPadOS and will also connect with a full-sized Smart Keyboard.

Powered by the A10 Fusion chip that promises impressive performance. This means that it should handle games as well as multitasking. On the subject of gaming, you can pair an Xbox Wireless Controller with Bluetooth, PlayStation DualShock 4 controller or MFi game controller with the iPad to create a portable games console.

Going on sale at the end of the month the new tablet will start at £349, a £30 increase on the earlier model.

Apple Watch Series 5

Apple has also revealed a new version of its smartwatch. The latest wearable features an “always-on” display.

The Series 5 Watch adjusts how often it refreshes the screen to as little as one frame per second. That way, it can retain the18-hour battery life as the previous version.

The new watch also adds a compass and sleep-tracking software to its skills. Also, there’s a new titanium case option.

The company added that it will keep selling its Series 3 model, which will cost £199. A nifty way of offering an affordable entry-level to Apple Watch ownership. The Series 5 Apple Watch starts at £399.

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