Huawei P20 Pro takes Smartphone photography to the next level

Huawei has created noise loud enough to get the attention it deserves and while making noise —it has come up with the triple-camera Huawei P20 Pro.

Normally, Huawei’s camera-centric flagship devices would come in pairs (like the P10 and the P10 Plus) and aside from the handset size, not much is different between the two.

This time, Huawei emphasized that the bigger sibling is going to be much more than that. So instead of just calling it the P20 Plus, it named it the P20 Pro instead.

The Pro indicates the device was tuned towards professionals with features that can impress even hard-core photographers.

Since the company’s close partnership with Leica, Huawei has capitalized on the name and their in-house technology to further push the limits on what smartphone cameras can do.

The Huawei P20 Pro with its three camera setup at the back is a first in any commercial phone. The primary 40-megapixel sensor is also the biggest in the market today.

The three-camera setup works in conjunction with each other – the 40MP RGB sensor takes the primary colored image then combines it with the 20MP monochrome sensor for added detail and contrast. The 3rd camera is an 8MP telephoto lens that, when combined with the 40MP+20MP image, can produce up to 5x hybrid zoom.

The result is simply astonishing as shown in the sample shots with this article.

The built-in optical image stabilization and Huawei AIS helps minimize shakiness keeping the images crisp and blur-free.

Huawei’s built-in AI, powered by the dedicated NPU of the Kirin 970, assists in identifying the subjects (Master AI can identify 19 different subject categories) and applying the appropriate post-processing in order to produce the best version of the photo.

Additional camera features include 4K video recording and a new super slow-mo video of up to 960fps, similar to the one in the Galaxy S9/S9+ although still not as impressive as the 10280p 960fps of the Sony Xperia XZ2.

The front-facing camera of the P20 Pro has a 24-megapixel sensor  f/2.0 that uses AI-driven 3D facial modeling to help in taking the best-looking selfies.

First few sample shots we took here in Paris were indeed impressive.

The Huawei P20 Pro is looking to be a solid flagship phone, armed with an impressive camera system never been seen before.

The only other question is the price. We’ll reserve our verdict once Huawei releases the P20 series and its pricing in the Philippines this month. We will share our full review by then so stay tuned for that.

Huawei P20 PRO SPECS:

6.1-inch 18:9 OLED FullView display @ 2240 x 1080 resolution, 408ppi

3D Glass

HiSilicon Kirin 970 octa-core processor

4 x ARM Cortex A73 2.36GHz + 4 x ARM Cortex A53 1.8GHz + i7 Co-processor

Mali G72-MP12 GPU

6GB RAM

128GB internal storage

40MP f/1.8 RGB sensor + 20MP f/1.6 monochrome sensor + 8MP f/2.4 telephoto lens triple Leica cameras w/ Huawei AIS, 5x Hybrid Zoom, AI Image Stabilization, LED flash

24MP front camera with AI beautification and 3D portrait lighting

4K and 960fps video recording

AR support

4G LTE Cat. 18 (1.2Gbps)

Single/Dual-SIM

GPS with GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO

NFC

WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, DLNA

USB Type-C

Bluetooth 4.2

IP67 certified

Fingerprint scanner

Infrared Remote Control

Android 8.1 Oreo (EMUI 8.1)

4,000mAh battery with SuperCharge and AI battery management

155.0 mm x 73.9 mm x 7.8 mm

Approx. 180g

Twilight, Pink Gold, Black, Midnight Blue