Thursday, May 24, 2018
Friday, April 27, 2018
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact the most powerful small phone. Review.
SONY XPERIA XZ2 COMPACT REVIEW
Sony broke its usual smartphone release cycle to bring its latest flagship, the Xperia XZ2, to Mobile World Congress 2018, a few months earlier than expected. Alongside it came a smaller sibling: the Xperia XZ2 Compact. The Compact is available to pre-order now, and does properly on sale in April.
The Compact packs a smaller screen (no surprise there), but the rest of its specs are impressively close to the bigger version. We’ve tested the phone out ourselves, and here’s what you’ll get when the XZ2 Compact arrives later this year.
PRICE
DESIGN AND BUILD
Alongside the XZ2, the XZ2 Compact represents the debut of Sony’s new ‘Ambient Flow’ design philosophy, which is basically just a fancy way of saying that they’re rounded off some of the straight edges for a more curved design compared to most other recent Sony phones.
Sony boasts that this is the world’s most compact phone with a 5in screen, retaining similar proportions to last year’s model despite a big jump up from that phone’s 4.6in display. Despite a compact frame you still get some bezels at the top of the bottom, and there's even slight bezelling at the sides of the screen - even though Sony eliminated that on its much cheaper Xperia XA2 earlier this year.
Still, at 135x65mm across the front, the phone does feel as comfortable to hold as you'd hope, and it's welcome to see Sony sticking with its Compact line in an industry where phones seem to be getting larger and larger every year.
Still, it comes at a cost, as Sony seems to have saved space across the display by cramming it all into the back of the device. At 12.1mm thick this is one of the chunkiest phones we've tested in a while - it's actually 1mm thicker than the regular XZ2. The curved back helps keep the phone comfortable to hold, but it's hard to escape how hefty this thing is for a compact device, which really detracts from the 2018 flagship feeling. At 168g, it also feels dense and heavy.
It’s all housed in an aluminium frame with a hard-coated polycarbonate finish on the rear - a change from the 3D glass back found on the XZ2. There’s a slight sheen to the hardware, but it’s a far cry from the glossy finish on the larger model.
Still, the rest is pretty similar. The display itself is 18:9 - the thinner aspect ratio that’s recently become popular - and you get IP65/68 waterproofing and USB-C charging, though the 3.5mm headphone jack is gone, which is a shame, as Sony was one of the last champions of wired audio in phones.
On the back you'll find a fingerprint sensor and camera. Their placement is a little odd though. The fingerprint sensor is a good inch or so below the camera lens, almost halfway down the phone's body, much lower than where your finger (well, mine at least) would naturally rest, forcing you to claw your hand slightly to use the scanner - usually after missing it the first time you try. It's a small gripe, but one that should have been easy to avoid, making it all the more conspicuous.
The XZ2 Compact will be available in four colours: Black (pictured), White Silver (exclusive to O2), Moss Green (Petrol Blue in the UK), and Coral Pink (pictured) with the pre-installed UI theme colour-coded to match.
SPECS AND FEATURES
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact review video https://vidosy.com/video/uIpbggEHLPk/Sony-Xperia-XZ2-Compact-review.html
The Compact features (mostly) the same specs as the main XZ2, which means you’re getting flagship power in a relatively small size.
Screen
The 5in 18:9 screen offers full HD+ resolution, at 1080x2160, which actually matches the main XZ2, despite the smaller size, meaning you get a much higher pixel density of 483ppi. It's bright and crisp, and Sony lets you play around with the white balance and colour settings to optimise it to your taste.
The display also supports HDR, which means it’s capable of showing off the full potential of HDR photos and video. Even better, it’s also able to upscale standard content into HDR, whether it’s local or streamed online, so you can get deeper blacks, brighter colours, and more detail from just about any visual content. It's an impressive effect, that works better than you might expect, so could be a real selling point if you watch a lot of TV or movies on your phone.
Processor, memory and storage
The processor is the new Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm’s fastest yet. It’s backed up by 4GB of RAM and 64GB built-in storage, expandable via MicroSD up to another 400GB. Performance is silky smooth across the board, as you'd expect from those specs, which the benchmarks bear out: performance is almost identical to the larger XZ2, and very similar to the Galaxy S9. As you can see it's also a big jump up from the similarly priced OnePlus 5T, which runs last year's Snapdragon 835 chip.
Connectivity
The XZ2 Compact boasts mostly the same connectivity features as its larger sibling, with only a couple of differences. The first is that the Compact version only supports Cat 15 LTE, which means 4G downloads up to 800Mbps, rather than the bigger phone's support for Cat 18 (1.2Gbps), but unless you're in an area with particularly fast 4G connections, you're unlikely to notice the difference anyway.
The bigger difference is that the Compact doesn't support wireless charging, instead using USB-C fast-charging - we managed to top it up to 33% from empty in just half an hour.
Beyond power, there's NFC, GPS, and Bluetooth 5.0. As mentioned above, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack (Sony does supply a USB-C adapter with the phone, along with a pair of wired 3.5mm headphones), but the phone supports high resolution audio, and the stereo speakers are capable of cranking out some serious volume.
Cameras
The Compact also packs the same 19MP single-lens camera as in the bigger phone. It's capable of decent photos, but between the single lens design and Sony's lagging software, photos just can't match the best phone cameras out there. If you're confident enough to dive into manual mode and play around with settings you can take some fantastic shots, but if you're looking for something with a great point-and-click auto mode, there are better phones around than this.
There is one big thing the camera can't do: portrait mode. The blurred background bokeh effect is one of the big selling points of dual-lens cameras for most, and the XZ2 Compact can't offer a proper alternative. There is a software-driven bokeh mode tucked away with the AR effects and panorama, but the results aren't very impressive, with aggressive blurring in some spots and hardly any in others - despite Google proving it can be done to great effect in the Pixel 2.
As for video, both XZ2 models boast the first smartphone cameras capable of recording video in 4K and HDR, and produce admittedly impressive results - though for the average consumer, this is almost certainly camera overkill.
Last year’s super slow motion has also been upgraded, offering the ability to record the same 960fps at a higher 1080p resolution - at least for a few seconds. The default setting is still to shoot in 720p, which nets you six seconds of slow motion at a time (as you can see in our sample video below, courtesy of a Rae Morris gig), but if you up it to 1080p you can only record half that at a time.
That only exacerbates one of the chief problems with the Sony super slow motion, which is that it relies on you hitting the button at the exact right moment to catch what you wanted to - no easy thing. Compare that to the Galaxy S9, which is capped at 720p, but has motion detection software to trigger the slow motion mode at the right moment - we'd take catching the moment at 720p over missing it entirely in 1080p any day.
As for the front camera, that’s 5MP, with an f/2.2 aperture wide-angle lens for group selfies, but now comes with Sony’s 3D face scanning built-in so that you can take 3D models of your own head, in case you ever feel the need. It's a fun novelty, but tricky to pull off correctly, and the sort of silly effect you'd probably only ever play around with when you're with friends anyway.
Battery life
Battery life is another small difference between the two XZ2 models, and unsurprising really, given the size. The battery here is 2870mAh, while the larger phone has 3180mAh. Regardless, the Compact reliably lasted somewhere between one and two days during our testing, which is fairly typical these days, though nothing outstanding.
As we said above, there's no wireless charging, only USB-C, but you can get a third of the battery back in just 30 minutes, and go from 0 to full in just a few hours.
Before we move onto software, it’s worth noting that there's one hardware feature you won’t find here that is in the XZ2 proper: the new Dynamic Vibration System. That gives haptic feedback in time with video and audio content - vibrating as an explosion goes off in a film, say - and is a fun novelty, but mere novelty nonetheless. You won't miss it.
SOFTWARE
The XZ2 Compact ships with Android 8.0 Oreo as standard, using Sony’s typically minimal additions and tweaks, like optional themes, wallpapers, and widgets.
The biggest change is the new Xperia Assist software, designed to help users make the most of their phones. It’s intended to pop up the first time you use any app that could benefit from advanced features - like HDR upscaling - and uses a chatbot UI to explain how it all works.
In practice, it's not too impressive though. The main chat UI only offers tips on very basic topics - changing your wallpaper or adding apps to your home screen - and we found that most of the time when we tried the phone's more advanced features, we either missed the Assist alerts, or they didn't pop up at all.
Beyond that, this is very close to stock Android - though you do have to put up with a few too many pre-installed apps, from Kobo and AVG to four separate Amazon apps, and they can only be disabled, not uninstalled
SPECS
You always can see here https://list-phones.com/catalogue/Motorola-Moto-E5
SHOULD I BUY SONY XPERIA XZ2 COMPACT?
The Xperia XZ2 Compact fits almost every major feature from the XZ2 into a smaller frame, offering the best specs you'll find in a 5in phone right now - at the cost of a slightly chunky rear end. If you don't mind the bezel-ly design and the lack of wireless charging, you won't find better performance anywhere near this price point.
Sony broke its usual smartphone release cycle to bring its latest flagship, the Xperia XZ2, to Mobile World Congress 2018, a few months earlier than expected. Alongside it came a smaller sibling: the Xperia XZ2 Compact. The Compact is available to pre-order now, and does properly on sale in April.
The Compact packs a smaller screen (no surprise there), but the rest of its specs are impressively close to the bigger version. We’ve tested the phone out ourselves, and here’s what you’ll get when the XZ2 Compact arrives later this year.
PRICE
- The Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact is available now for $635.00
DESIGN AND BUILD
Alongside the XZ2, the XZ2 Compact represents the debut of Sony’s new ‘Ambient Flow’ design philosophy, which is basically just a fancy way of saying that they’re rounded off some of the straight edges for a more curved design compared to most other recent Sony phones.
Sony boasts that this is the world’s most compact phone with a 5in screen, retaining similar proportions to last year’s model despite a big jump up from that phone’s 4.6in display. Despite a compact frame you still get some bezels at the top of the bottom, and there's even slight bezelling at the sides of the screen - even though Sony eliminated that on its much cheaper Xperia XA2 earlier this year.
Still, at 135x65mm across the front, the phone does feel as comfortable to hold as you'd hope, and it's welcome to see Sony sticking with its Compact line in an industry where phones seem to be getting larger and larger every year.
Still, it comes at a cost, as Sony seems to have saved space across the display by cramming it all into the back of the device. At 12.1mm thick this is one of the chunkiest phones we've tested in a while - it's actually 1mm thicker than the regular XZ2. The curved back helps keep the phone comfortable to hold, but it's hard to escape how hefty this thing is for a compact device, which really detracts from the 2018 flagship feeling. At 168g, it also feels dense and heavy.
It’s all housed in an aluminium frame with a hard-coated polycarbonate finish on the rear - a change from the 3D glass back found on the XZ2. There’s a slight sheen to the hardware, but it’s a far cry from the glossy finish on the larger model.
Still, the rest is pretty similar. The display itself is 18:9 - the thinner aspect ratio that’s recently become popular - and you get IP65/68 waterproofing and USB-C charging, though the 3.5mm headphone jack is gone, which is a shame, as Sony was one of the last champions of wired audio in phones.
On the back you'll find a fingerprint sensor and camera. Their placement is a little odd though. The fingerprint sensor is a good inch or so below the camera lens, almost halfway down the phone's body, much lower than where your finger (well, mine at least) would naturally rest, forcing you to claw your hand slightly to use the scanner - usually after missing it the first time you try. It's a small gripe, but one that should have been easy to avoid, making it all the more conspicuous.
The XZ2 Compact will be available in four colours: Black (pictured), White Silver (exclusive to O2), Moss Green (Petrol Blue in the UK), and Coral Pink (pictured) with the pre-installed UI theme colour-coded to match.
SPECS AND FEATURES
Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact review video https://vidosy.com/video/uIpbggEHLPk/Sony-Xperia-XZ2-Compact-review.html
The Compact features (mostly) the same specs as the main XZ2, which means you’re getting flagship power in a relatively small size.
Screen
The 5in 18:9 screen offers full HD+ resolution, at 1080x2160, which actually matches the main XZ2, despite the smaller size, meaning you get a much higher pixel density of 483ppi. It's bright and crisp, and Sony lets you play around with the white balance and colour settings to optimise it to your taste.
The display also supports HDR, which means it’s capable of showing off the full potential of HDR photos and video. Even better, it’s also able to upscale standard content into HDR, whether it’s local or streamed online, so you can get deeper blacks, brighter colours, and more detail from just about any visual content. It's an impressive effect, that works better than you might expect, so could be a real selling point if you watch a lot of TV or movies on your phone.
Processor, memory and storage
The processor is the new Snapdragon 845, Qualcomm’s fastest yet. It’s backed up by 4GB of RAM and 64GB built-in storage, expandable via MicroSD up to another 400GB. Performance is silky smooth across the board, as you'd expect from those specs, which the benchmarks bear out: performance is almost identical to the larger XZ2, and very similar to the Galaxy S9. As you can see it's also a big jump up from the similarly priced OnePlus 5T, which runs last year's Snapdragon 835 chip.
Connectivity
The XZ2 Compact boasts mostly the same connectivity features as its larger sibling, with only a couple of differences. The first is that the Compact version only supports Cat 15 LTE, which means 4G downloads up to 800Mbps, rather than the bigger phone's support for Cat 18 (1.2Gbps), but unless you're in an area with particularly fast 4G connections, you're unlikely to notice the difference anyway.
The bigger difference is that the Compact doesn't support wireless charging, instead using USB-C fast-charging - we managed to top it up to 33% from empty in just half an hour.
Beyond power, there's NFC, GPS, and Bluetooth 5.0. As mentioned above, there's no 3.5mm headphone jack (Sony does supply a USB-C adapter with the phone, along with a pair of wired 3.5mm headphones), but the phone supports high resolution audio, and the stereo speakers are capable of cranking out some serious volume.
Cameras
The Compact also packs the same 19MP single-lens camera as in the bigger phone. It's capable of decent photos, but between the single lens design and Sony's lagging software, photos just can't match the best phone cameras out there. If you're confident enough to dive into manual mode and play around with settings you can take some fantastic shots, but if you're looking for something with a great point-and-click auto mode, there are better phones around than this.
There is one big thing the camera can't do: portrait mode. The blurred background bokeh effect is one of the big selling points of dual-lens cameras for most, and the XZ2 Compact can't offer a proper alternative. There is a software-driven bokeh mode tucked away with the AR effects and panorama, but the results aren't very impressive, with aggressive blurring in some spots and hardly any in others - despite Google proving it can be done to great effect in the Pixel 2.
As for video, both XZ2 models boast the first smartphone cameras capable of recording video in 4K and HDR, and produce admittedly impressive results - though for the average consumer, this is almost certainly camera overkill.
Last year’s super slow motion has also been upgraded, offering the ability to record the same 960fps at a higher 1080p resolution - at least for a few seconds. The default setting is still to shoot in 720p, which nets you six seconds of slow motion at a time (as you can see in our sample video below, courtesy of a Rae Morris gig), but if you up it to 1080p you can only record half that at a time.
That only exacerbates one of the chief problems with the Sony super slow motion, which is that it relies on you hitting the button at the exact right moment to catch what you wanted to - no easy thing. Compare that to the Galaxy S9, which is capped at 720p, but has motion detection software to trigger the slow motion mode at the right moment - we'd take catching the moment at 720p over missing it entirely in 1080p any day.
As for the front camera, that’s 5MP, with an f/2.2 aperture wide-angle lens for group selfies, but now comes with Sony’s 3D face scanning built-in so that you can take 3D models of your own head, in case you ever feel the need. It's a fun novelty, but tricky to pull off correctly, and the sort of silly effect you'd probably only ever play around with when you're with friends anyway.
Battery life
Battery life is another small difference between the two XZ2 models, and unsurprising really, given the size. The battery here is 2870mAh, while the larger phone has 3180mAh. Regardless, the Compact reliably lasted somewhere between one and two days during our testing, which is fairly typical these days, though nothing outstanding.
As we said above, there's no wireless charging, only USB-C, but you can get a third of the battery back in just 30 minutes, and go from 0 to full in just a few hours.
Before we move onto software, it’s worth noting that there's one hardware feature you won’t find here that is in the XZ2 proper: the new Dynamic Vibration System. That gives haptic feedback in time with video and audio content - vibrating as an explosion goes off in a film, say - and is a fun novelty, but mere novelty nonetheless. You won't miss it.
SOFTWARE
The XZ2 Compact ships with Android 8.0 Oreo as standard, using Sony’s typically minimal additions and tweaks, like optional themes, wallpapers, and widgets.
The biggest change is the new Xperia Assist software, designed to help users make the most of their phones. It’s intended to pop up the first time you use any app that could benefit from advanced features - like HDR upscaling - and uses a chatbot UI to explain how it all works.
In practice, it's not too impressive though. The main chat UI only offers tips on very basic topics - changing your wallpaper or adding apps to your home screen - and we found that most of the time when we tried the phone's more advanced features, we either missed the Assist alerts, or they didn't pop up at all.
Beyond that, this is very close to stock Android - though you do have to put up with a few too many pre-installed apps, from Kobo and AVG to four separate Amazon apps, and they can only be disabled, not uninstalled
SPECS
You always can see here https://list-phones.com/catalogue/Motorola-Moto-E5
SHOULD I BUY SONY XPERIA XZ2 COMPACT?
The Xperia XZ2 Compact fits almost every major feature from the XZ2 into a smaller frame, offering the best specs you'll find in a 5in phone right now - at the cost of a slightly chunky rear end. If you don't mind the bezel-ly design and the lack of wireless charging, you won't find better performance anywhere near this price point.
Saturday, April 21, 2018
Oppo F7 Review, specification, features, and price
Oppo is gaining rapid popularity in the Asian market in 2017-2018. Oppo F7 is another remarkable addition to this Chinese brand to support its growth. Oppo F7 has gained massive attention right after its release in Bangladesh. Let us review this mid/high-mid range smartphone based on its specs.
Design & Display
The color choices and design of Oppo F7 will grab instant attention as it purely defines a modern premium smartphone. 6.23-inch FHD+ Full-View display with 88% screen to body ratio highly complements the design factor. It attempts to go beyond and tries to offer a lifestyle through its elegance. But we will stick to the sole purpose of a mobile phone which is, usefulness. The 88% screen ratio makes this 6.23” large display phone much compacted and therefore, more convenient to carry. Because of the massive size and prime quality Full HD+ display, it will be amazing to watch videos, play games, read PDFs, apps or website texts. The LTPS IPS display will provide excellent view under the sunlight and the 5th generation Gorilla Glass will protect this precious display if you drop it from your hand (from a reasonable height). The body is made of solid aluminum. So, on the outside, it gives a strongly positive impression.
Camera & Video
It has a fine 16MP PDAF primary camera which is well-capable of capturing great shots. The main feature of Oppo F7 is its 25 megapixel AI (Artificial Intelligence) front camera. It is simply because video calling, video chatting, selfies, groupfies, self-recording are still on high trend. Its sensor HDR and AI beauty features works together behind the scene to represent a cleaner, vivid and more cared face of yours. You can argue that this kind of features may make human beings lazy to truly care about their being. Many will be satisfied by posting their AI captured photos in social media and get likes. So intellectually, is it actually a useful feature? In our intellectual opinion, it is not. But objectively judging, the technology itself works very fine.
Video playback and recording is of Full HD quality. Oppo could go one step ahead and provide 4K Ultra HD quality to reach a milestone. But perhaps the pricing didn’t allow them to do so.
Network, Battery & Overall Performance
Oppo F7 gives the fastest 4G network support in Bangladesh. But its battery is sort of a disappointment. 3400 mAh battery for a 6.23” FHD display doesn’t sound that much at all. But MediaTek Helio P60 chipset, Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, 4/6 GB RAM and 2.0 GHz octa-core CPU already gives a powerful impression about the overall performance of this device. Moreover, the phone is well-optimized at its core. Through the so-called AI optimization feature, the phone can perform faster than any regular phone with the same amount of performance specs such as RAM, GPU, CPU or chipset. It should even run smoothly while HD gaming online (of course with a fast WiFi or LTE internet connection).
If you talk about Oppo F7's battery then it will have a non-removable battery of 3400 mAh. Along with the Oppo F7 battery will also support fast charging.
Other Features
This gadget runs on Android’s latest version Oreo 8.0 (as of April 2018) and has features like fingerprint sensor, speedy face unlock and OTG.
Disadvantages
There is no doubt Oppo F7 is highly optimized for mid-budget to high-mid budget consumers. But we must say that the device is lacking valuable, innovative features. Camera, display, design, and performance are all Oppo F7 has to offer. If you are looking for different features beyond that like the Galaxy S9+, Pixel 2 XL or iPhone X, F7 is probably not something for you. If you are looking for modern, mainstream, pretty, fast, camera and beautiful viewing experience, this is what you would like to go for. Also, you can’t expect to get phones with a lot of innovative features in this price range.
video review you can see here https://vidosy.com/video/M3tnlwawQxs/OPPO-F7-Review:-Surprisingly-powerful.html
Design & Display
The color choices and design of Oppo F7 will grab instant attention as it purely defines a modern premium smartphone. 6.23-inch FHD+ Full-View display with 88% screen to body ratio highly complements the design factor. It attempts to go beyond and tries to offer a lifestyle through its elegance. But we will stick to the sole purpose of a mobile phone which is, usefulness. The 88% screen ratio makes this 6.23” large display phone much compacted and therefore, more convenient to carry. Because of the massive size and prime quality Full HD+ display, it will be amazing to watch videos, play games, read PDFs, apps or website texts. The LTPS IPS display will provide excellent view under the sunlight and the 5th generation Gorilla Glass will protect this precious display if you drop it from your hand (from a reasonable height). The body is made of solid aluminum. So, on the outside, it gives a strongly positive impression.
Camera & Video
It has a fine 16MP PDAF primary camera which is well-capable of capturing great shots. The main feature of Oppo F7 is its 25 megapixel AI (Artificial Intelligence) front camera. It is simply because video calling, video chatting, selfies, groupfies, self-recording are still on high trend. Its sensor HDR and AI beauty features works together behind the scene to represent a cleaner, vivid and more cared face of yours. You can argue that this kind of features may make human beings lazy to truly care about their being. Many will be satisfied by posting their AI captured photos in social media and get likes. So intellectually, is it actually a useful feature? In our intellectual opinion, it is not. But objectively judging, the technology itself works very fine.
Video playback and recording is of Full HD quality. Oppo could go one step ahead and provide 4K Ultra HD quality to reach a milestone. But perhaps the pricing didn’t allow them to do so.
Network, Battery & Overall Performance
Oppo F7 gives the fastest 4G network support in Bangladesh. But its battery is sort of a disappointment. 3400 mAh battery for a 6.23” FHD display doesn’t sound that much at all. But MediaTek Helio P60 chipset, Mali-G72 MP3 GPU, 4/6 GB RAM and 2.0 GHz octa-core CPU already gives a powerful impression about the overall performance of this device. Moreover, the phone is well-optimized at its core. Through the so-called AI optimization feature, the phone can perform faster than any regular phone with the same amount of performance specs such as RAM, GPU, CPU or chipset. It should even run smoothly while HD gaming online (of course with a fast WiFi or LTE internet connection).
If you talk about Oppo F7's battery then it will have a non-removable battery of 3400 mAh. Along with the Oppo F7 battery will also support fast charging.
Other Features
This gadget runs on Android’s latest version Oreo 8.0 (as of April 2018) and has features like fingerprint sensor, speedy face unlock and OTG.
Disadvantages
There is no doubt Oppo F7 is highly optimized for mid-budget to high-mid budget consumers. But we must say that the device is lacking valuable, innovative features. Camera, display, design, and performance are all Oppo F7 has to offer. If you are looking for different features beyond that like the Galaxy S9+, Pixel 2 XL or iPhone X, F7 is probably not something for you. If you are looking for modern, mainstream, pretty, fast, camera and beautiful viewing experience, this is what you would like to go for. Also, you can’t expect to get phones with a lot of innovative features in this price range.
video review you can see here https://vidosy.com/video/M3tnlwawQxs/OPPO-F7-Review:-Surprisingly-powerful.html
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Huawei P20 Pro new smartphone
I’ve spent every waking moment of the past 10 days in the company of the Huawei P20 Pro. This phone has surprised and delighted me like few others, and what you are about to read is a collection of happy words about it. I don’t think the P20 Pro is perfect, nor the best phone ever released, but I do believe it’s one of the most important devices we’ve seen in the mobile world for years.
In spite of its massive networking and telecommunications business, and the millions of phones it sells in its native China, Huawei has remained an underdog in other smartphone markets. The P20 Pro changes that. This phone is as powerful, refined, fast, stylish, and desirable as anything we’ve seen from Samsung, LG, and HTC at their best. At a time when US spy agencies are warning Americans off Huawei phones due to (so far unsubstantiated) espionage fears, Huawei is responding in the best possible way: by making amazing phones.
Huawei is releasing the P20 Pro today for a price of €899 in Europe with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That places it in direct confrontation with Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Apple’s iPhone X. And the remarkable thing is how well Huawei’s phone competes in that rarified class of super flagships.
The P20 Pro is a typical Chinese phone in that it has an overwhelmingly rich spec sheet and an eye-catching design. But it’s different in how effectively it capitalizes on its high specs and in how subtly beautiful it is. Instead of one color, Huawei has given this phone an iridescent gradient paint job that exudes sophistication. The combination of beauty and brawn here is topped off with IP67 certification for water and dust resistance. Every phone company wants to imbue its devices with a premium feel, but few succeed as well as Huawei has done with the P20 Pro.
It starts as soon as you take the phone out of the box, with its perfectly contoured sides resting softly in the palm of your hand. For a phone with glass on both the front and back, the P20 Pro feels surprisingly rigid and durable. With a huge 4,000mAh battery inside, it also conveys a satisfying sense of density that only Apple’s iPhone X can match. There’s a litany of subtle design details and pleasing symmetries in this Huawei design that add up to create a positive first impression. I love the inconsequential but cool accent color on the power button, for instance. It’s fair to say that I liked the P20 Pro before I even turned it on.
THE DIMENSIONS AND ERGONOMICS OF THIS PHONE APPROACH PERFECTION
Coming from a Google Pixel 2 XL, I find the P20 Pro to be an ergonomic upgrade. Huawei’s phone has a slightly larger screen, at 6.1 inches, but is physically smaller. That’s something that notch detractors will have to consider before they criticize the notch on the P20 Pro: it does provide more screen real estate than an un-notched design. But more to the point, the P20 Pro is easy to pick up and to grip securely. The glass surfaces can feel slippery, however I haven’t come close to dropping the phone even once during all my testing (which is unusual).
huawei p20 pro
My two complaints about the P20 Pro’s industrial design are minor. One is that the rear glass picks up fingerprints with the same ease as the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X that Huawei is competing against. And the other downside is the size of the camera bump, which is roughly the same as Apple’s on the iPhone X and leads to similar issues of the phone being imbalanced when laid on a flat surface.
Huawei’s decision to retain the fingerprint sensor at the front of the phone was peculiar to me, given how everyone else has either removed it (Apple), shifted it to the back (Samsung), or integrated it directly into the display (Vivo). But it took me only moments of using the P20 Pro’s fingerprint reader to realize that keeping it was the right move. It is astonishingly fast and accurate, and the way it feels under my thumb is great. It takes no more than a glancing tap to unlock the phone, and I appreciate still having a home button for exiting full-screen apps with a single tap. In-display fingerprint sensors can’t yet compete with the quickness of a discrete solution like Huawei’s, while rear-mounted ones just aren’t as easy and intuitive to use as those at the front.
HUAWEI’S FACE UNLOCK IS FAST, AND IT EVEN WORKS IN THE DARK
As if the fingerprint ID system wasn’t swift enough, Huawei has also added a Face Unlock option to the P20 Pro, which uses the front-facing 24-megapixel camera. I was again skeptical that this would be anything other than an Apple-chasing spec gimmick, but my skepticism was quelled by the experience. Face Unlock on this phone is instant in almost all circumstances. Even when I locked myself in an unlit bathroom, the phone took less than a second to identify me. Is this system as secure as Apple’s more sophisticated Face ID? No. But its speed and accuracy are at least as good, if not better.
Huawei’s EMUI software offers the option to disguise the notch at the top of the display.
Like the majority of its Android rivals this year, Huawei will be criticized for having a notch at the top of its display and a “chin” at the bottom. The P20 Pro can shrug off those complaints on the strength of its awesome fingerprint reader and genuinely useful face-unlocking technology. I even love the circular earpiece and the loud, crisp sound that it produces during calls. Nothing about this design is superfluous or perfunctory. And if you truly hate the notch, Huawei gives you the option to hide it away.
THE NOTCH IS A NON-ISSUE
The 6.1-inch, Full HD+ display on the Huawei P20 Pro is excellent. There are a couple of color modes to choose from, and once I switched to the Natural one, I got colors that had just the right amount of saturation and vividness. Not perfectly accurate, perhaps, but perfectly suited to consumer mobile use. The Pixel 2 XL feels drab by comparison, while the recent HTC U11+ appears lurid and oversaturated. Only the two phones that Huawei is trying to overcome, the iPhone X and Galaxy S9, can claim to have displays as good as the P20 Pro. All three are OLED, all three can be used comfortably in bright outdoor conditions, and all three provide plenty of sharpness, contrast, and accuracy. Huawei has its own version of Apple’s True Tone tech, which adjusts color temperature in accordance with ambient light around the phone: it’s subtle and works brilliantly well.
The cameras are intended to be the Huawei P20 Pro’s biggest differentiating feature. The 24-megapixel selfie cam is joined by a 40-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, a 20-megapixel f/1.6 monochrome camera, and an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera on the back. If you’re in the mood for math, that’s 92 megapixels of image-processing might.
NOKIA’S PUREVIEW LEGACY ENDURES
Huawei makes smart use of all those pixels by combining four of them into one, similarly to what Nokia previously did with its PureView cameras on the 808 and Lumia 1020 (incidentally, Huawei’s head of imaging, Eero Salmelin, is a veteran of Nokia’s PureView team). This approach produces sharper, cleaner images at a lower resolution. You can still shoot 40-megapixel stills if you insist on it, but the default (and the highest quality) setting is a 10-megapixel shot with the combined light information from the whole sensor.
GRID VIEW
1 of 55
The P20 Pro’s main camera sensor is extra large to match its extreme resolution, coming in at 1/1.7 of an inch. That’s more than double what you’d get with a Galaxy S9 or an iPhone X, and it leads to some shockingly impressive low-light performance. One of the Huawei P20 Pro’s quad-pixel pixels would measure 2μm, easily outshining even the 1.4μm pixels of the superb Google Pixel 2 camera. What all of these numbers ultimately add up to is a formidably capable camera that I’m not sure I’ve come close to making the most of yet.
Huawei P20 Pro’s four-second-exposure Night mode on left/top, Google Pixel 2 XL on right/bottom.
Image quality from the P20 Pro is, by a great margin, the best that Huawei has ever produced. Huawei’s new camera system is, in my judgment, superior to those on the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X, though personal preference or a fondness for particular features may sway that decision. For my liking, I still see too much processing, too many small details lost in the battle to eliminate image noise and imperfections, to crown the P20 Pro my favorite camera. The Pixel 2 XL spits out much more noise than the Pro — and if you look at the Gare du Nord comparison image, Huawei’s shot retains sharpness all the way to the edges of the frame, whereas the Pixel’s periphery is soft — but with that noise I get a more realistic and faithful sense of the scene captured. The flaws in the Pixel’s image help it produce more credible results, or at least results that feel more photographic.
Huawei P20 Pro on left/top, Google Pixel 2 XL on right/bottom.
It’s difficult to know where to begin to encapsulate Huawei’s camera software, which is certainly comprehensive. You can shoot panoramas, portraits, monochrome, burst, a simulated f/0.95 aperture, at 40 megapixels, or handheld long exposures. And the Pro mode lets you go wild with manually tweaking every possible parameter. This is an overwhelming diversity of options, but you can just lean on Huawei’s new Master AI system to make all the adjustments on your behalf.
Huawei camera software on p20 pro
Master AI is a trained-up image recognition system that quickly (usually instantly) recognizes the circumstances of what you’re trying to capture and adjusts the camera’s processing accordingly. When I was photographing the Eiffel Tower, for example, the P20 Pro camera sensed a blue sky and amped up its saturation. Green leaves reliably triggered the camera’s “greenery” adjustments, and any receipts I presented to it were handled by a built-in document scanner. Huawei claims this year’s iteration is smart enough to not only detect food, but to know the particular style of cooking, whether it’s Chinese, Italian, Indian, or whatever else.
HUAWEI TRIES TO MAKE ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHIC DECISIONS FOR YOU, AND IT’S RIGHT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT
The philosophy underpinning Master AI is about producing the most pleasing, not necessarily the most realistic, photos. You can think of it as the AI intelligently applying subtle filters to all your shots. Apple already does something similar behind the scenes in the processing of iPhone photos. Huawei’s Master AI is optional, because it applies more aggressive alterations and doesn’t always get things right, though its judgment is good enough for me to be okay with keeping it on all the time. I suspect the vast majority of people will feel the same way — and photography purists can dismiss the suggested scene-detection tweaks or switch to Pro mode.
Huawei P20 Pro’s Master AI in “greenery” mode on left/top, Google Pixel 2 XL on right/bottom.
Matching features with the Galaxy S9, the Huawei P20 Pro also has a 960fps super slow-mo at 720p. It’s a fun novelty. Also keeping up with the iPhone, the Pro has a “studio lighting” setting on its front-facing camera that tries to isolate your face from the background and generate a dramatic look. As with the iPhone, it’s terribly imprecise and should be avoided at all costs.
Huawei P20 Pro at default setting (27mm equivalent, left/top) and using the 3x zoom (83mm equivalent, right/bottom).
The third camera on the P20 Pro is used to provide a 3x optical zoom or a 5x so-called hybrid zoom. Photographing Parisian landmarks in the daytime, I found both zoom options useful, giving me greater compositional flexibility and delivering crisp detail. The telephoto lens is the only one that’s optically stabilized on the P20 Pro, though I can’t say I’ve seen any hand shake in the hundreds of photos I’ve shot with any of the cameras on this phone. Huawei has a thing it calls AI stabilization, which evidently does a wonderful job of neutralizing clumsiness or unsteadiness on the part of the user.
Huawei P20 Pro at default setting (27mm equivalent, left/top) and using the 3x zoom (83mm equivalent, right/bottom).
Huawei’s night mode in the P20 Pro is a unique and remarkable new feature. Exposing the shot for a full four seconds, it somehow manages to produce handheld photos that remain sharp, accurate, and practically noise-free. No other phone can match the P20 Pro’s night photography, which makes even the Pixel’s low-light photos appear flat, washed-out, and noisy. This advance might get lost in the deluge of camera options, but I think it’s the single biggest advantage that Huawei now enjoys over its competition. For more on how it works and a side-by-side comparison with the Pixel, see my earlier in-depth article on the P20 Pro’s night mode.
There are no image processing delays on the P20 Pro, and that smooth and assured speed of operation extends to the entire user experience. As with the premium feel on the outside, the responsiveness inside the P20 Pro is top notch. Shipping with the latest Android 8.1 Oreo software on board, the Pro is also super reliable — I’ve had more app crashes on the Pixel 2 XL than I’ve had stutters with Huawei’s phone.
There is room for improvement, though. For some strange reason, Huawei doesn’t offer the widely used shortcut of double-tapping the power button to launch the camera. Instead, I have to map that to the volume-down key, which is mostly fine — unless I’m listening to music or a podcast, and then I end up turning the volume down.
THE P20 PRO’S EMUI IS THE LEAST OFFENSIVE THAT HUAWEI’S SOFTWARE HAS EVER BEEN
EMUI, Huawei’s skin atop Android, has evolved from being a clumsy iOS rip-off a couple of years ago to a quite acceptable user experience today. I can’t say I’m in love with it, and I’d have preferred to see an always-on display option (update: it’s in there, just buried in the privacy & security options), but the mere fact that EMUI doesn’t upset me with its weirdness or unreliability is a major step forward for Huawei. The company’s deviations from Google’s original Android design can mostly be sidestepped or disabled, and I appreciate having a dark mode, an increasingly valuable feature for phones with OLED displays.
Like Samsung, Huawei now offers a feature called App Twin, which lets you run multiple instances of the same app and thus be logged in to multiple accounts of the same social or messaging service. Huawei has split-screen too, of course, and a sophisticated screenshot tool. The EMUI lock screen also has a handy set of quick shortcuts, accessible by swiping up from the bottom: there’s a voice recorder, flashlight, calculator, timer, and a QR code reader. Like Apple, Huawei also offers a raise-to-wake function, which together with its fast Face Unlock does a great job of emulating the iPhone X’s seamless unlocking.
Huawei has adjusted its notifications bar to accommodate the display’s notch, but not in a way that I like. The clock feels cramped up against the right curve of the screen, while the cellular and Wi-Fi status icons have jumped across the notch to the left. Putting those permanent icons in the space usually occupied by transient notifications creates a dissonance: every time I glance at that corner, I keep thinking I have unread messages.
Most Android apps play nicely with the notch already, although there are a few niche incompatibilities, such as the “waiting for network...” message on Telegram appearing immediately below (and thus mostly obscured by) the notch. Huawei offers the option to mask the notch by keeping the display around it blacked out, except for notification and status icons. I like that option, but I don’t find it necessary because the notch never offends or distracts me while using the phone.
Huawei’s biggest sin with the notch is in the imperfect way it masks the top corners of the screen when playing back YouTube videos, as illustrated by the image above. There’s a tiny sliver of the video that’s left uncovered, which I find to be an annoying oversight.
Also you can see video review Huawei P20 Pro
The P20 Pro is outstanding in three fundamental aspects of modern smartphones: audio, battery life, and wireless performance. Firstly, the speaker on this phone gets loud without ever becoming shrill or distorted. I love it. Listening to podcasts on this phone is a joy, and its ringtones and notifications come through with authority. The absence of a headphone jack is still an issue, but at least Huawei supports LDAC for higher-bitrate Bluetooth streaming. Even without many headphones compatible with that standard, I was super impressed with the strength and reliability of Bluetooth connections with the P20 Pro. Only Apple’s own iPhone can sustain as good a connection to the AirPods as the P20 Pro achieves.
THE BATTERY DEFIES BELIEF
Pairing wireless headphones and speakers was faster with this Huawei phone than any other Android device I’ve used, and the P20 Pro maintained a strong signal no matter how I gripped, cupped, or hugged it. The same is true for cellular signal: I found the P20 Pro delivered the best possible mobile data speeds wherever I was, and I had no dropped calls even in areas of spotty coverage.
The battery of the P20 Pro makes me laugh. It lasts for a preposterously long time. Right now, the phone’s been away from a charger for 32 hours and I’ve still got 52 percent of the battery to play with. On a busier day that might include an hour of YouTube videos, hours of streaming audio, and immoderate amounts of time browsing Twitter and triaging emails, I’d still only bring the battery down to 40-something percent after 24 hours. Huawei claims two days of battery life with the P20 Pro, and the phone duly delivers. The absence of wireless charging from this phone, which would be a competitive disadvantage for others in 2018, is a non-issue for me because of how rarely I need to charge it.
The synergy between the excellent ergonomics, display, camera, and responsiveness of the Huawei P20 Pro shouldn’t be underestimated. I probably like each individual aspect of this phone more because of the quality of its surrounding components. Huawei has matured to the point of emulating the iPhone’s integrated and fluid user experience instead of merely imitating the iPhone’s basic features. Having spent a month with Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus, I absolutely prefer the P20 Pro over Samsung’s 2018 flagship. Huawei offers the more potent camera, better ergonomics, longer battery life, and hell, it even has a less irritating Android skin. The gap is even wider when comparing the P20 Pro to Huawei’s most recent Mate 10 Pro flagship, which never attracted me the way the P20 Pro does. The new phone’s design is truly unique and delightful to hold, and its camera has shed most of the artificiality of its predecessor.
Comparisons against Apple’s iPhone X and Google’s Pixel 2 XL are harder to make. The iPhone has an entirely different ecosystem, and odds are that you’ll make the Android-iOS choice before you decide on the actual device you buy. As to the Pixel, I still favor it on the strength of its unique camera and clean Android experience, but the P20 Pro beats it on every other criterion. More to the point, the P20 Pro will be available to buy in far more places around the world (US unfortunately excepted) than Google’s boutique product.
Full specs Huawei P20 Pro here https://list-phones.com/catalogue/Huawei-P20-Pro
Instead of gimmicks and gaudiness, the Huawei P20 Pro delivers refinement and efficiency. That’s a major change for Huawei, which could previously be relied upon to be the fastest iPhone copycat in the East. With Huawei’s rapid improvement, Apple and Samsung now have a credible third competitor in the contest for super flagship phone supremacy. It’s time for the entire world to sit up and take notice, because Huawei is now the maker of 2018’s best phone and one of the best phones overall.
In spite of its massive networking and telecommunications business, and the millions of phones it sells in its native China, Huawei has remained an underdog in other smartphone markets. The P20 Pro changes that. This phone is as powerful, refined, fast, stylish, and desirable as anything we’ve seen from Samsung, LG, and HTC at their best. At a time when US spy agencies are warning Americans off Huawei phones due to (so far unsubstantiated) espionage fears, Huawei is responding in the best possible way: by making amazing phones.
Huawei is releasing the P20 Pro today for a price of €899 in Europe with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. That places it in direct confrontation with Samsung’s Galaxy S9 and Apple’s iPhone X. And the remarkable thing is how well Huawei’s phone competes in that rarified class of super flagships.
The P20 Pro is a typical Chinese phone in that it has an overwhelmingly rich spec sheet and an eye-catching design. But it’s different in how effectively it capitalizes on its high specs and in how subtly beautiful it is. Instead of one color, Huawei has given this phone an iridescent gradient paint job that exudes sophistication. The combination of beauty and brawn here is topped off with IP67 certification for water and dust resistance. Every phone company wants to imbue its devices with a premium feel, but few succeed as well as Huawei has done with the P20 Pro.
It starts as soon as you take the phone out of the box, with its perfectly contoured sides resting softly in the palm of your hand. For a phone with glass on both the front and back, the P20 Pro feels surprisingly rigid and durable. With a huge 4,000mAh battery inside, it also conveys a satisfying sense of density that only Apple’s iPhone X can match. There’s a litany of subtle design details and pleasing symmetries in this Huawei design that add up to create a positive first impression. I love the inconsequential but cool accent color on the power button, for instance. It’s fair to say that I liked the P20 Pro before I even turned it on.
THE DIMENSIONS AND ERGONOMICS OF THIS PHONE APPROACH PERFECTION
Coming from a Google Pixel 2 XL, I find the P20 Pro to be an ergonomic upgrade. Huawei’s phone has a slightly larger screen, at 6.1 inches, but is physically smaller. That’s something that notch detractors will have to consider before they criticize the notch on the P20 Pro: it does provide more screen real estate than an un-notched design. But more to the point, the P20 Pro is easy to pick up and to grip securely. The glass surfaces can feel slippery, however I haven’t come close to dropping the phone even once during all my testing (which is unusual).
huawei p20 pro
My two complaints about the P20 Pro’s industrial design are minor. One is that the rear glass picks up fingerprints with the same ease as the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X that Huawei is competing against. And the other downside is the size of the camera bump, which is roughly the same as Apple’s on the iPhone X and leads to similar issues of the phone being imbalanced when laid on a flat surface.
Huawei’s decision to retain the fingerprint sensor at the front of the phone was peculiar to me, given how everyone else has either removed it (Apple), shifted it to the back (Samsung), or integrated it directly into the display (Vivo). But it took me only moments of using the P20 Pro’s fingerprint reader to realize that keeping it was the right move. It is astonishingly fast and accurate, and the way it feels under my thumb is great. It takes no more than a glancing tap to unlock the phone, and I appreciate still having a home button for exiting full-screen apps with a single tap. In-display fingerprint sensors can’t yet compete with the quickness of a discrete solution like Huawei’s, while rear-mounted ones just aren’t as easy and intuitive to use as those at the front.
HUAWEI’S FACE UNLOCK IS FAST, AND IT EVEN WORKS IN THE DARK
As if the fingerprint ID system wasn’t swift enough, Huawei has also added a Face Unlock option to the P20 Pro, which uses the front-facing 24-megapixel camera. I was again skeptical that this would be anything other than an Apple-chasing spec gimmick, but my skepticism was quelled by the experience. Face Unlock on this phone is instant in almost all circumstances. Even when I locked myself in an unlit bathroom, the phone took less than a second to identify me. Is this system as secure as Apple’s more sophisticated Face ID? No. But its speed and accuracy are at least as good, if not better.
Huawei’s EMUI software offers the option to disguise the notch at the top of the display.
Like the majority of its Android rivals this year, Huawei will be criticized for having a notch at the top of its display and a “chin” at the bottom. The P20 Pro can shrug off those complaints on the strength of its awesome fingerprint reader and genuinely useful face-unlocking technology. I even love the circular earpiece and the loud, crisp sound that it produces during calls. Nothing about this design is superfluous or perfunctory. And if you truly hate the notch, Huawei gives you the option to hide it away.
THE NOTCH IS A NON-ISSUE
The 6.1-inch, Full HD+ display on the Huawei P20 Pro is excellent. There are a couple of color modes to choose from, and once I switched to the Natural one, I got colors that had just the right amount of saturation and vividness. Not perfectly accurate, perhaps, but perfectly suited to consumer mobile use. The Pixel 2 XL feels drab by comparison, while the recent HTC U11+ appears lurid and oversaturated. Only the two phones that Huawei is trying to overcome, the iPhone X and Galaxy S9, can claim to have displays as good as the P20 Pro. All three are OLED, all three can be used comfortably in bright outdoor conditions, and all three provide plenty of sharpness, contrast, and accuracy. Huawei has its own version of Apple’s True Tone tech, which adjusts color temperature in accordance with ambient light around the phone: it’s subtle and works brilliantly well.
The cameras are intended to be the Huawei P20 Pro’s biggest differentiating feature. The 24-megapixel selfie cam is joined by a 40-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, a 20-megapixel f/1.6 monochrome camera, and an 8-megapixel f/2.4 telephoto camera on the back. If you’re in the mood for math, that’s 92 megapixels of image-processing might.
NOKIA’S PUREVIEW LEGACY ENDURES
Huawei makes smart use of all those pixels by combining four of them into one, similarly to what Nokia previously did with its PureView cameras on the 808 and Lumia 1020 (incidentally, Huawei’s head of imaging, Eero Salmelin, is a veteran of Nokia’s PureView team). This approach produces sharper, cleaner images at a lower resolution. You can still shoot 40-megapixel stills if you insist on it, but the default (and the highest quality) setting is a 10-megapixel shot with the combined light information from the whole sensor.
GRID VIEW
1 of 55
The P20 Pro’s main camera sensor is extra large to match its extreme resolution, coming in at 1/1.7 of an inch. That’s more than double what you’d get with a Galaxy S9 or an iPhone X, and it leads to some shockingly impressive low-light performance. One of the Huawei P20 Pro’s quad-pixel pixels would measure 2μm, easily outshining even the 1.4μm pixels of the superb Google Pixel 2 camera. What all of these numbers ultimately add up to is a formidably capable camera that I’m not sure I’ve come close to making the most of yet.
Huawei P20 Pro’s four-second-exposure Night mode on left/top, Google Pixel 2 XL on right/bottom.
Image quality from the P20 Pro is, by a great margin, the best that Huawei has ever produced. Huawei’s new camera system is, in my judgment, superior to those on the Galaxy S9 and iPhone X, though personal preference or a fondness for particular features may sway that decision. For my liking, I still see too much processing, too many small details lost in the battle to eliminate image noise and imperfections, to crown the P20 Pro my favorite camera. The Pixel 2 XL spits out much more noise than the Pro — and if you look at the Gare du Nord comparison image, Huawei’s shot retains sharpness all the way to the edges of the frame, whereas the Pixel’s periphery is soft — but with that noise I get a more realistic and faithful sense of the scene captured. The flaws in the Pixel’s image help it produce more credible results, or at least results that feel more photographic.
Huawei P20 Pro on left/top, Google Pixel 2 XL on right/bottom.
It’s difficult to know where to begin to encapsulate Huawei’s camera software, which is certainly comprehensive. You can shoot panoramas, portraits, monochrome, burst, a simulated f/0.95 aperture, at 40 megapixels, or handheld long exposures. And the Pro mode lets you go wild with manually tweaking every possible parameter. This is an overwhelming diversity of options, but you can just lean on Huawei’s new Master AI system to make all the adjustments on your behalf.
Huawei camera software on p20 pro
Master AI is a trained-up image recognition system that quickly (usually instantly) recognizes the circumstances of what you’re trying to capture and adjusts the camera’s processing accordingly. When I was photographing the Eiffel Tower, for example, the P20 Pro camera sensed a blue sky and amped up its saturation. Green leaves reliably triggered the camera’s “greenery” adjustments, and any receipts I presented to it were handled by a built-in document scanner. Huawei claims this year’s iteration is smart enough to not only detect food, but to know the particular style of cooking, whether it’s Chinese, Italian, Indian, or whatever else.
HUAWEI TRIES TO MAKE ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHIC DECISIONS FOR YOU, AND IT’S RIGHT MORE OFTEN THAN NOT
The philosophy underpinning Master AI is about producing the most pleasing, not necessarily the most realistic, photos. You can think of it as the AI intelligently applying subtle filters to all your shots. Apple already does something similar behind the scenes in the processing of iPhone photos. Huawei’s Master AI is optional, because it applies more aggressive alterations and doesn’t always get things right, though its judgment is good enough for me to be okay with keeping it on all the time. I suspect the vast majority of people will feel the same way — and photography purists can dismiss the suggested scene-detection tweaks or switch to Pro mode.
Huawei P20 Pro’s Master AI in “greenery” mode on left/top, Google Pixel 2 XL on right/bottom.
Matching features with the Galaxy S9, the Huawei P20 Pro also has a 960fps super slow-mo at 720p. It’s a fun novelty. Also keeping up with the iPhone, the Pro has a “studio lighting” setting on its front-facing camera that tries to isolate your face from the background and generate a dramatic look. As with the iPhone, it’s terribly imprecise and should be avoided at all costs.
Huawei P20 Pro at default setting (27mm equivalent, left/top) and using the 3x zoom (83mm equivalent, right/bottom).
The third camera on the P20 Pro is used to provide a 3x optical zoom or a 5x so-called hybrid zoom. Photographing Parisian landmarks in the daytime, I found both zoom options useful, giving me greater compositional flexibility and delivering crisp detail. The telephoto lens is the only one that’s optically stabilized on the P20 Pro, though I can’t say I’ve seen any hand shake in the hundreds of photos I’ve shot with any of the cameras on this phone. Huawei has a thing it calls AI stabilization, which evidently does a wonderful job of neutralizing clumsiness or unsteadiness on the part of the user.
Huawei P20 Pro at default setting (27mm equivalent, left/top) and using the 3x zoom (83mm equivalent, right/bottom).
Huawei’s night mode in the P20 Pro is a unique and remarkable new feature. Exposing the shot for a full four seconds, it somehow manages to produce handheld photos that remain sharp, accurate, and practically noise-free. No other phone can match the P20 Pro’s night photography, which makes even the Pixel’s low-light photos appear flat, washed-out, and noisy. This advance might get lost in the deluge of camera options, but I think it’s the single biggest advantage that Huawei now enjoys over its competition. For more on how it works and a side-by-side comparison with the Pixel, see my earlier in-depth article on the P20 Pro’s night mode.
There are no image processing delays on the P20 Pro, and that smooth and assured speed of operation extends to the entire user experience. As with the premium feel on the outside, the responsiveness inside the P20 Pro is top notch. Shipping with the latest Android 8.1 Oreo software on board, the Pro is also super reliable — I’ve had more app crashes on the Pixel 2 XL than I’ve had stutters with Huawei’s phone.
There is room for improvement, though. For some strange reason, Huawei doesn’t offer the widely used shortcut of double-tapping the power button to launch the camera. Instead, I have to map that to the volume-down key, which is mostly fine — unless I’m listening to music or a podcast, and then I end up turning the volume down.
THE P20 PRO’S EMUI IS THE LEAST OFFENSIVE THAT HUAWEI’S SOFTWARE HAS EVER BEEN
EMUI, Huawei’s skin atop Android, has evolved from being a clumsy iOS rip-off a couple of years ago to a quite acceptable user experience today. I can’t say I’m in love with it, and I’d have preferred to see an always-on display option (update: it’s in there, just buried in the privacy & security options), but the mere fact that EMUI doesn’t upset me with its weirdness or unreliability is a major step forward for Huawei. The company’s deviations from Google’s original Android design can mostly be sidestepped or disabled, and I appreciate having a dark mode, an increasingly valuable feature for phones with OLED displays.
Like Samsung, Huawei now offers a feature called App Twin, which lets you run multiple instances of the same app and thus be logged in to multiple accounts of the same social or messaging service. Huawei has split-screen too, of course, and a sophisticated screenshot tool. The EMUI lock screen also has a handy set of quick shortcuts, accessible by swiping up from the bottom: there’s a voice recorder, flashlight, calculator, timer, and a QR code reader. Like Apple, Huawei also offers a raise-to-wake function, which together with its fast Face Unlock does a great job of emulating the iPhone X’s seamless unlocking.
Huawei has adjusted its notifications bar to accommodate the display’s notch, but not in a way that I like. The clock feels cramped up against the right curve of the screen, while the cellular and Wi-Fi status icons have jumped across the notch to the left. Putting those permanent icons in the space usually occupied by transient notifications creates a dissonance: every time I glance at that corner, I keep thinking I have unread messages.
Most Android apps play nicely with the notch already, although there are a few niche incompatibilities, such as the “waiting for network...” message on Telegram appearing immediately below (and thus mostly obscured by) the notch. Huawei offers the option to mask the notch by keeping the display around it blacked out, except for notification and status icons. I like that option, but I don’t find it necessary because the notch never offends or distracts me while using the phone.
Huawei’s biggest sin with the notch is in the imperfect way it masks the top corners of the screen when playing back YouTube videos, as illustrated by the image above. There’s a tiny sliver of the video that’s left uncovered, which I find to be an annoying oversight.
Also you can see video review Huawei P20 Pro
The P20 Pro is outstanding in three fundamental aspects of modern smartphones: audio, battery life, and wireless performance. Firstly, the speaker on this phone gets loud without ever becoming shrill or distorted. I love it. Listening to podcasts on this phone is a joy, and its ringtones and notifications come through with authority. The absence of a headphone jack is still an issue, but at least Huawei supports LDAC for higher-bitrate Bluetooth streaming. Even without many headphones compatible with that standard, I was super impressed with the strength and reliability of Bluetooth connections with the P20 Pro. Only Apple’s own iPhone can sustain as good a connection to the AirPods as the P20 Pro achieves.
THE BATTERY DEFIES BELIEF
Pairing wireless headphones and speakers was faster with this Huawei phone than any other Android device I’ve used, and the P20 Pro maintained a strong signal no matter how I gripped, cupped, or hugged it. The same is true for cellular signal: I found the P20 Pro delivered the best possible mobile data speeds wherever I was, and I had no dropped calls even in areas of spotty coverage.
The battery of the P20 Pro makes me laugh. It lasts for a preposterously long time. Right now, the phone’s been away from a charger for 32 hours and I’ve still got 52 percent of the battery to play with. On a busier day that might include an hour of YouTube videos, hours of streaming audio, and immoderate amounts of time browsing Twitter and triaging emails, I’d still only bring the battery down to 40-something percent after 24 hours. Huawei claims two days of battery life with the P20 Pro, and the phone duly delivers. The absence of wireless charging from this phone, which would be a competitive disadvantage for others in 2018, is a non-issue for me because of how rarely I need to charge it.
The synergy between the excellent ergonomics, display, camera, and responsiveness of the Huawei P20 Pro shouldn’t be underestimated. I probably like each individual aspect of this phone more because of the quality of its surrounding components. Huawei has matured to the point of emulating the iPhone’s integrated and fluid user experience instead of merely imitating the iPhone’s basic features. Having spent a month with Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus, I absolutely prefer the P20 Pro over Samsung’s 2018 flagship. Huawei offers the more potent camera, better ergonomics, longer battery life, and hell, it even has a less irritating Android skin. The gap is even wider when comparing the P20 Pro to Huawei’s most recent Mate 10 Pro flagship, which never attracted me the way the P20 Pro does. The new phone’s design is truly unique and delightful to hold, and its camera has shed most of the artificiality of its predecessor.
Comparisons against Apple’s iPhone X and Google’s Pixel 2 XL are harder to make. The iPhone has an entirely different ecosystem, and odds are that you’ll make the Android-iOS choice before you decide on the actual device you buy. As to the Pixel, I still favor it on the strength of its unique camera and clean Android experience, but the P20 Pro beats it on every other criterion. More to the point, the P20 Pro will be available to buy in far more places around the world (US unfortunately excepted) than Google’s boutique product.
Full specs Huawei P20 Pro here https://list-phones.com/catalogue/Huawei-P20-Pro
Instead of gimmicks and gaudiness, the Huawei P20 Pro delivers refinement and efficiency. That’s a major change for Huawei, which could previously be relied upon to be the fastest iPhone copycat in the East. With Huawei’s rapid improvement, Apple and Samsung now have a credible third competitor in the contest for super flagship phone supremacy. It’s time for the entire world to sit up and take notice, because Huawei is now the maker of 2018’s best phone and one of the best phones overall.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Nokia 8110 4G review
Another nostalgic blast from the past is served up with the 8110 4G, and if you loved the slider phones of old you'll likely have a soft spot for this. If you're after an inexpensive second/emergency phone though, there are better options out there.
FOR
Nostalgic blast, now with 4G
Huge battery life
Low price
AGAINST
Basic functionality
Smartphones aren't much more
Difficult shape for pocket
The new Nokia 3310 wasn't a one off. We now have the second installment in what HMD (the firm that produces Nokia branded smartphones) is calling the 'Nokia Originals' series.
Say hello to the very yellow (but also available in black) Nokia 8110 4G, which launched alongside a number of Android smartphones from the brand at MWC 2018.
It takes its name and inspiration from the classic slider which shot to stardom in the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix, although in the film the slider was modified to be spring loaded.
Sadly there's no Hollywood makeover here, and you'll have to manually pull the keypad cover down just like we had to when the original 8110 launched in 1996.
That's not for the want of trying though. TechRadar spoke to HMD's Chief Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas who exclusively revealed that the new 8110 very nearly had a spring-loaded slider.
Nokia 8110 4G was so nearly a true spring-loaded Matrix phone
HMD says the new 3310 was its best selling feature phone in Europe in 2017, proving the Nokia Originals endeavor is more than a simple marketing gimmick that plays on nostalgia.
So can lightning strike twice with this second nostalgic blast? We're not so sure.
Check out our brief video hands on with the Nokia 8110 4G below
Nokia 8110 4G release date and price
This is a feature phone, which means the Nokia 8110 price is a respectable €79 (around ?70, $100, AU$120).
That is, however, more expensive than the 3310 reboot. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly the design is more costly, with a distinctive banana-like curve to the handset and the sliding section.
Secondly, it packs 4G connectivity, giving the 8110 more scope for features and apps.
You will have a little bit of a wait to get your hands on one though, as the Nokia 8110 4G release date is set for May.
The banana yellow variant is very... yellow
Design and display
NOKIA 8110 4G SPECS
OS: Smart Feature OS
Screen size: 2.4 inches
Resolution: 160?120
CPU: Qualcomm 205
RAM: 512MB
Storage: 4GB
Battery: 1,500mAh
Rear camera: 2MP
The original 8110 wasn't nicknamed the banana phone for nothing. Like its predecessor, the new Nokia 8110 4G has an obvious curvature to its body, allowing the microphone and earpiece to sit snugly against your face when taking a call.
It sits less well in the pocket though, with the chunky design and bend causing problems when trying to slide it into skinny jeans. Even more forgiving pockets don't completely solve the comfort issue. Maybe there's a reason this design didn't catch on more...
The plastic body is solid, so it should be able to stand up to a few knocks, but it's the sliding keypad cover which has stolen our heart a little.
Sure, it's a bit of a gimmick, but there is something deeply satisfying when sliding the cover up and down. The click it makes as it docks and undocks from below the screen and the smooth sweeping motion as you run it up and down its tracks is almost hypnotic.
A nice touch is that the cover wakes the screen when slid down, and turns it off when you return it to its closed position.
You can still illuminate the screen with the cover up, by pressing the power key on the right side of the handset, but you won't be able to actually use the phone.
That's because the 2.4-inch QVGA (160 x 120) display isn't touch sensitive and all your navigation keys are hidden beneath the cover.
The screen is fine for reading text and viewing basic images and games, but you won't be enjoying works of art or movies on this phone.
As we've already alluded to, the Nokia 8110 4G comes on black and an extremely vibrant 'banana yellow’.
It also features a headphone jack and FM radio app, along with 4GB of storage, allowing you to listen to music with a set of headphones.
Nokia 8110 4G hands on galllery
Camera and battery
The Nokia 8110 4G does feature a camera, but it's a basic as they get these days.
A 2MP snapper adorns the rear of the phone along with a single LED flash, a feature the original didn't have, and there's no front facing option.
It's really only good for the very occasional snap, and you're limited in what you can do with your pictures after taking them in terms of social sharing and sending, thanks to the basic feature set.
Where the Nokia 8110 4G will shine is battery life, and HMD claims the 1,500mAh power pack inside the handset is good for up to 25 days on standby.
It also says you can make an 8.5 hour LTE voice call on a single charge, although that seems like an awful long time for one call. Wouldn't you run out of things to say?
Anyway, thanks to its long battery life the 8110 4G can bill itself as a festival or emergency phone, as you don't have to worry about constantly charging it (which is done via a microUSB port).
There's a 2MP camera, with flash, on the rear
Performance and interface
It'll come as no surprise that the Nokia 8110 4G isn't packed to the rafters with power. Instead you get a Qualcomm 205 chipset and just 512MB of RAM.
That's all that's required to run the basic feature phone OS though, and the updated version of Snake that debuted on the rebooted 3310 plays just fine here as well.
The interesting part is what the addition of 4G connectivity can do for a simple handset like this.
HMD says that it expects to have a rich app ecosystem for the 8110 4G in the coming months, although for now the only confirmed apps are Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps and Google Assistant.
The improved quality and speed of the data network means that apps can do more, providing features the new 3310 could only dream of. It's not clear what these will be, but it's something to keep and eye on if you're considering a low-cost second phone.
You can also harness the improved data connection for your other devices, making the 8110 4G into a WiFi hotspot so you can connect your phone, tablet or laptop to it.
The simple operating system has Facebook, Twitter and Google Maps apps
Nokia 8110 4G vs Nokia 8110
So how does the new 8110 4G compare to the 1996 original? We put the two side by side, so you can see with your very eyes how they differ.
The banana bend and sliding keypad cover have made the jump to the new version, although the design has been refined - the new 8110 4G is slimmer, lighter and slicker.
You'll also notice the external antenna has been dropped in favor of a microUSB port and headphone jack, while round the back a 2MP camera, LED flash and speaker have been added.
8110 vs 8110 4G hands on gallery
Nokia 8110 vs Nokia 8110 4G: retro meets the reboot
Early verdict
The Nokia 8110 4G is a bit of fun. It takes a playful classic and brings it up to date, but it does feel a little overpriced.
Its rebooted 3310 sibling is cheaper, and if HMD offered the 4G version globally it could have the same potential as the 8110 in a more user friendly design.
That said, for those looking for a second handset, or an emergency device the 8110 4G offers something different without breaking the bank.
MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting live from Barcelona all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated MWC 2018 hub to see all the new releases, along with TechRadar's world-class analysis and buying advice about your next phone.
FOR
Nostalgic blast, now with 4G
Huge battery life
Low price
AGAINST
Basic functionality
Smartphones aren't much more
Difficult shape for pocket
The new Nokia 3310 wasn't a one off. We now have the second installment in what HMD (the firm that produces Nokia branded smartphones) is calling the 'Nokia Originals' series.
Say hello to the very yellow (but also available in black) Nokia 8110 4G, which launched alongside a number of Android smartphones from the brand at MWC 2018.
It takes its name and inspiration from the classic slider which shot to stardom in the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix, although in the film the slider was modified to be spring loaded.
Sadly there's no Hollywood makeover here, and you'll have to manually pull the keypad cover down just like we had to when the original 8110 launched in 1996.
That's not for the want of trying though. TechRadar spoke to HMD's Chief Product Officer, Juho Sarvikas who exclusively revealed that the new 8110 very nearly had a spring-loaded slider.
Nokia 8110 4G was so nearly a true spring-loaded Matrix phone
HMD says the new 3310 was its best selling feature phone in Europe in 2017, proving the Nokia Originals endeavor is more than a simple marketing gimmick that plays on nostalgia.
So can lightning strike twice with this second nostalgic blast? We're not so sure.
Check out our brief video hands on with the Nokia 8110 4G below
Nokia 8110 4G release date and price
This is a feature phone, which means the Nokia 8110 price is a respectable €79 (around ?70, $100, AU$120).
That is, however, more expensive than the 3310 reboot. There are a couple of reasons for this.
Firstly the design is more costly, with a distinctive banana-like curve to the handset and the sliding section.
Secondly, it packs 4G connectivity, giving the 8110 more scope for features and apps.
You will have a little bit of a wait to get your hands on one though, as the Nokia 8110 4G release date is set for May.
The banana yellow variant is very... yellow
Design and displayNOKIA 8110 4G SPECS
OS: Smart Feature OS
Screen size: 2.4 inches
Resolution: 160?120
CPU: Qualcomm 205
RAM: 512MB
Storage: 4GB
Battery: 1,500mAh
Rear camera: 2MP
The original 8110 wasn't nicknamed the banana phone for nothing. Like its predecessor, the new Nokia 8110 4G has an obvious curvature to its body, allowing the microphone and earpiece to sit snugly against your face when taking a call.
It sits less well in the pocket though, with the chunky design and bend causing problems when trying to slide it into skinny jeans. Even more forgiving pockets don't completely solve the comfort issue. Maybe there's a reason this design didn't catch on more...
The plastic body is solid, so it should be able to stand up to a few knocks, but it's the sliding keypad cover which has stolen our heart a little.
Sure, it's a bit of a gimmick, but there is something deeply satisfying when sliding the cover up and down. The click it makes as it docks and undocks from below the screen and the smooth sweeping motion as you run it up and down its tracks is almost hypnotic.
A nice touch is that the cover wakes the screen when slid down, and turns it off when you return it to its closed position.
You can still illuminate the screen with the cover up, by pressing the power key on the right side of the handset, but you won't be able to actually use the phone.
That's because the 2.4-inch QVGA (160 x 120) display isn't touch sensitive and all your navigation keys are hidden beneath the cover.
The screen is fine for reading text and viewing basic images and games, but you won't be enjoying works of art or movies on this phone.
As we've already alluded to, the Nokia 8110 4G comes on black and an extremely vibrant 'banana yellow’.
It also features a headphone jack and FM radio app, along with 4GB of storage, allowing you to listen to music with a set of headphones.
Nokia 8110 4G hands on galllery
Camera and battery
The Nokia 8110 4G does feature a camera, but it's a basic as they get these days.
A 2MP snapper adorns the rear of the phone along with a single LED flash, a feature the original didn't have, and there's no front facing option.
It's really only good for the very occasional snap, and you're limited in what you can do with your pictures after taking them in terms of social sharing and sending, thanks to the basic feature set.
Where the Nokia 8110 4G will shine is battery life, and HMD claims the 1,500mAh power pack inside the handset is good for up to 25 days on standby.
It also says you can make an 8.5 hour LTE voice call on a single charge, although that seems like an awful long time for one call. Wouldn't you run out of things to say?
Anyway, thanks to its long battery life the 8110 4G can bill itself as a festival or emergency phone, as you don't have to worry about constantly charging it (which is done via a microUSB port).There's a 2MP camera, with flash, on the rear
Performance and interface
It'll come as no surprise that the Nokia 8110 4G isn't packed to the rafters with power. Instead you get a Qualcomm 205 chipset and just 512MB of RAM.
That's all that's required to run the basic feature phone OS though, and the updated version of Snake that debuted on the rebooted 3310 plays just fine here as well.
The interesting part is what the addition of 4G connectivity can do for a simple handset like this.
HMD says that it expects to have a rich app ecosystem for the 8110 4G in the coming months, although for now the only confirmed apps are Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps and Google Assistant.
The improved quality and speed of the data network means that apps can do more, providing features the new 3310 could only dream of. It's not clear what these will be, but it's something to keep and eye on if you're considering a low-cost second phone.
You can also harness the improved data connection for your other devices, making the 8110 4G into a WiFi hotspot so you can connect your phone, tablet or laptop to it.
The simple operating system has Facebook, Twitter and Google Maps apps
Nokia 8110 4G vs Nokia 8110
So how does the new 8110 4G compare to the 1996 original? We put the two side by side, so you can see with your very eyes how they differ.
The banana bend and sliding keypad cover have made the jump to the new version, although the design has been refined - the new 8110 4G is slimmer, lighter and slicker.
You'll also notice the external antenna has been dropped in favor of a microUSB port and headphone jack, while round the back a 2MP camera, LED flash and speaker have been added.
8110 vs 8110 4G hands on gallery
Nokia 8110 vs Nokia 8110 4G: retro meets the reboot
Early verdict
The Nokia 8110 4G is a bit of fun. It takes a playful classic and brings it up to date, but it does feel a little overpriced.
Its rebooted 3310 sibling is cheaper, and if HMD offered the 4G version globally it could have the same potential as the 8110 in a more user friendly design.
That said, for those looking for a second handset, or an emergency device the 8110 4G offers something different without breaking the bank.
MWC (Mobile World Congress) is the world's largest exhibition for the mobile industry, stuffed full of the newest phones, tablets, wearables and more. TechRadar is reporting live from Barcelona all week to bring you the very latest from the show floor. Head to our dedicated MWC 2018 hub to see all the new releases, along with TechRadar's world-class analysis and buying advice about your next phone.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
BLU VIVO X Review - A Very Good Budget Flagship
The Vivo X is BLU’s most appealing smartphone yet and the first device of theirs to truly give Motorola and Huawei some competition. What I find especially attractive about this device is its price point. It starts at $250 and can be purchased via Amazon. There’s also a special launch deal that will bring this phone down to $200 off-contract.
The build consists of aluminum. It has a premium cool to the touch feel to it with rounded sides and metallic buttons. The power button is textured to help you differentiate it from the volume rocker. There’s a headphone jack and microSD card slot for expandable storage. Strangely, we have a micro USB port for charging and not a USB-C port. And there is a mediocre bottom-facing speaker. The fingerprint scanner is on the back of the phone and it’s exactly where my index finger rests when holding the phone. It’s consistently fast and accurate.
The display is one of the most attractive features of this smartphone but it’s not perfect and it has left me scratching my head a little bit. It features a massive 6-inch 18x9 display with relatively thin top and bottom bezels. Just the fact that it features an 18x9 display helps it compete against some of the more premium offerings from Samsung, LG, and even Apple. But the side bezels aren’t terribly thin and the display itself only features a 720p resolution with some extra vertical pixels. Content is not going to be super sharp and detailed but one perk of this lower resolution display is the improved battery life. The brightness does peak out at 520 nits, which is actually pretty solid and colors do appear nice and vibrant for an LCD panel.
The viewing angles are actually pretty great for a BLU smartphones. Overall, if you are a design junkie like I am, I think you’re really going to admire the 80% screen to body ratio we have here with the Vivo X. Unfortunately, what you have to look at is an unpleasant skin on top of Android 7.0 Nougat. Yeah, you heard that right. What year is it?
The quick settings swipe up from the bottom of the screen while nothing but your notifications will be up top. The settings drawer also has been tweaked. A swipe to the left will reveal some of the phone’s “key features”. What is neat to see is the added software features not typically found in stock Android. There’s a glove mode, several smart gestures like double tap to wake, a smart auto-brightness feature, and a screen recording feature among others. One rather unusual feature is the dual WhatsApp support. If you’re a WhatsApp user, you can set up two WhatsApp accounts on your Vivo X so you don’t have to carry around two smartphones.
We also have face unlock, which does not use the same technology as the iPhone X and is nowhere near as secure. But hey, it’s an option to unlock your phone and it unlocks it very quickly. Just keep in mind that someone who kinda looks like you is probably enough to fool the software.
The Vivo X does ship with a MediaTek Helio P25 processor with 8-cores and 4GB of RAM. The phone has its moments of clarity and fluidity but it does tend to slow down when downloading and installing applications, opening apps for the first time, or running graphic intensive games.
Also, I did notice some chappy animations; especially when swiping through some settings drawer, specifically the bottom quick settings tray. In my experience, I found smartphones with MediaTek processors to perform better after being warmed up, kind of like a car. They don’t tend to perform quite as well as Qualcomm chips, which is what this phone is competing against.
The Vivo X will appeal to those who want the most camera hardware for the price. We have a 13-megapixel rear- and 5-megapixel rear-facing camera sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. And we also have a 20-megapixel front-facing camera sensor along with an 8-megapixel wide-angle front-facing camera sensor with an f/2.0 aperture. This might be the best budget smartphone for selfies as in addition to the dual front-facing sensors, there’s a flash and tons of software features. The 8-megapixel sensor has a 120-degree wide-angle so you can take photos with a group of friends or make video calls without having to hold your phone in arm’s length away from your face. The flash itself can be dimmed, which is a really neat effect that I haven’t seen before on a smartphone. Also in the settings is a dedicated group photo mode, a GIF creator mode, and professional mode, among many other settings.
Selfies themselves feature quite a bit of detail especially in well-lit environments. It does suffer in low-light, as do most smartphone cameras in general. But with the wide-angle lens and flash, I can recommend this phone if you’re a big Instagram or Snapchat user who likes to take a lot of selfies.
The rear-facing cameras are able to capture some acceptable images in a variety of lighting conditions but you’re going to see the highest quality shots captured outdoors in direct sunlight. The phone tends to oversaturate images and it is more difficult than on some other devices to focus on a subject and retain a lot of detail. What is neat to see is a depth mode that will artificially add blur to the background of your subject. It is not perfect but it’s not bad for a non-Apple or Google device. Overall, the cameras are a big win for this price point.
Last but not least, there is a large 4010mAh battery with support for fast charging. You can expect this phone to last you a full day of moderate to heavy usage. I just wished there was a USB-C charging port here especially since you’ll probably want to use this phone for the next year or two. This micro USB port is already outdated. It’s going to be super ancient in the next couple of years.
With that said, BLU doesn’t tend to issue software updates. And the fact that this phone is running an old version of Android out of the box doesn’t give me much hope that we’ll see any sort of big software updates in the near or distant future. From that standpoint, it’s tough to recommend. However, if you want to live in the moment and you don’t care too much about the software experience, the Vivo X does excel in the hardware department.
The 18x9 display helps set this phone apart from the other big, more established smartphones in its price category of around $300. Even with its limitations, I think for the price of $200 or $250 off-contract, the Vivo X is absolutely worth it. Just keep in mind that it only does work with a GSM carriers here in the US. See full specs here http://list-phones.com/catalogue/BLU-Vivo-X
Selfies themselves feature quite a bit of detail especially in well-lit environments. It does suffer in low-light, as do most smartphone cameras in general. But with the wide-angle lens and flash, I can recommend this phone if you’re a big Instagram or Snapchat user who likes to take a lot of selfies.
The rear-facing cameras are able to capture some acceptable images in a variety of lighting conditions but you’re going to see the highest quality shots captured outdoors in direct sunlight. The phone tends to oversaturate images and it is more difficult than on some other devices to focus on a subject and retain a lot of detail. What is neat to see is a depth mode that will artificially add blur to the background of your subject. It is not perfect but it’s not bad for a non-Apple or Google device. Overall, the cameras are a big win for this price point.
Last but not least, there is a large 4010mAh battery with support for fast charging. You can expect this phone to last you a full day of moderate to heavy usage. I just wished there was a USB-C charging port here especially since you’ll probably want to use this phone for the next year or two. This micro USB port is already outdated. It’s going to be super ancient in the next couple of years.
With that said, BLU doesn’t tend to issue software updates. And the fact that this phone is running an old version of Android out of the box doesn’t give me much hope that we’ll see any sort of big software updates in the near or distant future. From that standpoint, it’s tough to recommend. However, if you want to live in the moment and you don’t care too much about the software experience, the Vivo X does excel in the hardware department.
The 18x9 display helps set this phone apart from the other big, more established smartphones in its price category of around $300. Even with its limitations, I think for the price of $200 or $250 off-contract, the Vivo X is absolutely worth it. Just keep in mind that it only does work with a GSM carriers here in the US. See full specs here http://list-phones.com/catalogue/BLU-Vivo-X
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Nokia 7 Plus review, features.
Nokia didn’t release new gadgets for a long time, but you should not worry about it, because the company will bring new car and small cart of gadgets to MWC 2018. It is known that in the near future the Finnish company will present at least three smartphones: Nokia 1, 4 and 7 Plus. All three new phones will be available all around the world.
Nokia 1 will be ultra-budget phone with price under $100. It has weak hardware and new Android 8.0 Oreo. At the same time, Nokia 4 will be mid-range phone, while Nokia 7 Plus will be a sub-flagship with Snapdragon 660 processor. We want to talk about the last smartphone. The price Nokia 7 Plus is already known. It allows to compare new Nokia phone with other devices on the market.
Let’s be honest – for a whole year, Nokia released some really beautiful smartphones. Most of them do not stand out at all against the background of competitors and have a boring design. However, Nokia 7 Plus can be beautiful and powerful smartphone. The device will receive all modern features and will compete with the devices of other brands, at least in terms of design and hardware.
Nokia 7 Plus: Design
Today we received the fist real photo of Nokia 7 Plus. It looks very good. The smartphone will be made of metal and glass. Nokia 7 Plus will come with full screen and 18:9 aspect ratio with thin bezels. In general, the design of Nokia 7 Plus is good from all sides. Despite the fact that it is sub-flagship device, it can be among the best phones.
We are pleased with design of the main camera, which looks neat and fits perfectly into the overall idea. The fingerprint reader had to be placed at the back, because there are very thin bezels on front side. We hope that the front of device will get really thin bezels from above and from below. The bezel-less design must be true bezel-less, and not be only in words.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
At the same time, Nokia 7 Plus doesn’t have cardinal changes in comparison with Nokia 7. The screen became longer and bigger diagonal. In fact, it’s the main differences compared to its predecessor.
Nokia 7 Plus: Display
So far, we have no information about diagonal of Nokia 7 Plus screen. If we look at the predecessor Nokia 7, then Plus version should receive IPS panel with diagonal sizes ranging from 5.7 to 5.9 inches. The aspect ratio is 18:9, and the resolution will not exceed 2160?1080 pixels.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Hardware
The combination of big display and Snapdragon 660 processor will allow the smartphone to work quickly, smoothly and stably, run any games and applications. Moreover, Nokia 7 Plus will have 4GB of RAM or 6GB of RAM. As for the internal memory, it will offer from 64 GB with support for memory cards.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Camera
The smartphone will be equipped with a dual main camera, which will consists of 12 megapixel sensor, and secondary 13 megapixel sensor. Also, the camera will offer optical stabilization system and a double optical zoom without losing quality. The front camera can also boast of high quality photos, because its resolution will reach 16MP. Moreover, Nokia will borrow optics from Carl Zeiss.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Battery
Also we should talk about battery life of Nokia 7 Plus. We are promised a battery capacity of up to 3450 mAh. Taking into account the modern process technology of Snapdragon 660 and Android 8.0 Oreo operating system, new smartphone should work up to 1.5-2 days with a fairly active mode of use.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Specifications
Nokia 7 Plus looks very good smartphone from all sides. It could make a powerful competition to other modern devices, however its price of $500 brings all advantages to nothing. What’s the point to buy Nokia 7 Plus, when there is more powerful flagship OnePlus 5T for $450? Also very soon Xiaomi Mi7 will appear, which will receive a price tag around $500 and Snapdragon 845. In general, Nokia 7 Plus will be good smartphone if its price drops to $350, otherwise it will be bypassed by all reasonably thinking buyers.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus – Release date and price
New Nokia phone will arrive at MWC 2018 together with its other brothers, and after that it will go on sale. Nokia 7 Plus officially should be sold at a price of $500.
Nokia 1 will be ultra-budget phone with price under $100. It has weak hardware and new Android 8.0 Oreo. At the same time, Nokia 4 will be mid-range phone, while Nokia 7 Plus will be a sub-flagship with Snapdragon 660 processor. We want to talk about the last smartphone. The price Nokia 7 Plus is already known. It allows to compare new Nokia phone with other devices on the market.
Let’s be honest – for a whole year, Nokia released some really beautiful smartphones. Most of them do not stand out at all against the background of competitors and have a boring design. However, Nokia 7 Plus can be beautiful and powerful smartphone. The device will receive all modern features and will compete with the devices of other brands, at least in terms of design and hardware.
Nokia 7 Plus: Design
Today we received the fist real photo of Nokia 7 Plus. It looks very good. The smartphone will be made of metal and glass. Nokia 7 Plus will come with full screen and 18:9 aspect ratio with thin bezels. In general, the design of Nokia 7 Plus is good from all sides. Despite the fact that it is sub-flagship device, it can be among the best phones.
We are pleased with design of the main camera, which looks neat and fits perfectly into the overall idea. The fingerprint reader had to be placed at the back, because there are very thin bezels on front side. We hope that the front of device will get really thin bezels from above and from below. The bezel-less design must be true bezel-less, and not be only in words.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
At the same time, Nokia 7 Plus doesn’t have cardinal changes in comparison with Nokia 7. The screen became longer and bigger diagonal. In fact, it’s the main differences compared to its predecessor.
Nokia 7 Plus: Display
So far, we have no information about diagonal of Nokia 7 Plus screen. If we look at the predecessor Nokia 7, then Plus version should receive IPS panel with diagonal sizes ranging from 5.7 to 5.9 inches. The aspect ratio is 18:9, and the resolution will not exceed 2160?1080 pixels.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Hardware
The combination of big display and Snapdragon 660 processor will allow the smartphone to work quickly, smoothly and stably, run any games and applications. Moreover, Nokia 7 Plus will have 4GB of RAM or 6GB of RAM. As for the internal memory, it will offer from 64 GB with support for memory cards.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Camera
The smartphone will be equipped with a dual main camera, which will consists of 12 megapixel sensor, and secondary 13 megapixel sensor. Also, the camera will offer optical stabilization system and a double optical zoom without losing quality. The front camera can also boast of high quality photos, because its resolution will reach 16MP. Moreover, Nokia will borrow optics from Carl Zeiss.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Battery
Also we should talk about battery life of Nokia 7 Plus. We are promised a battery capacity of up to 3450 mAh. Taking into account the modern process technology of Snapdragon 660 and Android 8.0 Oreo operating system, new smartphone should work up to 1.5-2 days with a fairly active mode of use.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus: Specifications
- Colors: silver, black, white;
- Case: Gorilla Glass 4 glass and metal frame;
- Display: 5.7 or 5.9-inch IPS-panel with a resolution of FullHD + 2160?1080 pixels, 18: 9 format, 1: 1000 contrast ratio, coverage of 95% NTSC colors;
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660, 8-core, custom Kryo 260 cores with frequency up to 2.2 GHz, 64-bit, technical process 14 nanometers;
- Graphics: Adreno 512 with a frequency of 650 MHz;
- RAM: 4 GB or 6 GB LPDDR4X, 2?1866 MHz;
- Storage: 64 GB UFS 2.0 + memory card;
- Main camera: Bundle of 12 Mp and 13 Mp modules, phase autofocus, optical stabilization, double optical zoom, two-tone illumination, video recording in 4K @ 30 fps;
- Self-camera: 16 MP, wide-angle;
- Fingerprint scanner (rear);
- Wi-Fi 802.11a / b / g / n / ac and Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C 2.0, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou;
- SIM: Dual SIM dual stand by;
- Modem with LTE Cat 12 support, transmission speed up to 600 Mbps;
- Battery: 3450 mAh + quick charge Quick Charge 3.0;
- OS version: Android 8.0;
- Antutu: 130000+ points;
- Prices: from $500
- Advantages and disadvantages
- + Powerful hardware;
- + Beautiful Design;
- + Excellent display;
- + High-quality camera;
- + Good battery;
- + The latest version of Android.
- – High price.
- Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus looks very good smartphone from all sides. It could make a powerful competition to other modern devices, however its price of $500 brings all advantages to nothing. What’s the point to buy Nokia 7 Plus, when there is more powerful flagship OnePlus 5T for $450? Also very soon Xiaomi Mi7 will appear, which will receive a price tag around $500 and Snapdragon 845. In general, Nokia 7 Plus will be good smartphone if its price drops to $350, otherwise it will be bypassed by all reasonably thinking buyers.
Nokia 7 Plus - review of the new sub-flagship - specifications, release date, price
Nokia 7 Plus – Release date and price
New Nokia phone will arrive at MWC 2018 together with its other brothers, and after that it will go on sale. Nokia 7 Plus officially should be sold at a price of $500.
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