Sri Lanka’s a huge fan of Huawei devices. Everyone knows someone with a Huawei handset. However, we Lankans usually reach for the brand’s mid-rangers. Their more premium devices like the Mate 20 Pro packs a punch. Let’s talk about it.
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You don’t have to look too close to notice that the phone is expensive. It’s shiny and comes with a luxurious glass-metal body. We actually know the type of glass it rocks – it’s the super-durable Gorilla Glass 5. The metal on its frame is quality aluminum, so good luck trying to scratch it.
The phone has all its camera sensors bunched together in the upper-middle corner. It makes it look futuristic. It for-sure catches your eye from across the room.
The Mate 20 Pro is gigantic – it stretches 6.39 inches across. Not only is it large, but it’s also thin. Its dimensions are as follows, 157.8 x 72.3 x 8.6 mm.
Being so pricey, you might’ve guessed that it doesn’t come with a headphone jack – this is a trend we’ve seen in more premium devices as of late. It doesn’t come with a rear fingerprint sensor either, it’s on its screen. But it isn’t the most reliable. Of course, there is facial recognition. You get a microSD slot too.
The handset comes in a couple of colours. You can pick it up in:
We’re huge fans of the emerald green and twilight, they look the most expensive.
Although the phone looks good, know that it’s a major fingerprint magnet. It’s back is slippery too – it’s almost like it has a death wish.
Its screen is curved. This provides a very immersive viewing experience. The fact that it’s gigantic at 6.39 inches helps as well. But you get a large notch. If you’re a notch hater, know that you can hide it through its settings.
You’re getting a bright display. The Mate 20 Pro rocks an OLED panel, so colours pop. Along with a vibrant screen, you’re barely getting any bezels. It has an impressive 87.9% screen-to-body ratio.
Similar to its back, Gorilla Glass 5 is on its front. You already know how durable the glass is.
Since you’re spending so much, you’d expect a pin-sharp display. The Huawei device does not disappoint. Its screen is a whopping 1440 x 3120 pixels. It is also HDR10 rated - it can produce a multitude of colours.
It has a 4200 mAh battery. Considering that the phone is large with a powerful display, we weren’t expecting it to last long. However, it decided to surprise us – it lasted over a day. If you want it to last longer, know that there are extensive power saving modes.
Not only does it have an impressive battery life, but it has great charging capabilities too. It has a 40 W charger that takes it around 30 minutes to reach 70%. It comes with 15 W wireless fast charging too.
The icing on top is the fact that it reverse charges. You might be scratching your head at this. It’s basically when you use a handset as a power bank, charging others.
No surprise, its battery is not removable. The Mate 20 Pro rocks a durable glass-metal sandwich after all.
The Kirin 980 is inside it. It’s a beast of a processor that’s fit for flagships. Although the phone isn’t a gaming phone per se, its powerful processor lets it handle the most extensive games. Its vivid screen makes gaming more fun too.
You can pick the handset up in considerable storage options. You get 128 and 256 GB of space, along with 6 and 8 GB of RAM. In case you forgot, you can expand its storage. However, you can only use a nano card. The availability of 8 GB of RAM is very impressive – the phone works like butter.
Being a Huawei device, it isn’t a surprise to see the EMUI OS on it. It’s incredibly customizable, but it doesn’t come with an app drawer – this generally puts people off from Huawei phones. The specific UI it runs is EMUI 9.1. It doesn’t have a bloatware problem, but we found it confusing to use – if you’ve never used a Huawei phone at least.
Out of the box, you’re met with Android 9.1. You’ll be happy to know that you can upgrade it to Android 10.
The Mate 20 Pro has a triple camera set-up. Its primary sensor is a 40 MP wide lens, its secondary sensor is an 8 MP telephoto lens, and its tertiary sensor is a 20 MP ultrawide lens. Shots are phenomenal – they’re super vivid. But its standard mode doesn’t capture as much detail as we’d like. In terms of low-light shots, they’re really good.
Its front camera is a 24 MP wide lens. It’ll always leave you Instagram ready. Speaking of its front camera, you get animojis like in Apple’s devices.
So, what do you think about the former flagship? Let’s see how well it compares against phones that are equally as good.
The P30 Pro is a large phone. It’s bigger than its Mate counterpart – it’s almost 6.5 inches. It is built very well. It rocks a durable aluminosilicate body, with an aluminum frame. It’s shiny, and unfortunately slippery like its brother.
The device has an OLED screen. If you remember, the panel is very vibrant. The phone has a curved display. What’s noteworthy is that it has a better screen-to-body ratio than the Mate 20 Pro. Its notch is smaller too– it’s tear-drop in shape.
Its display is unfortunately not as sharp as its counterpart’s. You’re only getting 1080 x 2340 pixels. You’re looking at another HDR10 device – it can produce all kinds of colours.
You’re getting a 4200 mAh battery with your purchase. Like its counterpart, it lasts over a day. It utilizes a 40 W fast charger– it takes the handset around 30 minutes to reach 70%. What’s more, it comes with reverse charging and 15 W wireless fast charging.
In terms of its processor, you’re met with the Kirin 980 chip. If it sounds familiar, it is. The chipset was in the Mate 20 Pro.
It offers a range of memory variants. You can pick it up in 128, 256, or 512 GB of space. Along with it, 6 and 8 GB of RAM are available. Yes, you can expand its storage with, but with a nano card.
It doesn’t come with a headphone jack, unfortunately.
Out of the box, you’re met with Android 9. The device can be upgraded to Android 10. Of course, it runs EMUI – the version inside of it is EMUI 10.
In terms of its camera, there’s a triple set-up. It isn’t positioned like the 20 Pro’s which is a bummer. Its primary sensor is a 40 MP wide lens, its secondary sensor is an 8 MP periscope telephoto lens, and its tertiary sensor is a 20 MP ultrawide lens. There is a sharpshooter on its front – it’s a 32 MP wide lens.
The RENO comes with a Gorilla Glass 5 back, like the Mate 20 Pro. It has an aluminum frame too. The device is big, but it’s only a bit larger than its counterpart. It comes with a considerable screen-to-body ratio, it’s a bit smaller than the Huawei phone, though.
You’ll love to know that it rocks an AMOLED screen – it’s vibrant. What’s better is the fact that there’s Gorilla Glass 6 on its front – good luck trying to dent it.
Although it’s not as great as the 20 Pro’s, its screen resolution is still pin-sharp at 1080 x 2340 pixels.
A Snapdragon 710 chip is inside. It’s a snappy chipset, but it doesn’t hold a torch to the Kirin 980. There is unfortunately no microSD slot. But you’ll like to know that the phone has a good range of memory options. You can pick it up in 128 and 256 GB of space, along with 6 and 8 GB of RAM.
Out of the box, it runs Android 9. Yes, it can be upgraded to Android 10.
Even though it doesn’t offer expandable storage, it comes with a headphone jack.
It doesn’t have a battery as large as the Mate 20 Pro. It’s 3765 mAh and it lasts about a day. There is 20 W fast charging. The Oppo device takes around an hour and a half to go from 0-100%. No, you, unfortunately, aren’t getting reverse charging or wireless charging.
Camera-wise, there’s a dual-camera set-up. The primary sensor is a 48 MP wide lens, while the second one is a 5 MP depth sensor. You’re getting a motorized camera on its front. It is a 16 MP wide lens.
The Mate 20 Pro is well worth your money. It’s one of the best flagships we’ve seen, and it’s clear that Huawei knows what they’re doing. The P30 is an equally good phone – it costs less as well.
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