Huawei Mate 20

[Dave]

You're getting a Mate 20 Pro? My understanding is it's better in pretty much every single way, from battery, to speed, to camera, functionality.

I think the only downside is the status and bragging rights

No, I found the Pro to be too big and the Mate is even bigger iirc. I prefer the 5.8” form factor.

 

[Dave]

Then welcome to 'our' side

Have they fixed ChargeGate, WiFi Gate and BeautyGate yet? It'd be a shame to have so many issues to plague such a good phone Also, guessing they fixed Facial 3D in the iPhone X?

As far as I know the problems were to do with iOS 12 rather than the phone hardware and were rectified by iOS 12.0.1.

Iirc the charging bug affected other models as well.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

The Mate 20 Pro is proving rather hard to kill, today I was using it in FHD+ resolution, here are the battery stats so far:

I'm still At 15% with over 6hours SOT take note that in Android Pie I have not been able to adjust Location to Power Save, so Location has been on High Accuracy throughout all of this, in fact the Clock widget makes a 2nd Clock with weather of where I am when not home, so it shows the weather of where I am and weather at home I have this updating every few hours.

 

[Sumen]

I actually purchased one yesterday as the Telkom Store I purchased the device from never had stock of the phone I originally wanted.

What a way Huawei has come. The last experience I had with a Huawei was the Ascend P6. I despised it, the hardware was not bad at all, but the UI was horrible. I like the new EMUI, it is a lot cleaner, and pretty slick.
As an ex apple user it does take a while to reacclimatize back to 'Droid, and this is a pleasant experience thus far.

The UI is slick and the Kirin 710 is actually delivers, I have not yet given the phone a full going through, mainly just set everything up to the way I like it.

Things I like:
- The long press over an application which emulates iOS' "Pop and Peek" feature when used along side force touch. Great feature, I really appreciate this feature as I used it often.
- Split screen applications(where compatible), this speeds up navigation and allows for uninterrupted viewing of a YT video.
- The notification and quick access panel. The stream lining of this panel is welcomed. I used to hate the way Android used to handle this.
- Manual Camera controls
- Battery life, this was a pleasant surprise.

Things I do not like:
- Android's poor RAM optimization(The chipset can handle multiple running apps and services no prob, but it has it's limits - of course)
- Not enough gesture based inputs. More gesture based navigation options would be great! However, it will not detract from the overall experience.
- Crappy Earphones. Kind of a sin to pack a pretty decent device without the fancier earphones.

I will update this next week, after I mess around with the camera a bit more and explore more of the features of the device. My experience thus far has been surprising, actually somewhat exceptional at this price point.

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/index.php?threads/975179/

 

[Tsepz_GP]

The Mate 20 Pro is proving rather hard to kill, today I was using it in FHD+ resolution, here are the battery stats so far:

I'm still At 15% with over 6hours SOT take note that in Android Pie I have not been able to adjust Location to Power Save, so Location has been on High Accuracy throughout all of this, in fact the Clock widget makes a 2nd Clock with weather of where I am when not home, so it shows the weather of where I am and weather at home I have this updating every few hours.

So I finally got the Mate 20 Pro down to 4% and called it a night.

Over 7hours SOT with over 17hours off charge, I am very impressed, and pretty sure it will do even more once my usage also settles down and I cannot stop fiddling with it. I think with Moderate usage one can get 2 days easily with this phone and with heavier usage they can get a full day and possibly a bit after that.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Here is a Mate 20 Pro vs. P20 Pro speed test one thing the reviewer notes here which I keep forgetting to to is that we are running Prerelease FW, but the phone runs so well that one forgets that this is not the final FW.

Anyway, the Mate 20 Pro does a great job here especially in the multitasking round:

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Super Macro Mode in action

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Mate 20 Pro camera zoom in action

-Normal shot
-3x Optical Zoom
-5x Hybrid Zoom

And again

 

[Tsepz_GP]

More messing around with the camera, I am loving this Super Macro Mode.

 

[Dolby]

I keep forgetting to to is that we are running Prerelease FW, but the phone runs so well that one forgets that this is not the final FW]

But why is that and when do you get an update? It seems a little late to still have pre-release firmware

 

[Tsepz_GP]

But why is that and when do you get an update? It seems a little late to still have pre-release firmware

Remember that this device was built before they went into full production, it arrived for testing and showcasing as what the final one will be like. It will get final FW in an update soon though.

This is how they always are, be it Samsung, LG etc... The devices you see at launch usually run a Prerelease FW.

 

[Dolby]

Remember that this device was built before they went into full production

But it's the same hardware as those sitting at stores and waiting new owners this very minute If it was a few months before release - fair enough and I'd agree. But by this late when everything has already been compiled, you'd think you'd have a final release (it's only software and they can easily push to you before reviews).

I deal with the testing and firmware of a number of products and you can be sure that weeks before the launch, it's sitting at the stores with the correct FW already.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

But it's the same hardware as those sitting at stores and waiting new owners this very minute If it was a few months before release - fair enough. But this late when everything has already been compiled, you'd get a final release FW already ?

I deal with the testing and firmware of a number of products and you can be sure that weeks before the launch, it's sitting at the stores with the correct FW already.

Yep, same hardware and everything. It's how I have known things to have worked in mobile. That's why Reviewers like GSMArena and PhoneArena at launch will say that the device is on Prerelease FW, they usually say this for most at announcement.

It seems the time lines on smartphonea are very different to most other products.

 

[Dolby]

.

Very odd.

So I buy one Wednesday and that's got final?
I don't get why they can't push whatever that is running, to your phone for a more accurate sample?

You may get even better battery or better performance

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Very odd.

So I buy one Wednesday and that's got final?
I don't get why they can't push whatever that is running, to your phone for a more accurate sample?

You may get even better battery or better performance

I don't believe release dates locally have been set yet? I know India are getting it in November.
Our networks have it as coming soon.

The final FW won't differ much apparently though, as these are the devices that were the final showcase devices.

As it stands it's running the October 2018 Security Patch.

 

[Dolby]

Ah ... So I can't buy it Wednesday

Last thing - Vodacom?

 

[Dave]

Very odd.

So I buy one Wednesday and that's got final?
I don't get why they can't push whatever that is running, to your phone for a more accurate sample?

I’d agree with you, the phone is in the shops in some countries next week, no way in hell its still on pre-release firmware now.

The firmware would have been finalised and signed off 3-4 weeks ago.

 

[Sumen]

Ah ... So I can't buy it Wednesday

Last thing - Vodacom?

Cellucity had a Facebook post saying it will be available from 1 November.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

Ah ... So I can't buy it Wednesday

Last thing - Vodacom?

Let's wait and see at the local launch.

I’d agree with you, the phone is in the shops in some countries next week, no way in hell its still on pre-release firmware now.

The firmware would have been finalised and signed off 3-4 weeks ago.

Not every country is getting it at the same time.

 

[Tsepz_GP]

So I have decided to give Performance Mode a go today, this apparently makes the device run at peak performance all the time, however it does not feel that different from normal as the device is already fast. Wanted to see how the battery will last when in this mode. So far it's looking good, to the point where I think I will keep running the phone in this mode all the time, as I want to get the best out of this Kirin980 as possible