Why I'm using a Huawei Mate 30 Pro By Android Central

When, it comes to the ideal phone we'll have our own individual preferences, things that a new handset has to do to get and keep our attention. Maybe it's fast software or great battery life or a phenomenal screen. Now I've used pretty much every top-end Android phone for the past year or so it might surprise you to learn which one is still my daily driver. It is in fact, this thing: the Huawei Mate 30 pro the phone without any Google after the box, the phone which, until recently you couldn't even buy here in Europe, so why have I been using this phone below past six months, even with countless other flagship options available to me and the obvious compromises involved. I'm going to get a few caveats out of the way before we go any further. The elephant in the room here is obviously this phone's lack of Google services out of the box and as someone who is fully bought into the Google ecosystem, that's something that I really do need in my phone's boys.

App gallery. Storefront is making progress for sure, as is its Huawei mobile services platform. But right now there is still plenty of gaps there, meaning it need to get basic everyday apps like Instagram from an AP camera size. Instead. Fortunately, though, I was able to get Google services running on this phone, and officially I used the LA played on that method back in September.

That method no longer works, but if you need to get Google on AM 8:30 today, there's another method that involves restoring a backup from the hi suite backup software. It's worth noting that neither Huawei no googles lawyers approve of this unofficial method so take that for what it is for the most part, though, once that's done, this functions pretty much like a certified Google Android phone. In fact, it's probably easier to briefly list what doesn't work once you side load GMS onto the mate 30 giggle assistant can be used, but there's no way to set a quick activation gesture. Anything using Google's safety net authentication won't work, so that means some banking, apps, Netflix and Google Pay are out of the question also was an aside I found. The phone is a bit more aggressive in managing apps running.

In the background, though, that may just be because I'm using the mainland Chinese version of this phone- those are all compromises sure, but for me none of them are really deal-breakers, so why am I still using the May 30 Pro, despite these trade-offs? Well, first, this phone is supremely fast. The May 30 pros the first ownership, with Wally's new Carbon 990 chipset, and between that and all of Huawei's various software optimizations. The phone hasn't skipped a beat in the past half year of use and for the record, that's half a year without any factory resets or anything like that. Always biometrics are also second to none, at least in the Android space. The optical fingerprint scanner is as quick and accurate as the best out there and face unlock is near instantaneous as well.

The front-facing not may appear unsightly compared to many of the designs we have in early 2020, but the reason I don't mind. It is because of what it can do beyond just face recognition. The scanner works all the time to take the angle of your face, so your apps will rotate with you. Even if the position of the phone doesn't change- and you can add to that some pretty neat gesture controls, including this one for literally grabbing a screenshot- and there are the biggest reasons I've stuck it out with this phone- is the battery life, which is the best of any device. I've used for most kinds of views, it's easily a multi-day phone, and it stands up exceptionally well to heavy use.

In addition to that, in the past few months, I've done things like unplug it at 5:00 a. m. take it on a flight, then take it to a bunch of events, including photography and cellular tearing, and it still had juice left to listen to your podcast at around 10 p. m. at the end of the day.

That's the kind of epic longevity. That's really ruined, most other phones for me and when I do need to recharge I've, appreciated the 40 watt, wired and 27 watt wireless charging. The former can restore a flagging mate 30 to life. In about the time it takes to take a shower and get changed, and the latter makes those opportunistic top-ups throughout the day more meaningful. As you'll know if you've seen our mobile photography II course, I am big on phone cameras, the May 30 pros my favorite of 2019, and it's doing pretty well so far gets what we've seen in 2020.

It's got a quad camera array with a giant ray beam main sensor, any wide-angle center sensor and a 3 x, telephoto, augmented by a time-of-flight depth sensor, there's plenty of versatility to this setup. But what I've really appreciated is the same great 40 megapixel sensor found in the P30 Pro now made better by the superior processing of the Kieran 990 I've, taken some of my favorite photos of the year with a mate 30 Pro, including low-light scenes without having to rely on night mode and close-up shots using the wide-angle which, thanks to the improved sensor and optics, captures beautiful both. Always video capabilities have also massively improved in the May 30 Pro a generation ago. Even the flagship phones from this brand struggled with basic things like video stabilization. Now, thanks to the new wide-angle center sensor and the extra horsepower on offer, the May 30 probe can produce video 4k 30 of such quality.

That I can actually use it on videos on this channel, but there are some parts of this phone that I've not loved but merely tolerated over the past few months. The waterfall screen is one of those things. It is visually impressive to see the display simply melt away around the sides of the glass, but it is also a usability challenge. Some apps need to be tweaked in the settings to not display over the sides, including keyboard apps, which can be a little tricky and the gesture to change volume levels while pretty intuitive is a hassle to adjust in the middle of a phone call. And yes, the way, while weighs emu software handles things like notifications to is yet another pet hate.

But on balance, I found this to be a really capable phone, even with all the weirdness and inherit compromises. If you choose to use Huawei's app store as they keep saying, it is a trade-off. You have to care a lot about superior battery performance and camera till if with a phone that has a smaller app load out, but after side loading, Google services I'm happy to make those trade-offs now I'm, not the normal phone buyer, and I'm quite happy to side load Google services onto a phone like this, but depending on who you are perhaps that won't apply to you. Nevertheless, there's no doubt in my mind this is an excellent power user phone. If you're willing to deal with that extra little of maintenance, that's it for now be sure to subscribe here on YouTube, so you don't miss or upcoming videos and check out more make dirty coverage on android central.

com. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time, you.

Source : Android Central