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  • jabber - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    I have to remind myself...these are phones?
  • StrangerGuy - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Gotta really see the reaction from the DSLR diehards on this one.
  • philehidiot - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    I don't understand. DSLR photography is a totally different ballgame to mobile phone photography. I'd say phones like this make compact cameras almost totally irrelevant.

    DSLR photography is a different kettle of fish - can you even alter the aperture on these phones? Now if you're buying a DSLR for casual photography and never plan to change from the kit lens and just keep it on auto, then yeh... these phones are kind of a kick in the teeth. To those of us for whom using a DSLR is an art and we have insane macro lenses, tripods and occasionally attach them to a telescope.... a good DSLR is going nowhere.

    Also, the qualitative beauty of the dynamic range of a DSLR is something subtle and can make or break a photo. Phones tend to go for brash, impactful but ultimately flat photos. You go "wow" when you see them but you can't compare them to the subtle beauty created by a DSLR sensor when used properly by someone who actually cares to do more than point and shoot.
  • emn13 - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    DSLR's are almost certainly dead in the medium to near term, even for professional use. What I *really* can't wait for is the kind of imaging that's going to possible once this kind of advanced processing is *combined* with higher-end optical systems, as should be possible even on compacts and mirrorless systems. Full-frame is all hyped up and stuff, but the optical sweet spot is almost certainly smaller; the kind of apertures possible even on aps-C and 1-inch sensors are quite sufficient for almost impractically small depth of field; and really, that's optically the *only* advantage there is (at least - assuming people would bother to sell high-end lenses for smaller sensors, which they currently do not).

    I mean, can you imagine something like this on even just an rx-100 style body? Ideally available in versions with zoom or prime? It would be completely bonkers, and portability isn't that much worse than a modern smartphone.
  • Frenetic Pony - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Ahh, the usual internet "experts". The hilarious part is even thinking SLR's are somehow cutting edge, which shows how behind everyone here is. Every camera company now has a mirrorless version, which actually different as it's not an SLR at all, for one!

    I'm just a casual, hobbyist photographer. But my older, APSC mirrorless camera absolutely CRUSHES my Galaxy s8 in terms of image quality, even with the custom Pixel camera APK installed. And I want a newer camera as I'm severely limited in dynamic range, lowlight image quality, and what resolution I can get good images at (4k just isn't doable). Not to mention my image edges are still soft even with a nice prime lens.

    Maybe in a few years, when those smartphone and "Light" partnerships show up, and they pair up like 5 cameras into one image successfully, then big sensor mirrorless cameras time will be limited. But for now, there's no contest.
  • philehidiot - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    How arrogant. So we are using DSLR as a descriptor for brevity and you decide to use that as some way of proving we are all wrong. No, there just isn't a handy accronym for mirrorless big ass camera with interchangeable lenses. You know perfectly well what we were discussing so why not add to that discussion rather than being picky for the sake of it? And yes, a decent large sensor will, in the right hands, destroy a phone but they are different propositions.
  • tuxRoller - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    https://petapixel.com/2018/03/14/death-dslrs-near/
  • s.yu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    I advise you to stop reading Petapixel, those people are more amateur than GSMArena (who do a pretty good job despite the name) and Androidauthority (who are real amateurs) when it comes to image quality review so I don't know if they're actually qualified.
  • jabber - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    I think I've been reading 'the death of DSLRs' for at least 12 years. If it is a death its a very loooooong one.
  • zodiacfml - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link

    No. emn13 knows what he's talking about. I'm I die hard RAW shooter of APSC cameras but high end smartphones definitely comes close considering the size, features, and cost. I did not expect smartphones to come this close so soon as I always believed size is everthing in image quality.
    Limited to a 4k display, it is really close to an APSC camera with a kit lens.
  • boozed - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Yeah nah
  • s.yu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    https://1drv.ms/u/s!Apr9zBuBUufHgaMUssv4Mh1vuyVh0g
    This is P30P's often bragged about "50x zoom" at default magnification i.e. "zoomed out" vs. a 1" at "8x" zoom at 100% magnification. So you see with a premium compact like the Sony RX100IV or even a cheap one like Panasonic's ZS110 your *real optical* zoom combined with cropping could get you over "100x zoom" in Huawei's terms of usability.
    Huawei could get you 5x but that's also worse than the 1" results notable at a glance except I forgot to make a screenshot of that.
    Compacts are not dead.
  • s.yu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Typo, I meant the RX100VI.
  • Quantumz0d - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    First thank you for posting that RX100 series shot. Some people think that real cameras are dead because of smartphones and their SW Gimmicks. The HW limitations truly show their stand. Not even Sony RX but even the old legend Nokia Pureview 808 or the Lumia 1020 have real purpose massive sensor with Xenon flash.

    Its a shame how so many cameras are being tacked on for marketing purposes, esp that night mode which kills the natural scene with over exposed unnaturally lit shot, a fake perception and deception.
  • boozed - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    I thought the best part was the mainstream media fearmongering about the phone because of its "50x zoom". As if this is the first device to have a long focal length.
  • s.yu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    It may be the first phone to allow 10x digital crop directly in the camera app though...?
  • crotach - Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - link

    DSLR has nothing to fear from these phones, it's a completely different world. MILC is taking care of the death of DSLR, but it will be a long and arduous death.

    Phones like these are responsible for the death of small compact cameras. These days I only see people buying the compact shooters for their kids, because they're much cheaper than a flagship phone. Give it a few more years and I doubt you'll find many compact cameras in the shops.
  • katsetus - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Next time I'm planning a vacation, I'll keep Luxembourg in mind.
  • Speedfriend - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Apple is just so far behind in the camera now. Although having bought a P30 Pro, its speed in everyday use seems no faster and possibly slower than my Pixel 2 XL was. Battery life is insane though. Whereas my Pixel 2 XL was dead by the evening, the P30 Pro can make it to the next afternoon
  • star-affinity - Thursday, May 9, 2019 - link

    At least the Iphones has video recording using 4K@60fps and the colours tend to be more natural compared to the P30 Pro in the comparisons I've seen. But sure the P30 Pro has many other advantages such as that nsane zoom and great low light performance.
  • Speedfriend - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Andrei, in your conclusion, your say battery life of the S10+ is much better yet I see forums full of people complaining of terrible battery life. Has this now been fixed with updates?
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Yes the latest firmware has resolved the idle drain issue.
  • austinsguitar - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    ^ can confirmed they did some magic last update. thanks samsung.
  • niva - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Wow, Samsung updates their phones? That's something new. Don't get used to it.
  • philehidiot - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    I've got an S8 and it gets regular updates. Mostly for security but it got Android Pi recently as well as a host of other updates including camera software which added a few new features. Maybe it's different when it's not a flagshit model but in my experience, their updates aren't bad.

    What is more interesting is that my phone is beginning to slow down just a little. Introducing just enough lag that, as it comes to upgrade time, I'm moving towards upgrading rather than keeping.

    Funny that. Well played, Samsung. Well played.
  • The Chill Blueberry - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Whats up with the Camera - Extreme Low-Light Evaluation paragraph? Trying Latin journalism?
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Placeholder Lorem Ipsum! Overlooked that block, corrected now, thank you.
  • pk1489 - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    I want to know p30pro whether have two versions(China/International). I get some information from Chinese forum. The Chinese version p30pro used BOE oled and International version used LG oled.
    Those oled have some different such as pixel arrangement.
  • Robyee - Monday, March 2, 2020 - link

    I wonder how it is possible to check whether the display of the P30 PRO is BOE or LG
  • eastcoast_pete - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    @Andrei: Thanks for this review! Two questions about the video recording part: is the 40 MP sensor used in 4 to 1 binning mode when recording 4K videos, and can the P30 Pro record in 10 bit HDR? Also, any comments on the bitrates used for 4K30 and 1080p60 are appreciated. Thanks!
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    The sensor should be in 4:1 binning mode, otherwise the dynamic range would be much worse.

    No 10-bit HDR or HDR recording.

    4K30: 40Mbps AVC High@5.1 // 25Mbps HEVC High@L5
    FHD60: 25Mbps AVC High@4.2 // 16Mbps HEVC Main@4.1

    The bit-rates are quite low.
  • eastcoast_pete - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Thanks Andrei! The low bit rates are unfortunate, and likely hurt the quality of the video. If you still have the P30 Pro, could you try the Android app "Open Camera" and see if that allows for higher bit rate recording?
    In general, I don't get why so many phone manufacturers are hamstringing even their flagships like that. At least give users the option of recording at higher bit rate. These days, even many affordable mainstream microSD cards support write speeds of 60 Mb/s and up.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    In Open Camera:

    AVC tops out at 25Mbps at 4K30 for some reason.
    HEVC can be set to 80Mbps in the settings and results in a 62Mbps file at 4K30.
  • eastcoast_pete - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Thanks Andrei! Appreciate it! Any comments on how the 80 Mbps video looked like?
    I suggested to try this to a. learn what the phone hardware can support and b. hopefully motivate/shame Huawei (and others) with your results to improve their camera software. If Open Camera can go up to 80 Mbps in 4K HEVC recording, the phone is clearly capable of higher bitrates than Huawei uses. As someone interested in digital video, I always want to acquire at the highest bit rate possible, and then compress afterwards (thank you, Handbrake team!). Throwing out data is easy, re-creating details is hard or impossible. Also, higher bit rates generally reduce compression artifacts.
  • s.yu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Hey Andrei, I've been looking at the 40MP shots of the P20P, 30P, and Mate20P, and a very peculiar thing I noticed is that both the P20P and 30P have false color interpolation artifacts, while the Mate20P avoids that; but in terms of chroma noise, Mate20P and P30P are on the same level, while in terms of texture aggregation, the P20P and Mate20P behave similarly.

    So the suppression of the interpolation artifacts doesn't seem to be due to chroma NR, nor is it in any way correlated to sharpening, *nor is it CFA-bound*, as the P20P shares a CFA with Mate20P while P30P uses RYYB. So do you have any idea why this might be?

    I've been examining the area below the left half of the bridge for chroma noise and the pale-looking tree there exhibits a lot of interpolation artifacts in the P20P/30P shots:
    https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/7027/P30Pro...
    https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/7027/Mate20...
    https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/7027/P20Pro...
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    I think all of it is just results of the lens; if you check the centre of other images they all look fine, but it gets worse and worse off-centre for the P20P and P30P.
  • s.yu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Hmmm, I couldn't think of an optical artifact with that kind of behavior...I don't think CA would be especially evident on foliage especially when the lighting of the scene renders it very low contrast. Basically in that really typical scene you're seeing blobs of other colors (which are not actually present) in a cloud of yellowish green.

    I chose another set and this time there's orange artifacts in the green bush in the center of the scene possibly with magenta artifacts in white or very faintly pink flowers slightly above it(the generally uniform color of the petals seem artificially "split" by the P30P between magenta and white, but I'm not really sure), again neither are visible on bayer or Mate20P.
    https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/7025/P30Pro...
    https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/7025/Mate20...
    https://images.anandtech.com/galleries/7025/Pixel3...
    It isn't so obvious in the P20P shot, but the severe texture aggregation rendered it impossible to tell. Usually for these artifacts to show, the pattern's frequency has to be high enough.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    It's hard to separate sensor effects from post-processing effects. Another thing to take into account is that the P30P sends RYYB data directly to the ISP where things get recomputed. It can be either a DTI issues on the sensor, an ISP recombination issue, or simply a senseless noise reduction filter.
  • neothe0ne - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    It looks like the speaker evaluation is missing from the review?
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    I'll be re-adding that soon / tomorrow, I wanted to add a part regarding stereo separation.

    In general the speaker is good, however it's still a mono bottom firing speaker.
  • SwordOS - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    @Andrei, you're saying the galaxy s10+ battery life is better than the p30 pro's one, but reviewers everywhere are still saying that the battery life on the p30pro is phenomenal and you can hit 2 days of usage, while with the s10+ (and s10) you can barely hit one day of usage. Also, the difference in battery life between wifi and 4g with the galaxy s10+ (at least for the exynos variant) seems to be way more noticeable than on the p30pro. Did you also try these phones in a real day of usage? Maybe benchmarks cannot be translated to real life usage..
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    > and you can hit 2 days of usage, while with the s10+ (and s10) you can barely hit one day of usage

    Such claims are just bollocks. I have the S10+ Exynos as a daily and I'm sitting at 47% at 2 days with 5h screentime. Similarly the P30 Pro isn't bad but it just doesn't last as long due to the base power simply being 120mW less efficient.
  • SwordOS - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    so are all european reviewers lying except you? I trust you, but this is strange
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Yes, most European reviewers have their data wrong. It's because they didn't identify some firmware issues and got the articles out as soon as possible. I identified the issues and avoided it for the review; meanwhile Samsung has issued firmware updates at the end of March which fixed the drain issues. Of course those reviews weren't updated.
  • SwordOS - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Did drain issues occurred only after making a voip call or even for other reasons?
  • RMerlin - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    "Huawei still uses Broadcom BCM4359 WiFi combo chips" AFAIK, they use a HiSilicon Hi1103.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Went and checked again, you're right. I was tricked by the phone still coming with the BCM4359 firmware.
  • s.yu - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Now why do they have Broadcom firmware if they use their own modem?
  • N Zaljov - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Probably BSP leftovers. Some Hi3680-based boards still use a BCM4359, and since most of the devices will rely on the same BSP (with minor little additions like bindings for the various different batteries, displays etc. that Huawei uses), they most probably just kept the Broadcom stuff in there.
  • nicolaim - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    749€ for a phone with no OIS, no waterproofing, and no wireless charging? No thanks.
  • Quantumz0d - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Good camera review, their auto mode looks good at night but the low light photography in smartphone arena is heavily faked. Be it Google insane algorithm for creating unnatural light or th damn Huawei night mode with HW. I think its too fake and perhaps they do have advantages in some situations but going from a dark room to a lit room is bad in my book.

    Next up the stupid curved glass copy they did from Samsung needs shaming. Plus its a waste that distortion of image is horrible and the damn construction is weak, see Jerry rig for it.

    Then the worst parts - NanoSD ? WTF, please call them out for this, proprietary storages ? That's anti consumer, I use my SGS with 200GB SD card yes the 10Yr old phone with replaced battery and Fat32 works. And same in my iPods and V30S, and it works in PC without any stupid gimmicks or bloat.

    Finally Andrei, I know your contribution to Samsung Exynos S9 disaster, it was only possible because it allows Bootloader unlock. That's the most powerful feature of Android and its principles of GNU GPL.

    This Huawei junk is blocking access to that officially and in India I read the service centers demand DL for their Honor subsidiary, XDA portal people sold their soul to Huawei and OnePlus now their contract expired for OP and Huawei I guess. This is another massive hole in Huawei devices. I have every doubt about the firmware and SoCs from this CPC company I would really wish to have a Bootloader unlock for all their portfolio subsidiaries and themselves. Its bad, no ownership choice is horrible given how their EMUI blocks lot of stuff and notorious for its control over background processes.

    You should include that in your reviews, please.

    Thank you.
  • Quantumz0d - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Also thank you for mentioning the 3.5mm jack and the stupid mono speaker in 2019. LG is Audio champion since a long time and hopefully they will retain that with their top class ESS Sabre implementation moving ahead. Also to note, LG and their new G8 has zero bumps which is a feat along with the Crystal Sound they call. Looking forward for piece.
  • zeeBomb - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    You guys should take a look of MrWhoseTheBoss and his videos about this amazing phone. Such a shame you can't get it in carriers in the Americas, but man oh man.
  • Ian Cutress - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    >You guys should take a look of MrWhoseTheBoss and his videos about this amazing phone.

    Any specific reason? You haven't exactly said why.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link

    My bad. Sorry for the late reply too, he talks primarily about the sensor of the P30 Pro and its usefulness in Low Light. Just a suggestion to take a look.
  • bogda - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    I think this statement: "...Huawei continues the senseless design choice of including a headphone jack on the smaller model while skipping it on the larger and more expensive P30 Pro.", makes much more sense if it is changed just a little bit into:
    "Huawei continues the senseless design choice of skipping a headphone jack on larger and more expensive P30 Pro while including it on the smaller model."
  • Awful - Thursday, April 18, 2019 - link

    Great review but still missing half the picture when it comes to the camera. Time-of-flight sensor? Graduated blur based on depth map? Portrait/face lighting? People are the most photographed and most interesting subjects. Even if it's a mannequin with a wig for repeatability!
  • s.yu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Portrait lighting has been gimmicky for a few generations now. Regarding ToF, IIRC only the Nokia 9 has the proper implementation. Still there are pixel grade deviations and some people aren't satisfied. Personally if I were to add fake bokeh that precision would be enough for me.
  • Awful - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link

    Yeah, they weren't really meant to be separate concerns- they're all factors contributing to portraits. I.e. how the exposure is chosen, how the depth is mapped to the bokeh/blue, how edge detection is done and masked for blurring, how AI/ML is used to make adjustments etc. All great computational photography stuff...that this review is silent on.
  • Lau_Tech - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Hi Andrei, as a s10 exynos owner, was interested to see your updated comparison pics between the snapdragon and exynos. Looking at the pics from ur S10 review and now, it seems to me that the gap has closed substantially especially in daytime photos? What do you think?
  • hawkie - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    So advanced and yet still unable to adjust notifications volume separate from ringing volume.
  • s.yu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    I know that the volume control of some apps are just broken, for example Wechat will destroy your hearing passing the ringtone through the earphones at maximum volume if somebody calls using the VoIP function while you're wearing IEMs listening to music. This app probably has a billion users, it's ****ing ridiculous and extremely annoying.
  • amosbatto - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    Let's see whether the P30 and P30 Pro pass my standard for what is important in a smartphone:
    1. Removable battery: No.
    1A. If not removable, how hard is it to crack open the case to replace the battery:
    Pretty hard. iFixit gives the P30 Pro a repairability score of 4/10. It is very hard to pry open the case without breaking the glass back. In other words you are probably going to throw away this device after 2-3 years when the battery is degraded.
    2. How well will it survive drops? Probably not well.
    2A. How hard is it to replace the screen and the glass back panel if broken? Hard and expensive.
    3. MicroSD slot for memory expansion: No. It has expensive proprietary memory.
    4. Can I root the phone? No
    5. Can I unlock the bootloader? No
    6. Can I install LineageOS? Never. All info on the Kirin SoC is proprietary.
    7. How long will Huawei offer updates? 24 months with updates every 2 months, which is decent for Android, but not as good as the Pixel 2 and 3 which will get 3 years of updates or Apple which is 4-5 years.

    In other words, I can only expect to use the P30/P30 Pro for 2 years and I can only do what Huawei wants me to do with the phone. I'll pass. Strange how little attention Anandtech pays to these issues in its reviews.

    I am now so fed up with the mobile industry, that I preordered the Purism Librem 5, because at least Purism respects my rights as a user.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    > 4. Can I root the phone? No
    > 5. Can I unlock the bootloader? No
    > 6. Can I install LineageOS? Never. All info on the Kirin SoC is proprietary.
    > Strange how little attention Anandtech pays to these issues in its reviews.

    Speaking as somebody who used to compile his own kernels on his smartphones; it doesn't matter. I don't even root nowdays. The vast majority of readers will not, and I say that they should not care about these things. There is simply no benefit to the user experience.

    > It is very hard to pry open the case without breaking the glass back.

    I've opened plenty of glass back phones and replaced the batteries, it's not terribly hard. The glass backs are also a lot tougher than you think.

    > 2A. How hard is it to replace the screen and the glass back panel if broken? Hard and expensive.

    Glass back is very easy. Screen is something that no phone of the last few years will be easy to replace anymore.

    > 7. How long will Huawei offer updates? 24 months with updates every 2 months, which is decent for Android, but not as good as the Pixel 2 and 3 which will get 3 years of updates or Apple which is 4-5 years.

    Fair enough and true. All Android vendors do lag behind Apple.
  • Quantumz0d - Friday, April 19, 2019 - link

    >The vast majority of readers will not, and I say that they should not care about these things. There is simply no benefit to the user experience.

    Wrong, I've seen so many people commenting on the articles here about the Bootloader unlock for Huawei phones specially and also how the Android is devolving with killing hidden APIs to disable all developer powerful programming skills, for instance Devcheck by Elemental X dev needed to go full Root else the app wont work. Nova Launcher needs root for D2W functionality.

    Draw over other apps is dead, Clipboard access is dead officially, and so many other ton of restrictions how about you read up on Scoped Storage mentioned here by a hardcore Android Developer on the Google's intent on dumbing down Android ?

    https://commonsware.com/blog/2019/03/28/death-exte...

    https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/128591846

    Anandtech technical insight "write-ups" are not some YouTube mainstream pleb "talk" instead they focus on extremely geeky stuff. This is exactly what power users care for. As an XDA member every thread there focuses on EAS and other kernel optimizations which go perfectly in line with the AT pieces done by you and Matt.

    Root users are less indeed and it's becoming more scarce that doesn't mean you can write off that part entirely. Android by it's right uses GNU GPL V2 and the abusers like MediaTek are left in a dumpster oblivion without a lending hand to make the software patching for the end users like how the community does it for *FREE* when the OEM abandons them and how Qcomm CAF contributed which made them so popular and welcoming for the developers, Running RR 7.1.2 with latest patch thanks to community else that OS was outdated and left in dust.

    And I have an LG V30S as well go to WTF thread on XDA and see how many people root that phone, that's not even a OnePlus or Xiaomi phone which are mostly customization centric and root friendly devices. And LG screwed up the DTS X patch in their Official Software update for US998, and guess what ? Community helped it by modifying the Build.prop with ROOT and enable that functionality. Same goes for the G7 EQ app on the V30, with Magisk. So this is not user experience ? and the ESS HiFi mode as well. All this is for one phone.

    I think you underestimate AT readers with normal Mainstream people. Sad
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link

    > Wrong, I've seen so many people commenting on the articles here

    That's just a loud minority, you have a warped view of general users.

    > Anandtech technical insight "write-ups" are not some YouTube mainstream pleb "talk" instead they focus on extremely geeky stuff. This is exactly what power users care for.

    Deep-dives such as on Apple's SoCs and µarch are not for power users, they're for the technically curious. There is overlap in this audience, but you're overestimating it.

    > Android by it's right uses GNU GPL V2 and the abusers like MediaTek are left in a dumpster

    *Android* isn't GPL. The kernel is, and MediaTek VENDORS (they have the responsibility) largely adhere to it.

    > I think you underestimate AT readers with normal Mainstream people.

    I think I have a good view on who most AT readers are, they're not mainstream people, but they're also definitely not persons like yourself.
  • Quantumz0d - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link

    Okay. I may have overestimated. But that doesn't explicitly give an impression that Root / BL unlock / Custom ROM are completely useless / lacks any UX improvement because there is a fair share of people using Lineage OS (1.73 Million active installs as we speak -> stats.lineageos.org) and quoting AT articles directly at XDA for new devices.

    Another instance apart from my own device, the MIUI OS it has tons of Ads. How do you block it ? you need root or BL unlock to improve the user experience be it root or flashing another custom ROM OS or the Pixel GCAM mods with Magisk modules without breaking stuff here and there because system app locations and etc are complicated for even an intermediate user when uninstalling or etc.

    Rooting is like getting the keys to your castle back and own it and feel responsible, not handling the keys to the corporations and rely on other entities, which most of us enjoy this part doesn't matter just wanted to mention it.

    I think, a little mentioning of BL unlock and acknowledging it (for ownership of the HW one paid) doesn't hurt anyone (Idk if it hurts AT from Huawei POV like how Samsung avoided you out for showing the truth, if that's a case then it's an unfortunate situation that consumer is put in dark)

    Thanks
  • jabber - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link

    Yeah rooting is so 2012. I did it back then (Nexus 4 days) and nightly builds and to be honest it was a waste of life.

    I do not know ANYONE now personally that roots their phone or puts custom builds on it. Just not worth the effort.

    It's only important to a small minority on tech forums. Unfortunately, those kind of people have little perspective of 'normal life' and 'normal people'.
  • BabelHuber - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link

    I think you are confusing rooting with "permanently messing with a device" 😎

    Also for me the days of custom ROMs and nightlies are over, but I still have a rooted Pixel 2 XL and could hardly use it without root, even though I am on the stock ROM.

    The blinding white UI of Android 5 to Android 9 I couldn't stand, so I painted it black with Substratum for years. Night and day difference for me.

    My phone had a multitouch bug for months, but there was a Magisk module to fix this.

    Google switched off Pixel 3 camera features which my phone is perfectly capable to handle (they gradually added them, though). No need to mess around with hacked Google cameras, a simple build.prop change fixed this.

    System-wide add blocking FTW!

    So each month I apply the new patch now, then I flash TWRP and Magisk. Afterwards, it's Substratum's time to turn everything black again. Finally, I activate the ad blocker again and quickly change some values in the build.prop.
    This is 20 minutes of time every month, and I think it's well spent.
  • Andrei Frumusanu - Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - link

    Everything you mention Samsung had for years, out of the box, without root.
  • BabelHuber - Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - link

    Just try to fix a bug via Magisk without root, or install a system-wide ad blocker (not only in the browser, but for each and any app). Or try to install a black overlay on WhatsApp or Instagram with the Samsung theme engine 🙄

    No, you simply don't get the features of substratum and Magisk without root.
  • zeeBomb - Monday, May 6, 2019 - link

    Any specificiations of the Purism 5? Enticing device, looks like it's taking a jab to BBM...
  • marko94 - Saturday, April 20, 2019 - link

    im an accountant and tech lover, but until i have a reliable information of the actual cost of manufacturing a device, i wont necessarily call it overpriced. expensive. maybe, not overpriced. there's a difference.
  • cpkennit83 - Sunday, April 21, 2019 - link

    Average selling price will be down by 250€ in 2 months. If thats not proof enought the device is overpriced i dont know what is. Not specific to Huawei though, Samsung does it too. Only Apple and One plus tend tonstick to the same price for the entire life of the device
  • MightyGadget - Sunday, April 21, 2019 - link

    I had exactly the same thoughts on the 5x telephoto zoom, which I have not seen many people mention. I did use the phone at the same time as the Black Shark 2 recently and loved having the zoom over 2x that the Black Shark offered, but I think 3x is a bit more versatile. But yeah, in most cases, I think people will benefit from the low light photography more than 5x & 10x zoom.
    They should just add another 3x telephoto lens for next years model!
  • WPX00 - Monday, April 22, 2019 - link

    The value equation with the S10 is wildly better for the P30 here in Asia. In Indonesia:

    P30 8/128: IDR 10 million (709 USD)
    P30 Pro 8/256: IDR 13 million (922 USD)

    S10e 6/128: IDR 10.5 million (745 USD)
    S10 8/128: IDR 13 million (922 USD)
    S10+ 8/128: IDR 14 million (993 USD)

    The P30 is both lower priced and comes with double the storage of the base S10+, and is the same cost with the S10 vanilla with double the storage.
  • s.yu - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    You do get a notably worse screen, speakers, and SoC with the P30, also the expensive proprietary storage, and the build is questionable as they're still holding on to the scratchable plastic sandwich screen construction from the P20.
    To some people with certain needs the P30 may be of better value than the S10, but it's still the worst in value by far of almost all Chinese smartphones. At this price range go get a Reno 10x version, get a top tier Mi9, the latest Meizu or Oneplus 7 or anything else.
  • s.yu - Thursday, April 25, 2019 - link

    BTW, look for grey imported Samsung as they're often cheaper (I did a 10-second search and found the SD855 ver. 8/128 S10 at CNY4650 which is less than USD690 on Taobao, the Exynos ver. 8/128 S10 at CNY 4158, while the "official" local price is CNY5999, lol), whereas you probably won't find any grey imported Chinese smartphones. They're without official warranty but I'm on my third smartphone without a warranty and I've never encountered an issue nor regretted the savings.
  • ezekiel68 - Tuesday, April 23, 2019 - link

    That one time I read a review of the Huawei P30 family and came to understand that the Honor View20 was all I wanted and more at a better price. (Yes, I know it's the same parent company)
  • Roy2002 - Friday, April 26, 2019 - link

    Huawei has the best cameras now.
  • techgadgetgeek - Thursday, May 2, 2019 - link

    I bought one of these in Hong Kong. Use it with T-Mobile in California. So far so good. Pictures not too shabby. Two bad things are it came with Facebook Pre-Installed and I could not do a complete clean uninstall. Second bad part is if you go to Google Play and download a song you like from Google Play Music you can not find the song/file in the music file to set as a ringtone.
  • coho - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link

    weird how in the battery life tests you have the S10+ on top, followed very closely by the P20 Pro, and then the P30 Pro last by a wider delta.

    GSMArena paint the P30 Pro top, followed by the 10+, and lastly the P20 Pro.....with relatively larger deltas??? Particularly as web browsing (of interest to me) is a specific test in both situations?
  • coho - Friday, May 10, 2019 - link

    https://www.gsmarena.com/battery-test.php3?idPhone...
  • Robyee - Monday, March 2, 2020 - link

    I am very baffled by the verification of the display compared to that of the Samsung S10 Plus, also because in the diagrams shown i do not think there are huge distances between the P30 Pro and S10 Plus, both for the colors and for brightness.
    And i was told by those who tested them both that visually they did not notice huge quality differences.
    I have to be honest i didn't have an S10 and i don't know if that's the case, maybe the display for the European market is better?

    As for photos Huawei also in June, if I'm not mistaken, updated the camera software to have better performance and more natural colors
  • MSCH72 - Wednesday, March 4, 2020 - link

    I believe even in March 2020, the P30 pro is a pretty good camera. I wonder how the next generation phones such as the Xiaomi Mi 10 pro (claiming to have really good photographic capabilities) look like in this comparison?

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