MANILA -- Buying a flagship phone minus the "pro" or "plus" branding is like flying premium economy instead of business class, such is the case of the Huawei Mate 30.
The pocket-friendlier sibling of the Mate 30 Pro packs the same Kirin 990 processor, Leica-engineered cameras and EMUI 10 as on the Mate 30 Pro. All but the fourth depth-sensing rear camera and the fancy curved sides.
This year, Apple differentiated its 2019 models with a "pro" branding for the higher-end model, which costs as much as its base model MacBook Pro. It's a recognition that consumers are growing more cost conscious as manufacturers, especially the Chinese like Huawei, Vivo and Oppo are offering flagship features for less.
NON-PRO AT WHAT COST?
On paper, the size difference between the Mate 30 (6.62 inches) and the Mate 30 Pro (6.53 inches) seems small, but are more pronounced in the hand thanks to the less expensive model's flat panel and smaller notch. Both OLED displays are sharp with vivid colors, especially reds.
The Mate 30 Pro's notch is bigger to accommodate the face unlock cameras, but not as obtrusive as the iPhone 11 series or the Google Pixel 4, which is huge.
The Mate 30 has a 4,200 mAh battery compared to 4,500 mAh on the pro, but both can go from sunrise to late night comfortably without a midday top-up. This includes browsing on Instagram and Chrome, taking photos, watching YouTube videos and answering emails and messages.
Minus work correspondence on weekends, the Mate 30 can go from Saturday to Sunday. For the first time, too, the non-pro Mate charges wirelessly.
Like the Mate 30 Pro, the Mate 30 runs on Huawei's Kirin 990 with 8GB of RAM, but on board storage is at 128GB, half the 256GB on the Mate 30 Pro.
HOW ARE THE CAMERAS?
The Mate 30 has 3 cameras on the back, a 40-megapixel "super sensing" main camera with f/1.8 aperture, a 16-megapixel ultra wide with f/2.2 aperture and an 8-megapixel telephoto with f/2.4 aperture.
The Mate 30 Pro has two 40-megapixel cameras on the rear: a "cine camera" with f/1.8 aperture and a "super sensing" camera with f/1.6 aperture. It also has an 8-megapixel telephoto with f/2.4 aperture and a fourth depth-sensing lens, like the P30 Pro from earlier in the year.
The circular camera array on the back of the Mate 30 mimics that of the Mate 30 Pro, but it has 3 lenses instead of 4. The performance is also close, especially in the dark, where Huawei has performed well since the P20 series from 2018.
More than the camera specs, what differentiates the current crop of smartphone cameras is how their computational photography software works. Huawei's Master AI tends to make red, blue and green hues pop, ditching the need for an Instagram filter.
In these dusk shots of the Rockwell skyline in Makati, a zoomed in shot heightened the red while the wide shot differentiated the blue from the red.
When the on-board AI detects more pavement and concrete than sky, like in this wide shot of EDSA, it sharpens the head and tail lights of the crush of cars and buses.
The Mate 30 took bright and clear shots of Christmas displays around the city, albeit cooler than the night modes on the iPhone 11 Pro Max and the Galaxy Note 10+.
The Mate 30 can zoom up to 30 times like the Mate 30 Pro, but the zoomed images on the pro had less noise.
Wide shots have less distortion compared to the Mate 20. Close up shots of objects and food are clear and bright.
WHO IS IT FOR?
The Mate 30 is a solid phone, both on its own, and as an alternative to the Mate 30 Pro. It's fast, lasts all day and packs the Leica cameras that consumers look for in a Huawei smartphone.
The P16,000 savings from the Pro is also enough to save, or splurge on a Huawei Watch GT 2 with some P5,000 left to spare, or a nice pair of noise-cancelling wireless earbuds.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MANILA -- The twin phones in the Mate series has always been about paying extra for a flashier design and a few extras versus saving money for an understated version that has the same core.
The Mate 30 series is P16,000 cheaper than the P50,990 Mate 30 Pro. Add P2,000 and you can buy a Nova 5T, by itself a phone that punches above its price point.
It's easy to dismiss the Mate 30 as a budget-friendlier version, but in our initial hands-on, it's shaping up to be a solid flagship on its own, considering the competition.
The Mate 30 has a 6.67 inch Full HD 2340 x 1080 display. The screen is flat (which I prefer), unlike the ultra-curved "horizon" panel on the Mate 30 Pro, which is slightly smaller at 6.53 inches. It is bright and sharp, typical of Huawei OLEDs.
The biggest upgrade to the non-pro Mate this year is wireless charging, fast wireless charging at that. Freedom from cords that break is a convenience you wouldn't miss unless you use it everyday.
The Mate 30 has a 4,200 mAh cell, compared to 4,500 on mAh Pro. Both phones had enough juice for a day of heavy use well into the night. It helps that the screens don't max out at quad HD, which will require more power.
Like the Mate 30 Pro, the Mate 30 runs on Huawei's Kirin 990 processor and ships with EMUI 10, the phone-maker's zippiest interface yet.
The Mate 30 has 3 cameras, while the circular "halo ring" design will make it appear like it has 4 Leica shooters. It has a 40MP main camera at f/1.8 aperture, a 16MP ultra wide with f/2.2 and a 8MP telephoto with f/2.4 and OIS. The Mate 30 Pro has a fourth, depth-sensing camera.
The Mate 30 cameras also like the "cine" branding of its more expensive sibling, while both are "super sensing." We will tell the difference between the two in future tests. Here are some test shots:
Huawei's Mate 30 runs Android 10 and like the Mate 30 Pro, doesn't come with the Google Play Store out of the box. It retails for P34,990.
Consider late 2019 flagships that are marketed as budget-friendlier versions: The Galaxy Note 10 sells for P53,990 while the iPhone 11 starts at P47,990. The OnePlus 7T is cheaper at P32,990.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MUNICH -- Huawei will continue offering open-source Android on “outstanding hardware,” while encouraging developers with $1 billion (P52 billion) in incentives to build apps for its own platform, an official said.
The world’s second largest smartphone vendor is adopting a 3-point strategy: hardware, Huawei Mobile Services or HMS and EMUI, the Android version that runs on half a billion active devices, said Jervis Su, vice president for consumer mobile services of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group.
There are no “specific” plans yet to roll out Huawei’s own operating system, Harmony, Su said when asked when the first Harmony smartphone will be released.
The Mate 30 and Mate 30 Pro, unveiled here on Thursday, run on Android 10 and Huawei's EMUI 10. The devices will not ship with Google services out of the box due to a sales ban installed by US President Donald Trump.
“Huawei is in a position to provide outstanding hardware. We believe we can provide great services to the users and that is the most important thing for us,” Su said.
Like the Mate 30 series, Su said future Huawei devices would launch without Google Mobile Services or GMS. Current devices “will not be useless” and will continue to run GMS, he said.
“Will the situation change in the future? That is probably a question for President Trump,” he said.
Huawei said it was offering up to $1 billion in incentives to developers to create apps for its devices.
There are 1 million registered developers for Huawei Mobile Services, which can cater to 570 million active Huawei device owners in 170 countries, Su said.
“We have to work together with our partners,” Su told reporters here. “HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) is the platform, the partner will provide to the consumer.”
When translated to Chinese, the word crisis is spelled with two characters, the second of which means “opportunity,” Su said. “Whenever there is a crisis, it means opportunity for us.”
User demand will determine which apps will be available on the Huawei app store, Su said. Of the 1 million apps on offer, 10,000 are considered “frequently used,” he said.
“Regarding the download of apps, users can find other ways to download apps, for example, from webpages,” he said.
Huawei’s App Gallery, where users can download third-party applications has 390 million monthly active users, Su said. There are tens of millions of users for its proprietary apps, 200 million for Browser, 160 million for Cloud, 160 million for Music, 140 million for Assistant, 130 million for video and 70 million for themes.
Software developers and app developers, especially in the Asia-Pacific are “adapting” to Huawei’s predicament, Su said.
“The Mate 30 is facing an entirely new situation we have never seen before. In the wake of this situation, developers adapt to the current situation,” he said.
“We can only address the change,” he said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MUNICH -- Huawei on Thursday launched its 5G-capable Mate 30 line of smartphones, aiming to compete with Apple's iPhone 11 and Samsung's Galaxy Note.
The Mate 30 has 4 Leica-engineered lenses on the back, houses in a circular module that is designed to look like a professional camera. The wide, bokeh and low-light capture capabilities are carried over to video.
It is powered by Huawei's own Kirin 990 processor and a 4,500 mAh battery that can support fast charging of up to 40 watts with wires and 27 watts wireless. The wireless reverse charging for accessories is also 3 times faster, he said.
The new flagship phone runs Android 10 and EMUI 10, Yu said.
The sides of the 6.53-inch OLED panel curves to the edges, giving the illusion of a near borderless display.
A large part of the phone's glass back has a frosted finish, to prevent fingerprint smudging. Huawei is also offering the Mate 30 series in a vegan leather back option instead of glass.
Huawei also unveiled an array of accessories for photo and video including a gimbal that pairs instantly with the Mate 30 and a handheld studio light.
Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world's second largest smartphone vendor is positioning the Mate series for consumers who want the powerful phones for both work and play, pitting it against Samsung's Galaxy Note line.
For the first time, this year's Note came in two sizes, the Note 10 and 10+ and a more useful S-Pen stylus with gesture controls and handwriting recognition. Like premium Huawei phones, the Note 10+ also has 4 AI-assisted cameras.
Apple slashed the price on its entry-level handset, now simply called iPhone 11 with two cameras for wide and ultra-wide capture. The two other iPhones with 3 rear cameras and OLED screens instead of LCD now carry "Pro" branding.
"This year is quite a challenging year for Huawei. In tough times, we still achieved growth," Huawei consumer business group CEO Richard Yu said, citing a 26-percent jump in smartphone sales in the January to August period.
The Mate 20 series sold 16 million units and the P30 series, 17 million, Yu said.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
MUNICH -- Huawei will unwrap here on Thursday its Mate 30 series of premium devices as the world's second largest smartphone vendor defends its market share.
Shenzhen-based Huawei has teased 5G, improved low-light camera performance, slow-motion capture and faster performance over-all on the Mate 30, which will compete with new releases from rivals Samsung and Apple.
Huawei consumer business group CEO Richard Yu is expected to detail the features of the Mate 30 at 2 p.m. (8 p.m. in Manila) as well as announce several other devices and accessories.
Based on leaked images on technology websites, the Mate 30 will likely have a huge circular module on the back to house multiple cameras and a display that curves to the sides of the device like a waterfall.
The Huawei P30 Pro, which went on sale earlier this year, has 4 rear cameras with up to 50 times zoom and a time of flight or depth sensor. The camera technology on the P series is usually carried over or improved upon with the Mate phones, which go on sale before the Christmas holidays.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
