- [Narrator] This video is sponsored by PUBG Mobile.
I've carried the Mate 20 Pro in my second pocket
for nearly two months.
It's camera has kicked out some of the most popular photos
on my Instagram.
Its processor has owned every task I've thrown at it,
and it's battery has outlasted every other smartphone.
With all this hardware excellence,
maybe it's no surprise that I named it the Mate 20 Pro
Mr. Mobile smartphone of the year.
But that doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on it.
(upbeat music)
Understanding the full story of the Mate 20 Pro
takes a long time.
But understanding far ways intent behind it,
only takes 15 seconds.
For the first five, taken at sleek modern lines.
It's one of a kind twilight coating,
its massive camera quad.
Then take the next 10 to take apart
the scintillating spec sheet with a special eye
toward the dual direction wireless charging,
and the Huawei made Kirin chipset, and more on that later.
The Mate 20 Pro is a statement piece,
a manifestation of pure prowess.
But as with so many things,
it's important not to become blinded by spectacle.
Take that reverse wireless charging.
It's seductive promises that you can lend a charge
to a friend without a cable.
But in practice, the output is so weak
that it can barely maintain
the battery level on most phones.
Unless you're charging something tiny
like earbuds and so few of them have wireless charging,
it's basically a gimmick.
Then there's the software.
I get asked pretty often,
why I'm okay with a company like Samsung
putting a custom interface on top of Android?
But when Huawei does it, I complain.
It's a fair question, and my answer is this.
Huawei does it worse.
I'm not even talking about the visual design
which the company is all but admitted
is meant to make life easier for iPhone converts.
I'm talking about the janky transitions into multitasking.
The fact that when you pinch to zoom, say to resize a photo,
it triggers Huaweis Amazon ripoff and virtual shopping app.
I'm talking about the Google lens clone and the camera
which does the same thing.
The Huawei Share stuff and the rebranding
of Android Beam to Huawei Beam.
You know what?
I take it back.
It wasn't cool when Samsung did all this either.
But sometime around three or four years ago,
Samsung learned that for a Western audience,
this sucked, sorry.
And so it adapted.
Hopefully someday, Huawei will follow suit.
So, I'm doing with the Mate 20 Pro
what I've always done with Huawei phones.
Disabling the annoying stuff, using Nova Launcher,
tell him buzz.
- [Phone] Over the ugly part,
and recycling it for than it's worth.
- [Narrator] And that lets me appreciate the many strengths
of this phone like battery life.
This thing once saw me through an 18-hour shooting day
with five hours of heavy camera use,
and 1.5 hours of mobile hotspot.
For charging, I'm happy to have both,
fast wired and Qi wireless options at my disposal
with extra incentive to use the latter.
The bottom speaker is hidden in the USB port,
so plugging in a cable does include it somewhat.
And while the wireless reverse charging
was something of a bust,
you can lend some of your ponderous power supply
to someone else using a USB cable.
But as someone who loves smartphone cameras,
I will admit it, most of the reasons to buy this phone
are clustered inside of this camera quad.
To recap from a hands-on, a 40 megapixel primary
and 8 megapixel telephoto and my favorite,
a 20 megapixel ultra wide-angle
when you need to capture big scene.
In the past, I've gravitated to LG phones
because they were the only ones capable of shots like these.
But Huawei didn't just mimic LG's approach,
it built upon it.
The may 20 Pros wide-angle lens can be used
for macro photography,
getting as close as two and a half centimeters
to a subject without losing focus.
Also, the wide-angle camera is compatible with night mode.
That's not confined to pitch darkness either.
Shoot with it in many lighting conditions
for a really distinctive look.
With the possible exception of the pixel three,
no other camera phone I've used can achieve
this kind of dynamic range.
And yes, the company's partnership with Leica,
continues both behind the scenes on the optics
and more prominently in the software
with custom color modes.
Video capture is also improved over the P20 Pro.
There's digital stabilization for up to 4K video now
even on the wide-angle.
Updates since October have simplified
the viewfinder somewhat.
But there are still some quirks in the interface shocker.
For example, you can't use the timer in night mode, why?
I don't know.
If you frame up a shot in the wide or telephoto
and decide to switch to night mode,
you'll be reset to camera one.
Why?
I don't know.
Also, you can't use Pro video controls
when you're shooting in wide-angle, why?
I don't know.
So few phones offer wide-angle to begin with.
It's tough to dock points here.
And like the only major camera letdown for me
is around front.
The selfie shooters depth of field is shallow.
So hitting the exact right point to keep everyone in focus
is a real project.
Using the Mate 20 Pro for an extended period
has revealed the same ups and downs you see in most phones.
The in display fingerprint sensors
just barely more consistent than the one on the OnePlus 6T,
just to say not very.
If you're into it, face unlock works well,
and it's more secure than most.
Phone calls are great, and software is insanely fast.
And if you're worried about gaming performance, don't be.
On that subject before we tackle the elephant in the room,
a quick word from today's sponsor.
- This video is sponsored by PUBG Mobile.
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Even as a guy who doesn't play a lot of these kind of games,
I was surprised at how easy the customizable controls
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And thanks to the Unreal Engine and True 3D Audio,
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Finally, it lives up to the mobile in its name.
Even if you've only got a spare moment to play,
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It's completely free to play.
So join over 100 million people already playing PUBG Mobile
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And thanks to PUBG Mobile for sponsoring this video.
So if the Mate 20 Pro is such a great phone,
why can't you buy one in the US?
Well it's not just US China relations,
the after mentioned OnePlus 6T is also a Chinese phone,
and it's on sale right now, T-mobile.
The difference seems to be twofold.
But one of Huawei's founders has deep connections
to the Chinese government.
And Huawei also makes network equipment
that the U.S. doesn't wanna see deployed on American soil.
And the other big difference?
OnePlus phone runs on a processor designed
by Qualcomm in San Diego, California.
The Kirin 980 in the Mate 20 Pro is homegrown Huawei.
How much of that should actually give you pause?
I will admit to a degree of doubt on my part
that wasn't there at this time last year.
But Huawei has always maintained its innocence
as seen in this statement to CNBC back in February.
I'll leave it to the experts to unpack,
and I'll link you to a nice write-up
by the MIT Technology Review in the description.
For now, the lack of evidence of any foul play
combined with the raw capability of this device
make me comfortable to keep carrying the Mate 20 Pro,
and to keep recommending it,
especially to those on the hunt
for an exceptional smartphone camera.
A quick mention of the green screen problem
on the way out folks.
I haven't seen it myself.
Huawei is whopping out affected devices.
If you live in a country
where it's not officially available though,
I don't recommend buying this phone
until this problem is confirmed cleared up
as I've seen reports of repair refusals
in non-supported regions.
If you have questions I didn't tackle in the video,
let me know what they are down in the comment,
and be sure to subscribe to the Mr. Mobile on YouTube
so you don't miss the last few reviews of 2018.
Until next time, thanks for your patience on this one.
Thanks for watching and stay mobile my friends.