Huawei P30 Pro - 6.47" - 8GB RAM + 256GB - 40MP+32MP - 4200mAh - Black

​Introduction

Huawei has completely blurred the lines between its signature Mate and P series by raising the bar higher and higher every six months. And it has done it yet again with the Huawei P30 Pro - now with an even larger AMOLED screen and a brand-new quad-camera setup that aims to become the new benchmark for the whole industry.

Just as expected the next smartphone Leica camera premieres on the Huawei P30 Pro and now it's a quad-setup. But Huawei hasn't just added a ToF sensor and call it a day. Instead, the maker made upgrades across the board - the main snapper has a new 40MP sensor by Sony with improved low-light performance and optical stabilization.

 Leap Towards the Future

The Kirin 980 is the world's first 7 nm mobile process chipset with stronger performance and lower power consumption. This innovative chipset plus up to 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of memory storage,4 reveal a performance powerhouse in the HUAWEI P30 Pro.​Then Huawei has upped its own game and has introduced an innovative periscopic lens to achieve 5x optical zoom on its 8MP tele camera. The so-called hybrid zoom is available and it's now 10x, with an option to go as high as 50x - all purely digital, of course.The third camera is borrowed straight from the Mate 20 Pro - a 20MP snapper with 16mm ultra-wide lens and autofocus.

The fourth and final camera is the aforementioned ToF unit, which promises to take the portrait shots up another notch.

The selfie fans aren't forgotten - the front camera is now a 32MP one, with AI HDR+ and improved portraits. It still lacks autofocus, sadly.

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The selfie snapper occupies the tiny notch on the new 6.47" AMOLED screen. The panel itself sticks to 1080p resolution and has an under-display fingerprint scanner at the bottom, and also doubles as an earpiece. That's right, the whole thing is now "acoustic" and vibrates to create sound and thus there is no need for an actual earpiece.

​Other niceties coming straight from the Mate 20 Pro are the 40W Super Charging and 15W wireless charging support, as well as the reverse wireless charging.

Huawei P30 Pro specs

• Body: dual-glass with metal frame; IP68-rated for dust and water resistance
• Screen: 6.47" AMOLED, 1,080 x 2,340 px resolution (398ppi); tiny notch; acoustic display
• Chipset: Kirin 980 chipset, octa-core processor (2xA76 @2.6GHz + 2xA76 @1.92GHz +4xA55 @1.8GHz), Mali-G76 MP10 GPU, graphene film and heat pipe with vapor chamber cooling system
• Memory: 6/8GB RAM, 128/256/512GB storage (expandable via Nano Memory - hybrid slot)
• OS: Android 9 Pie with EMUI 9.1;
• Camera: 40MP f/1.6 OIS (RYYB filter) + 8MP with periscope 135mm f/3.4 OIS lens (5x optical zoom) + 20MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (16mm) + ToF camera; 4K video capture, 720@960fps slow-mo, Leica branding
• Camera features: 1/1.7" 40MP sensor, up to ISO 204,800, 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, 50x digital zoom, Super Macro Mode, OIS + EIS, Variable Aperture, Portrait Mode, Night Mode
• Selfie cam: 32MP, f/2.0 Leica lens, Portrait Mode with live bokeh effects
• Battery: 4,200mAh; Super Charge 40W; 15W wireless charging; reverse wireless charging
• Security: Fingerprint reader (under display)
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac, Dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5 + LE, NFC, USB Type-C
• Misc: IR blaster, acoustic display acts as earpiece, bottom-firing loudspeaker

The other good news is the P30 Pro is IP68-rated for dust and water resistance.

Just like the Mate 20 series, the P30 lineup adopts the smaller proprietary NM card expansion option with all the positives and negatives that entails.

Finally, the P30 Pro boots the latest EMUI 9.1 based on Android Pie. The phone uses Huawei's new EROFS file system though, which should offer much better read speeds. But before we dig into all those details and technicalities, let's pop this P30 Pro out of its box.

Unboxing the Huawei P30 Pro

The Huawei P30 Pro is packed in a mid-sized paper box with a 40W charger, an enhanced USB-C cable that works with Super Charge, and an EarPods-like headset. Some markets will also get a protective case.

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Unfortunately, the P30 Pro won't come with a USB-to-3.5mm adapter as part of its retail bundle. If you need one you will have to either purchase or use one from an older Huawei flagship.

Design

Huawei has evolved the P30 Pro in a lot of ways, but when it comes to design it has stuck with its tried and tested formula. The new flagship is a dual-glass smartphone as is the norm these days but the new camera arrangement on the back, will make sure it's easily recognizable.

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The two-color gradient was first adopted by Huawei and the tradition continues on the Huawei P30 Pro, too. There is a new signature Aurora color for the P30 series, inspired by the Aurora Borealis - or Northern Lights if you prefer. Amber Sunrise, Breathing Crystal, Black, and Pearl White are the other color options.

At the front of the Huawei P30 Pro is the largest screen the P series has had so far - a 6.47" AMOLED panel with curved edges. We had a look at the subpixel arrangement of the display and it seems to be the same as the one on the Mate 20 Pro suggesting the supplier is the same. And since it's not Diamond Pentile, it seems the panel provider is not Samsung.

The screen size is evolving from what we've seen on earlier P-series handsets. The P9 Plus and P10 Plus both had 5.5" displays, while the P20 Pro used a 6.1" screen. Now, the P30 Pro has stepped into Mate territory with this large 6.47" panel.

By the way, the selfie shooter appears to be centered but it isn't, and you can tell if you look closer. The camera is about 1 or 2 mm to the left side, so if imbalances bother you, consider yourself warned.

Finally, there is an under-display fingerprint scanner around the bottom of the phone. It works quite fast and while it's not always-on it doesn't require you to wake the screen up either. Once you tap around the bottom, the P30 Pro will immediately light the sensor and screen and the recognition is really fast. In fact, this is arguably the fastest sensor of this type we've tested so far.

The place of the sensor lights up every time you pick up the phone, so it's quite easy to get used to it.

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Also, sound from your call does leak and if the volume is at the maximum, the person on the other end can still be heard by somebody standing close to you. Then again, this also applies to the regular earpieces, and we can't really say the leakage is worse than on most other phones. But what we can confirm is that unlike the original Mi Mix, the P30 Pro emits sound only from its upper front and there is nothing coming from the back of the phone.

The key feature of the Huawei P30 Pro is its quad-camera on the back, but it's not arranged in a neat rectangle as on the Mate 20 Pro. In fact, it's similar to what we saw on the P20 Pro.

There is one huge camera hump around the top left corner and three of the four snappers reside here in vertical alignment.

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Starting top to bottom the first snapper is the 20MP one with the ultra-wide lens. Then comes the 40MP sensor with OIS, and finally you can see the end of the periscope zoom lens (135mm, f/3.4) for the 8MP sensor, also with OIS.

The setup is protruding quite a bit and the P30 Pro wobbles a lot if placed without a case on a flat surface.

Next to the triple main setup sit the dual-tone LED flash and the ToF camera, which is almost invisible on our Black model. The ToF camera replaces the laser autofocus on the P30 Pro and should also improve the edge detection accuracy in portrait shots. We'll see about that.

 Crystal

The end of the periscope looks really cool, no two words about that. You are not seeing the actual sensor through that hole but the prism at the start of the periscope tube. The 8MP sensor itself sits about 1cm to the right and is positioned perpendicular to the other sensors.

Moving to the bottom we see that Huawei makes up for the lack of stereo speakers with a larger single unit at the bottom, next to the USB-C port. The hybrid SIM slot is also at the bottom. Unfortunately, the 3.5mm audio port is gone for good on all Pro models.

Huawei P30 Pro measures at 158 x 73.4 x 8.41, which is about the same as the Mate 20 Pro and 3mm taller than the P20 Pro. The P30 Pro weighs 192g - that's 3g heavier than the Mate 20 Pro and 11g heavier than the P20 Pro.

Technical Specifications

• Size

  Width - 73.4 mm  Height - 158 mm     Depth - 8.41 mm

• Weight - Approx. 192 g (including the battery)

  *Product size, product weight, and related specifications are theoretical values only. Actual measurements between individual products may vary. All specifications are subject to the actual product.

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• Display

  Size:
  6.47 inches
  Note: With a rounded corners design on the dewdrop display, the diagonal length of the screen is 6.47 inches when measured according to the standard rectangle (the actual viewable area is slightly smaller).
  
  Resolution:
  FHD+ 2340 x 1080
  (Note: The resolution measured as a standard rectangle, with a rounded corners design on the dewdrop display,the effective pixels are slightly less.)

• Splash, Water, and Dust Resistant

  IP68
  
  Your device has been tested in a controlled environment and certified to be splash, water, and dust resistant in specific situations (meets requirements of classification IP68 as described by the international standard IEC 60529).
  

• Processor

  HUAWEI Kirin 980 Octa-core Processor
  Dual NPUs(Neural-network Processing Unit)
  2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.6 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 Based 1.92 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz

• Operating System

  EMUI 9.1 (Based on Android 9)

• Memory

  8 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM
  

• Camera

  Rear Camera:
  Leica Quad Camera:
  40 MP (Wide Angle Lens, f/1.6 aperture,OIS) + 20 MP (Ultra Wide Angle Lens, f/2.2 aperture) + 8 MP (Telephoto, f/3.4 aperture,OIS)
  
  Front Camera:
  32 MP, f/2.0 aperture
  Note: In different photo modes, the number of pixels may be slightly different, please refer to the actual situation.
  

• Battery - 4200mAh (Typical Value)*

***Non-removable battery. Removing the battery may cause damage to the device. To replace or repair the battery, please visit an authorized HUAWEI Service Centre.

• Charging

  HUAWEI SuperCharge (Max 40 W)
  HUAWEI Wireless Quick Charge (15 W)*
  *Compatible Qi-certified wireless chargers sold separately.

• Connectivity

  802.11a/b/g/n/ac (wave2), 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz
  Bluetooth 5.0, BLE, SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, LDAC and HWA Audio
  
  Type-C，USB 3.1 GEN1*
  *This function should be used with the USB 3.1 GEN1 cable (non-standard USB cable, need to be purchased separately) that supports this function.
  *The standard USB cable supports USB 2.0.
  
  Type-C earjack
  PC Data Synchronisation

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