The Huawei P20 series consists of the budget P20 Lite, luxury P20 Pro and this ordinary Huawei P20. The Chinese smartphone maker is committed to a luxurious design and a well-performing camera in collaboration with camera brand Leica. But Huawei drops some stitches here and there.
Huawei P20
Price € 609,-Colors black, blue, pink
OS Android 8 (Oreo)
Screen 5.8 inches (2240x1080)
Processor 2.4GHz octa-core (HiSilicon Kirin 970)
RAM 4GB
Storage 128GB
Battery 3,400mAh
Camera 20 + 16 megapixel dualcam (rear), 24 megapixel (front)
Connectivity 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi, GPS
Format 14.9 x 7.1 x 0.8cm
Weight 165 grams
Other Fingerprint scanner, USB-C, no headphone port
Website www.huawei.com 7 Score 70
- Pros
- Display
- Build quality
- Camera
- Negatives
- No headphone port
- emui
The Huawei P20 costs about 600 euros and is therefore almost 300 euros cheaper than Huawei's absolute top model P20 Pro. The smartphone is also about 300 euros more expensive than the P20 Lite budget version. I recently discussed both devices extensively, the Lite version offers an excellent price-quality ratio. Despite the fact that the triple (!) camera of the P20 Pro is downright sublime, I was generally not thrilled about it: the device is far too expensive for what you get and the omission of the headphone port simply makes the device incomplete.
Both reviews of the P20 Lite and P20 Pro showed that Huawei has made a lot of effort to provide the smartphones with beautiful screens. The design of the two devices looks luxurious, but greatly copied from the iPhone X due to the screen notch and placement of the cameras on the back. I find that more objectionable with the Pro version, because you can't afford copying in that price range. The Pro and Lite versions of devices do have in common that the software is substandard, Huawei's Emui skin that has been rolled out over Android brings instability, a cluttered interface, (spelling) errors and unnecessary apps. But what about the 'regular' P20?
All the impressive camera functions of the P20 Pro are present in the regular P20 Ordinary P20
The design, a beautiful screen, a notch in the screen: the P20 also has this, of course. Like the P20 Pro, the fingerprint scanner is on the front (below the display) and the headphone port is missing - as well as any sensible argument as to why. Just like the Lite version of the P20, there is a dual camera on the back, which is capable of much more. All the impressive camera functions of the P20 Pro are present in the regular P20, such as the night mode, light paintings and recognition of scenes and objects.
The back of the P20 is made of glass and therefore attracts fingerprints quickly. A case is therefore recommended. Somehow also a shame, because the P20 also comes in colorful versions that look particularly nice.
Unfortunately, not every color version is released in the Netherlands.
LCD
The Huawei P20 is equipped with a 5.8-inch screen, converted that is a screen diagonal of 14.8 centimeters. Thanks to the notch in the screen, thin screen edges and an alternative aspect ratio, almost the entire front of the smartphone consists of a screen and the net size of the device is not that bad.
Huawei has reserved the best screen panels for the P20 Pro, which are equipped with an OLED screen. The P20 has to make do with an LCD screen, which is nothing wrong with that. The full HD screen looks bright, as do the colors.
Specifications
In addition to the excellent LCD screen, very nice parts have been placed in the slim housing. The device works very smoothly, thanks to Huawei's own octacore processor and 4GB of RAM. In addition, you have a lot of space for apps, photos and videos: 128 GB. This is not expandable with a memory card, but you can place a second SIM card.
The battery in the device has a capacity of 3,400 mAh, which is acceptable. The battery life is fine, however, a second day on the battery should be feasible with moderate use. This long battery life is also due to the Android skin that Huawei uses: Emui. On the one hand, it is positive that the battery lasts longer, but it is at the expense of practical matters. Running processes are truncated and you cannot change this. Some processes such as a VPN or password manager are truncated as a result and have to be restarted manually each time. Despite the fact that the P20 runs the most recent version of Android, the software is therefore a concern, not only because of the problems I mentioned earlier, but Huawei's reputation when it comes to updates is also lousy.
Camera
The camera is a good argument why you can choose the P20. Although the P20 does not have a triple camera like the Pro version, all functions are available. Especially the recognition of objects and scenes is what Huawei is strongly committed to, and rightly so, because the software in the device is remarkably good at recognizing, for example, animals, landscapes, texts, sunsets, and much more. After recognition, the camera adjusts the settings and the photo is already processed for you, so that you can take a beautiful photo without having to think about it. Sometimes photos are a bit exaggerated, colors are sometimes blown a bit too much. In that case, you can switch off the recognition in the camera with a simple tap to take a 'normal' photo.
The dual camera of the Huawei P20 consists of a 12 megapixel lens and a 20 megapixel lens. This allows you to zoom optically twice and the smartphone is able to photograph depth with depth in portrait mode.
Photos come out very well and even when the amount of light decreases, the Huawei lenses continue to see a lot. The only thing you do notice is that in low light objects seem a bit plastic. Not that it's a disadvantage, because it's still much better than most cameras that can't see anything at all in the same difficult lighting situations.
Price
The Huawei P20 is not very noticeable, and that is a shame, because it is a great smartphone. First of all, because the Pro version attracts the most attention. The Huawei P20 costs about 600 euros and therefore falls away a bit. The Galaxy S9 has dropped in price so much that it is only a few tens more expensive. For that money you get a device with a better screen and better software. The OnePlus 6 is slightly cheaper, and has a slightly less good camera and screen, but the differences are small and the software of the OnePlus is much better for each other. In addition, the S9 and OnePlus 6 simply have a headphone port.
Conclusion
The Huawei P20 falls away a bit, because there are very good other smartphones available for about the same price and most of the attention is claimed by the Huawei P20 Pro. That's a shame, because the P20 is a great choice. The screen, camera, battery life and build quality are all in good order. On the other hand, you have to take into account the fact that there is a lot to criticize about the software and the lack of a headphone port (still) cannot be justified.
