The Huawei P40 is already official . The Chinese company has just dressed it long in an online event (which is the style that reigns these days), discovering with it your new flagship. In The Output we have already had a first contact with the smartphone, so let’s go from so much technical specification and get to the point: this is what I liked the most about the phone after the first 24 hours of use.
The best of the Huawei P40 Pro
Huawei has announced not one but three new phones earlier today: the P40, P40 Pro, and P40 Pro +. The terminals share many features (especially in the passage of the Pro and Pro +), but ultimately the trio is again a good representation of what the P range means (and has always meant) for the brand: a family of smartphones in the that photography is the center of everything but where it is sought at the same time that it is easy to use and close to the user.
In the case of the P40 Pro, which is the model that I already have in my hands, that philosophy is breathed. The team is a true off-road vehicle in photography, but at the same time, I find the Huawei phone always (in its most top air, of course) and with an interface that also seeks to continue polishing details that make everything even easier.
Solid construction and comfortable in the hand
The Huawei P40 Pro gives a solid feeling just by having it in hand. Seriously, it is a very robust and very well finished equipment , which however is not as heavy as you might expect when grabbing it. It is not uncomfortable to delicacy either: it enjoys a rather narrow and well-balanced body in which the generous inches of its screen (they are 6.58 ″, eye) does not become heavy or overwhelming.
The matte finish back repels fingerprints quite a bit (this time really , yes) and besides being quite pleasant to the touch, it hardly slips – one of the biggest evils of current phones.
Its fingerprint sensor is very fast
It turns out that Huawei has made changes to its fingerprint sensor to make it work better. How? Well, expanding the recognition area by 30% and also increasing the unlock speed by another 30%. In the end this translates into a pretty good experience with your reader, who responds tremendously agile.
I have found the same results with its facial recognition sensor. I admit that it is the way I like the most to unlock a phone and this P40 Pro also works very fast. Huawei has included two sensors on the front (which are by the way integrated into the screen under its glass and only present in the Pro and Pro +): one of 32 MP for selfies and an additional one that serves as a support for the bokeh effect, the gesture control and to assist in the mentioned unlocking.
Photographic display at height
Since we are talking about the front cameras, we must also mention the rear ones, of course. As expected, Huawei has put all the meat on the grill with its main photographic core, finding us on the back with a 50 megapixel sensor, another 40 MP (the one used in video), a third of 12 megapixel ultra wide angle and a ToF sensor.
It is still early to be able to make an assessment of this configuration (be careful, in a few days I will tell you much more in an analysis), but I like the first tests carried out: the improvements made, for example, in the focus, where the phone debuts the Called Octa PD Autofocus, which is faster and focuses in a few milliseconds, or stabilization when zooming. Also at the video level they have made many improvements with Audio Zoom (which gives more relevance to the voice; we have already seen it in some other phone), a more efficient stabilization and an Ultra Slow Motion at 7680 fps (crazy), among others .
Artificial intelligence is of special relevance in photographic management and here they tighten nuts to even recommend which photo of a shooting strip to stay with: it detects up to 7 different sports, 10 postures and different expressions and based on that, it will help us choose the better capture than we do (it is the new Best Moment function). Also the AI will now be in charge of deleting people from a photo (the typical one that goes behind behind dirtying an idyllic moment) and even deleting reflections when we take a photo of something behind glass.
90 Hz borderless display
We already explained to you at the time what the refresh rate of mobile screens is and how pleasant it is to use, so I really liked to find a panel at 90 Hz in this P40 Pro -eye because the P40 does not have it. Everything looks and feels much more fluid on this 6.58-inch “Overflow Display” (19.6: 9 format) with a resolution of 2,640 x 1,080, whose borderless termination also makes the overall design set much more attractive to the sight (while giving a greater sense of spaciousness).
The worst of the Huawei P40 Pro
Not everything is going to be wonders in that new Huawei phone. After this first contact, I have also found some aspects that have not convinced me and that you should know.
Still without Google services
Well, this more than a surprise is a reality that is still present and must inevitably be pointed out. The P40 Pro (and its siblings) comes with Android 10 and the EMUI 10.1 layer, but without Google services. There is no Play Store app store (you have to pull the App Gallery ) or Gmail, Instagram or WhatsApp that is worth it.
This is undoubtedly still the biggest drag on this team. When we made the analysis of the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, we regretted that the current situation of the US veto to Huawei caused the absence of such essential applications in our day to day, and with this P40 pro it was not going to be different (although Huawei is determined in presuming that your App Gallery does not stop increasing the number of apps).
Its design is not surprising and it is even familiar
The originality in the phone designs shines today due to its absence, but it is true that Huawei has always done enough on its part to try to combat this evil. It doesn’t seem like it was this time. The phone is surprising little in this regard. Nothing is special when you look at it and it also reminds us (too much) of the new Samsung S20 due to the arrangement and the frame of the rear cameras -and even because of the grayish color, well, although the Huawei is clearer and more attractive in my opinion .
Set to not innovate in design, I would have preferred that they kept the drawing of the Mate 30 Pro, much more characteristic and attractive with the central wheel. I suppose it will be a matter of taste but … I was expecting more Huawei, I was expecting more here.
After these first impressions, it’s time to test the phone thoroughly to tell you much more about it, its performance (remember that it has a Kirin 990 as a processor, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of memory) and its autonomy (on paper we have 4,200 mAh ). It will also be interesting to check whether these first sensations are maintained or not after further testing, especially taking into account their price ( 999 euros , while the P40 is 799 euros (8 + 128 GB) and the P40 Pro + gets at 1,399 euros (8 + 512 GB)).
You know, don’t go too far …