On March 26th, 2019, in Paris, France, Huawei Consumer Business Group held a keynote address to reveal their latest round of smartphones and products. The focus of the event being the Huawei P30 and Huawei P30 Pro.
Huawei has two flagship phones, the P Series which is focussed on having the best smartphone camera, and the Mate Series, focussed on having the best phone overall. We have reviewed both of these phones previously so I will introduce you to the new features and how they have improved on their latest release. As this is the P30 Series, we will be looking mostly at the phone’s cameras.
The rear facing cameras on the Huawei P30 Pro consist of a 40MP main camera with the Huawei SuperSpectrum Sensor, a 20MP ultra-wide angle camera and an 8MP telephoto camera. The front facing camera is 32MP. The phone allows you to shoot in RAW format with Pro mode but some capabilities are lost such as zoom over 5x.
The ToF (Time of Flight) camera is unique to the P30 Pro. It is able to capture depth-of-field information that accurately and precisely separates the layers of distance so the user can add bokeh, blurring out as much, or as little, as they want. When using the Super Portrait feature, shooters will notice the depth of field even picks up fine strands of hair, not blurring them out like so many other phones would.
The new 1/1.7-inch Huawei SuperSpectrum Sensor has reached new possibilities with their RYYB makeup, differing from the standard RGGB. By replacing green pixels with yellow pixels, they were able to yield a maximum ISO of 409,600 on the Huawei P30 Pro and 204,800 on the Huawei P30. That is a lot of ISO.
In photo mode, users are able to reach a 50x digital zoom on the Huawei P30 and P30 Pro. If you want to use Pro Mode and shoot RAW images, the maximum zoom is 5x. The photo mode reaches 50x zoom using a periscope design that bends the light through a prism, allowing it to travel far enough to maximize focal length while minimizing camera height and without disrupting device design.
The HDR+ is also getting a lot better. Both the front and rear facing cameras use AI technology to improve photos, helping to eliminate overexposed and backlit images.
For YouTubers and Videographers, the Huawei Dual-View Video is very cool. Shoot two focal lengths at once to make sure you get the shot from far away and close-up, simultaneously. This is great for shooting things that you may only have one attempt at. Shoot the full scene and the small details all on a single phone with split screen.
All of these images are displayed on the Huawei P30 Pro 6.47″ FHD+ (2340×1080) curved OLED screen. The screen also features a touch fingerprint scanner for an easy unlock.
The Huawei P30 and P30 Pro will be available in Canada at Bell, Rogers, TELUS, SaskTel, Videotron, Fido, Koodo and Virgin Mobile on April 11th with pre-orders already available. You can find a good Canadian price guide on the Mobile Syrup website.
Available colours in Canada include Breathing Crystal and Black. The phone is available in more colours elsewhere in the world. A possible stocking issue may account for why only two of the colours are available here.
If you are looking for a very fast phone that takes amazing pictures without any editing required, then you will love this phone. If you want great photos that you do want to edit from RAWs, then you will also like this phone. The Leica lenses combined with the built-in AI will guarantee you some great photographs with nice contrast, colour and detail.
Extra Information
-Reverse charging. Not only can you charge other phones with your phone, but you can charge other wireless tech like a computer mouse, an electric shaver or even a toothbrush.
-The Huawei P30 Series has a 7nm Kirin 980 processor, with Dual-NPU AI processing power.
-The HuaweiP30 Pro has a 4200mAh battery and 40W Huawei SuperCharge that will get your device from 0% to 70% in 30 minutes.
-The Huawei P30 Pro features Huawei SuperCool technology to reduce heat.
-The phones comes with plugin earbuds but 2 options for wireless ones exist. Huawei FreeLace have a string that attaches the two earbuds so that it can rest around your neck and the Huawei FreeBuds Lite are wireless earbuds with no chords.
-Eyewear – Gentle Monster and Huawei teamed up to bring stylish eyewear that has a mic, a speaker and an antenna built in to the frames. No camera.
