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Huawei latest Mate series looks all set to take on Apple and Samsung, says Ashish Narsale.
Huawei, one of the leading smartphone companies in the world went on a launch spree in London.
The Chinese manufacturer unveiled not one, but three phones under its new Mate series -- the Huawei Mate 20 Pro, Huawei Mate 20 and the Porsche design Huawei Mate 20 RS, successors to Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Huawei Mate 10 and the Porsche design Huawei Mate RS respectively.
The fourth was Huawei Mate 20 X, a 7.2" phablet.
Let's look at what these gadgets offer.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
The beast of the devices, Huawei Mate 20 Pro is packed with features enough to tempt you.
It almost resembles the new Samsung Galaxy S series, except for the notch and the rear camera set up.
Camera
The notch holds the Huawei's 3D depth sensing camera for facial recognition security, background blur and Augmented Reality features accompanied by other sensor and a earpiece.
The three Leica cameras on the rear are uniquely placed in a rectangular formation along with an LED flash.
There is a third camera -- an ultra wide angle one.
More details on rear camera configuration below:
The front camera is a 24 MP shooter with f/2.4 aperture.
The specifications, so far seem good.
Design
The Mate 20 Pro boasts of an OLED display inlaid 3D glass with curved edges on the front of the phone and protective curved glass on the rear.
It will be available in four brilliant colours as midnight blue, black, emerald green and the lovely twilight.
You won't find any fingerprint on the rear or the front of the phone as it's hidden on the OLED screen.
Instead it features an in-screen fingerprint scanner, which was first seen in Vivo Nex S.
It unlocks the phone after you place your finger on the indicator displayed on the screen.
The phone is IP68 certified for protection from dust and water.
Hardware
The phone is powered by its homegrown latest 7nm System on Chip Huawei Kirin 980 with Artificial Intelligence capabilities.
The Huawei Mate 20 Pro will be available in two variants -- 6 GB RAM + 128 GB ROM and 8 GB RAM + 256 GB ROM.
You can expand its memory by inserting a new nano memory card which supports up to 256 GB.
Audio
It comes with a stereo loud speaker setup.
The old 3.5mm audio jack is missing but you can connect your old earphones via a USB Type-C to 3.5mm adapter provided in the box.
Battery
The phone has a 4200 mAh battery and can be fast charged with 40w Huawei SuperCharge technology charger.
It also supports wireless quick charge.
The highlight of the phone is that it supports reverse charging.
When the function is enabled, the phone can act as a wireless charger for other phones which support wireless charging.
Software
The phone runs on Android Pie 9 enhanced with Huawei's EMUI 9.0.
The Phone endows AI capabilities to its camera and the applications running on the phone.
Huawei Mate 20
The Mate 20 can easily be termed the lighter version of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro.
It has the same hardware but with reduced camera specs, a LCD screen and a small circular notch at the top centre of the display for a camera.
Huawei calls it Dewdrop display.
Unlike its higher end Mate 20 Pro, this one misses the 3D depth sensing camera features.
Porsche design Huawei Mate 20 RS
It's a replica of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro as far the specs and design are considered.
In the Porsche model, the back is covered with leather strips to give you the feel of a Porsche car.
Huawei Mate 20 X
This phablet with a 7.2" OLED display has the same hardware specs as the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. What's different is the display size -- it is 0.81" bigger and comes with Dewdrop display.
Also, Mate 20 X is specially designed for gaming.
The phablet also supports Huawei M-Pen, a stylus.
Here's a detailed comparision of the Huawei Mate series:
Verdict
Huawei Mate series are loaded with features that anyone will want a good smartphone to have -- high quality camera and high-end specs.
If it comes to India, which I am sure, it will, you can expect some tough competitive pricing from Huawei to match Samsung and Apple's contenders.
