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Huawei P20 Hands-On, First Impressions

Huawei has just announced their new photography-centric devices in Paris, France. Among them is the top-tier device called the P20 with AI-assisted dual rear Leica cameras. Join us for a closer look at the device. But before that, you may also watch our hands-on video of it below.

Alright, let’s begin.

The P20 evokes a more mature design if we’re comparing it to the P10 predecessor launched last year — this time, it’s all about the illuminating design with an all-glass curvature that is both pleasing to the eyes and hands. The P20 feels really light for its size and is easy to navigate with one hand, despite the glossiness our unit had due to the rather slippery finish it possesses.

A 5.8-inch FullView display encompasses the front of the device with a notch design that houses the 24MP front camera, the call speaker grille, and other necessary sensors. If you’re not a fan of such, there’s an option to add a black bar in the settings to hide the trending aesthetic. The fingerprint scanner is placed right at the bottom of the device, and the company uses on-screen buttons as opposed to capacitive ones, which makes us question the wasted space beside the scanner.

The aluminum sides are curved outward to provide a better grip. Antenna bands are still present to enable better signal reception. The volume rocker and the power and lock button are located at the right side, while a set of speakers and the USB Type-C port are at the bottom of the device. Sorry, there’s no 3.5mm audio jack right here.

Flip the device on its back, and we have the Huawei logo and dual 12MP RGB and 20MP monochrome rear cameras all at the left side. The camera touts new features including 3D portrait, an AI-assisted photography scenario picker called Master AI, a new Leica Color photography system that enhances colors as you take them, and professional framing options that aim to improve your composition to pro standards.

As such, the photography is said to be taken at another level with better low-light reception, a 960fps slow-motion mode in video, and AI image stabilization. These are said to be all achieved with the built-in Kirin 970 chip with a dedicated NPU that’s also seen in the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro.

The P20 and P20 Pro are really responsive when it comes to adapting to subjects aimed at its lenses and suggests appropriate scenarios that we can use. For example, it suggested a Portrait mode when we focused on a person as a subject and switched to night mode when we’re in a low-light scenario. Here are some samples we took with the limited time we had with the device:

: Monochrome lens

Huawei P20 specs:
5.8-inch 18.7:9 FHD+ FullView LTPS IPS display @ 2244 x 1080 resolution, 429ppi
3D Glass
Hisilicon Kirin 970 octa-core processor
4 x ARM Cortex A73 2.36GHz + 4 x ARM Cortex A53 1.8GHz + i7 Co-processor
Mali-G72 MP12 767MHz
4GB RAM
128GB internal storage
Mali G72-MP12 GPU
12MP f/1.8 1.55 um + 20MP f/1.6 monochrome lens dual Leica cameras with Huawei AIS, 5x hybrid zoom, w/ LED flash
24MP f/2.0 front camera with AI beautification and 3D portrait lighting
4K and 960fps video recording
AR support
4G LTE Cat. 18 (1.2Gbps)
Single/Dual-SIM
GPS with GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
NFC
WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, DLNA
USB Type-C
Bluetooth 4.2
IP53 splash resistance
Fingerprint scanner
Infrared Remote Control
Android 8.1 Oreo (EMUI 8.1)
3,400mAh battery with SuperCharge and AI battery management
149.1 mm x 70.8 mm x 7.65 mm
Approx. 165 g
Twilight, Pink Gold, Black, Midnight Blue, Champagne Gold

This new phone is also said to be splash-resistant with its IP53 certification and will sport the company’s EMUI on top on Android Oreo right out of the box. It carries a 669 Euro price tag and will be available in key regions starting today in Twilight, Pink Gold, Midnight Blue, Black, and Champagne Gold colors.