Huawei’s is trying to take smartphone photography to the next level with a triple camera smartphone, called the P20 Pro. Announced last month in Paris, the smartphone is finally coming to India. It will be available on Amazon.in from 3 May at Rs64,999. At the current price point, it is likely to be compared to Samsung Galaxy S9+ and Google Pixel 2 XL and Apple iPhone X.
■ Huawei has roped in German camera maker Leica to assist with the development of the phone cameras and lend its branding for it.
■ Huawei P20 Pro’s camera setup includes three vertically aligned cameras. At the top is an 8-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom, aperture of F/2.4 and OIS (optical image stabilisation). It is followed by a 40-megapixel camera with an RGB sensor and aperture of F/1.8. The third camera offers a 20-megapixel monochrome sensor with aperture of F/1.6.
■The P20 Pro’s other notable element is the thin bezel design which actually looks thin compared to the first crop of thin bezel smartphones. Huawei has trimmed the lower bezel further while the bezel at the top has been reduced to small strip around the front camera on the lines of Apple iPhone X’s notch.
■ The P20 Pro has a 6.1-inch AMOLED screen with wider than wide aspect ratio of 19:9 and resolution of 2,240x1,080p. For a high-end smartphone the resolution is a bit on the lower side. The innards include the powerful Kirin 970 octa-core processor with 6GB RAM. The smartphone has a shiny glass back and it is water resistant up to 1 metres.
Here is where the rivals stand
Google Pixel 2 XL
Starts at Rs73,000
The Pixel 2 XL’s bezels don’t look as thin as the P20 Pro. The 6-inch P-OLED screen offers resolution of 2,880 x1,440p, which is more than what the P20 Pro offers. The Pixel 2 XL has a slab like design with a mix of metal and glass at the back. At 175g, it is slightly lighter than the Huawei smartphone. The Pixel 2 XL is powered by Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 835 octa-core processor. Despite having a single 12-megapixle camera, the Pixel 2 XL is widely regarded as one of the best camera smartphones in the Android segment. The clean Android interface and assurance of timely Google updates for three years makes the Pixel 2 XL one of the top all round smartphones.
Apple iPhone X
Starts at Rs82,900
The iPhone X is one of the trendsetters in thin bezel smartphones with an almost bezel-less front panel and small strip called notch, which is the inspiration for the P20 Pro and several new Android smartphones. It has a smaller 5.8-inch OLED screen which makes it a lot more compact than the Huawei P20 Pro. At 174g, it is also a tad lighter. The glass back on the iPhone X is not just a design element but also enables fast charging. The iPhone X is powered by Apple’s A11 Bionic chipset, runs iOS 11, can survive water up to 1 metre, and packs in one of the best dual camera setup with two 12-megapixel cameras and aperture of f/1.8.
Samsung Galaxy S9+
Starts at Rs64,900
The thin bezel design of Galaxy S9+ is more like the Pixel 2 XL, but without the front facing speakers and is slightly heavier at 189g. It has an even bigger 6.3-inch AMOLED screen with resolution of 2,880x1,440p and is powered by Samsung’s powerful Exynos 9810 octa-core processor. It comes with dual 12-megapixel cameras with adjustable aperture, which can automatically switch to f/1.5 for low-light shots and to f/2.4 for daylight photos. What gives it an edge over the P20 Pro is the fact that it can withstand water up depth of 1.5 metres. Also it comes in more eye catching colours such as Midnight Black, Coral Blue, Lilac Purple and Titanium Gray.