Huawei P30 Pro Review: The Verdict
Let's not beat around the bush: the Huawei P30 Pro has the best camera on any smartphone you can buy right now, by a solid margin. It's very easy to forget the photos it captures were taken on a phone. The phone itself is excellent too, but the frankly magical camera alone makes the P30 Pro worth considering.
What we love
- Best-in-class camera
- Top-tier battery life
- Excellent performance
- Clean design
What could be improved
- Scratches and scuffs easily
- Inconsistent facial recognition
- No headphone jack
- Some software quirks
The essentials
- Performance: Top tier, no complaints.
- Battery: Excellent. Will easily last between a day-and-a-half and two days.
- Screen: Pretty good, although you might notice some colour distortion around the edges thanks to the curved screen. It's also very prone to picking up micro-abrasions and fine scratches.
- Camera: Easily the best smartphone camera you can buy right now. It will take a great photo in almost any situation.
85/100
I've been using the Huawei P30 Pro for about three weeks now and it still wows me a little every day. Well, to be specific, the camera wows me a little every day. The phone sure is a phone, but the camera is exceptional.
Even if the P30 Pro were a garbage smartphone - which it absolutely isn't - it would still be worth considering based on the strength of its camera. It's just that good. It can take crystal clear photos in complete darkness. It can zoom to an absurd level without losing detail. It's unlike anything we've seen on a smartphone before. Huawei has well and truly leapfrogged the competition.
Here's a photo from the Huawei P30 Pro I shot in complete darkness (with no flash):
For comparison, here's the same shot on my iPhone XS Max:
I'm pretty sure the P30 Pro is powered by black magic.
A bit like magic
- 6.47-inch 1080p+ display
- Kirin 980
- 256GB storage, 8GB RAM
- 40MP + 20MP + 8MP + ToF rear-facing camera
- 4,200mAh battery
- IP68 water-resistance
Witchcraft probably isn't the secret to the P30 Pro's photographic prowess, but snapping away with the camera genuinely feels magical.
In reality, Huawei's special sauce is the combination of an all-new "SuperSpectrum" sensor that's been in development for over two years, and four rear-facing cameras. While most cameras use Red Green Blue (RGB) colour space for capturing images, the P30 Pro uses Red Yellow Yellow Blue (RYYB). Huawei says this change allows 40% more light intake, and given the results I've seen, I'm willing to believe it. In addition, the sensor itself is also larger than what you'll find in an iPhone or Galaxy, which in turn also allows more light capture.
In terms of cameras, you'll find the following:
- A 40MP primary lens, with an aperture of f/1.6
- A 20MP ultra-wide angle lens with an aperture with f/2.2 and aspherical optics from Leica said to reduce fish-eye distortion
- An 8MP telephoto lens with an aperture of f/3.4 for 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, and 50x digital zoom
- A Time of Flight lens to assist with measuring depth for portrait mode
But enough with words, the proof is in the photos. This picture was taken in a room with almost no light, and once again, no flash. It took a bit of time for the P30 Pro to find focus and not every take was a sharp as this one, but it's pretty impressive none the less.
This next photo was taken in the back of a moving cab in close-to-complete darkness. Once again, the P30 Pro captured more detail than my eyes could actually see.
It's stunning how much the P30 Pro can do with so little light.
If you want an even more dramatic lowlight shot, the P20 Pro's Night Mode is back. Night Mode uses exposure bracketing to get a more detailed image: the P30 Pro will take multiple photos at different exposures over a short period of time and stitch them together to provide extra pop and a wider dynamic range.
Night mode is off here:
And on here:
The long exposure on Night Mode - typically around six seconds - can result in some blur in your photo, but the P30 Pro's stabilisation and stitching software seem to be able to compensate for hand shake reasonably well most of the time. Here's a 100% crop of the previous image:
Here's another night mode shot:
Here's one that didn't quite turn out because I did an awful job of keeping the phone still:
While last year's P20 Pro relied on night mode heavily for its impressive lowlight, it's far less essential on the P30 Pro. You can still get a great shot at night without the dedicated mode, but it's still nice to have the option available if you want a more dramatic look.
Improved zoom is the P30 Pro's other big new camera feature. The telephoto lens uses a periscope design to fit a longer lens into the phone's body without adding thickness - it's been rotated by 90 degrees, and a prism refracts light into it. This allows for 5x optical zoom (where the lens does all the work), and 10x hybrid zoom (where software is used to zoom in beyond what the lens is physically capable of).
Shots at 5x zoom are close to on par with the P30 Pro's primary lens. You'll need relatively steady hands to get a sharp shot in lowlight (people can be extra tricky to capture), but otherwise, 5x photos tend to look great.
Shots at 10x zoom can lose a bit of detail, but are a clear improvement over what you'd get with traditional digital zoom. Once again, these look better the more light you have available.
The P30 Pro's zoom especially impressed me during a Childish Gambino concert. Here's the view from where I was sitting:
Here's a 5x shot:
And here's a 10x shot:
I still can't get over the fact these came from a smartphone.
It's worth mentioning that I lucked out with these zoomed shots: the P30 Pro flubbed more photos than it nailed in this situation, which is kind of understandable. While this 5x photo isn't terrible, it's a lot more indicative of the images I was able to capture over the distance between my seat and the stage:
Getting a sharp image of a moving subject in a dark environment at a zoom factor of 5x to 10x isn't easy. For one, the phone requires a longer exposure time to compensate for the dark environment.
More pertinently, framing shots at 5x zoom is tricky, and this only gets harder the further you zoom. Every tiny shake of your hand is magnified significantly as you zoom in, so even the slightest movement can entirely change the composition of your shot. The P30 Pro telephoto lens has optical stabilisation, but this alone isn't enough to compensate for the reality of using a zoom lens - you'd get the exact same problem with a DSLR. If you really want to make the most of the phone's extreme zoom capabilities, you'll definitely want to invest in a tripod.
If 10x isn't enough, you can push the P30 Pro up to 50x digital zoom. Results aren't always great - it's very hard to stabilise and the results are a bit average - but it's like nothing I've seen on a phone before. This 50x zoom shot of the moon could be sharper, but I still can't get over the fact I shot it on a phone.
The P30 Pro does more than just zoom in: there's also an ultra-wide angle lens for when you want to zoom out. You'll get a little bit of fisheye distortion when using it, but much less than we've seen on comparable devices. Here's an image from the wide-angle lens:
And here's the same scene shot on the standard lens:
You can also use the P30 Pro's ultra-wide angle lens for a 'super macro' mode that takes extreme close-ups. You can get as close as 2.5cm away from a subject and still have it appear in focus. The camera's AI should automatically fire up super macro mode when you get too close to focus on your subject when using the primary lens, but this can be inconsistent. While you can't technically manually trigger super macro mode, zooming out to the ultra-wide angle lens will have the same effect.
The P30 Pro's lens combination makes it incredibly versatile as a camera. The amount of range you get between the ultra-wide and the telephoto gives you a whole host of photographic possibilities. Here's a comparison of the same shot at the camera's four main stops.
As excellent as the P30 Pro's camera is, it can be a little slow to shoot at times. Capturing sharp photos of fast moving subjects - such as cute animals or sweaty men with guitars - may require a few takes if you're after a sharp image.
Not just a camera
There's plenty to say about the Huawei P30 Pro as a camera, to the point where you might almost forget we're actually talking about a smartphone. In some ways, that's because the P30 Pro mostly stays the course: it's simply what you'd want and or expect from a flagship device in 2019. The design is lovely, performance is exceptional, and you'll get up to two days of usage per charge. I'd typically end a day with between 60% and 40% battery remaining, depending on how hard I pushed the phone. Even if you're using the P30 Pro with reckless abandon, draining it in a single day is going to take a concentrated effort.
Better yet, the P30 Pro juices up incredibly fast when you use the bundled charger. A 30 minute top up can take you from flat to about 70%. Reverse wireless charging also makes a return, which is useful if you've got headphones or other small devices that support Qi - such as the new Apple AirPods. You can also use reverse wireless charging to top up a friend's phone, but be warned: it's inefficient and slow. Roughly speaking, you'll typically expend about 3% of charge to give another phone an extra 1%.
One neat design decision worth calling out is that Huawei has ditched the earpiece in favour of a display that vibrates to generate sound. Not only does this make the P30 Pro look super sleek, there's no noticeable trade-offs in terms of volume or call quality. And there's still a bottom firing speaker for when you're watching a video or listening to music without headphones (side note: no headphone jack).
The P30 Pro delivers pretty much everything you'd want in a top-tier device, but this isn't to say the P30 Pro is a perfect smartphone. While there's lots to love, there are a few quirks you'll have to put up with, including at one potential deal breaker.
Huawei's heavily customised version of Android isn't always intuitive. For example, some of the P30 Pro's extremely good battery life can be chalked up to aggressive battery management software. The operating system is merciless when it comes to terminating apps you're not currently using. This can delay notifications, and more often than not, means most apps open from scratch rather than resume where you left off. You can get around this by 'locking' them (a swipe down in the multitasking menu) which is a must for messaging, email, maps, and any app you use regularly. In some cases, I had to dig deeper into the P30 Pro's battery settings to further override presets. It's an addressable issue, but you shouldn't have to go to this much effort just to get a notification on time.
Much as we've seen from Samsung's flagship phones over the past couple of years, the P30 Pro display is subtly curved, tapering off on either side. There's no real reason for this, other than aesthetic. It sure is modern. At the same time, the curved screen results in some colour distortion on either side of the display, especially when looking at light backgrounds or when you've got the brightness dialled up high. This makes the display look less uniform, which is a shame, because it's great otherwise. I'm not the biggest fan of curved displays myself, but this mostly comes down to a matter of tastes.
Another minor annoyance stems from the P30 Pro's facial recognition, which can be rather inconsistent. It's perfectly usable in bright environments, but it's a lot more hit and miss in lowlight. I've also found the P30 Pro has trouble recognising my face if my hair is out or if I'm wearing sunglasses. While none of these situations results in a 100% chance of failure, they make the facial recognition tech unreliable to the point that I'd prefer to keep switched off.
It's easy enough to ignore the P30 Pro's facial recognition, but it's a shame, as Huawei has nailed the tech previously. Last year's Mate 20 Pro went toe-to-toe with the iPhone XS in terms of facial recognition speed and accuracy, which makes it hard to not look at the P30 Pro as a step down. On the other hand, the Mate 20 Pro has a much larger notch to accommodate the more sophisticated 3D facial recognition, whereas the use of 2D tech on the P30 Pro has allowed Huawei to shrink the notch to a tiny tear-drop. It's a classic case of form over function.
If you'd prefer to avoid facial recognition altogether, the P30 Pro has an in-screen fingerprint reader on board as another biometric authentication option. It's not quite as fast as a physical fingerprint reader, but it definitely feels more futuristic. You do however need to be quite precise when unlocking your phone, as only a small part of the display can recognise your fingerprints. This makes unlocking the P30 Pro without looking at next to impossible; when you're pulling it out of your pockets, for example.
While most Android phones use microSD for expandable storage, the P30 Pro takes Huawei's own format: NM card. NM cards are identical in size to a nano SIM, which allows a more elegant SIM tray design. One side takes your SIM, the other takes your NM Card. They're a little more expensive than what you'd pay for a microSD card with the same capacity, but at the very least, the P30 Pro has 256GB out of the box.
Most of these quirks are easy enough to forgive. What's a little bit trickier is the P30 Pro's durability, or lack thereof. In just three weeks with the P30 Pro, my screen is covered in fine scratches and micro-abrasions. These aren't noticeable during day-to-usage, but are very evident under strong light. While all phones end up with wear and tear, it's a little concerning how quickly the P30 Pro shows it. Doubly so because I've tried to handle the phone carefully: it either lives on my desk, my bedside table, or in a pocket with no other items. Scuffs and scratches aren't the end of the world, there's a case included in the box, and you can always get a screen protector, but personally, I'd expect a little more from a $1,599 phone. The back of my P30 Pro has held up better, but it's unsurprisingly a fingerprint magnet.
For what it's worth, these issues aren't isolated to my device. A number of my industry colleagues have had the same experience with their P30 Pro review devices - some even racking up damage within a day of receiving the device.
Who is the Huawei P30 Pro for?
If you want the best camera smartphone you can buy right now, the P30 Pro is it. There might be a few quirks and the micro-abrasions on the display are unfortunate, but the strength of the camera more than makes up for these. It's a genuine gamechanger. And the excellent battery life and top-tier performance certainly don't hurt. The P30 Pro is one hell of a handset.
This, however, is matched by one hell of a price tag. Retailing for $1,599, the Huawei P30 Pro sure ain't cheap. The iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max are currently the only phones with a higher starting price on the Australia market. While the incredible camera almost warrants the high cost, it’s still a lot of money to spend on a phone. But if you can justify it, you'll be rewarded with the best smartphone camera you can buy and photos that will make all your iPhone-owning friends jealous.
Even more Huawei P30 Pro camera samples
I don't want a Huawei P30 Pro, what else can I buy?
Huawei P30
If you don't quite want to spring for the P30 Pro, there's a cheaper "standard" variant. The non-Pro P30 shares a lot of tech with its pricier sibling - including the SuperSpectrum image sensor - but it's a reasonably different device. The screen is smaller, and flat rather than curved. It's not water-resistant, there's no reserve wireless charging, and it still has a headphone jack. There are three lenses on the back rather than four, so you miss out on the time of flight sensor. The zoom lens doesn't have quite the same range either, so optical zoom is capped at 3x, hybrid zoom at 5x, and digital at 10x. The standard P30 is much cheaper than the P30 Pro though, retailing for $1,099 outright.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro
The Mate 20 Pro is about six months old now, but it's still worth considering. It has the same excellent processor and battery life as the P30 Pro, and while the camera might not be quite as good, it's still one of the best around. Better yet, Huawei has cut the price of the Mate 20 Pro, so you'll now pay around $1,399 outright.
Google Pixel 3
If you'd prefer a phone running a clean version of Android, the Pixel 3 or Pixel 3 XL are your best bet. They're a little less flash, but they're great devices with a top-tier camera that does a fantastic job in lowlight. And since they start at $1,199, you'll save yourself as much as $400.
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