Related
As the title says, this thread is one place for all the reviews of the P20 Pro. So if you find a good review, or have one yourself, add it here.
This is my main review of the Huawei P20 Pro after using it for 6 weeks, now on newer firmware too. I show the differences in the newer firmware along with the photos. There are over 300 photos in my review, plus links to my over 17 articles covering the phone. https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/05/1...weeks-using-new-firmware-300-camera-showcase/
I’ll add some that I’ve found so far.
Huawei P20 Pro Camera Review - Every mode tested photo & video https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/0...eview-showcase-every-video-photo-mode-tested/
My first impressions, incl 17 min video of tips & tricks, camera & audio https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/0...ions-incl-camera-audio-my-top-10-tips-tricks/
Huawei P20 Pro night/pitch dark camera analysis of auto, night & pro modes https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/06/huawei-p20-pro-shooting-at-night-with-the-camera-its-a-beast/
Huawei P20 Pro Top cases review https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/22/huawei-p20-pro-top-cases-reviewed/
190 Photos from the P20 Pro put together as a camera showcase -
https://youtu.be/BZKvSQ9sHvs
Camera shots analysis before and after using Adobe Lightroom https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/03/3...om-the-phone-adobe-lightroom-edited-versions/
Huawei P20 Audio Review and compared against iPhone X, S9+ and Pixel 2 XL https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/1...iphone-x-samsung-galaxy-s9-google-pixel-2-xl/
Digital Trends https://www.digitaltrends.com/cell-phone-reviews/huawei-p20-pro-review/
The Verge https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/6/17198708/huawei-p20-pro-review
Wired http://www.wired.co.uk/article/huawei-p20-pro-review
Techradar https://www.techradar.com/reviews/huawei-p20-pro-review
Pocket lint https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/...p20-pro-review-specs-cameras-price-best-phone
OP6 vs P20 Pro vs Honor 10 - 3 way camera comparison https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/06/0...ra-comparison-photo-video-a-winner-is-picked/
AndroidPit - P20 Pro Display Review (links in article to reviews for camera and battery life)
https://www.androidpit.com/huawei-p20-pro-display-review
Enjoyed that review. Thanks.
The Register
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/09/huawei_p20_pro_review/
The Hufferington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...-huffpost-verdict_uk_5ac768cfe4b09d0a1192ba0f
These reviews are negative , but do match with my own personal experience with the device. Good to share so users have a more rounded view of the device.
Such a shame as everything else about the phone is bloody fantastic
Tiger33 said:
The Register
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/09/huawei_p20_pro_review/
The Hufferington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...-huffpost-verdict_uk_5ac768cfe4b09d0a1192ba0f
These reviews are negative , but do match with my own personal experience with the device. Good to share so users have a more rounded view of the device.
Such a shame as everything else about the phone is bloody fantastic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was what I am afraid of, brilliant night shots but not so great at other sceneries. Was so disappointed in my Mate 10 Pro who filtered everything with Huaweis terrible post processing making details disappear and faces looking painted in watercolor and colors nowhere what they look in real life.
Is it possible to turn of all this terrible AI functions ?
I've used it in every way possible with great results. This is the biggest photo gallery from shots taken on the P20 Pro by many people created by Jonathan Morris.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qU1EUEeVoPd12WUj2
Tiger33 said:
The Register
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/04/09/huawei_p20_pro_review/
The Hufferington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/en...-huffpost-verdict_uk_5ac768cfe4b09d0a1192ba0f
These reviews are negative , but do match with my own personal experience with the device. Good to share so users have a more rounded view of the device.
Such a shame as everything else about the phone is bloody fantastic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Different opinions are welcomed if constructive. Not everyone can like every phone. It would be boring if we only liked one phone ?
However, the Register review is a poorly written , and more click bait. I didn’t realised it was the same review called out on twitter by one of the key reviewers, Alex Dobie, at Android Central, being of poor content etc.. I think the comment that it lacks micro sd card is a major flaw is daft. Does that mean every iPhone sold, Pixel Xiaomi etc that’s uses only internal storage is flawed. Internal storage is faster and more reliable. However, I do understand some people like a micro sd card and might need one too.
gavinfabl said:
Different opinions are welcomed if constructive. Not everyone can like every phone. It would be boring if we only liked one phone [emoji3]
However, the Register review is a poorly written , and more click bait. I didn’t realised it was the same review called out on twitter by one of the key reviewers, Alex Dobie, at Android Central, being of poor content etc.. I think the comment that it lacks micro sd card is a major flaw is daft. Does that mean every iPhone sold, Pixel Xiaomi etc that’s uses only internal storage is flawed. Internal storage is faster and more reliable. However, I do understand some people like a micro sd card and might need one too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But Gavin, don’t you think it is strange to have SD as option in the P20 Lite but not in the flagship P20 Pro? I think it is as very strange and bad choice from Huawei. If the P20 lite didn’t have it I would not be as silly not to have it on the Pro but for now I think it is plain stupid
No. The lite is nothing close to the Pro other than in name. It's a budget offering only and therefore cheaper pricing is needed.
When you're taking photos and having tons of computational photography internal storage is the best option by miles. Same reason other top end phones do this.
gavinfabl said:
No. The lite is nothing close to the Pro other than in name. It's a budget offering only and therefore cheaper pricing is needed.
When you're taking photos and having tons of computational photography internal storage is the best option by miles. Same reason other top end phones do this.
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Click to collapse
I don’t buy that thinking. People will see the P20 Lite and Pro as the same kind of phone and don’t understand why the cheaper one has SD support and not the expensive one. Already heard lots of people thinking this is stupid. And the SD card is fast enough for most of the camera options so that the internal storage is best by miles is a bad expression for most scenarios. They should have let people decide if they wanna use a SD card or not. Even Samsung is letting people use SD card in the S9 series
Just done my audio review covering the speakers, Bluetooth, and dongle and then compared it against the iPhone X, S9+ and Pixel 2 XL and also tried using some external headphone amp/DACs with the P20 Pro https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/1...iphone-x-samsung-galaxy-s9-google-pixel-2-xl/
gavinfabl said:
I've used it in every way possible with great results. This is the biggest photo gallery from shots taken on the P20 Pro by many people created by Jonathan Morris.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qU1EUEeVoPd12WUj2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The gallery is absolutely impressive.
However what is of interest if these shots were taken as a "point and shoot" or if the pro mode was used. For me, I hardly have time to fiddle around with settings and would prefer to get a good shot with automatic controls ( most of the time )
nickfury said:
The gallery is absolutely impressive.
However what is of interest if these shots were taken as a "point and shoot" or if the pro mode was used. For me, I hardly have time to fiddle around with settings and would prefer to get a good shot with automatic controls ( most of the time )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most are point and shoot and by several people as well.
gavinfabl said:
Most are point and shoot and by several people as well.
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Click to collapse
Well that is truly awesome then.
The only thing stopping me with getting this phone is EMUI. There are so many quirks in terms of notification issues, widget issues etc that is just a pain to deal with on a daily basis.
nickfury said:
Well that is truly awesome then.
The only thing stopping me with getting this phone is EMUI. There are so many quirks in terms of notification issues, widget issues etc that is just a pain to deal with on a daily basis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not seeing any quirks with this newest version of EMUI. It's a joy to have TBH
gavinfabl said:
I'm not seeing any quirks with this newest version of EMUI. It's a joy to have TBH
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I might be wrong, but in the p20 pro, mate 10, mate 9 and p10 forums, a lot of people have issues with widgets and notifications not appearing etc.
I have personally had the same experience when I had the mate 9 and so I was particularly looking to see if they were resolved. Reading through this forum it didn't seem the case. However you mention otherwise, so I am a bit confused
I have had the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro and there were issues.
This is the first version of EMUI that I am happy with. Phone is my main phone and works brilliant.
And I have over 130 apps installed.
gavinfabl said:
I have had the Mate 9 and Mate 10 Pro and there were issues.
This is the first version of EMUI that I am happy with. Phone is my main phone and works brilliant.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for clarifying that. This certainly is piquing my interest now.
Just in terms of your setup, do you have a custom launcher on it? Also did you have to exclude apps from battery optimization to get notifications consistently ( especially even when the phone is in deep sleep) ?
Thanks again for your help and input
nickfury said:
Thanks for clarifying that. This certainly is piquing my interest now.
Just in terms of your setup, do you have a custom launcher on it? Also did you have to exclude apps from battery optimization to get notifications consistently ( especially even when the phone is in deep sleep) ?
Thanks again for your help and input
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using default launcher, and not had to exclude any apps. See this post of mine, video shows every app installed https://gavinsgadgets.com/2018/04/0...ions-incl-camera-audio-my-top-10-tips-tricks/
Hey guys, I just want to know your experience after using Xiaomi Poco f1 for months.... Are you guys satisfied with your phone or do you guys regret buying it?
And please rate the phone.
Yes, I'm very satisfied with the device, it surely is an upgrade from my Lenovo P2. The device is very responsive. It was the transition to Miui that kept me deciding wether I wanted it. After using Miui for 2 months now.. I definitely recommend a Xiaomi device to all my friends.
Upgraded from Galaxy S5 two months ago. Thought that the screen downgrade would bother me but it really doesn't - it's a decent screen for an LCD (and I love a very low minimal backlight level for night reading, usually for me a most useful feature of an amoled screen). Of course, it's extremely snappy and I find even the camera excellent (gcam is a big help here but even a built in app is decent). While I really like the photos, I don't care much for the video. It's detailed enough, with a good dynamic range and the EIS on 1080p is excellent but it's aggressive 'local' HDR is very apparent. It really looks bad when only a certain part of the image keeps changing in brightness while panning. The video is much better if you don't pan around. I rarely take videos so it's not much of a downside for me and maybe a gcam video has a different HDR algorithm (forgot to try it). I am not a gamer (bought a high-performance phone mostly for future-proofing and to run a Linux desktop on) so haven't really been hit that hard with a often mentioned touch responsiveness (seems perfectly OK to me). I have a custom built widget for always on homescreen notifications that I vastly prefer to tiny notification icons so the lack of the latter doesn't bother me. I actually hate notification icons as I am usually running 4-5 background services with permanent active notifications that eat up all the available space. This way I only get dismissable notifications that are actually notifications.
I can't comment on the cell signal quality as I haven't got out of a city lately and here the signal is decent everywhere. Band coverage shouldn't be a problem in Europe, I think. All in all, I haven't regretted the purchase and don't underestimate the 'smug factor' of owning a phone that's a much smarter purchase than all the fancy branded ones.
My dream came true with this legendary phone.... I used to think that when I will use flagship processor.... But my budget not that much high to purchase flagship mobiles ... But after seeing this mobile with high end processor .. I felt that I too have a legendary mobile in my hands... I don't see any brand before purchase ... Just I saw the snapdragon 845 processor and I bought this phone and I felt happy ... This phone is awesome and Google camera is working like a charm ... And I am using pixel experience ROM ... I love that ROM ....
POCO (LOVE )
srabon debnath said:
Hey guys, I just want to know your experience after using Xiaomi Poco f1 for months.... Are you guys satisfied with your phone or do you guys regret buying it?
And please rate the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the camera warps when you try to stabilize a video because no ois, further note all phone cameras suck at low light video. Google camera by far enhances this phones zoom and low light capabilities greatly.
Remember guys this phone is full of compromises
Of course there are better phones with better screens if your expecting a phone with an amazing Samsung display or flashy looks then best to buy a samsung phone. The only positive side the phone is the copper heatsink and 845 processor. The screens display is praised as not complete garbage.
If your a casual phone user it's better to go with a used s8 because this phone is only for pubg
Pros
Xiaomis support of modding is insane even providing warranty when rooting.
Lenovo and Huawei are terrible in comparison you would be lucky to even have 1 custom kernel or rom on those phones.
I was iphone user ever since 3gs, switched from iphone 7 to pocof1 last year and fell in love immediately. First vacation with my wife took maaaany pics, incomparable to her s7 edge or my iphone 7, so much better. Paid 300€ for 128gb version, unbeatable. Countless custom roms, updates coming fast, of course there r better phones, but they cost 700€ or more, so no, thank you, no more "flagships" for me. Been using poco for 4 months now, no regrets not for a second. AND...i dont need a f..... screenprotector or cover or any other protecting sht like before, not scared of getting scratches, and i dont have any yet, still as new. By far the best phone i ever had
Thanks for the replies guys.
Hi all,
So I've done quite a bit of research on this, and wasn't able to find anything on Google. Basically, I already have a pretty decent main phone, but I want to get a "budget" type second phone purely for Astrophotography using GCAM. Now, I've been told Xiaomi phones and Pocophones work well with GCAM, but I wanted to see if there are any other alternatives out there that work better. My current choices are Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro, Xiaomi Redmi 9S, Pocophone F1, and the Razer Blade 2. Can anyone with a lot of experience with GCAM and/or astrophotography on some of these phones chime in and provide some information?
Requesting info. on following topics (as an example)
1) - How well Astrophotography mode works on the specific phone
2) - Is there any noise in the picture?
3) - Are there any color temperature issues?
In terms of picture "quality", I generally don't care about color temperature, but I do absolutely hate noise / grain. I think it's due to the way my Huawei P30 Pro processes night time pics to be smooth / bright / and without noise/grain.
Thanks in advance
I saw this video focusing on various Poco X4 Pro problems including problems with display, camera, fingerprint scanner, microphone and lagging problem on the phone.
<Moderator Edit>: Self-promoting video link deleted.
Can someone explain the Poco X4 Pro Display problem in the video where we can see backlight bleeding on black images under low brightness in dark rooms, Poco X4 Pro camera problem and microphone problem where the camera lags when choosing between various camera modes and how the microphone problem is present whereby the quality of audio recorded by video camera is very poor.
The only problem that I've experienced so far is the Poco x4 pro lagging problem and Poco x4 pro heating problem is also present when playing games like Call Of Duty or PUBG.
I want to check my phone for these problems and get a refund before it is too late if I'm having these.
So my question is where the problems mentioned in the video can be solved by software updates or not ?
Also are these problems present on all Poco X4 Pro phones ?
Sounds like you're having to thoroughly test a phone in strange conditions to look for a problem that doesn't effect you... Can't say I've got any issues with my phone. Fast enough and fluid - use my phone alot at night time and haven't noticed screen bleeding on a pure black image etc but I've not gone out of the way to look either. No lags swapping between camera modes, not a phone gamer so don't care about overheating either.
<Moderator Edit>: Adjusted quote to reflect changes to the OP.
Mrajhacker0 said:
I saw this video focusing on various Poco X4 Pro problems including problems with display, camera, fingerprint scanner, microphone and lagging problem on the phone.
Can someone explain the Poco X4 Pro Display problem in the video where we can see backlight bleeding on black images under low brightness in dark rooms, Poco X4 Pro camera problem and microphone problem where the camera lags when choosing between various camera modes and how the microphone problem is present whereby the quality of audio recorded by video camera is very poor.
The only problem that I've experienced so far is the Poco x4 pro lagging problem and Poco x4 pro heating problem is also present when playing games like Call Of Duty or PUBG.
I want to check my phone for these problems and get a refund before it is too late if I'm having these.
So my question is where the problems mentioned in the video can be solved by software updates or not ?
Also are these problems present on all Poco X4 Pro phones ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Display Issues - Yes indeed black is not true black under the circumstances mentioned in the video however this is because of just Miui stuff that enhances colors and tries to make stuff look better haven't found it on the (unofficial) Pixel Experience Plus rom
Camera Lag - yes have noticed camera lags and stutters and overall being not so smooth of an experience but i recommend you to use a Gcam as it has none of those problems and even lets you record videos at 1080p 60fps unlike Miui camera
Quality of audio recorded - Okay seriously? That was just dumb his phone might be 2 years old but the price is still more than twice than that of Poco X4 Pro so obviously it would be ahead
Gaming - Unfortunately this is not a gaming device they call it the "All around ace" but i don't see where is the all around ace in the phone?
The branding of this phone is so bad...
People will think since Poco X3 Pro was a beast of a gaming device the X4 Pro would be even better but no not in the slightest
Refund - if you want to you can... there really are better devices for this price segment
remember a good processor can make a lot of stuff good like camera quality, audio processing etc
Can these issues be fixed with a software update
Cough Poco X2, X3, F2 cameras just dying after a software update with no fix even after so long
Cough Cough Poco X3 Pro hard bricking due to system updates and no fix even after so long
Don't you worry mate Miui will come to your rescue to fix every problem you have!
Is it worth getting the Poco X4 Pro?
Mohammad Rafath said:
Is it worth getting the Poco X4 Pro?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends really
If you're living in the Asian countries there's several manufacturers providing you a better buck for your money e.g Iqoo
but if you wanna definitely buy a Xiaomi product then going for the Mi 11X which costs just a tiny bit more than the X4 Pro
Even the 6gb ram variant is far better due to the snapdragon 870 being a beast
In my opinion go for any device that has a snapdragon 8 series processor or the 778G
A processor matters a lot in a device
A good processor can accomplish several tasks with ease
E.g camera quality will be better and you'll most likely have 4k recording
Audio processing better
Rendering is better
Everything will look better since a better GPU
Overall better performance
But if you've already bought the device and thinking if it was worth your buck
imo not really... It lacks several features devices have in this price range even though people coping that this is a great deal
Never trust in the 5g gimmicks people will keep on telling u that the snap 480 5g or the 695 5g processors are amazing but that is a heck of a lie those are old processors overclocked but still way behind the league
BR4UTAL said:
Depends really
If you're living in the Asian countries there's several manufacturers providing you a better buck for your money e.g Iqoo
but if you wanna definitely buy a Xiaomi product then going for the Mi 11X which costs just a tiny bit more than the X4 Pro
Even the 6gb ram variant is far better due to the snapdragon 870 being a beast
In my opinion go for any device that has a snapdragon 8 series processor or the 778G
A processor matters a lot in a device
A good processor can accomplish several tasks with ease
E.g camera quality will be better and you'll most likely have 4k recording
Audio processing better
Rendering is better
Everything will look better since a better GPU
Overall better performance
But if you've already bought the device and thinking if it was worth your buck
imo not really... It lacks several features devices have in this price range even though people coping that this is a great deal
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for this detailed information, I was still planning to get this phone but as you said iQoo new phones are good too for this price range and Mi 11X is expensive for my budget Also for me display to matters because I hate the LCD in budget phones, AMOLED is good for eyes! I'm going to see the best budget phone with good specs and with snapdragon 8 processors as you said.
Mohammad Rafath said:
Thank you for this detailed information, I was still planning to get this phone but as you said iQoo new phones are good too for this price range and Mi 11X is expensive for my budget Also for me display to matters because I hate the LCD in budget phones, AMOLED is good for eyes! I'm going to see the best budget phone with good specs and with snapdragon 8 processors as you said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problem mate!
I recommend you to stay away from Poco in general though
Their specifications might look very appealing but almost every single phone of theirs has had a major flaw without any explanation provided by Poco
E.g X2, X3, F2 cameras just dying after a system update no fix even after almost 2-3 years
Poco X3 Pro which I'd say is the most appealing phone ever made...
Hard bricking after system update due to low end PMIC's
No fix after almost 2 years
side note: i was a Poco X3 Pro user until about 4-5 months ago when my Poco X3 Pro died after getting Miui 13 update
Luckily still 2 months of warranty was still left but it took almost 2 months to get a replacement and i got the X4 Pro
They were gonna give me the Redmi Note 9 which was absolutely disgusting compared to the X3 Pro so after a few fights here and there and paying about 50$ i got the X4 Pro...
<Moderator Edit>: Adjusted quote to reflect changes to the OP.
Mrajhacker0 said:
I saw this video focusing on various Poco X4 Pro problems including problems with display, camera, fingerprint scanner, microphone and lagging problem on the phone.
Can someone explain the Poco X4 Pro Display problem in the video where we can see backlight bleeding on black images under low brightness in dark rooms, Poco X4 Pro camera problem and microphone problem where the camera lags when choosing between various camera modes and how the microphone problem is present whereby the quality of audio recorded by video camera is very poor.
The only problem that I've experienced so far is the Poco x4 pro lagging problem and Poco x4 pro heating problem is also present when playing games like Call Of Duty or PUBG.
I want to check my phone for these problems and get a refund before it is too late if I'm having these.
So my question is where the problems mentioned in the video can be solved by software updates or not ?
Also are these problems present on all Poco X4 Pro phones ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The dark mode problem is in hardware or software? Because, in recovery mode, fastboot mode and on first boot poco logo, the display shows pure original black... But when it starts up on miui logo, display's upper side bocomes lcd black not amoled black.. so, what the problem basically is? On software or hardware?
@Mrajhacker0 I've closed this thread. Check the PM I've sent you.
I am currently using Redmi Note 9 Pro with SD 720G and when recording gameplay videos, it struggles to output 60fps.
I am thinking about getting the X3 pro with SD 860. Will this function improve dramatically? I am using both build-in screen recorder and I also bought Xrecorder. My intention is to limit the fps to 60 and not use 120 mode in games.
Exact model:
Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro - Full phone specifications
www.gsmarena.com
I also saw few reviews that the X3 Pro suffers from microstutters, as I understood something about the panel itself, something like pixel slow response time?
Is this true and will it translate to the recording?
Thanks guys.
No microstutters here. Don't know about anyone else's experience. Panel issues, if any ( I had none ) will not translate to recording output.
You can read about a lot of issues with the Poco X3 Pro around here. Considering the amount of said phones sold and used, it's a drop in the ocean, and within normal.
Stuff that inexperienced people do to their phones is staggering. When they mess up, guess where they come to cry for help?
Hope you buy the phone and flash a custom firmware on it, because that's the reason people buy Xiaomi/Poco phones. Hardware is great, software side sucks a$$.
Tomo123 said:
No microstutters here. Don't know about anyone else's experience. Panel issues, if any ( I had none ) will not translate to recording output.
You can read about a lot of issues with the Poco X3 Pro around here. Considering the amount of said phones sold and used, it's a drop in the ocean, and within normal.
Stuff that inexperienced people do to their phones is staggering. When they mess up, guess where they come to cry for help?
Hope you buy the phone and flash a custom firmware on it, because that's the reason people buy Xiaomi/Poco phones. Hardware is great, software side sucks a$$.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, already got it last week. I am waiting for the bootloader to unlock before I start using it, but from what I saw it runs smoothly. I think people are confusing stutters with FPS drops in some apps. I noticed that when I launch some not recently updated app, the screen switches from 120 to 60 Hz/fps
I think there is a way to force it, but its ok. I recorder some stuff, smooth like butter.