The editors of Golobal Tech also choose their favorite smartphone this year, and Thomas closes. He chooses the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. A very expensive smartphone that handles pain points perfectly.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro favorite smartphone of 2019
Last year I crowned the Nokia 5 as my favorite device, an affordable smartphone that you bought for no more than two hundred euros. And if you had asked me at the beginning of this year what kind of device I would choose, I would probably have expected a cheaper option. I like a sharp price-quality ratio, a smartphone that shows that you also get a lot in the house for a while.
Yet my choice ultimately fell on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. And yes, with a suggested retail price of 999 euros, it is five times as expensive as the Nokia and one of the most expensive Android smartphones of 2019. Admittedly, I use a review copy from the manufacturer, but if I had to pay I still had to pay for the Huawei chosen.
Huawei Mate 20 Pro Smartest camera photos
That is largely due to the camera. Huawei has made huge leaps in the camera over the past year. Not so long ago, Huawei’s smartphones were equipped with decent, but at most mediocre cameras. With the Mate 20 Pro, however, they are among the best in their class.
I can elaborate on how the image of the three lenses is combined for nicer photos, or how Huawei’s image recognition ensures smart snapshots in every situation. That, however, I have done enough in my review of the Mate 20 Pro.
In the two months that I use the device now, I know how to shake one picture after another from my sleeve. I do not have to mess around with Pro mode or to look for good light sources when it is dark. The Mate 20 Pro knows how to shoot beautiful photos and videos of every situation.
In the hectic, busy year that 2018 was for me, I am grateful that I have a good smartphone that captures the most important memories in the picture. Some moments you want to keep with you, and then a colorless photo full of noise is not enough. Then you only want the best, and that’s why the Mate 20 Pro is my favorite.
Battery of buzzing
Another very big plus: the battery. I soon spend the whole day on my smartphone, as you might expect, and with most devices, I know by now that I have to charge during the day. With the Mate 20 Pro not: the 4200 mAh battery effortlessly takes a full day. And I leave, nice and healthy, my smartphone a little more often left, then he also easily two days without charging.
But even if my battery runs out very quickly, then I’m not worried. The Mate 20 Pro can recharge so quickly. Huawei supplies a 40-watt charger. After half an hour the battery is already 70 percent full, after ten minutes I already have twenty percent. On a busy day with a lot of travel and few power sockets, I have enough time to get the Mate 20 Pro full. Admit it: the battery is soon the biggest head care with your smartphone.
Until we find new battery technology, manufacturers simply can not make a battery that is big enough for very long days. But by making charging that fast, that ‘head care’ of the battery has completely disappeared. I had not expected that myself beforehand but is secretly one of my favorite features in a smartphone this year.
Small imperfections hardly irritate
The Mate 20 Pro certainly has minor irritations. Huawei was one of the first with a fingerprint scanner in the screen, but of me, it had just been allowed to sit behind. I have to press three or four times before my finger is recognized, and it takes much longer than that ‘old-fashioned’ scanner on the back. Fortunately, face recognition works quickly.
The software also remains a weak point of Huawei. They are pretty fast nowadays with updates, though. Huawei’s EMUI interface, however, remains much less than that of Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola and of course stock-Android. It does not matter to me, however: Huawei has the weakest points of other smartphones so greatly improved, that those small minuses soon fall for me.
That does not mean that the recommended price of 999 euros is really high. Meanwhile, that price has already dropped a little, but you still pay more than 850 euros for the Mate 20 Pro. I can understand very well that for some people this is (too) too much money. And good budget smartphones are still there enough: this year, among other things, the Nokia 7 Plus, Huawei P Smart and Xiaomi Mi A2 really charmed me. Still, the ease, strength and camera quality that the Mate 20 Pro offers is so high that I am enjoying the luxury of a flagship this year.
The disappointment of the year: old competitors fall away
One of my favorite aspects of Android is the big competitors between different manufacturers. Competition is good for the consumer: if you do not have one smartphone, then you simply choose a Huawei Mate 20 Pro device from the other manufacturer? The competition seemed to get bigger this year, now that companies such as Xiaomi and Oppo have plans for the market.
Unfortunately, some ‘old’ names are pushed away with all that competition. Take LG, Sony, and HTC. Once they were ‘purveyors’ of Android, and they made flagships with innovative hardware and striking features. In 2018 they brought us the LG G7 ThinQ, Sony Xperia XZ3, and HTC U12 Plus respectively. Fine devices, not of that, but also a bit boring.
Even by you, these devices were soon forgotten. In our readers’ survey of the best smartphones of 2018, they barely gathered votes. My hope is that these manufacturers will surprise us from next year. Because of the stronger the competition, the healthier the Android world.