Huawei Mate 20 and 20 Pro unveiled: more AI, better cameras, wireless charging

Huawei unveiled the 2018 updates for the Mate 10 5.9-inch and Mate 10 Pro 6.0-inch smartphones. There is no surprise with the designation of the two new handsets, the Mate 20 and the Mate 20 Pro, which target what Huawei calls "new entrepreneurs" – typically, the inhabitants of startups at technology hubs such as the place of the London pre-brief of the company last week.

"It's the audience that really resonates in the Mate family," said Peter Gauden, senior global product marketing manager at Huawei, during the pre-brief: "Top performers who understand technology as that tool, and how they improve their capabilities.

The flagship market for smartphones is still competitive, with publishers generally looking to, among other things, improve the built-in AI and improve the performance of the camera. Huawei has certainly held out well until now, overtaking Apple to take second place in the IDC world rankings for the second quarter of 2018, for example. In the second quarter, Huawei delivered 54.2 million phones out of Apple's 41.3 million, an impressive growth rate of 40.9% year-on-year. So how can new Mate handsets help maintain the company's high position?

The latest Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset, announced in late August, is based on the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro models. The first Kiri 980 sold by TSMC, TSMC's first commercial system-on-chip, delivers 20% better performance and 40% better energy efficiency than SoC compared to the previous Kirin 970 10nm, says Huawei.

The Kirin 980 uses four cores Cortex-A76 (two "very big" and two "big") and four "small" Cortex-A55 cores to handle workloads ranging from intensive and energy-hungry to sustained and efficient support in power. flexible way. The GPU is Mali-G76, which can intelligently identify gaming workloads and adjust resource allocation accordingly. There are also two Neural Processing Units (NPUs), targeted to different types of AI / ML tasks – relatively simple object recognition compared to more complex natural language processing, for example. Other features of Kirin 980 include a fourth-generation Image Signal Processor (ISP) and a Cat.21 LTE-compatible modem (maximum download speed of 1.4 Gbps).

Here are the main specifications of the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro:

The junior member of the Mate 20 family, the 6.3-inch Mate 20 Lite, is already available at £ 379 in the UK (see ZDNet review).

Design

In line with current smartphone trends, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro both have a larger screen than the 2017: 6.53 and 6.39 inches versus 5.9 and 6.0 inches, respectively. The separation between LCD on the standard model and OLED on the Pro version remains, while the pixel densities are increased. As before, the standard model (Mate 20) has a 3.5mm headphone jack and has no IP resistance rating for dust and water, while the Mate 20 Pro uses a USB port. C for charging and connecting to the headset. It also complies with IP68 (IP67). Mate 10 Pro).

There is no MicroSD slot on both handsets. Instead, the external memory is managed by a new form factor: the Nano Memory Card (NMC), which can fit in the SIM's second slot of the handset. NMC cards do not exceed 256 GB, however.

Other design differences include a wider "notch" on the 19.5: 9 Mate 20 Pro, to accommodate an expanded front camera network, and a "hyper-optical" pattern on the back of the glass, recalling somewhat vinyl grooves, which helps grab and minimize unsightly fingerprints. The 2018 Mate handsets will be available in five colors: midnight blue and emerald green with the hyper-optic pattern, as well as black, rose gold and twilight (a two-tone pattern).

Cameras

The main advance of the camera is on the Mate 20 Pro which, like the P20 Pro released and reviewed earlier this year, has a three-camera configuration with 40MP, 8MP and 20MP sensors. The 40MP and 8MP cameras are equipped with wide-angle and telephoto lenses, as before, but the 20MP camera is now an RGB unit with an ultra wide-angle lens supporting macro images. On the P20, the 20MP camera was equipped with a mono sensor to add additional detail to the images – which is now considered unnecessary due to improvements made to the Mate 20 Pro's 40 MP main sensor.

The three Leica lenses, as well as the two-tone flash, are arranged in a rectangle in the middle of the back of the Mate 20 Pro, the curvature of the corners being identical to that of the chassis. No other smartphone on the market has this distinctive layout.

The Kirin 980 Dual NPU chipset brings photographic advances such as improved recognition of objects and scenes (some 1,500 different scenarios compared to 500 with the previous generation system) and 4D predictive focus, which recognizes moving objects and maintains focus on the subject of the video. . A new AI Cinema mode actually performs a real-time "post-processing", supporting eye-catching features such as AI Portrait Color where the subject is in color and the background is monochrome.

Power

Huawei handsets are typically equipped with high capacity batteries, and the Mate 20 series is no exception. The Mate 20 has a 4000 mAh battery (just like the Mate 10), while the Mate 20 Pro travels up to 4,200 mAh – only the huge handsets like the Xiaomi Mi Max 3's 6.9 inches with 5,500 mAh exceed this capacity. The fast charge, called by Huawei SuperCharge, is improved on the Mate 20 Pro, which can reach 70% of the charge in 30 minutes. The Mate 20, on the other hand, can reach a 58% load at the same time.

Wireless charging is also supported for the first time on Huawei's consumer devices. At 15W, it operates at a speed almost twice the industry standard, says the company. The Mate 20 Pro also debuts in "reverse wireless charging" – the ability to use the 4,200 mAh handset to power another device compatible with wireless charging.

security

The Mate 20 Pro supports the unlocking of 3D faces via a 3D face mapping system built into the front camera array (hence the widest notch on this handset). You can also use biometrics on your face to lock applications or files on the device.

The Mate 20 Pro includes a built-in fingerprint reader – an enhanced version of the technology seen earlier this year in the upscale Porsche Design Mate RS. This means a cleaner design at the back compared to the Mate 10 Pro.

Elsewhere, a new password safe allows you to store login information for third-party applications and services, accessed via face biometrics or fingerprints, while backup options are available. now extend to NAS systems.

OS and UI overlay

The UI overlays for Android can be a matter of love hate, but over the years, various elements of the company's EMUI system have made their way into the mobile operating system him -even.

The latest version, EMUI 9.0, attempts to simplify the user experience, for example by consolidating multiple entry points to change the wallpaper on one screen. You can also print instantly to nearby Wi-Fi or Bluetooth printers with one click via Huawei Share. Finally, Huawei's desktop mode, previously activated via a USB-C connection to an external monitor, now benefits from wireless support via Miracast.

Two other things …

In the classic Apple style, Huawei is not "one more thing", but two extra phones beyond those described in last week's pre-brief. The Mate 20 X 7.2-inch OLED display is equipped with a pen stand (Huawei M-Pen), a 5,000 mAh battery and a cooling system to " steam room ". Aimed at gamers, the Mate 20X offers an attachment for the game console and comes in blue and silver colors.

The second phone was the upscale Porsche Design Mate 20 RS, with a red or black leather trim on the back for sports cars and a matching price tag (see below). Stay tuned to find out more about these phones.

Price and availability

The Mate 20 will be available from October 16 to 799 € with 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage and 849 € with 6 GB of RAM. The Mate 20 Pro, also available from October 16, will cost € 1,049 with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage.

The Mate 20 X of 7.2 inches will be available from October 26 to 899 € with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage. You will have to wait until November 16th to receive the Porsche Design Mate 20 RS, which will cost you € 1,695 (8GB / 256GB) or € 2,095 (8GB / 512GB).

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