Huawei P30 Pro Review: A Perfect Blend of Performance and Longevity

Huawei has incorporated everything outstanding about the previous P20 Pro into P30 Pro and added more enhanced impressive features making the P30 Pro an eye-catching smartphone.

In terms of performance and usability, the Huawei P30 Pro presents a significant upgrade over the previous model with a beautiful display, better battery performance, responsive fingerprint reader, super-fast charging times and, of course, the quadruple-camera — which is one of the smartphone’s best attributes.

PROS

• Responsive in-display fingerprint reader
• Excellent battery life
• Impressive camera
• Super-fast charging

CONS

• Software could be improved
• Display isn’t in the same league as other high-end smartphones

Appearance and Display

• OLED
• No headphone jack 
• USB-C port
• 192 x 73.4 x 8.41 mm
• 192 g

The Huawei P30 Pro has five colour variants: Pearl White, Amber Sunrise, Breathing Crystal, Aurora, and Black. Of all the colour hues, the Breathing Crystal has the most premium finish. The beautiful finish of the P30 Pro clearly shoves it up the class ladder.

The display of the Huawei P30 Pro is a little larger than the screen size of the P20 Pro. It is still not edge-to-edge, though. The screen size measures 6.47 inches, which is 0.37-inch larger than the P20 Pro’s 6.1-inch display. The display brightness maxes out at about 400 nits.

The full high definition FHD+ resolution OLED of the P30 Pro still lags behind AMOLED displays of most smartphones in the same league.

Images on the screen look quite impressive, and colourful. However, this display isn’t as sharp as the Apple iPhone XS or Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus.

Huawei P30 Pro Specifications

The top screen has a notch which is smaller than what you’ll find on previous models, and that is where the front-facing camera is.

Speaking of cameras, there are four camera arrangements on the rear: a 20-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, a 40-megapixel wide-angle camera, a time of flight (TOF) lens, and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor. On the front is a 32-megapixel camera.

You won’t find an earpiece on the P30 Pro because it has been replaced by an Acoustic Display Technology which makes it possible for sound to be projected.

Your P30 Pro ships with a plastic case which will help you have a better grip of the smartphone because its glistening glass back is quite slippery. Also in the box are USB-C earbuds and a 40W fast charger.

Storage

• 28 GB / 256 GB / 512 GB storage
• 8 GB RAM

Huawei has made available three storage variants on the P30 Pro: 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB. All of the variants come with 8GB RAM. The storage is expandable but you have to use only Huawei-customized nano-memory (NM) cards.

Your typical microSD card is a no-no on the P30 Pro, as with the P20 Pro. It’s worth nothing, as well, that Huawei’s nano-memory cards are not as ubiquitous as the standard microSD cards. Nonetheless, you can find the NM cards here.

Camera

• 20 MP ultra-wide sensor
• 40 MP wide-angle camera
• Time of flight (TOF) sensor
• 8 MP telephoto sensor
• Super HDR 32MP front camera

Camera selection on the P30 Pro is generous. Its incredible Leica-engineered cameras are one of the outstanding qualities of the Huawei P30 Pro. The cameras have been the focal point of the P series handsets.

As previously mentioned, there are four camera setups on the rear: a 20-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, a 40-megapixel wide-angle camera, a time of flight (TOF) sensor, and an 8-megapixel telephoto sensor. On the front, is a Super HDR 32-megapixel camera.

The TOF sensor is not particularly new in the smartphone industry as LG has implemented it on the G8 smartphone. It gives photos a lot of depth.

The Huawei P30 Pro has one of the best cameras you’ll find on a smartphone.

You’ll love the 5x lossless optical zoom which is a significant upgrade over the 3x optical zoom of the Huawei P20 Pro. The Huawei P30 Pro’s camera also has a 10x lossless hybrid zoom which makes images even better.

Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus, Google Pixel 3, Xiaomi Mi 9 and OnePlus 7 Pro’s cameras function with the industry standard red-green-blue (RGB) sensor which has its limitations. Huawei has towed a different path by adopting a class-leading red-yellow-yellow-blue (RYYB) sensor in the new P30 Pro.

The advantage is a better picture quality even in poorly lit environments and excellent colour accuracy since RYYB sensors can take in more light than RGB sensors. The yellow sensors may be adopted by other smartphone manufacturers in the future.

The result of all of these improvements is crisp, clear, beautiful pictures with bright and natural colours. You will get sharp pictures because the Huawei P30 Pro’s camera is AI-powered. Sunlight visibility is impressive, too.

We particularly like the zoom and ultra-wide lens features which allow you to take pictures and cover more ground than most smartphones would. The 40-megapixel wide-angle camera which has an optical image stabilization(OIS) feature ensures you do not have blurred images.

The front facing camera is good for taking selfies, but Google Pixel 3 XL takes better selfies.

Software

• Kirin 980 chipset
• EMUI 9.1 (Based on Android 9)

The Huawei P30 Pro sports the Kirin 980 chipset which was first introduced in the Mate 20 Pro. The smartphone is powered by EMUI 9.1 operating system, which is Huawei’s tweaked version of Android 9.

The one major flaw with this smartphone is the EMUI 9.1. We must admit that the EMUI 9.1’s interface lacks the modern feel associated with most high-end smartphones like the Apple iPhone XR, Google Pixel 3, and Xiaomi Mi 9.

Thankfully, the EMUI is fast and this makes up for what it lacks in terms of user interface appearance. The EMUI works with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning to deliver super-fast processing speeds.

Spec-wise, let’s look at how the P30 Pro compares to other premium smartphones, notably Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus and Google Pixel 3 XL

Performance 

• Mali-G76 MP10
• Fingerprint reader and face unlock

Logging into the P30 Pro can be done using the in-display fingerprint scanner as well as face unlock.

The fingerprint reader which uses an optical sensor technology is responsive,  though not as super responsive as the Galaxy S10’ s fingerprint reader which works with an ultrasonic technology.

The P30 Pro’s  face unlock is via the camera, unlike the Mate 20 Pro which uses laser face unlock. You may find it difficult using the face unlock feature in dimly lit rooms.

Calls on the P30 Pro are clear and loud despite the absence of a standard earpiece speaker. How so? Well, Huawei has simply used an electromagnetic levitation technology which is responsible for the efficient clear sound you’ll get during voice calls.

The Kirin 980 technology which powers the P30 Pro is as fast as the  Snapdragon 855.

We are happy that the P30 Pro is dust- and water-resistant with an IP68 classification unlike the Huawei P30 which is not water resistant. Huawei claims the “device is protected against harmful ingress of static water at up to 1.5 meters, for up to 30 minutes”.

You’ll find the P30 Pro’s speaker at the bottom; from time to time you may find your palm blocking the speakers. Its sound is quite loud but overall, won’t blow you away. It is just not as impressive as what the iPhone XR and the Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus manage. The P30 is shipped with USB-C earphones.

Battery Life

• 4200 mAh
• Reverse wireless charging
• 15 W wireless charging
• 40 W wired fast charging

Huawei is renowned for producing smartphones with very good battery performance — the P30 Pro is not an exception.

It has an impressive 4200 mAh battery. It is impressive because it can last up to 48 hours if you use it for light tasks. Compared to the previous model, the Huawei P30 Pro has a better battery performance. You are sure to get at least 8 hours of screen-on time, if not more depending on usage.

Owners of the Huawei P30 Pro can now have the best of both worlds – superb battery performance, and cutting-edge cameras.

Furthermore, you can juice up your P30 Pro’s battery with the fast 40W wired and 15W wireless charging features the smartphone has. There is also a reverse wireless charging option which Huawei Mate 20 Pro users have been enjoying. Other wireless devices can be charged with the P30 Pro’s reverse wireless charging feature.

It takes a little over an hour to completely charge the battery from zero. Juicing up the battery from zero charge to 70% takes approximately half an hour.

Tip: Using Huawei-made chargers will fill up your P30 Pro pretty quickly.

What You May Not Like

• Its glistening exterior feels slippery
• You are not covered by the manufacturer’s warranty if you live in the US
• The storage is expandable only with Huawei-customized nano-memory (NM) cards.
• No headphone jack on the P30 Pro

Bottom Line

The P30 Pro is a redefined version of the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. For its price, however, some of the smartphone’s features are not as outstanding as what you get on other top-of-the-class smartphones. That said, it remains one of the best smartphones on the market at the moment.

Excellent battery life, cutting-edge cameras, very fast charging time, and a decent display pretty much check off most of the boxes for us. You’ll love the P30 Pro and we recommend it.