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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Jap, and I think we can all agree Huawei's had a bit of a
00:04rough year.
00:05But despite everything that's going on, they still offer some of the most technically
00:09impressive phones on the market.
00:11And not just phones, of course.
00:12Huawei have a huge ecosystem of laptops, watches, headphones, etc. which have all been designed
00:18to work together.
00:19I'll show you how all this works, including testing the phone with their Matebooks and
00:23FreeBuds Pro later in the video.
00:25So there's a lot of tech in Huawei's ecosystem, but at the core is the phone.
00:30And this is their latest flagship, the Mate 40 Pro.
00:33While technically the Pro Plus with its slightly longer 10x periscope zoom is the absolute
00:38tip-top flagship, but I think for most people, this is going to be the one you'll want to
00:42go for.
00:43And while of course the elephant in the room is the lack of Google Apps and Google Play
00:47services, which honestly is frustrating as a user, there are workarounds, there are alternatives.
00:52And actually, you know what?
00:53Hats off to Huawei because even though they probably didn't want to see themselves in
00:57this position, they are now bringing some genuine competition to a market that's just
01:01dominated by Apple and Google.
01:03So a big thank you to Huawei for partnering with me on this video and they basically asked
01:08if I'd give my honest experiences on using the Mate 40 Pro since I've had it for now
01:12the better part of two months.
01:15So first things first, the design.
01:17And of course the standout here is that unique space ring on the back, which houses the triple
01:21lens camera setup plus the laser autofocus.
01:24And also the Leica branding in the middle of the chocolate space donut thing.
01:28But it's certainly eye-catching.
01:30The ring, the mystic silver colour that gives that sort of pearlescent look as the light
01:33hits it.
01:34The super curvy horizon display.
01:37It just oozes premiumness.
01:40That's definitely not a word.
01:42The pill-shaped dual hole-punch cutout is definitely on the chunky side here, but as
01:47well as an ultra-wide selfie lens, it also houses a 3D Tamiflight sensor.
01:51So like the iPhone, face unlocking works just as well in low light, which I find really
01:55useful.
01:56Now, not everyone is a fan of curved screens, and I totally get that.
02:00Although I've not had a single issue with palm rejection or accidental inputs with this.
02:05And I think it does help to make the phone feel a little bit nicer in the hand.
02:08I know it's a YouTuber cliche and just a bit more premium, as I say.
02:11I like it, but I totally get that it's not for everyone.
02:14Also I need your opinion.
02:16What colour do you think this power button is?
02:18Is it pink?
02:19Red, maybe?
02:20My wife says it's hot fuchsia, which I think is quite a good answer.
02:23It is a big phone though.
02:25At 1,212 grams and with a 6.76 inch screen, you're definitely getting that Note 20 Ultra
02:31and iPhone 12 Pro Max big phone kind of experience.
02:35It's also great to see some little extras like having stereo speakers, dual SIM, 5G
02:40of course, an IR blaster, and IP68 water resistance.
02:44Now I actually made a mistake in my initial review of the Mate 40 Pro because I mentioned
02:48that I was quite happy that they kind of got rid of the virtual volume rocker that
02:52they introduced on last year's Mate 30 Pro because I just didn't find it that user friendly.
02:57But in fact, you have both.
02:59We have the physical volume rocker on the right side, but as well as that, you can touch
03:03either side to bring up the virtual volume slider.
03:06So it's nice that we have both options.
03:08Now on paper, I don't think the Mate 40 Pro screen stands out particularly.
03:13The Full HD+, 90Hz spec doesn't exactly scream flagship anymore.
03:18An adaptive 120Hz screen like the Note 20 Ultra would have been nice to see, although
03:22the dynamic 90Hz refresh here is still a good step up over the 60 that we continue to get
03:27on the latest iPhones.
03:28However, while it may not be the sharpest or the fastest, it does actually strike a
03:33good balance when it comes to battery life.
03:35And also the quality of the display is still just stunning.
03:38OLED, HDR10, nearly 900 nits of brightness, and it offers excellent color accuracy.
03:44I can also happily report that I've not had a single stutter or slowdown with this phone.
03:48Inside we have Huawei's own Kirin 9000 chip paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage.
03:53And in most benchmarks, it's pretty comparable to the Snapdragon 865.
03:57In my experience, paired with the much improved EMUI 11 software on top of Android 10, and
04:02of course that 90Hz screen, the Mate 40 Pro never missed a beat.
04:07I do want to talk about the software with this because firstly, in terms of apps, as
04:11I say, no Google Play services.
04:13You can sideload apps through APKs and use third-party APK stores, but Huawei don't really
04:18recommend that.
04:19And I completely understand why because they can't be sure the safety and security of those
04:23apps and how well they'll run on here.
04:25So what they want you to do is bring over a bunch of your apps from your old phone using
04:28Phone Clone and then use their Huawei App Gallery.
04:32With maybe a few APKs downloaded as well, I've got pretty much everything I need on
04:36here.
04:37And they've introduced a whole bunch of new software features.
04:40On the phone, we have Celia, their new voice assistant, along with Petal Search and Petal
04:44Maps.
04:45So Petal Search is kind of like a hub.
04:47You download it from the Huawei App Gallery and then as well as being a search tool, you
04:51can also get news, videos, updates, even use it for shopping.
04:55But one of the biggest reasons I found myself using it is to actually download and update
04:59apps that I just can't easily get elsewhere.
05:02So if you're using a Huawei phone, definitely give Petal Search a try.
05:07And then at a higher level, we have what they call this OnePlus 8 Plus N strategy.
05:11You've got your one phone at the heart of everything.
05:14Then eight close peripheral devices like smartwatches, headphones, and laptops.
05:18Then the N is for everything beyond that, apps, IoT devices, etc.
05:23And I love just how seamless the integration can be between devices.
05:27Huawei Share with their Maybooks, for example.
05:29Just tap your phone to connect and then you can transfer files or even use your phone
05:32completely remotely on the laptop.
05:35It can be a little bit laggy sometimes, but on the whole it works great.
05:39I've also got a pair of their new Huawei FreeBuds Pro earphones with me here.
05:43These are the active noise cancelling earphones.
05:46They cost about £130 or so and it's so easy to connect it to your phone.
05:50Just open the lid and you'll get a pop-up on the phone to connect.
05:53Anyway, back to the phone.
05:55I think the point is that unlike just any other Android phone, there is a whole ecosystem
06:00behind this if you want to invest.
06:03With Apple, the iPhone, you've got your Apple Watch and your MacBooks and your AirPods.
06:08With this, you've got your Maybooks, your FreeBuds, and your smartwatch GTs.
06:13So Huawei really is challenging the status quo of the big two.
06:17All right, let's shift gears because now I want to talk about this camera.
06:21So we get a 50-megapixel main lens with Huawei's unique RYYB sensor, which helps capture more
06:26light than your traditional RGB, along with a 20-megapixel ultrawide cine camera, which
06:31as the name suggests is also the primary video lens, and finally a 12-megapixel telephoto
06:37with 5x optical zoom.
06:39Although you can pinch in all the way up to a surprisingly good quality 50x digital.
06:44And then we also have a laser depth sensor to help with focusing and if you're using
06:47AR.
06:49Now I do a lot of camera comparisons on the channel and I'm sure you'd agree there's
06:52no perfect camera, but I think the Mate 40 Pro comes close.
06:57The level of detail and dynamic range is seriously impressive, although I do find the colors
07:02a touch on the cool side, but the size of the sensor means when you take close-up photos,
07:07you get a lovely looking almost DSLR quality bokeh blow in the background.
07:12You can also get some terrific low-light shots and while there is a dedicated night mode,
07:16I'd actually avoid that for anything other than almost pitch black shots.
07:20Regular photo mode is your best bet in low light and does a great job.
07:23Although I'd argue that while Huawei pioneered genuinely great night photography on phones,
07:28the competition has caught up, so it's not the huge selling point it used to be.
07:33Now switching to video and as I mentioned it uses the ultrawide cine lens, so we get
07:37a slightly wider field of view than most phones, but you can still punch in up to 15x actually
07:43and it does a surprisingly good job keeping everything sharp and stable.
07:49So all this video is shot at 4K 30 and one of my big takeaways is just how impressive
07:54the stabilization is.
07:56Even as I just walk down the street here, it keeps everything nice and smooth and overall
08:00it's detailed, noise is kept to a minimum and we get fast focusing.
08:04Hi Sarah.
08:05Hi Tom.
08:06You're a focus...
08:07It's a video.
08:08It's a video and I'm doing a focus test.
08:10You're a focus...
08:11It's a video.
08:12It's a video and I'm doing a focus test.
08:13You thought it was going to be a photo.
08:16I did.
08:17Cute.
08:18I mean just look at this, even in low light with my little Christmas tree here, you can
08:22see there's very little noise and the white balance is bang on when I'm seeing in real
08:26life.
08:28Now turning to the front camera and we have a 13 megapixel wide selfie lens and starting
08:34in low light, it's not my favourite.
08:36Both photo and night modes are kind of soft and lacking in detail but good lighting makes
08:41all the difference here and the day selfies look much sharper and more detailed.
08:47So for me at least, I think the camera on this thing is its biggest selling point but
08:51the battery is no slouch either and the combination of their efficient 5 nanometer Kirin chip,
08:57full HD 90 hertz screen and also the big 4400 milliamp hour cell, well I'm going through
09:02a regular day with about 40% of my battery left by 11pm.
09:07I ran a YouTube rundown test even using the web browser shortcut and it still lasted a
09:11little over 15 hours at 50% brightness.
09:14The battery on this thing is seriously good and then when you combine it with their 66
09:19watt supercharger that comes bundled with the phone which takes about half an hour to
09:24top up to 87% and about 45 minutes for a full charge, even after a couple of months I've
09:28not once worried or rationed my use of this to preserve battery.
09:33It also supports 50 watt wireless charging although you will need to buy one of these
09:36to take advantage of that.
09:38Plus it supports reverse wireless charging so you can top up other devices like maybe
09:42your Freebuds.
09:44And so that is the Huawei Mate 40 Pro.
09:47Beautiful design, impressive camera and battery life and a slightly frustrating but potentially
09:52rewarding software experience if you dive into their ecosystem.
09:57It also has quite a hefty price tag.
09:59At £1,099 this goes right up against the top end Note and iPhone.
10:04Although they often do have deals with other discounts or free accessories which is good
10:08to see.
10:10But outside of the Mate 40 Pro, I genuinely can't wait to see what Huawei does next because
10:15politics and controversy aside, their engineers and technicians continually innovate and bring
10:21us some great tech.
10:22I have put links to the Mate 40 Pro, the Freebuds and also my favourite Matebook in the description.
10:28And I'd love to hear what you guys think about Huawei and the Mate 40 Pro in the comments
10:32below.
10:33Thank you so much for watching guys, I hope you enjoyed the video and I'll see you next
10:36time right here on the Tech Channel.