On March 26, the new Huawei P40 family was presented , consisting of the  P40 Lite , P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro +. Since April 7, the Huawei P40 Pro is on sale, which I have already  tested for a few weeks and of which I want to tell you my impressions so that you can assess (or not) its purchase if it is one of your possible candidates for a new mobile.

First of all, and as you will surely understand, I apologize for not having been able to try the photographic section in all its splendor. A future analysis of the chamber alone is pending  , when the confinement imposed by the Coronavirus health crisis has ended in Spain. Therefore, this review will focus on all issues that are also very important in a mobile device:  screen, battery, performance, software and other extras. 

Unboxing the Huawei P40 Pro, what does your box include?: Huawei P40 Pro: analysis in Spanish of the new Huawei flagship

The box follows the classic simple line of packagings of the company. A simple white box with the letters of the device model silkscreened on its front. Inside, you will find the smartphone in the foreground and below it  the manuals, SIM pin, transparent silicone case, 40W SuperCharge charger, USB Type-C cable and USB Type-C headphones. 

Huawei P40 Pro design: Slippery, but very comfortable

Huawei has done a good job redesigning its P family, after some P20 / P30 with quite a few similarities to each other. On this occasion, we find a clear protagonist: his cameras. Located in the upper left corner of the back of the terminal, they are now concentrated in a  rectangular package where all the lenses, the flash and the Leica logo are housed. Its size is quite considerable and the first days, depending on the way you pick up the mobile, you may rub this encapsulation with your finger. At least it happened to me, but I’ve gotten used to putting my finger in another position.

Huawei P40 Pro and Huawei P30 Pro

The back has a  very nice shine  and a really beautiful range of colors. In my case, I have perhaps the least attractive unit (or, rather, less visual), the black one, although it is very elegant and I like that glossy effect that remains. It is still a magnet for fingerprints and would have needed a more powerful oleophobic treatment , but today, if we want this shine effect, it is one of its disadvantages.

On the right side are the volume buttons and the power button (which also serves to invoke Celia), while at the bottom we have the speaker, the USB C port and the slot for dual nanoSIM or a nanoSIM and a NMCard.

On the front, an on-screen punch-hole camera appears for the first time in a premium range from Huawei  that replaces that notch that I never quite liked. The perforation is quite large and serves to house different sensors, but it is conveniently located so that it does not get in the way. The termination of the curved screen  makes the terminal  very pleasant to hold  (with one hand you can reach any point, despite the fact that it is a panel of considerable dimensions),  but slippery as it is alone . This can be a minor setback if you like to carry your phones without a case. It was my intention, but I ended up putting it on.

Display: curves and 90 Hz

I stop to talk to you about the screen because it really is  what I liked the most about the terminal  (in the absence of being able to test your camera well outdoors and in different conditions). At first glance, we see that Huawei has once again bet on  curves , creating that “infinite screen” effect that I personally love. Its size is  6.58 inches , but as I have already  spoiled you in the previous section, it is really comfortable in hand and does not give the feeling of being in front of a very bulky and uncomfortable device. The body / screen ratio is close to  92%.

It has a  2,640 x 1,200 px resolution, is OLED and brings a refreshment at 90 Hz . I want to stop especially on this since it is one of the most interesting points of this Huawei P40 Pro. What is a higher refresh rate for? Don’t think it’s just for games. Even if you only consult social networks, navigation or the like, you will notice that the fluency of the phone is very, very good. If you compare the transitions between this phone and another with a minor refreshment, it shows.

The image quality is  excellent , there is no problem in this regard. Good level of brightness, good image quality from any angle and a performance in the multimedia section according to what we could expect from a terminal of this caliber. It is true that I would have liked to  see a member of the P family go up the FullHD + , it has not been like that on this occasion either, but the final result is nothing negative. As a matter of fact, if you are concerned about the autonomy of the terminal, from the settings menu you can lower both the resolution and the refresh rate. You can also “hide” the perforation on the screen using software, something that I used to do when there was notch, but this time I don’t see it necessary.

We have the  always-on-screen mode again , to be able to see the time and notifications without turning on the screen. This time it comes with more customization options, a point in its favor.

Finally, tell you that it is quite  robust . It has an IP68 certificate  . I have not submerged it, but I have to admit that it  had a spectacular fall that made me forget for a moment until the quarantine. I breathed in relief when I saw that it was still pristine. It is true that he had the cover on and that helps, but he has not suffered a scratch. Any.

Performance: a 5G I can’t test

The Huawei P40 Pro brings as its brain the Kirin 990 5G processor  . With a 7 nanometer lithography  and focused on energy efficiency, but also the extreme performance of the terminal, it is made up of  eight cores divided into three clusters (2 x 2.86 GHz Cortex-A76 / 2 x 2.36 GHz Cortex-A76 / 4 x 1.95 GHz Cortex-A55). Along with it, we have a  Mali-G76 MP16 GPU  and different configuration options in terms of RAM and internal memory, although the 8 GB + 256 GB variant has arrived in Spain  . Enough, also considering that it supports an additional 256GB external storage (NMCard only).

The city where I am going through the confinement has not yet reached the 5G, so I can not tell you anything about it. Yes, I have taken the opportunity to test the smartphone in different conditions, with simple games such as Parcheesi Star or Sinking the fleet, but also with other online games with greater graphics, such as Monopoly or the always mentioned PUBG Mobile, very useful to test the performance of the terminals and a basic in my test bench.

The P40 Pro  manages the device’s temperature well  and I have not noticed any worrisome warming. After a long time of play, I can notice a slightly higher temperature in the central part of the rear deck, but nothing remarkable. Nor have I experienced crashes or the like, beyond the poor WiFi signal that I have right now, something that, of course, cannot be attributed to the terminal.

Photographic section: in the current Top

To speak of the Huawei P family is to speak of devices with a very high photographic value. It is precisely their strongest point and where they invest more resources. Last year I dedicated an exclusive analysis to the camera of the Huawei P30 Pro and this year it will be necessary to do the same, although this time not by express personal desire. Due to the confinement by the Coronavirus, the tests could not be very generous, but I leave you a small sample below.

Yes, I can open your mouth by leaving you data from the cameras on paper. On the back, we find a  quad camera  composed of: 50 MP f / 1.9 + 40 MP f / 1.8 + 12 MP f / 3.4 + TOF 3D. Together, these cameras favor  versatility in different scenarios (portrait, night, wide angle, zoom…). Speaking of zoom, it goes up to  5x optical, 10x hybrid and 50x digital. I notice, compared to the P30 Pro, a better stabilization even when zooming to the maximum. Now the image does not distort that much, but let’s not forget that it is digital zoom and that great quality cannot be expected. As for  video , it can go up to 2160p @ 30fps. For its part, the front camera is composed of a  double lens 32 MP f / 2.2 + TOF 3D IR.

Huawei  maintains the native software for the camera . You can take advantage of the capabilities of the AI ​​or play at being a photographer with its professional mode. In addition, it also allows you to apply quick effects, such as monochrome mode, light painting, underwater mode or video recording in two views. My preferred setting is still the  aperture setting , where we can manually adjust the blur to get better shots than with plain Portrait mode.

In my experience,  Huawei has managed to improve the color saturation in  automatic mode . We also see improvements in the management of  portrait mode , both with the front camera and with the selfie. The  beauty mode with the front is still a bit noticeable, despite having it totally deactivated, but in any case we see an advance compared to previous generations such as the Huawei P30 Pro camera . The  night modeIt is the undisputed winner in the photographic section of the P40 Pro. And of course we cannot forget about the zoom. It goes up to 50x with pretty sharp results and better stabilization. As against, I have noticed that when using the aperture mode or the portrait mode you have to wait a couple of seconds before moving the mobile to prevent the photo from being blurred.

Here are some samples in each type of situation. You can enlarge the images and see in their caption the description of the way in which they have been made.

Sound: Huawei Histen brings more value to your music

Huawei once again opts for the  on-screen earpiece and a speaker at the bottom . The location is not the most optimal, since we can accidentally cover it while playing or watching videos in landscape format. The sound quality is good, its clarity and its volume level, I do not perceive reverberations or vibrations, but I  miss a stereo system for the speakers.

This mid-throttle sensation is offset when Huawei Histen is discovered  . It is a functionality of the company that can be activated when using headphones (it does not matter what type). In the Huawei Histen settings section we see four options:  automatic (apply the sound that the system deems most convenient),  3D (for a more enveloping sound),  natural  (acoustic effect) or  standard (without effects). I usually leave it on automatic.

Battery: Huawei has done it again

Talking about the autonomy of Huawei’s premium range is talking about one of the best points of the products. Not only influences the amount of hours of screen that are usually done, under normal conditions, with these terminals; its fast charging system is one of the best on the market.

In this case, the Huawei P40 Pro incorporates a  4,200 mAh battery , equipped with  40W wired fast charging, 27W wireless fast charging and 27W reversible wireless fast charging. That is, we can charge another device in a fairly fast time. Personally, and although I love wireless charging systems, this time I prefer wired charging. It is brutal to have a fully charged battery in just an hour and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.

In terms of screen hours, it is giving me around  7 hours using 90 Hz, dark mode and brightness at 75% on average. These days I am using my mobile mainly for video calls, games and Instagram.

Connectivity, security and gesture control in the air: Huawei P40 Pro: analysis in Spanish of the new Huawei flagship

The Huawei P40 Pro includes dual-band 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac / ax Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.1, A2DP LE, GPS, A-GPS, NFC, and infrared .

In the security section, fingerprint unlocking and facial unlocking is what we all use the most. The P40 Pro once again has a  fingerprint sensor under the screen , they promise faster and the truth is that I do not notice big differences with respect to Mate 30 Pro, but I do appreciate that it is somewhat softer and it is not necessary to exert so much pressure. As for facial recognition, it includes an  IR facial unlocking sensor and here it is noticeable more speed and reliability.

As a curiosity, one of the most outstanding additions to Huawei’s P40 Pro is the  gesture control in the air . On paper it can be very interesting and innovative, but in practice it lacks quite a bit of filming. It allows you to capture the screen by clenching your fist (and that usually works quite well) or scrolling with a hand movement, without touching the screen at some point, although here I can tell you that it fails me more than it works for me.

Software: Your Achilles Heel: Huawei P40 Pro: analysis in Spanish of the new Huawei flagship

We have already reviewed the main details of the hardware of the Huawei P40 Pro and the truth is that it is a device at the height of what can be expected from a premium smartphone. Good screen, camera, battery, connectivity … It does not lack detail. However, your Achilles heel is in your software. Huawei uses HMS (Huawei Mobile Services) and comes with EMUI 10.1 . The beautiful, clean, very intuitive and Android-based interface offers the user the  AppGallery , Huawei’s own application store.

The Chinese company is making a great effort to offer a fully usable device and it has succeeded. I have tested the Huawei P40 Pro with the Huawei Mobile Services for 9 days and then I installed the Google Play Services on it to be able to tell you about my experience with both ( I used the EloyGomezTV method ).

Which one do I prefer? For now, with Google Play Services. The smartphone gave me a correct operation (for example, I could use Netflix, Disney +, etc., simply by downloading the apps from Aurora Store), however, some did not run, such as JustEat or Zalando. My advice is that you use it with your HMS and try the experience , in which you notice a lot of progress compared to when we tested it a few months ago in Mate 30 Pro. If you do not do it, you can always use Google Play Services with the method that I comment on. 

Technical characteristics of the Huawei P40 Pro: Huawei P40 Pro: analysis in Spanish of the new Huawei flagship