Exclusive: An afternoon with the Huawei P20 Pro camera

The Huawei P20 Pro is official with the world’s aboriginal amateur camera, an AI-assisted camera experience, 40MP capital sensor, and 5X amalgam zoom. Is this the ultimate smartphone camera? Let’s acquisition out!

The Huawei P20 Pro features the world’s aboriginal amateur camera on a smartphone. From the banderole 40MP shooter, to three cameras, an AI-assisted camera experience, and appearance such as amalgam zoom, the P20 Pro camera promises to action a lot of features. The absolute catechism is whether or not it delivers.

We spent an hour with the camera aftermost anniversary and took it for a circuit about Yerba Buena Gardens and Chinatown in San Francisco. Is this the abutting footfall in the change of smartphone cameras? Is an auto-switching AI-assisted camera absolutely the future? Here’s what we found.

The P20 Pro we approved was application beta software and may not be absolutely cogitating of the final experience. However, it does accord us an adumbration of what to apprehend from the amateur camera – we’ll assets final acumen for the abounding review.

We’ve credible a 40MP camera on a smartphone afore (remember the Nokia 808 PureView?), but this is the aboriginal time we’ve credible one on an Android phone. The 40MP primary camera is backed up by a 20MP connected sensor and the 8MP telephoto lens.

The capital camera is absolutely set to 10MP by default, as the P20 Pro combines four pixels into one beyond pixel. The beyond pixel has a pixel admeasurement of 2-micron meters, which is meant to action abundant bigger low-light photos. In our testing, the low-light pictures larboard a little to be desired. That said, we couldn’t analysis it in accurate low-light conditions, so we’ll amend this commodity with added capacity afterwards we absorb added time with the device.

The tagline for today’s Huawei accident was “See Mooore,” and it’s credible why back attractive at one of the new features, dubbed amalgam zoom. The P20 Pro comes with two altered zoom modes — there’s 3X optical zoom as able-bodied as 5X amalgam zoom. The optical zoom isn’t new to smartphones and leaves us absent a little more, with images generally absolute out and a little blurry. This may be bottomward to the beta attributes of the software, but we’d absolutely achievement this is bound in the final software.

The Amalgam Zoom is addition matter. Amalgam zoom works by accumulation the detail of the ample camera with the Optical Zoom to accomplish the amalgam zoom effect. The aftereffect is the adeptness to acutely see capacity that don’t alike appearance up with the optical zoom, and while it’s not lossless like Huawei claims, it’s absolutely absorbing nonetheless.

The P20 Pro additionally sees the barrage of a new blazon of stabilization – AIS (AI Assisted Stabilization). Huawei claims that AI stabilization is bigger than a hardware-based solution, such as Optical Image Stabilization. The aggregation showed off a allegory of video recorded on the P20 Pro and the Galaxy Note 8, with the closing visibly shakier. In absolute usage, we begin the P20 Pro AIS to bear abiding video although some of the videos had some hasty movements. We’ll analysis this in the abounding review.

The AI assisted stabilization delivers addition account than aloof video recording — handheld continued exposure. One of the bigger issues adverse smartphone cameras is actuality able to booty continued acknowledgment shots afterwards the charge for a tripod and the P20 Pro takes a huge footfall appear removing the charge for a tripod.

In our calm lowlight testing, we begin that continued acknowledgment works acutely able-bodied application the AIS. Not alone this, but the four-second continued acknowledgment makes a apparent aberration to the all-embracing pictures captured. Let’s booty this archetype of a abbey — the approved photo is ok, but the continued acknowledgment attempt is abundant better.

Huawei has been talking about AI back the barrage of the Kirin 970 aftermost year, but the aggregation hasn’t absolutely delivered a accurate AI experience. With the P20 Pro, Huawei is action a lot of the camera acquaintance on AI, with the AIS abutting by auto-detection of the arena and AI-assisted composition. We couldn’t analysis the closing feature, but the auto-detection of the arena provided a different and agitative experience.

Point the P20 Pro camera at a accountable and, afterwards a sub-second pause, the AI detects the accountable and switches to one of the 19 preset scenes. The Mate 10 Pro offered best of these scenes but new to P20 Pro are the dog, cat and avalanche scenes as able-bodied as a few others. Here’s the P20 Pro capturing a dog:

During our time with it, we begin the auto switching to be impressive, in that it consistently detected the appropriate scene. The alone affair we begin is that with scenes such as a waterfall, the phone capital to abduction a continued acknowledgment which resulted in a bleared photo. Yet, application the accepted abduction approach resulted in a abundant bigger photo.

The P20 Pro brings a lot of new appearance and abominably we couldn’t to analysis all of them in the hour window we had with the handset. However, our time with the P20 Pro did advance that Huawei’s new smartphone delivers an absorbing camera experience, alike if it still could use some added polish. Hopefully the acquaintance will be alike bigger back the phone ships to consumers.

The all-embracing photo affection is impressive, while not actuality revolutionary. Industry busting appearance such as 5X amalgam zoom, a max ISO of 102400, AI-assisted stabilization, and the 40MP camera all add to the attraction of Huawei’s new amateur camera smartphone.

Does it set a new accepted for smartphone cameras? That charcoal to be credible and we’ll alone apperceive for abiding afterwards our abounding review. In the meantime, we’ve got a lot added on the new P20 Pro for you so analysis out the links beneath and break acquainted as we’ll be afterlight this column with our impressions of the P20 Pro in low ablaze in aloof a few hours!

Check out the pictures in abounding resolution by beat the button below:

Triple the cameras, amateur the fun?

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See Mooore

Hardware or AI – what’s the best stabilization?

Do you charge AI in the camera?

Is the P20 Pro the ultimate smartphone camera?

See the full-size images
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