Huawei Mate 40 Pro unboxing and first impressions By Neowin

Hey guys I'm Richard Edwin, and today we're unboxing the Huawei Mate 40 pro. So I have it right here, um so Huawei just announced this. It's the successor, the mate 30 pro and there's an uh there's a mate 40, a mate 40 pro and a mate 40 pro plus similar to the p40 series. In fact, I have the p40 pro plus right here. It's got that 3x zoom lens and a 10x zoom lens. So that's a similar thing for the mate 40 pro plus and here's the deal because um camera innovation from Huawei mostly comes from the p series.

Sometimes you see some cool stuff from the mate series, but they really focus on the camera. With the p series, they focus on the other stuff with the mate series, so we have a new chipset with this phone and by the way, that's why that's another reason that you do get some uh camera innovations from the maid series, because the P30 Pro had an awesome, awesome camera, but, unlike its competitors from Qualcomm and apple, it did not support 4k, 60fps, video, recording so um. When Huawei announced its next generation chipset, it did support it. So that came in the mate okay um. So this has the Karin 9000 processors and, as Huawei says, it is the first, the world's first five nanometer 5g chipset.

So I know what you're thinking didn't apple have a five nanometer chipset already, and the answer is yes of course, and so what they mean. They said the first five nanometer 5g chipset, so it's the first five nanometer chipsets that has a 5g modem built into it, because obviously apple has a 5, 5 nanometer chipsets, and then they get a Qualcomm modem separately. Now this device comes in several colors. It comes in white, black mystic silver, a couple of vegan leather variants, which look beautiful, there's, yellow and green, and the units that Huawei sent out are black, or at least that's the unit that they sent me uh, the least fun color and uh. But you know what, by the way before I even take the wrap off this I've had black Huawei devices where they are quite nice.

So here it is okay uh. It's got that um horizon display that we saw on the mate 30. It's got a circular, um camera. By the way, as you can see quite nice, I mean, as far as black phones go. This is like as, as nice as it gets.

I compared it to that because the p40 pro they sent me the black one. I compared it to like hematite, where it's not really black, it's actually more of a reflective uh mirrored type of surface. So, let's see if we can just boot this up, while we go through the rest of the box, all right we got a sim tool here- does come with a clear case, we'll just leave that out, because I may use that from time to time, but I'm not gonna. I don't. I don't like blocking beautiful phones, you know but uh whatever um.

So we've got an USB. What is it typing c, no type, a to type c, while we're still using um we've got headphones. These are gonna, be USB type-c headphones because uh, there is no headphone jack on this device, but yeah USB type-c headphones. That's a little surprising to see them still uh ship it in the box, because not not many companies are doing you. I don't.

I don't see USB headphones any more um. You know apple catches, a lot of uh flack for not shipping headphones in the box. I don't see anybody shipping headphones like now that I think about it. I really just don't see headphones in the box any more unless the phone still has a 3.5 millimeter audio jack. This is a 66 watt, Huawei supercharge charger um wild 66 watts.

So I will actually I'll have to use a travel charger just to use this piece but um yeah that that's that's pretty cool, and I've actually been using 65 watt wired charging with the uh OnePlus 8t. It's awesome, um. The only problem with the OnePlus is that there's no wireless charging, but that's you know neither here nor there. Obviously we do have wireless charging here. We do have fast wireless charging, all right guys.

Obviously, there's no google services on um on uh Huawei phones anymore, so we can just uh use phone clone to transfer everything over and that's easy enough transferring from my OnePlus 8. It does take a little while, but it's simple enough and all your apps just kind of transfer over you don't have a Google Play Store, obviously, but um. You know this looks like it takes 12 minutes. Sometimes it's faster, sometimes it's shorter, but it gets the job done. It gets it done efficiently.

You'll get all your apps except your Google apps, I'm a big Microsoft guy at Microsoft app. So I don't really need google apps too much that doesn't bother me, so now it's wrapping up with phone clone which, by the way, took more like a half hour at least um to actually do all that to export for my old phone and import for the new one and um yeah, so uh once you do that you should have all your apps and, and the thing is uh for a Google service. Like I don't like, I said I don't mind not having google services, it's not a huge deal for me um. You know I do use Gmail. I do use Google calendar, oh god do.

We have to go through a gesture tutorial that is so annoying its something it's like on every phone now android switched suggestions like three versions ago and for some reason, every time we set up a phone. We still have to go through a tutorial on how to use them, but I digress. Um, like I said I use Gmail use google calendar, but um I don't need their apps like we have third party clients for email. We have um, you know I'm for it for a calendar too. It's its fine um, so, so like I don't really miss any of that and, like I said, I'm a Microsoft guy, I have a lot of Microsoft.

Apps um. I have a lot of Amazon apps too. I use kindle and Amazon Music. So I'm pretty good without Google apps here anyway, like I said this is the mate 40 pro you can see it. It has the curved edges on the display, while we call it the horizon display and that's where you get that sort of waterfall curved edge.

I like it, you know, uh curved edges, have gotten a bad rap over the last few years and um. You know it's because they're honestly they're harder to use right because you hold it like this. You get false touches on the edges. It is happens. You know it's kind of funny, though.

Suddenly people care about this Samsung started doing it with, like the note edge, remember alongside the Galaxy Note, 4 and um, and then they did it in the galaxy s series with the s7. I know they have the s6 edge too and um and all of a sudden everybody cared about all of a sudden. Everybody thought it was like. Oh, it's so beautiful. I love it like well, it makes your phone harder to use.

I was saying since the beginning, but man this is pretty. You know that that that waterfall edge it makes it feel like the display, is just melting off the side. You know it looks so good that was my favorite thing about the mate 30, and now we have it on the May 40 pro as well. So look at the back. We have an old new design catches, fingerprints, obviously, as a glass phone would, so I do happen to have my mate 30 pro uh just lying around here.

So you can see, it's still got that circular look, but instead of this we have this sort of band around here it gave it an almost uh three-dimensional. Look like you know. You see that it's flat from this angle, but almost when you look at it from that angle, it looks like it's indented. You know it. I really like that, look so what they did this time now they have a different kind of circular.

Look where now the camera lenses are on that outer edge there, which is your know it's cool and by the way those camera sensors are pretty much the same. That you'll find on the p40 pro. It's got an um, a 50 megapixel Rob lens. It's got the ultra-wide camera, a 5x periscope zoom lens. So you know it's its pretty much a p40 pro camera, so you can put these next to each other, and you can see that that that how the waterfall display the horizon display, if you want to call it, falls off the edge.

Now we have a 90 hertz display here on the mate 40 pro that wasn't there last year on them on the mate 30 pro. That was something that showed up in the p40 pro um other companies doing 120 hertz can't lie about that. That does use more battery life, but um. You know, Huawei chose to continue going with the 90 hertz even on the mate 40 pro plus, okay um. So, that's about all that there is an USB port on the bottom, as you'd, probably guess like with most phones, right, um, yeah, the display, OLED, 90, hertz, circular camera, and it's an all new design, and I love that they're.

That they're coming up with this kind of unique looks for the maid series. You know the the p series is more about like it. Since its more camera focused, they tend to put the camera up in the corner um, and so it is like it's meant to be held landscape like so um you know, like mate is where they kind of innovate with new designs. I'm having a tough time showing this because it gets the fingerprints on it so easily, but um. You know also it's an awesome.

Looking device like I said there are email clients that I used um. I believe on the last one I used outlook, I believe, on the one before that I use the Gmail PWA, which, by the way you can do that too, you can go, and you can um go into go on the website. You can just pin the website and the mobile website works just as good as an app would. My point is that there are solutions for apps. I I I don't like.

I said I don't find the lack of google services to be a problem. Not for me, I'm a Microsoft guy um, but also I mean like there are solutions. Uh Huawei has like uh like after you do phone clone. While we also have something called pedal, search and pedal search, searches, the app gallery, which there's not a lot in the app gallery still, and then it also searches other sources that you can use so like it'll search, uh, apt rusted APK sites, um, and it'll automatically download from that site. You know, um, your apps won't get updated, but um.

You know. If you get to a point where it needs to be, you can just go find the new one like it takes a little more work. It kind of feels like old school, uh smartphone using but uh. You know it's its worth it for the hardware that you get, and that was the thing like the first time. They sent me a phone without Google services.

It was an honor mid-range phone. It was like. I can't recommend this. You know, like the hardware, has to be good enough for it to be worth the little of extra work you have to put in because it does take a little getting used to not having google services so like, like with Huawei's flagship phones. It is absolutely worth it.

You know so uh yeah, so more on this. In a few weeks, I'm obviously going to play with the camera a lot so stay tuned. I'm Richard Edwin have a great night.

Source : Neowin