Struggling to decide.

[MrBaker89]

Afternoon people

I'm currently running a s8+ and I'm wanting to upgrade.. 

 

My dilemma is do I wait for any snapdragon 845 phones to be released in the UK or do I go for the Huawei p20 pro? As I like that phone

 

Thanks in advance 

[Technomancer__]

Why on earth would you want to upgrade an s8+ it's a very good phone

[MrBaker89]

1 minute ago, Technomancer__ said:

Why on earth would you want to upgrade an s8+ it's a very good phone

Because I'm not that impressed with it the last year I've had it since its release. And now it's time to upgrade so I want something different so that's why I'm trying to decide on waiting for snapdragon 845 phones to hit the UK or go for the p20 pro 

[EPPHO]

16 minutes ago, MrBaker89 said:

Because I'm not that impressed with it the last year I've had it since its release. And now it's time to upgrade so I want something different so that's why I'm trying to decide on waiting for snapdragon 845 phones to hit the UK or go for the p20 pro 

If you're not impressed with S8+ then you won't be impressed by any other phone tbh

[vargvikernes]

25 minutes ago, MrBaker89 said:

Because I'm not that impressed with it the last year I've had it since its release. And now it's time to upgrade so I want something different so that's why I'm trying to decide on waiting for snapdragon 845 phones to hit the UK or go for the p20 pro 

if you want something different buy a 3301 nokia or atleast buy a phone that supports copperhead os and flash it on so you cannot be tracked

[Guest The Viking]

p20 pro is a very nice phone 

 

-proud p20 pro user since launch 

 

at 899e it's a bit pricey. I  got it with the amazon.fr launch offer, 150e giftcard if preordered, so it's ~750e

 

just ask me any questions about the p20 pro if you're interested, i'll gladly answer them.

[MrBaker89]

Just now, The Viking said:

p20 pro is a very nice phone 

 

-proud p20 pro user since launch 

 

at 899e it's a bit pricey. I  got it with the amazon.fr launch offer, 150e giftcard if preordered, so it's ~750e

 

just ask me any questions about the p20 pro if you're interested, i'll gladly answer them.

Thank you

 

What is the battery life like? I'm assuming it's a very fast phone? 

 

Is ram management good? 

 

Is the ui customisable

 

 

[Guest The Viking]

53 minutes ago, MrBaker89 said:

Thank you

 

What is the battery life like? I'm assuming it's a very fast phone? 

 

Is ram management good? 

 

Is the ui customisable

 

 

1. battery: amazingly, better than on the mate 10 pro? with medium to heavy use (though no games) I manage to make it last 2-3 days. battery should improve overtime as soon as the AI learns from your usage too, so I would say ~2 days for most power users, 3 if you're average.

It's fast, yeah. Maybe too fast? fingerprint sensor is instant unlock (has face unlock too), and the phone is ready at all times to be used. No lag whatsoever, nothing yet. Most apps open instantly. I've run into a weird issue with the amazon shopping app on my Mate RS though, but haven't had it on my p20 pro.

2. You get 6gb of ram, ~3gb used by the system. EMUI will kill most apps over the longterm for battery & ram management. haven't had issues so far. Notifications do come through though.

3. er... depends... you get Huawei's EMUI which is hated by many but I see more and more people who enjoy it. Depends on what kind of customization? you get widgets and whatnot, so you can customize it with weather app, calender, contacts, and a bunch of other stuff I don't really use. There's two modes for apps, the classical android one of... scrolling I guess? and the more iOS style of pages with the apps, you can put them in folders, etc. You get a store for themes so if you don't like the stock ones you can download user made ones for free (some are premium) and change the icons and such.

\

+

i know you can customize a bit more with your own launcher and stuff though I don't look into that, i'm one of those people who really love EMUI and have been using it for so long I'm fine with it. EMUI also includes a few cool features you can activate in the settings, such as knuckle stuff or fingerprint sensor navigation. At first it may seem... silly? or not very useful? but you'll end up getting used to them and prefer them over the usual movement, as they are quicker/more natural.

 

Otherwise, well, you get the notch, which I don't like, but you can hide it with the option and it looks quite nice. Though you end up forgetting about the notch. The bump on the back for the camera is rather annoying too but hey, I guess that's the price you have to pay for such a thin device with the best smartphone camera out there.

 

i'm obviously biased as I've been a longtime huawei user/fan, but yeah, this is easily their best phone so far (ok, excluding the mate RS, but that's not... for the average consumer) and I find it hard to regret the purchase. Excellent build quality, excellent hardware, excellent software (got the march security patch last week already!), excellent camera, excellent all I guess? 

 

few things they include in the box is a screen protector already applied, a basic silicon case, which is always nice to have, some USB-C headphones, fastcharger (50%+ in 30 min, 1 hour for full charge usually) and a USB-C adapter for your headphones (because yes, no headphone jack.... and no microSD card slot either, though 128gb of internal storage should be plenty).

 

edit: i guess some cons are huawei is starting to put bloatware on their devices, such as the usual promoted apps (instagram and such) and a few things such as their own App Store (so Google Store+Huawei store....). You get an array of Huawei services, such as HiCare and such, which are quite useful (HiCare for warranty and technical help, cloud backup for backup, phone clone for... well, cloning your phone data), but all can be uninstalled with just one or two taps. The Huawei App Store is bloated but has some pros agaisnt the google one

 

edit2: huawei's been doing agressive, regular promos lately, probably to sell those 20 million P20/P20Pro units they want to sell this year, so if you look around a bit you can find it for 100/150 euros/pounds less than the official price. In france they have this promo right now, "french days", where it's 100e off, so maybe you'll have some kind of similar promo soon in the UK. 899, sure, it's expensive, but still worth it. 799 is no questions asked. 

 

[MrBaker89]

4 minutes ago, The Viking said:

1. battery: amazingly, better than on the mate 10 pro? with medium to heavy use (though no games) I manage to make it last 2-3 days. battery should improve overtime as soon as the AI learns from your usage too, so I would say ~2 days for most power users, 3 if you're average.

It's fast, yeah. Maybe too fast? fingerprint sensor is instant unlock (has face unlock too), and the phone is ready at all times to be used. No lag whatsoever, nothing yet. Most apps open instantly. I've run into a weird issue with the amazon shopping app on my Mate RS though, but haven't had it on my p20 pro.

2. You get 6gb of ram, ~3gb used by the system. EMUI will kill most apps over the longterm for battery & ram management. haven't had issues so far. Notifications do come through though.

3. er... depends... you get Huawei's EMUI which is hated by many but I see more and more people who enjoy it. Depends on what kind of customization? you get widgets and whatnot, so you can customize it with weather app, calender, contacts, and a bunch of other stuff I don't really use. There's two modes for apps, the classical android one of... scrolling I guess? and the more iOS style of pages with the apps, you can put them in folders, etc. You get a store for themes so if you don't like the stock ones you can download user made ones for free (some are premium) and change the icons and such.

\

+

i know you can customize a bit more with your own launcher and stuff though I don't look into that, i'm one of those people who really love EMUI and have been using it for so long I'm fine with it. EMUI also includes a few cool features you can activate in the settings, such as knuckle stuff or fingerprint sensor navigation. At first it may seem... silly? or not very useful? but you'll end up getting used to them and prefer them over the usual movement, as they are quicker/more natural.

 

Otherwise, well, you get the notch, which I don't like, but you can hide it with the option and it looks quite nice. Though you end up forgetting about the notch. The bump on the back for the camera is rather annoying too but hey, I guess that's the price you have to pay for such a thin device with the best smartphone camera out there.

 

i'm obviously biased as I've been a longtime huawei user/fan, but yeah, this is easily their best phone so far (ok, excluding the mate RS, but that's not... for the average consumer) and I find it hard to regret the purchase. Excellent build quality, excellent hardware, excellent software (got the march security patch last week already!), excellent camera, excellent all I guess? 

 

few things they include in the box is a screen protector already applied, a basic silicon case, which is always nice to have, some USB-C headphones, fastcharger (50%+ in 30 min, 1 hour for full charge usually) and a USB-C adapter for your headphones (because yes, no headphone jack.... and no microSD card slot either, though 128gb of internal storage should be plenty).

 

edit: i guess some cons are huawei is starting to put bloatware on their devices, such as the usual promoted apps (instagram and such) and a few things such as their own App Store (so Google Store+Huawei store....). You get an array of Huawei services, such as HiCare and such, which are quite useful (HiCare for warranty and technical help, cloud backup for backup, phone clone for... well, cloning your phone data), but all can be uninstalled with just one or two taps. The Huawei App Store is bloated but has some pros agaisnt the google one

 

Holy Crap

 

Thank you so much for that amazing response!!! 

 

I think you've just swayed my decision! 

 

I've reset my S8+ many times thinking I've installed something wrong and still get lag with this phone which in my opinion is a poor show tbh. At first I thought it was maybe just my phone or the samsung UI so I tried about 10 different launchers with all the same experience.

 

To take it further my friend and I swapped our S8+ phones to see if maybe I had a faulty device but his was just the same. 

 

I also hate how long samsung take to release android updates! My friends had Oreo months before I did on older android phones!

 

Thank you again for all that information I'm going to spend my evening now finding the best upgrade deal in the uk

 

[Guest The Viking]

1 minute ago, MrBaker89 said:

Holy Crap

 

Thank you so much for that amazing response!!! 

 

I think you've just swayed my decision! 

 

I've reset my S8+ many times thinking I've installed something wrong and still get lag with this phone which in my opinion is a poor show tbh. At first I thought it was maybe just my phone or the samsung UI so I tried about 10 different launchers with all the same experience.

 

To take it further my friend and I swapped our S8+ phones to see if maybe I had a faulty device but his was just the same. 

 

I also hate how long samsung take to release android updates! My friends had Oreo months before I did on older android phones!

 

Thank you again for all that information I'm going to spend my evening now finding the best upgrade deal in the uk

 

The slowdown is an android issue. I had to move from my mediapad X1 to the X2 after 3 years due to the amazing android slowdown, it's crazy. Few people I know have had similar issues, they all end up changing phone due to the slowdowns.

 

this really cringy video from huawei pretty much explains it: 

 

 

i found recently an interview with one of the huawei guys who was explaining, all the way back in 2016, how they want their phones to last 2 years without slowdowns and how they are the only ones doing something actively to avoid said slowdown.

 

I didn't think it was important to mention it but yeah, that's the whole idea behind the AI in the Kirin 970: not only it is a camera assistant (MasterAI), but it helps keeping your phone fast, by learning from your use and optimizing. It takes ~1 month to take effect, but then your battery life will start improving and you shouldn't notice any slowdowns for at least a year+

 

During the Mate 9 they already said "Born fast, stays fast", and most users agree their mate 9 is still as fast as day 1.

 

Sure, this may just be an ad, but the 18 months thing is real. If it was a race, no doubt the Huawei device would arrive first 

 

[MrBaker89]

1 hour ago, The Viking said:

The slowdown is an android issue. I had to move from my mediapad X1 to the X2 after 3 years due to the amazing android slowdown, it's crazy. Few people I know have had similar issues, they all end up changing phone due to the slowdowns.

 

this really cringy video from huawei pretty much explains it: 

 

 

i found recently an interview with one of the huawei guys who was explaining, all the way back in 2016, how they want their phones to last 2 years without slowdowns and how they are the only ones doing something actively to avoid said slowdown.

 

I didn't think it was important to mention it but yeah, that's the whole idea behind the AI in the Kirin 970: not only it is a camera assistant (MasterAI), but it helps keeping your phone fast, by learning from your use and optimizing. It takes ~1 month to take effect, but then your battery life will start improving and you shouldn't notice any slowdowns for at least a year+

 

During the Mate 9 they already said "Born fast, stays fast", and most users agree their mate 9 is still as fast as day 1.

 

Sure, this may just be an ad, but the 18 months thing is real. If it was a race, no doubt the Huawei device would arrive first 

 

I had no idea any company was committed to making its phones stay fast! 

 

I forgot to ask what's the screen like? I'm. Coming from an oled phone screen does it have washed out blacks? 

[Guest The Viking]

25 minutes ago, MrBaker89 said:

I had no idea any company was committed to making its phones stay fast! 

 

I forgot to ask what's the screen like? I'm. Coming from an oled phone screen does it have washed out blacks? 

p20pro has an oled screen too, 6.1 inches, with two resolutions, HD+ (1493*720) and FHD+ (2240*1080). You can pick the resolution you prefer, phone is on "intelligent" by default, so it's FHD+ when lots of battery and changes to HD+ when low battery.

 

the black, not really, it's like the black around the phone, like on the pictures I showed? On the one where the notch is hidden, that's how dark the black is. There's also a few settings for the colours, the phone comes with... eh... vivid? by default, but you can choose something else, colder, warmer, etc.

 

 

i'll be honest, I did read a complaint from a mate 10 pro owner who said the screen lost some of its colour after a month, but then he got replies from people telling him to just change the settings? I haven't noticed any changes on my mate 10 pro during my usage, and, well, i've had the p20 pro for a week so yeah.

 

but no, at least on my device with my settings, the black isn't washed out. And if it is, well, you have 14 days to fiddle around with it and give it back if unhappy.

[MrBaker89]

1 minute ago, The Viking said:

p20pro has an oled screen too, 6.1 inches, with two resolutions, HD+ (1493*720) and FHD+ (2240*1080). You can pick the resolution you prefer, phone is on "intelligent" by default, so it's FHD+ when lots of battery and changes to HD+ when low battery.

 

the black, not really, it's like the black around the phone, like on the pictures I showed? On the one where the notch is hidden, that's how dark the black is. There's also a few settings for the colours, the phone comes with... eh... vivid? by default, but you can choose something else, colder, warmer, etc.

 

 

i'll be honest, I did read a complaint from a mate 10 pro owner who said the screen lost some of its colour after a month, but then he got replies from people telling him to just change the settings? I haven't noticed any changes on my mate 10 pro during my usage, and, well, i've had the p20 pro for a week so yeah.

 

but no, at least on my device with my settings, the black isn't washed out. And if it is, well, you have 14 days to fiddle around with it and give it back if unhappy.

Thanks for that! Bit of a stupid question I could have just looked at the pictures in the earlier post lol 

 

It should be here Tuesday I'm quite excited! 

[Guest The Viking]

1 hour ago, MrBaker89 said:

Thanks for that! Bit of a stupid question I could have just looked at the pictures in the earlier post lol 

 

It should be here Tuesday I'm quite excited! 

already bought? which colour? i'm kinda regretting getting it in black, this time huawei has done a great job with colours

 

 

black looks really nice but twilight is just amazing. I've seen some pictures of it and wow, the reflection on it is really unique. Though all those fingeprints.... glass backs are so annoying

[Blizzara]

Hello, sorry for the hijack 

 

@The Viking - I am planning to buy the P20, I mostly watch video (stream or downloaded). May I know what will be the effect of the notch while playing the video in landscape? Let's say I will turn on the setting for hiding the notch. Will the leftside/rightside of the video will be cut? Thanks in advance!

[Guest The Viking]

11 minutes ago, Blizzara said:

Hello, sorry for the hijack 

 

@The Viking - I am planning to buy the P20, I mostly watch video (stream or downloaded). May I know what will be the effect of the notch while playing the video in landscape? Let's say I will turn on the setting for hiding the notch. Will the leftside/rightside of the video will be cut? Thanks in advance!

you don't need to hide the notch in video in landscape, EMUI does it automatically for you.

 

p20 pro with video playing, you can see, the notch got hidden, video isn't cut.

 

 

[sixsie]

On 4/29/2018 at 4:29 PM, Guest The Viking said:

1. battery: amazingly, better than on the mate 10 pro? with medium to heavy use (though no games) I manage to make it last 2-3 days. battery should improve overtime as soon as the AI learns from your usage too, so I would say ~2 days for most power users, 3 if you're average.

It's fast, yeah. Maybe too fast? fingerprint sensor is instant unlock (has face unlock too), and the phone is ready at all times to be used. No lag whatsoever, nothing yet. Most apps open instantly. I've run into a weird issue with the amazon shopping app on my Mate RS though, but haven't had it on my p20 pro.

2. You get 6gb of ram, ~3gb used by the system. EMUI will kill most apps over the longterm for battery & ram management. haven't had issues so far. Notifications do come through though.

3. er... depends... you get Huawei's EMUI which is hated by many but I see more and more people who enjoy it. Depends on what kind of customization? you get widgets and whatnot, so you can customize it with weather app, calender, contacts, and a bunch of other stuff I don't really use. There's two modes for apps, the classical android one of... scrolling I guess? and the more iOS style of pages with the apps, you can put them in folders, etc. You get a store for themes so if you don't like the stock ones you can download user made ones for free (some are premium) and change the icons and such.

\

+

i know you can customize a bit more with your own launcher and stuff though I don't look into that, i'm one of those people who really love EMUI and have been using it for so long I'm fine with it. EMUI also includes a few cool features you can activate in the settings, such as knuckle stuff or fingerprint sensor navigation. At first it may seem... silly? or not very useful? but you'll end up getting used to them and prefer them over the usual movement, as they are quicker/more natural.

 

Otherwise, well, you get the notch, which I don't like, but you can hide it with the option and it looks quite nice. Though you end up forgetting about the notch. The bump on the back for the camera is rather annoying too but hey, I guess that's the price you have to pay for such a thin device with the best smartphone camera out there.

 

i'm obviously biased as I've been a longtime huawei user/fan, but yeah, this is easily their best phone so far (ok, excluding the mate RS, but that's not... for the average consumer) and I find it hard to regret the purchase. Excellent build quality, excellent hardware, excellent software (got the march security patch last week already!), excellent camera, excellent all I guess? 

 

few things they include in the box is a screen protector already applied, a basic silicon case, which is always nice to have, some USB-C headphones, fastcharger (50%+ in 30 min, 1 hour for full charge usually) and a USB-C adapter for your headphones (because yes, no headphone jack.... and no microSD card slot either, though 128gb of internal storage should be plenty).

 

edit: i guess some cons are huawei is starting to put bloatware on their devices, such as the usual promoted apps (instagram and such) and a few things such as their own App Store (so Google Store+Huawei store....). You get an array of Huawei services, such as HiCare and such, which are quite useful (HiCare for warranty and technical help, cloud backup for backup, phone clone for... well, cloning your phone data), but all can be uninstalled with just one or two taps. The Huawei App Store is bloated but has some pros agaisnt the google one

 

edit2: huawei's been doing agressive, regular promos lately, probably to sell those 20 million P20/P20Pro units they want to sell this year, so if you look around a bit you can find it for 100/150 euros/pounds less than the official price. In france they have this promo right now, "french days", where it's 100e off, so maybe you'll have some kind of similar promo soon in the UK. 899, sure, it's expensive, but still worth it. 799 is no questions asked. 

 

Hey, sorry for the late input but i've been browsing forums&posts regarding EMUI due to my consideration of buying P30 pro and the most important thing to me is if the EMUI is viable option for someone who wants to keep their phone for longer usage - not switching when the first better thing comes in ? Do you think the EMUI is getting proper care from huawei side ? safety updates, bug fixes etc ? its kinda the only thing thats holding me back from getting that one instead of oneplus