Huawei P30 Pro first look: Best camera smartphone ever?

We’re living in a world where most (if not all) smartphones have replaced the good old DSLR – at least, for casual purposes. So much so that the saying, “hey, you just got yourself a camera that can also do phone calls,” isn’t even funny anymore. We’re living in a world where most (if not all) smartphones are judged basis of the cameras they house first – how fast they shoot, how good of a software algorithm they pack, so on and so forth. Guess what I am really trying to say is, smartphone cameras are important – to an extent their quality marks an important parameter that sets one phone apart from another. Cameras could make or break a smartphone – especially a high-end smartphone.  

So, when Huawei announced the P30 Pro a couple of weeks back in Europe, obviously it created quite the buzz. Not just because the P in the P-series stands for ‘photography,’ but because the P30 Pro packs some insane photography hardware – insane from a smartphone form factor point of view. No wonder Huawei says, the P30 Pro rewrites the rules of photography. As a matter of fact, it does and the fact that it manages to do that both on reel and in the real world, has me really pumped up about the future of smartphone photography. As for the present, the Huawei P30 Pro could well be, the best camera smartphone to date.  

Although Huawei’s association with German brand Leica goes back to the P9 (launched in 2016), it was only last year when critics started paying attention to the potential that a certain P20 Pro brought to the table – even though the P20 Pro wasn’t the best camera phone around, it was better in some ways than the best in the business. There’s no question that the P20 Pro’s triple cameras were way ahead of their time. 

The P30 Pro is an evolutionary update to the P20 Pro (even in terms of camera elements to an extent), and yet Huawei has somehow managed to outdo itself – in building another powerful phone with potentially even more powerful cameras. 

The quad cameras on-board the Huawei P30 Pro offer a level of versatility that no other smartphone does at this point of time

So, let’s talk specs. The P30 Pro has four rear cameras. 

- a 40MP primary camera (27mm f/1.6 with OIS) which uses a custom Sony sensor with a RYYB filter (instead of the more conventional RGB filter) for up to 40 per cent more light intake. All of this should entail in enhanced light sensitivity and enhanced low-light photography potential - the P30 Pro is capable of shooting at ISOs up to 409600.  

- an 8MP 125mm telephoto sensor with f/3.4 aperture and OIS - Huawei is using a periscope lens that's capable of achieving 5X optical zoom, 10X hybrid zoom and 50X digital zoom. 

- a 20MP ultra-wide camera (16mm f/2.2) 

- a Time-of-Flight camera for 3D depth mapping purposes. 

Together, the quad cameras on-board the Huawei P30 Pro offer a level of versatility that no other smartphone does at this point of time. As for image quality, here are a few samples taken from the Huawei P30 Pro’s quad cameras - 

Shot at 1x

Shot at 5x zoom

Shot at 10x zoom

Shot at 50x zoom

While I reserve my final thoughts for my full review, here are some quick pointers from my hands on: 

- the P30 Pro’s cameras are fast to focus and fast to shoot – all of them. It doesn’t matter if you’re using the main, the wide-angle or the telephoto. Switching between the cameras also happens almost instantaneously.  

- post-processing takes a second or two extra – whether you’re using AI or not. 

- speaking of which, Huawei has finally put the toggle to enable/disable AI in the view finder which is very convenient – previously, it was inside the settings. 

- Huawei cameras were previously known for over sharpened/oversaturated photos that would look sort of artificial – Huawei has toned things down in the P30 Pro. 

- the P30 Pro cameras (especially the main and the telephoto) excel in both good and tricky light situations – photos shot using them have lots of details, great dynamic range and colours that are true to source. 

- the 5x optical zoom feature is impressive and fun to play around with while 10x takes you a little more closer to your subject (Huawei uses a combination of OIS and AIS here, hence it calls it hybrid zoom) - in both the cases, the details and colour reproduction are just spot on. 50x zoom is particularly useful for clicking animals and birds – the details are obviously lost, but this might be the only 50x zoom camera phone worth talking about at this point of time. 

- the P30 Pro can shoot good portraits although the level of segmentation between background and subject is not as good as what you get in the Pixel phones. 

- but where the P30 Pro really trumps the Pixel (which is the benchmark for high-quality cameras) is in low-light photography. The P30 Pro can catch the level of detail that even the Pixel can’t - and the P30 Pro’s night mode crushes Google’s Night Sight by a fair margin. It won’t be wrong to say that the P30 Pro can see in the dark. 

- video recording is great too, although 4K at 60fps isn’t supported. Also, dual-view video which is said to be one of the main highlights of the P30 Pro will be rolled out later through a software update – the feature will let you capture simultaneous video using two cameras. 

There’s so much to write about the P30 Pro’s cameras that one piece won’t just be enough. So, let me quickly sign off here by saying this – smartphone cameras are getting better but while everyone thought that the Pixel or the iPhone or the Galaxy will set the next benchmark, out comes Huawei with the P30 Pro and the rest will be history. The P30 Pro is that good of a camera phone. 

Oh, there's also a 32MP camera on the front that shoots good if a little less detailed selfies.

That’s not to say that’s all that there is to it - the P30 Pro is a complete smartphone, well almost. Well almost, because it does not have a headphone jack and no stereo speakers (you know, to seemingly justify no headphone jack). And yet, the P30 Pro has no immediately visible deal breakers. 

It’s made of glass and metal. Nobody does gradient colours better than Huawei – this year it has a new colour called the breathing crystal to behold, so that’s that. 

Huawei has launched the P30 Pro in India with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage at a price of Rs 71,990. And even though this is a first impressions piece, I can tell you, it is worth it

The P30 Pro comes with a 6.47-inch curved OLED display with 1080p+ resolution and teardrop-style notch – it's sharp, vibrant and curiously cold for a Huawei display. The P30 Pro also uses the display as the earpiece (Huawei calls it acoustic display technology) – basically the whole screen vibrates to produce sound and it works as advertised. So, no speaker grill, notification LED or selfie flash there. The phone is IP68-certified for water and dust resistance.  

Under the hood is Huawei’s flagship Kirin 980 processor with up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB storage which is expandable via Huawei's proprietary NM cards (not available in India yet). Software inside is EMUI 9.1 based on Android Pie – key highlight here is Huawei’s new Extendable Read-Only File System which is claimed to offer up to 20 per cent better average random read speed.  

The P30 Pro further packs a 4,200mAh battery with 40W fast charging and 15W fast wireless charging - the P30 Pro also supports reverse wireless charging. 

Huawei has launched the P30 Pro in India with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage at a price of Rs 71,990. And even though this is a first impressions piece, I can tell you, it is worth it. The Huawei P30 Pro is a flagship smartphone worth buying - no other new high-end phone has got me as excited as this one. Watch this space for our full review of the Huawei P30 Pro in the days to come. 

Also Read:  Huawei P30 Pro With Quad Leica Cameras Launched In India: Specs, Features And Everything To Know