Which Huawei phone is best?

Huawei has just announced the Huawei P30 Pro, its successor to the P20 Pro. I go into more details about the P30 Pro’s multiple strengths and minimal weaknesses here. But this raises obvious questions about which Huawei phone is the best.

Which Huawei phone is best for photography?

That’s simple. The “P” in the P30 Pro’s name stands for photography, and Huawei says it won’t sacrifice anything if it will harm the P Series’ photography skills.

Both of this year’s P Series phones – the P30 and the P30 Pro – use new technology designed to produce outstanding results in low light. It’s true, too. You can almost switch off the lights yet both cameras will capture the scene with strong colours and minimal noise.

The P30 Pro is the best, though, thanks to its amazing “periscope” lens that squeezes in a 5x optical zoom. That compares to 3x for the Mate 20 Pro and P30. Find out more in our full article about the P30 Pro.

Which Huawei phone is best for speed?

There is minimal difference between the Mate 20 Pro, the P30 and the P30 Pro. They all employ the same Kirin 980 processor (Huawei’s own design) and while the P30 has less RAM this won’t make much difference in real life.

The same is true for gaming, with all three using the same graphics accelerator. These are all fast systems, so don’t worry on that front.

The only thing to bear in mind is that the Mate Series will always benefit from the latest chips first. So if you can wait, hold on until late this year when the Mate 30 Pro is likely to arrive (most likely in November).

Which Huawei is best for battery life?

While I’m still in the process of testing the battery of the P30 Pro, I’m 99% confident that it will be best for battery life. That’s because it has the combination of a 4,200mAh battery and a lower resolution screen than the Mate 20 Pro (which also includes a 4,200mAh battery).

The screen resolution matters because each pixel in an AMOLED screen comes with its own power demands. The Mate 20 Pro has 4.5 million pixels to worry about; the P30 Pro a mere 2.5 million.

Both phones will stretch to two days’ usage at a push, while the P30 has a smaller 3,650mAh battery that will still offer excellent battery life – but more like 1.5 days.

Note that the P30 also loses out on wireless charging, and thus reverse charging where you can use a phone to charge other devices that support wireless charging.

All the phones are ridiculously quick to charge, though, if you use their supplied chargers.

Which Huawei phone is most stylish?

Obviously style is in the eye of the beholder, but by far my favourite is the Amber Sunrise of the P30 Pro. It has a metallic, copper-esque finish to it that’s simply gorgeous.

Other people prefer the Breathing Crystal of the P30 Pro, or even the Twilight of the Mate 20 Pro, but note that there really isn’t much between the two phones in terms of design thanks to their curved OLED screens.

The P30 also looks attractive and comes in the same finishes as the P30 Pro, but it lacks the curved screen at the edges.

Which Huawei phone has the best screen?

There have been complaints about the Mate 20 Pro’s screen, with users who bought a version with an LG screen (rather than BOE) complaining of a green tint. (You can find out which you have by downloading Device Info HW from Play Store and looking for LG or BOE in the string of letters next to Touchscreen in the General tab.)

Assuming you’re unaffected, I’d say the Mate 20 has a better screen than the P30 Pro, purely due to its higher resolution. But not by much: on both, photos and videos look amazing.

Which Huawei phone is the best value?

If you’re buying on contract, you can pick up the 128GB Mate 20 Pro for £43 per month with 30GB of data. That will cost £80 upfront. The total cost is £1,112.

That compares to £63 per month and £30 upfront for the 128GB P30 Pro on a similar deal. Total cost: £1,542. You get a “free” Sonos One speaker to sweeten the deal.

Finally, the P30 costs £36 per month and £50 upfront, for a total of £914. Again, you can claim a free Sonos One speaker.

So, if you’re buying on contract then the P30 offers the best value. I’d hold off the P30 Pro “deals”, though, as those are way too expensive.

Things change if you’re going SIM-free, in which case John Lewis is your best bet as it comes with a two-year warranty. Here, the P30 costs £700, the P30 Pro costs £900 and the Mate 20 Pro costs £800. Both the P30 and P30 Pro come with that free Sonos speaker once more.

So, if you’re buying SIM-free then they’re all equal billing in terms of value. Which brings me to our final question…

Which Huawei phone should you buy?

I’m not going to cover all Huawei phones, here, just the top three we’ve identified. Now, the P30 is a nice phone with an excellent camera, but if you’re spending this much you might as well get the best in the range.

And here, that’s the P30 Pro. If you can find it in Amber Sunrise (note that Carphone Warehouse calls this finish Red) then it’s the most stylish. It has the best camera. It’s got the best battery life. And it’s just as fast as the Mate 20 Pro.

NOW READ THIS: See all of our phone questions here