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The Huawei Mate 50 Professional that I examined is the newest high-end smartphone from the Chinese language producer. It’s nonetheless costly because it prices greater than 1000 euros in Europe. It’s nonetheless restricted by the absence of Google Cellular Providers (GMS). Can we actually advocate shopping for it in 2023?
Good
Excessive-quality 120 Hz AMOLED show
Wonderful triple digital camera module
Efficient 3.5x optical zoom
Stable battery life
Expandable storage (proprietary NM format)
Quick and environment friendly proprietary charging
Unhealthy
No Google cellular providers (GMS)
No 5G
Unclear replace coverage
Unstable efficiency
Worth too excessive
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional briefly
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional is out there in Europe since November 2022. It is available in two reminiscence configurations of 8/256 GB and eight/512 GB respectively bought for €1199 and €1399 euros at their launch (roughly 1300 and 1500 {dollars}). At Amazon, solely market sellers provide the fundamental mannequin for round 900 euros ($975).
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Just like the Huawei P50 Professional I examined final 12 months, the Huawei Mate 50 Professional provides an expertise that is too incomplete to justify its very excessive value. The producer nonetheless hasn’t discovered an answer for the absence of Google providers. It nonetheless imposes software program tweaks on its customers whereas making them pay a excessive value.
Desig and construct high quality
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional brings as soon as once more the traditional codes of the Mate vary design language: Curved edges, clean glass again, and a round digital camera module. A glance that’s nonetheless very neat, however has aged just a little badly.
What I favored:
Very good silver and orange colours.
Good general end.
IP68 licensed.
Expandable storage (however proprietary format).
What I disliked:
Huge notch on the prime of the display screen.
No 3.5mm jack.
I discover the curved edges of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional to be a bit outdated when it comes to design / © NextPit
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional is available in three colours: Black, Orange, and Silver. The latter is what I acquired for my take a look at mannequin and I discovered it very good. The graceful end with its metallic reflections is nice to the contact.No Gorilla Glass on the entrance or again, nonetheless. The American producer (Corning) can’t provide Huawei. The in-house answer was developed by Kunlun Glass. I didn’t discover a lot about this firm. Huawei says that this protecting glass has been licensed by SGS (Société Générale de Surveillance), a good and specialised Swiss firm.
The stereo audio system are fairly good however they’re obstructed whenever you maintain the smartphone in panorama to play / © NextPit
On the again of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional, we discover the digital camera module organized in a round island that has turn into the trademark of the Mate vary. Once more, I discover that this look stays fairly stylish.However once we transfer to the entrance of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional, I discover that the design language has aged relatively badly. The notch on the prime of the display screen is manner too large. Even Apple has stopped doing that, at the very least on its most premium flagships. And the curved edges are beginning to bore me a bit, whereas I used to be possibly one of many final defenders of this design a 12 months in the past.As for the remaining, the Huawei Mate 50 Professional is IP68 licensed for water and dirt resistance. It has no jack and nonetheless imposes the proprietary Nano Reminiscence (NM) format to broaden storage (which occupies one of many two Nano SIM slots). Its weight between 205 and 209 g isn’t mild however stays affordable for this value vary.
The GSpace utility (or its different GBox) will likely be important in your Huawei Mate 50 Professional / © NextPit
Show
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional encompasses a 6.74-inch OLED show with a decision of 1212 x 2616 pixels and a 120 Hz refresh price.
What I favored:
Superb brightness.
Many settings for colorimetry.
The QHD + 120 Hz combo is coherent for this value vary.
What I disliked:
The refresh price isn’t adaptive sufficient.
The notch is simply too extensive.
The display screen of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional is great however I discover the notch too large / © NextPit
The display screen of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional is great. The decision between Full HD and QuadHD is greater than sufficient to view any kind of multimedia content material in the most effective situations.The colorimetry is just a little chilly with the Vivid mode and due to this fact pulls in the direction of the blue tones. It’s a little too heat whenever you swap to Pure mode. However that is simply adjustable through the beneficiant display screen settings within the parameters.
The default colorimetry of the Huawei’s display screen is a bit chilly, however you possibly can regulate nearly every little thing through the settings / © NextPit
The refresh price isn’t as variable as on screens with built-in LTPO expertise. It may well merely swap from 60 to 120 Hz in dynamic mode. Or you possibly can lock it on certainly one of these two values. Nothing extraordinary.Brightness is excellent with a median of 560 nits present in typical and might go as much as 1000 nits in HDR mode. The contact sampling price is kind of low for my style with a most of 300 Hz.What actually bothers me with the Huawei Mate 50 Professional display screen is the large notch. Huawei sticks to a 3D facial recognition system, deserted by all Android producers. It’s extra dependable and safe, however the needed sensors should be put in someplace. Personally, I feel it provides the smartphone an old style look.
This large notch makes the Huawei Mate 50 Professional look a bit dated in my view / © NextPit
Interface/OS
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional runs on EMUI 13 outdoors China, an overlay primarily based on Android AOSP, and missing Google Cellular Providers (GMS). That is
THE large flaw of this smartphone and Huawei nonetheless would not appear to be near discovering a convincing answer.
What I favored:
Huawei tries as finest it might probably to accompany its customers to tinker with options.
Many mainstream apps are usable (should you tinker, once more).
The SuperHub function could be very helpful.
What I disliked:
The unclear replace coverage.
Nonetheless no TOTALLY purposeful different to Android.
The options to get across the lack of GMS are imperfect.
The AppGallery isn’t probably the most ergonomic app retailer obtainable / © NextPit
I devoted a whole article to Huawei’s software program expertise with out Google in 2023. And I additionally did one in 2022 however little or no has modified since then. I actually invite you to take a look at the article under for my detailed opinion which I will not elaborate right here.
EMUI 13 is an Android overlay that also holds up visually / © NextPit
By way of Android updates, it appears to me that Huawei is not making guarantees. At the moment (as of January 2023), I am nonetheless on the October 2022 patch. By way of design and value, I discover that the EMUI 13 interface nonetheless holds up properly. Huawei provides fairly just a few customization choices for the house display screen, At all times-on show, and many others.
EMUI 13 provides quite a lot of customization choices by default / © NextPit
On the performance facet, the brand new function is the SuperHub. It really works like a clipboard in a floating window that may be hidden/opened from the sides of the display screen.The great factor is that you would be able to merely drag and drop pictures, hyperlinks, or information into it to retailer them briefly. You’ll be able to then copy/paste them right into a word, e mail, or every other textual content and content material editor.
Huawei’s SuperHub is a sort of superior clipboard / © NextPit
However aside from that, the Huawei Mate 50 Professional’s software program proposition is simply too shaky in my eyes. The AppGallery’s catalog is simply too poor and its interface isn’t very ergonomic for looking out apps.
The AppGallery catalog remains to be far too poor / © NextPit
And the tinkering that may be executed with Petal Search, Aurora Retailer, and GSpace (or its different GBox) is flawed at finest. The shortcoming to make use of GooglePay, for instance, is an enormous deal breaker for me.
The Aurora Retailer means that you can set up quite a lot of purposes usually not obtainable, however a lot of them do not work / © NextPit
So positive, you need to use Google Maps, Gmail, Google Drive, and quite a lot of different mainstream apps like WhatsApp, Netflix, Youtube, and many others. Even Uber and Uber Eats work and managed to geolocate me accurately. Mainly, should you set up all of your apps through the Aurora Retailer (another Play Retailer shopper) and clone them into GSpace, most of them will work. However not all of them.
I often downloaded an app from Aurora Retailer first (which did not work) after which cloned it into GSpace so I may use it correctly / © NextPit
The DRM Data app even says that the Huawei Mate 50 Professional I am testing has Widevine L1 DRM to look at streaming content material in HD, which should not be the case. Excellent news, I suppose?
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional appears to have the L1 safety stage for Google’s Widevine DRM, bizarre / © NextPit
A NextPit reader had additionally really useful me the Lighthouse app. In line with him, it permits putting in the GMS on Huawei telephones and even putting in the Play Retailer. Besides that this utility is simply obtainable in Malaysia. You’ll be able to set up it by altering the area within the AppGallery. However it makes use of geo-blocking and won’t work on a European mannequin.In addition to, the few “exams” I may discover on-line didn’t point out in any respect the likelihood to put in the Play Retailer. Mainly, the answer is rather like what we have already got with GSpace or GBox. So it is not a miracle treatment.
The Lighthouse utility didn’t work on my Huawei Mate 50 Professional operating EMUI 13 / © NextPit
Efficiency
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional packs a
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC however with out its typical 5G modem. We get 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and as much as 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
What I favored:
Correct temperature management.
Stable uncooked efficiency for 60 FPS gaming.
What I disliked:
Nonetheless no 5G.
Unstable efficiency.
By way of uncooked efficiency, the Huawei Mate 50 Professional delivers constant outcomes in comparison with different Android smartphones with the identical SoC.
Huawei Mate 50 Professional
Xiaomi 12S Extremely
Xiaomi Combine Fold
Xiaomi 12T Professional
Asus ROG Telephone 6 Professional
3DMark Wild Life
Too highly effective
Too highly effective
Too highly effective
Too highly effective
Too highly effective
3DMark Wild Life Stress Check
Greatest loop: 10359 Worst loop: 3843
Greatest loop: 8896 Worst loop: 3958
Greatest loop: 10618 Worst loop: 9892
Blocked
Greatest loop: 10477 Worst loop: 7206
Geekbench 5
Single: 909 Multi: 3985
Single: 1322 Multi: 4303
Single: 1307 Multi: 4119
Single: 782 Multi: 2967
Single: 1313 Multi: 4147
However the Huawei Mate 50 Professional suffers from stability points on prolonged classes. On 3DMark’s Wild Life Stress Check benchmark, the typical stability price between the primary and final loop was 34%. For me to contemplate stability good, this worth must be at the very least round 70%.The temperature didn’t exceed 42°C, so there was no severe overheating. However Huawei absolutely operates a really aggressive thermal throttle. We are able to see it within the second graph under. Midway by the take a look at, we are able to see large FPS losses.
The uncooked efficiency of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional is great however not very secure / © NextPit
In precise use, we are able to run all probably the most demanding cellular video games with out worries. Most of them work fairly usually like Genshin Affect, PUBG Cellular, CoD Cellular, or Apex Legends Cellular. However should you use a Google account on these video games, you won’t be capable to log in and proceed your progress.Apex Legends labored once I put in it through the Aurora Retailer and cloned it into GSpace. However I could not log in to my Google account and due to this fact could not retrieve my progress and my (too many) in-app purchases.
On Name of Obligation Cellular, my account was linked to my Fb profile and every little thing labored fantastic.
Picture high quality
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional encompasses a triple digital camera module with a 50 MP foremost lens coupled with a 13 MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 64 MP telephoto lens able to 3.5x optical zoom. The selfie digital camera provides a decision of 13 MP with a ToF sensor.
What I favored:
The wonderful 50 MP variable aperture foremost lens.
The perfect portrait mode available on the market.
Superb evening pictures (with the principle lens).
Efficient 3.5x and 10x zoom.
4K video at 60 FPS with all lenses + OIS.
What I disliked:
Extremely extensive angle and telephoto evening photographs lag behind.
The digital camera module is THE foremost promoting level of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional / © NextPit
The principle lens of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional has the excellence of providing a variable aperture between f/1.4 and f/4.0. The sensor is the well-known Sony IMX766.The curiosity of this variable aperture is to permit the lens to seize roughly mild relying on the lighting situations. Different producers provided this expertise, however they often provide solely two modes, both f/1.4 or f/4.0. Huawei provides ten steps between f/1.4 and f/4.0.Mainly, whenever you seize at f/1.4, you can also make very good bokeh pictures and whenever you swap to f/4.0, you will have rather more depth of discipline and the weather within the background are extra detailed. The daytime pictures have a really good sharpness and the colorimetry appeared very pure to me. It’s actually probably the greatest photograph renderings available on the market.The 2x zoom of the principle lens is excellent as is the portrait mode which works in 1x, 2x, and 3x. I used to be impressed with the standard of the crop of the topic within the foreground.
Extremely-wide-angle digital camera © NextPit
Principal digital camera © NextPit
3.5x zoom © NextPit
10x zoom © NextPit
20x zoom © NextPit
50x zoom © NextPit
Extremely-wide-angle digital camera © NextPit
Principal digital camera © NextPit
3.5x zoom © NextPit
10x zoom © NextPit
Principal digital camera © NextPit
3.5x zoom © NextPit
10x zoom © NextPit
Principal angle © NextPit
3.5x zoom © NextPit
3.5x zoom © NextPit
Extremely-wide-angle digital camera © NextPit
Principal digital camera © NextPit
Principal digital camera © NextPit
3.5x zoom © NextPit
10x zoom © NextPit
20x zoom © NextPit
Principal digital camera, Evening mode off © NextPit
Principal digital camera, Evening mode on © NextPit
3.5x zoom, Evening mode off © NextPit
3.5x zoom, Evening mode on © NextPit
Principal digital camera, Evening mode off © NextPit
Principal digital camera, Evening mode on © NextPit
3.5x zoom, Evening mode off © NextPit
3.5x zoom, Evening mode on © NextPit
Principal digital camera, Evening mode off © NextPit
Principal digital camera, Evening mode on © NextPit
Principal digital camera, f/1.4 aperture © NextPit
Principal digital camera, f/2.2 aperture © NextPit
Principal digital camera, f/4.0 aperture © NextPit
The 13 MP extremely extensive angle lens left me wanting extra. The extent of element and dynamic vary are good even when they don’t seem to be essentially 100% in keeping with the principle lens. However the autofocus is simply too temperamental and you find yourself with quite a lot of blurry footage in case you are not cautious.The 64 MP telephoto lens provides two mounted zoom ranges of three.5x and 10x. I discovered the rendering superb. You may also push the digital zoom to 100x but it surely’s not value it. I didn’t discover an excessive amount of digital noise, even at 10x. And this, despite the fact that the software program processing appears fairly mild.At evening, the principle lens does very properly and Huawei’s software program processing manages to deal with the publicity accurately. You nearly do not want the devoted evening mode when taking pictures at f/1.4, which is fairly spectacular. However it will get worse with different lenses though the evening mode makes up for it a bit.On the video facet, the Huawei Mate 50 Professional can shoot 4K at 60 FPS with all its lenses. We’ve got optical stabilization (OIS) on the principle lens and the telephoto lens, and digital stabilization (EIS) on the ultra-wide-angle lens.
Battery life and quick charging
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional encompasses a 4700 mAh battery that accepts wired
quick charging as much as 66 watts, wi-fi charging as much as 50 watts, and permits for 5-watt reverse wi-fi charging.
What I favored:
Stable battery life.
Environment friendly quick charging (with the official charger).
Reverse wi-fi charging.
Charger is included within the field.
What I disliked:
Proprietary charging expertise (USB-PD not absolutely exploited).
The 66W charger is included within the Huawei Mate 50 Professional field / © NextPit
On the PCMark Work 3.0 battery life benchmark, the Huawei Mate 50 Professional lasted for 12:33 hours earlier than dropping under 20% battery remaining. That is an honest rating. I take into account a smartphone’s battery life to be “good” above 13 hours and superb above 15-16 hours (and unhealthy under 10 hours).
The autonomy of the Huawei Mate 50 Professional is relatively strong / © NextPit
In precise use, you possibly can simply final a day of use. Alternatively, the charging expertise is proprietary. And Huawei doesn’t appear to completely assist the newest common USB Energy Supply protocol.After I tried to cost the Huawei Mate 50 Professional with out the official charger with my Ugreen Nexode 140W, it took me nearly an hour to go from 0 to 100%. With the official charger and cable, it took me 40 minutes on common for a full cost. The charger is included within the field.
Our first impressions
The Huawei Mate 50 Professional is a superb digital camera smartphone, most actually among the many finest available on the market in 2023. However I actually cannot advocate shopping for it.
It might be dishonest to sequence my consumer expertise like that. A smartphone is not only a digital camera gadget. So okay, we won’t blame Huawei for not having Google apps. However we are able to blame it for persevering with to promote its 4G smartphones with a truncated software program expertise at greater than 1000 euros/{dollars}.
I perceive the need of a few of you to reside with out Google. However I actually assume that on this perspective, Huawei is a false idol, a golden calf.
Huawei with out Google in 2023, it is going to be with out me / © NextPit
Do you assume the Mate sacrifices are definitely worth the asking value? Or do you assume the workarounds essential to have a fundamental consumer expertise deserve a value lower? Share your ideas within the feedback under!
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