The Huawei Mate 30 Pro might just be the world's best smartphone, but...

Chinese device maker Huawei recently announced the Mate 30 Pro at an event in Berlin. The Mate 30 Pro comes only a few months after the launch of the P30 Pro, which impressed in camera, battery and performance. The Mate 30 Pro is basically a more capable P30 Pro. But despite it being a very competent device, it isn’t perfect; or is it?

Let’s find out –

At first glance, the Mate 30 Pro looks and feels like an ultra-premium smartphone. The back of the phone is made of glass and comes in multiple finishes – Silver, Black, Purple and Green. Huawei also offers a leather version made of vegan-friendly materials in Forest Green and Orange colours. The circular camera module on the top doesn’t look cluttered and definitely makes the phone look next-gen.

While the notch on the Mate 30 Pro is pretty broad, the display is still one of the best we’ve seen on a smartphone. The Mate 30 Pro’s OLED Horizon Display features extreme curvature on the sides, similar to what we witnessed with the Waterfall display on the Vivo Nex 3. The screen on the Mate 30 Pro curves 90-degrees on the sides. Huawei also allows you to do things like adjusting the volume or use the camera shutter by tapping on the sides of the display.

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro is the first in the company’s arsenal to run on its home-bred HiSilicon Kirin 990. While performance gains over the P30 Pro will depend on the scenario you’re using the phone, and the Kirin 990 chipset is one of the best out there.

On the performance front, the Kirin 990 chipset will give you enough power for anything and everything smartphone. It’s also worth noting that the 5G Mate 30 Pro will get a faster version of the Kirin 990 chip.

The Huawei P30 Pro’s 4,200 mAh battery offered two days of normal use. This only means that the Mate 30 Pro’s 4,500 mAh battery will do much better, primarily because of the bigger battery size and more aggressive battery management in the software. Moreover, the Mate 30 Pro gets 40W wired fast charging as well as 27W fast wireless charging.

The Mate 30 Pro takes the P30 Pro’s excellent photography capabilities and makes it even better. The most significant upgrade in the Mate 30 Pro comes in the camera department. Apart from the 40-megapixel primary sensor, the Mate 30 Pro also gets a 40-megapixel Ultra-wide Cinema camera.

The Mate 30 Pro also gets a telephoto lens with OIS. The Mate 30 Pro can also record slow-motion video at 7680 fps, which makes videos look like static images. The Mate 30 Pro takes photo and video performance to the next level.

The wide notch on the Mate 30 Pro houses a 32-megapixel camera as well as a number of sensors. While the sensors allow faster and more secure face unlock, the in-display fingerprint scanner has also seen some improvements. The notch also hides a gesture sensor for some cool navigation. Furthermore, the Mate 30 Pro is IP68 water and dust resistant.

The Huawei Mate 30 Pro runs on Android 10 with EMUI 10 on top with polished animations and slick aesthetics. However, the one big caveat on the Mate 30 Pro is that there is no Google Play Store here. In fact, the Mate 30 Pro has no Google services at all. However, there are still ways to unofficially get access to Google apps and services.

Considering the Mate 30 Pro’s European launch, Huawei is expecting to get access to Google services and apps in the future. As a phone without these services and apps won’t appeal to users outside China.

While access to Google’s services is uncertain, the cost of the Mate 30 Pro is set in stone. At €1,099 (Approx. Rs 86,000), the Mate 30 Pro is one of the most expensive smartphones on the market. And, while you can get the standard Mate 30 at a decent bargain, there are too many compromises as compared to its Pro counterpart.

To summarise, the Mate 30 Pro is arguably one of the best, if not the best, phones on the market. The handset offers the best-in-class camera experience with a ton of new features that is leaps ahead of most of its competitors. The iPhone 11 Pro Max and Galaxy Note 10 Plus are the only two smartphones we can think of that could match this camera setup.

Beyond the camera, the Mate 30 Pro also has an excellent display, a ton of cool new features, a powerful chipset and fantastic battery life. There’s no doubt that the Mate 30 Pro has a spec sheet to match its steep price. But we keep coming back to the lack of Google apps and services. Convincing someone outside China to buy a smartphone without access to the Play Store will be an uphill battle, little alone a phone that costs over 80K.