Verdict
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro has a nifty set of camera , dependable loudspeaker and a bold conception . But it ’s a 4 chiliad phone that costs as much as the top iPhones and Samsungs , and it has accession to very few of the apps and games that can make full use of its computer hardware .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Mate 50 Pro is Huawei ’s flagship Android earphone for late 2022 and beyond . It cost a luck and , like Graeco-Roman models in this series , aim to show off the best in phone tech .
In some domain it does . The Mate 50 Pro has an splendid set of cameras that , for me , after months of refresh low - end and midrange models , serve as a reminder of how fun it is to take the air around with a good telephotograph camera in your pocket .
I ca n’t project commend this speech sound to many people , though – particularly not at its current high toll . It ’s the same old floor : the Mate 50 Pro does n’t have 5 G , Google apps or Google Play memory access .
Huawei ’s root of a miserable first - party app entrepot and a lookup engine that scours a bunch of semi - reputable sources for app install file just does n’t veer it at this level .
Design and Screen
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro is an optic - catching phone . It continues the style of theMate 30 professional , place the rear cameras in a giant circle – a disk that adhere out from the phone ’s back .
It ’s bold – the variety of design that might have seemed a speculative construct generate a few days ago . The quality of the frame is mostly great , as long as you are unforced to put a little religion in its unusual parts .
The Mate 50 Pro is a sandwich of two curving glass panels , with aluminum in - between . A alloy ring sits around the television camera disk , with fine detailing along its top . Surprisingly enough , the top surface of the phonograph record seems to be some form of plastic , but the camera genus Lens protection is , of course , glass .
Huawei does not apply the industry - received Gorilla Glass in the Mate 50 Pro , though . The orange vegan leather interlingual rendition of this phone has Kunlun nanocrystal show glass – a Modern formulation made by Huawei that it claims has superscript driblet resistance . But my silver version ? It has unnamed glass by who - know , which is not a bang-up look for a telephone set this pricey .
But the Mate 50 Pro does have excellentIP68water and dust resistance . It ’s also one of the few flagship phone with expansible memory – yay ! But you’re able to only use one of Huawei ’s nano - SIM - sized NM card – raspberry !
There ’s no phone diddlysquat either , and the speakers ’ output is uneven . One driver sit at the bottom of the phone , the other by the earpiece on the front . This upper equipment driver has a thinner sound , so lower - frequency content from that TV channel is in reality played through the bottom loudspeaker system .
The result audio is still quite telling , with a rich and smoother tonality than that of theXiaomi 12 T , which I used before the Mate 50 Pro . But the latter ’s right - side bias is quite clear when you watch a music video recording with the earpiece on its side .
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro has a 6.74 - column inch covert with a resolution of 2616 x 1212 pixels . This is only a little higher than the 1080p average of much cheaper models . It ’s well below the 3088 x 1440 of theGalaxy S22 Ultraand slightly below the 2796 x 1290 pixels of theiPhone 14 Pro Max .
I do n’t cerebrate most masses should care that much , however . I could n’t see any fuzziness to text even when eyeballing the blind aerofoil in finish - up .
Indoors , the Mate 50 Pro will head up to 535 nits of brightness – a bit punchier than most – and in direct sunlight , it maxes out at 825 nits . That ’s nice , although no higher than I ’ve seen in somemidrange phonesrecently .
The standouts of the Mate 50 Pro screen are its colour and curved shape . As with previous top example in this grasp , the display panel curves around at the sides to fit the curvature of the front glass .
I also think this speech sound ’s nonpayment coloration modality is groovy . Huawei enjoin it cycles between colouring standards to accommodate the app used – and it really sour . Your photos ’ color is n’t amped up in the gallery , and house blind icon colour look vivacious . or else , the Vivid mode uses extra - saturated colour the whole time , which I would n’t recommend .
Other panorama of the video display are on the dot what you ’d expect from a high - end speech sound . It has a max refresh rate of 120Hz for smooth scrolling , and it supports HDR video .
Performance
Huawei is well - known in geeky circles for its HiSilicon processor – as reckon in theP50 Prophones . However , both the Mate 50 Pro and spouse 50 use the QualcommSnapdragon 8 + Gen 1instead .
This is a super - powerful central processing unit with fantastic summit graphics functioning . In3DMark ’s Wild Life examination , for deterrent example , it scores 10,529 points – alike to the mark of aniPhone 14 Pro Max . That ’s braggart because iPhone chipsets have sailed ahead in this field for years now .
The Mate 50 Pro ca n’t hold onto that superpower for too farsighted , though . In a tension test , the phone ’s magnate drop dramatically after 10mins and became erratic as it tried to balance heat and performance . At one point , it had just 36 % of its apex power . Ouch .
Qualcomm ’s + variant of the 8 Gen 1 see here was partly design to deal with the original version ’s heat problems , by using a more effective architecture . But public presentation stableness is still regretful , and this version of the chipset is 4G - only . There ’s no5Gmobile internet .
The execution magnetic dip could be Huawei approaching affair conservatively , however , because the Mate 50 Pro really did n’t get all that spicy while I play some Fortnite .
That secret plan runs beautifully on this phone . Sure , there are occasional frame rate drops when you turn around , but it runs just as well as any Android I ’ve seen . And all the graphics selection are unlatched here , include the 90fps mode .
However , I do n’t recollect the Mate 50 Pro is a heavy gambling phone , because the library available to it is pitiful . As has been the case since 2019 , Huawei phones do n’t have Google apps . That mean no Play Store , no Gmail or Google Maps .
In their place , you get Huawei ’s AppGallery , Petal Maps and so on – the Huawei stand - ins . At times , they are a little 144 compared with their Google counterpart . Petal Maps hold on shove a £ 2 Bolt discount in my case , putting it right in the location hunting bar .
AppGallery shows a promo advertising whenever I open up up the app . I can support this variety of ad - flinging on an Amazon tablet , where there ’s a sensory faculty the tablet ’s cost is partly subsidize by the amount you ’ll be spending on Amazon - owned content in the future . But this does n’t flee after pay near £ 1200 for the Mate 50 Pro .
The more important issue is that AppGallery is improbable to have all the apps you want , and there ’s no good solution to this problem . Huawei offers Petal , a search cock that shows you commit other than AppGallery where you may find downloadable apps .
While handy , user protection are restrain here , and Huawei quietly shrug off province with a disclaimer link that accompanies lookup answer . What you’re able to get from the linked third - party app memory board and site is very limited anyway – you wo n’t typically find premium apps and game there .
A lot of folks will purchase a Mate 50 Pro with the programme to set up Google services on there . But I ’m not writing this followup for those folks .
The Android experience without Google apps rest kind of depressing . And even when you do get hold a way to get the apps you need , other issues often emerge . For example , WhatsApp is uncommitted from the official site , but you ca n’t recuperate your backup messages and mental image because they ’re salt away on Google servers . cherished memories , bin .
Camera
Let ’s get back to the good stuff . The Huawei Mate 50 Pro has a great television camera – one that is bags of fun to apply at all times .
While it looks like there are four cameras on the back , there are actually three . You get a 50 - megapixel elemental television camera , a 13 - megapixel ultrawide and a 64 - megapixel 3.5x periscope zoom .
The big new feature of speech for this year is variable aperture . Aperture touch to the size of the hole that lets in light , and almost all phones have a prepare yap . The Mate 50 Pro ’s principal electron lens can open up up in four stage . you may look out the little blades move as you alter the aperture place setting .
It ’s neat tech , but I in person do n’t see it as impactful as some other facial expression of this photographic camera . When your study is very faithful , there ’s a noticeable variety in background blur , but it ’s nothing like change the aperture on my FujiFilm APS - C camera , where portraiture of people 2 mebibyte off can be give a super - silky , tops - pronounced bokeh effect . Here , the craw element – the minuscule sensor — limits the event of a wider or narrower aperture a lot .
However , I still think drive photos with the Mate 50 Pro is a eruption . It ’s one of the mostbest phone camerasI’ve used all year , and this is 95 % down to the soar . It lease you take far beneficial pics of animal from a distance , and the tv camera itself is of high enough timbre to have its own modest scope blur effect when your matter is only a few feet forth .
Huawei pushes the hardware to its extreme limit point by offering a 10x zoom preset , even though the camera itself is only a 3.5x rapid growth . The counterargument is , of course of study , that it uses a super - high-pitched - res 64 - megapixel sensor . But this sensor is designed for 4 - in-1 pixel bin and 16 - megapixel pic .
simulacrum at 10x are rather diffuse – not quite a lucifer for those of a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra 5 G and its 10x camera , and about 60 % of my super - zoomed figure of speech had some blur ( mostly in the subject ) . But I still had a great sentence using this mode .
General figure of speech calibre is outstanding from the chief camera . Night picture can look incredible , whether you habituate the Night modality or not – it tends to amp up colour a act and increase the sharpness of the image but largely through processing .
Above - median Nox results are possible with the ultrawide camera and when using the 3.5x zoom preset , too , although seem at them up closely , it come out the Mate 50 Pro permutation to the independent camera in low Light Within – or it may use a combination of the two cameras ’ output to generate images .
Colour is by and large good , with a propensity for some tones to look a niggling hotter / more concentrated in certain scenes , often at 1x soar .
Video can be captured at up to 4 K resolution , 60fps , and image quality is serious at both 4 kB and 1080p . I noticed some in - frame fuzz on step – even during the day – which paint a picture the manipulation of shoot parametric quantity is not quite as foolproof as , for example , aniPhone 14 ’s .
The Mate 50 Pro ’s front camera is strong too : a 13 - megapixel with an unusually absolvitory focal plane , mean you could get nigh to the phone without your face becoming a bleary mess .
Battery Life
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro does not have industry - leading saddle f number , offering 66W , whereas others from the likes of Xiaomi have 120W or even more . However , the Mate 50 Pro still charges in 42mins , liken with 28mins for the 120WXiaomi 12 T Pro .
Wireless chargingis excellent , with 50W max power when used with the right tablet . While I have n’t been able to test this , Huawei is getting closer to the dream of reaching near parity between telegraph and wireless method . The 5W reverse wireless charging is on mitt too , should you want to buck a pair of earphones that support Qi charging .
The Mate 50 Pro ’s battery content is 4700mAh – lower than what you ’d typically regain in a cheaper phone of this size , because when you make an expensive headphone , it needs to be slender ( seemingly ) .
I have n’t been able to test the Mate 50 Pro as I unremarkably would – just because too many of the apps I use daily are n’t available on this phone . However , it does seem to punch at least slightly above its weight for the capacity it has , and getting it to last a full day with a solid amount of armorial bearing left over is no issue .
Battery drain while on standby seems to be first-class too , which is ready to hand for light user . But why would you buy a speech sound like the Mate 50 Pro if you are n’t going to use it extensively ?
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Should you buy it?
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro has a great camera that produces striking and energetic - looking photos , while the impressive humble - light source performance and periscope zoom let you enchant shots other phones might stumble over .
Lacking 5 g-force and Google turn access , the Mate 50 Pro feels very circumscribed for the mediocre Western buyer , particularly considering it cost £ 1,199 . It ’s best suited for confident tekki who can discover ways around its limitations .
Final Thoughts
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro ’s tv camera is lots of fun to use , but the phone as a whole is grueling to recommend unless you ’re willing to give the benefits of Google accompaniment and software
It ’s expensive , it does n’t have 5 G mobile internet and spectacular performance throttling means you’re able to only appreciate its full power for short full stop at a meter .
However , the major issue is the one that still affects all Huawei earpiece : you have no accession to Google apps or the Google toy app store . Huawei ’s replacement app store is pitiable , and it tries to fill in the rest by directing you to app installer files scattered over the internet – a likely surety nightmare .
At £ 1199 , the Mate 50 Pro is pricier than the more versatileSamsung Galaxy S22 Ultrawhile costing the same as theiPhone 14 Pro Max(although the version with 256 GB warehousing cost more ) . Do I think you should find fault the Mate 50 Pro instead ? No .
Trusted Score
How we test
We screen every wandering earpiece we review thoroughly . We use industry standard exam to liken feature decently and we use the phone as our main equipment over the brushup period . We ’ll always tell you what we find and we never , ever , assume money to review a mathematical product .
FAQs
No , there ’s no support for Google apps and service here .
There ’s no Google Play access , only Huawei ’s AppGallery , which has a much more limited choice of apps .
This is a 4G - only earpiece .
