After the US ban on Huawei, there are hardly any Huawei smartphones gaining sales momentum outside of China. In the context of Nepal as well, the last Huawei phone we reviewed was from its budget Y-series that lacked Google Play services. We all know it didn’t do well. After that, Huawei Nepal has been completely silent thus, leading to today’s silent launch of Huawei’s 2020 flagship, Huawei P40 Pro.
We have a video up on our YouTube channel about my 30 days’ experience with HMS on last year’s flagship; the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. If I recall, it was quite a ‘improvise, adapt, overcome’ situation.
Huawei 40 Pro Overview
Design and Display
The glass back and ‘Overflow’ screen with curves on all four sides would have given a highly immersive look if not for the pill-shaped selfie module on the top left. On the back lies a rectangular camera module and horizontal Huawei branding on the bottom left. The display is a 6.58-inch 90Hz OLED panel with 2,6400 x 1,200 pixels resolution. The display is the same one seen on its other models i.e. P40 and P40 Pro+ so, the P40 series does lack a 120Hz refresh rate unlike some of its competitors. The device comes with an IP68 rating for dust and water.
Hardware and Performance
The phone is powered by Huawei’s own latest Kirin 990 5G chipset seen on the Mate 30 series. Even though 5G is not of concern in Nepal yet, the performance made possible by this 7nm+ based octa-core chipset when paired with 8GB of RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 3.0 storage is of flagship level. There is expandable storage option of up to 256GB via Huawei’s own NM (Nano Memory) instead of an SD-card.
On the software side, as we all expected there is no Google Play Services. The phone runs EMUI 10.0 based on Android 10 with updates for EMUI 11 coming soon. It has Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) with Huawei App Gallery and its available apps for use. There are obviously a ton of new features being added to HMS every month but still it isn’t good enough to replace GMS. Hopefully, Huawei will make a great comeback soon.
Camera
The main selling point of this phone that makes me want to buy it even with the lack of GMS is its cameras. On the rear, the P40 Pro has a 50MP 1/1.28” main sensor with 100% PDAF, 40MP ultra-wide, 12MP telephoto, and a ToF (Time of Flight) sensor. The super-zoom capability of the 12MP telephoto lens supports 5x optical, 10x hybrid and up to 50x digital zoom. There is PDAF on all three sensors whereas RYYB color filter and OIS is available on the main and telephoto only. On the front, the pill-shaped cutout is not just for show as there is a 3D ToF sensor along with a 32MP selfie shooter in there. Both the rear and front cameras support up to 4K@60fps whereas the rear main sensor can do slow-motion capture up to a mind-boggling 7680fps@720p.
Security and Connectivity
Due to the front ToF sensor, the phone has secure infrared face recognition along with an optical in-display fingerprint sensor which is larger now and covers 30% of the display for ease of use.
The phone comes with all the required sensors along with a color spectrum sensor embedded in the rear camera module. In terms of connectivity as well, the phone is fully set with 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, and NFC.
Battery
The phone has a decent 4200mAh battery that supports 40W wired, 27W wireless, and 27W reverse wireless fast charging.
Huawei P40 Pro: Specifications
| Build & Design | 6.23 x 2.86 x 0.35 inches, 209g, Glass front and back, Aluminum frame IP68 dust and water-resistant |
| Display | 6.58-inches OLED panel, 90Hz, HDR10, 1200 x 2640 pixels 91.6% screen-to-body ratio, 441 ppi density |
| Chipset | Kirin 990 5G (7nm+) Octa-Core 2×2.86 GHz Cortex-A76 & 2×2.36 GHz Cortex-A76 & 4×1.95 GHz Cortex-A55 Mali-G76 MP16 GPU |
| RAM & Storage | 8GB RAM & 128GB UFS 3.0 Storage, up to 256GB NM via shared SIM slot |
| Rear Camera | 50MP, f/1.9, 23mm (wide), 1/1.28”, 1.22μm, omnidirectional PDAF, OIS 12MP, f/3.4, 125mm (periscope telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom 40MP, f/1.9, 18mm (ultra-wide), 1/1.54”, PDAF TOF 3D, (depth) 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, 720@7680fps, 1080p@960fps, HDR; gyro-EIS |
| Front Camera | 32MP, f/2.2, 26mm (wide), 1/1.28”, 0.8 μm, AF IR ToF 3D for depth/biometrics 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps |
| OS | EMUI 10.1 based on Android 10, No Google Play Services |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi direct, hotspot Bluetooth 5.1, A2DP, LE GPS with dual-band A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, NavIC NFC, Infrared port |
| Security | Infrared face recognition, In-display optical fingerprint scanner |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Gyro, proximity, compass, Color spectrum |
| Battery | 4200mAh, 40W wired, 27W wireless and reverse wireless USB Type-C 3.1, USB On-The-Go |
Huawei P40 Pro Price in Nepal and Availability
Due to limited number of devices brought to Nepal, you can only buy this device officially by contacting Huawei Nepal representative at 980-1248041.
| Model | Variant | Price in Nepal |
| Huawei P40 Pro | (8GB + 128GB) | Rs. 1,29,990 |
Conclusion
In terms of camera performance, this is hand-down the best Nepalese market got right now. So, if you are familiar with HMS and can handle the struggle, everything else in this device oozes a ‘Buy me ASAP’ aura. Before you come at this statement, let me tell you that 90Hz and 120Hz doesn’t have that much of a difference. We highly want to review the camera on this device. For now, we all can hope that a good future is waiting for us and for Huawei.
