Comparable to autumn and winter smartphones!? 10 reasons why the "HUAWEI P20 Pro" is still a "buy" (page 1/3)

The latest autumn/winter models of smartphones are being released one after another, but the HUAWEI P20 Pro sold by NTT Docomo is still active and boasts the highest camera performance. It still maintains the top position in the DxO Mark, which scores camera performance (as of November 2018). It seems that only the same Huawei smartphone can exit Huawei's smartphone.

Although it is a summer 2018 model, it is still one of the terminals that I would like to consider for purchase. Here are 10 reasons why. If you are thinking of buying a new one, please refer to it.

"HUAWEI P20 Pro"

The display is 6.1 type, which is a sufficient size as a flagship model. Since it uses organic EL, the contrast ratio is very high, and the black color looks solid. Vivid colors are a must-see. Once you've seen this display, you'll never want to go back to a model with an LCD.

The display has high contrast and vivid colors

The screen occupancy rate is also high at 81.9%. Since the fingerprint sensor is mounted under the display, the numbers look a little low, but the slim bezels on the top and left and right give you the feeling of holding the image itself in your hand.

The aspect ratio of the display is 18.7:9, which is long vertically, and even a horizontally long image made at 21:9 like a movie adapted to a theater screen can be enlarged to the limit. At the same time as the narrow frame design mentioned earlier, the display is also vertically long, so it fits firmly in the hand for the screen size.

Because the display is vertically long, even when viewing apps and sites optimized for smartphones, a large amount of information can fit on one screen. Since the amount of scrolling is reduced by that amount, you will feel that it is easier to see when reading a series of sentences. Of course, it's easy to see when you split the screen and display two apps at the same time.

The screen is easy to see even when displaying two apps

Speaking of the P20 Pro, the biggest feature is the industry's first triple camera. The triple camera has one 40-megapixel color camera and the other 20-megapixel monochrome camera, which are used to create bright images. It also has an 8-megapixel camera with 3x optical zoom.

Equipped with a triple camera, you can use 3 cameras properly

In particular, the 40-megapixel color sensor is extremely large at 1/1.7 type, which is comparable to a high-performance compact digital camera. The maximum aperture F value of the lens is also very bright at 1.8. Therefore, even in dark places, you can take pictures with little noise and almost no picture breakdown.

In addition, the P20 Pro's camera uses the power of AI (artificial intelligence) to analyze the scene you are about to capture. It automatically changes to the optimal mode accordingly, so the blue sky looks bluer and the food looks fresher. When I look back at the finished photos, I feel like I've become a professional photographer. Once you experience this camera, it seems that you will not be satisfied with other smartphones.

The sky, trees, and even the ground can be vividly reproduced

AI is also useful when shooting night scenes. The P20 Pro predicts camera shake and performs processing to cancel it. As a result, you can take pictures without blur even in dark places. Night mode is especially surprising. In this mode, multiple photos are combined to reproduce a slow shutter of around 4 seconds. It's a shutter speed that almost always results in camera shake with a normal digital camera, but combined with powerful image stabilization, you can take clear pictures even when holding it by hand.

Photo taken in night mode. Even the pitch-black sky is brighter. Detail is clear and colors are vivid

A 3x zoom lens is useful when you want to get close to the subject. Furthermore, with the P20 Pro, by correcting the image in combination with digital zoom, there is very little deterioration even when zooming up to about 5x. With a 10x zoom, some graininess will appear, but even so, the image quality will be sufficient for posting to SNS etc. at the same size. It is no exaggeration to say that by combining the triple lens and AI processing, it has surpassed the realm of a smartphone camera.

Giraffe taken with 5x zoom. Elephant taken with 3x zoom. The texture of the skin can also be reproduced

Not only the out-camera, but also the in-camera shooting is spectacular. The in-camera has a high resolution of 24 million pixels and a relatively bright F value of 2.0. It can be said that the in-camera can no longer be called a "sub-camera".

Portrait mode is useful when taking selfies. In this mode, you can use "artistic blur" that allows you to blur only the background beautifully, and you can also adjust the beauty level. By increasing the beauty level, you can shoot your face more beautiful than it should be, such as making your face whiter or narrowing the outline.

The selfie has beautiful skin and the background is naturally blurred.

Even if you have rough skin or dark circles in your eyes, you can say that you can get closer to your best self. It is a function that allows you to easily take selfies at any time, regardless of your physical condition or situation.

Portrait mode also supports 3D portrait lighting. This function analyzes the face three-dimensionally and finishes the photo as if it were illuminated. Even if you take a selfie in your ordinary room, it will look like it was taken in a studio. 3D portrait lighting can also be used with the out-camera.

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