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We put Huawei Mate 50 Pro to the test and find explosive quality
Sponsored by HUAWEI
Smarter tech
Here’s a smartphone that could arguably be a load-shedding-ready phone during these ongoing power outages across South Africa.
Huawei South Africa has launched what could be one of their best phones this year.
The new Huawei Mate 50 Pro enters the market possibly to disrupt and add a new definition to the word futuristic and charismatic smartphone.
The Huawei Mate series has a new addition, the Mate 50 Pro and it boasts an iconic symmetrical space ring design, an ultra aperture XMAGE camera and ultra-reliable performance.
With the addition of EMUI 13, the Huawei Mate 50 Pro “boasts industry-first features, like the ultra aperture XMAGE camera; which features a one-of-a-kind optical system, with 10 size adjustments to the physical aperture via adjustable blades,” according to Huawei’s vice president of operations, Akhram Mohamed.
“The smartphone’s Kunlun Glass is certified by Switzerland’s SGS with 5-star glass drop resistance,” he adds.
A phenomenal addition to the Mate 50 Pro is a thin layer glass protecting layer named Kunlun Glass which according to Huawei South Africa has been put through a series of tests to ensure this Huawei Mate 50 Pro can withstand those unexpected drops which often stop our hearts.
Design
The design boasts meticulous symmetry and clear attention to detail. The rear camera system is carefully placed inside a specially crafted space ring which not only looks appealing but gives off a golden luxurious feel to the phone.
The strengthened front glass ensures users do not necessarily need those third-party glass protectors which needed changing after a certain period.
Huawei seems to have placed consumer needs as a priority with this feature and we sure like the addition.
While the rear of the phone may not have the new Kunlun Glass protection Huawei quickly added a clear, rubber cover to protect your phone from those unintended drops during a busy day.
Mohamed says: “These elements, amongst others, make Huawei truly proud to launch the Huawei Mate50 Pro in South Africa, which is a reflection of our commitment to exploring the endless frontiers of technology.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Alongside the launch of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, Huawei will introduce the Huawei free buds 5i and the Huawei Mate Pad SE 10.4 inch.
But let’s get back to the Mate 50 Pro.
Charging
The Huawei Mate 50 Pro comes with a whopping 4700 mAh battery inside the body guaranteed to last you most of the day under heavy usage.
Charging for this smart futuristic smartphone uses a 66 W charging adapter which ensures fast charges to have you ready for those unexpected power outages.
A 50-Watt wireless supercharge makes the mate a reliable tech companion ready to get you through those extra long nights in production, as the phone allows users to simply charge from another device with the same feature.
Features
EMUI 13, a new addition to the Mate series range ensures privacy protection which can erase sensitive information of pictures with one tap.
This means when sharing happy images information such as location information, device model and shooting time will not be obtained by the recipient.
EMUI 13 service widgets are customizable with card folders to create a personalized feel for the user.
Widgets of different sizes and shortcuts to applications can be sorted and arranged freely. Options such as swiping up and down to view the widgets or drag to adjust the order of the widgets, swiping left to delete or dragging the widgets to the home screen make the device a pleasure to navigate through.
Aperture Primary camera with 10 size adjustable physical aperture settings
If you’re a photography head, this is the smartphone to travel with as the changeable lens aperture of the SLR camera can meet a cocktail of different shooting needs.
A refresh rate of 120 Hz and 1440 Hz PWM dimming to reduce flickering and relieve eye fatigue ensures users get a breathtaking display.
This cutting-edge Huawei Mate 50 Pro headlines a superb 50 MP ultra aperture XMAGE camera with a 10-size adjustable physical aperture,
This mate 50 series comes with 8GB of RAM, with the silver and black models a 256GB of internal storage and the orange Mate 50 Pro colour with 512GB of storage. Storage expansion is available via Huawei’s services.
WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, location tech such as GPS, and infrared are all supported.
Display
The 6.74-inch display is an OLED panel with a 2616 by 1212 resolution and an impressive screen-to-body ratio.
An impressive maximum refresh rate of 120Hz for smooth scrolling and animation ensures users never get those irritating pauses during peak production with the device.
The mate 50 series comes in three colours, black, silver and orange.
The orange Mate 50 Pro comes with a vegan leather back while the other Silver and Black in a glass back.
Huawei’s Mate 50 Pro currently sits at the top of the smartphone camera rankings at DXOMARK seconded by Google’s Pixel 7 Pro.
Overall rating
Overall we loved putting Huawei’s newest addition to the mate series to the test and this is what we loved and loathed.
We love the grip, and overall size of the phone, we love the battery, quick charging, display, water, dust resistance and camera features, we just struggled to understand how this remarkable phone still doesn’t add google services.
While third-party apps make it possible to add the features, a question we have is if the phone will do well on the market without google services.
Price
The price seems a little steep at just over R24 999, but the device is definitely worth the price tag considering all the limitless functionality a sexy, charismatic, futuristic phone such as the Mate 50 Pro comes with.
It’s a yes from us for the Huawei Mate 50 Pro.
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