Huawei P30

PERFECT FOR PHOTOGRAPHY.

IF YOU WANT a smartphone with the best-possible camera under a thousand bucks, the Huawei P30 is your guy. Boasting the only triple-lens camera in this price range, it squeezes a 40MP main camera, 16MP ultra-wide angle lens and 8MP telephoto lens into a raised array on the P30’s rear.

As we know from the Google Pixel, great hardware alone isn’t enough to guarantee awesome shots, but Huawei has paired the souped-up specs with artificial intelligence that recognises different objects and scenes to automatically optimise the settings. It’s this combo that results in some truly stellar photography, and there really isn’t a shot it can’t nail, whether it’s ultra-wide-angle landscapes, zooming in on a distant landmark or shooting clear shots at night. Even ordinary photos look artistic straight out of the camera.

There are many other features we like about the P30, too, including the stylish colour gradients on the back (the bluish-purple ‘Aurora’ design is gorgeous), the bright 6.1inch OLED display, and zippy performance. It also comes with the latest Android 9 Pie operating system installed, but as per usual, Huawei has skinned it with its proprietary ‘EMUI’ interface. We’re not a huge fan of EMUI – it lacks the polish and finesse of other Android variants.

But the bigger problem is the US trade sanction against Huawei’s home country China. This puts software updates from Google in jeopardy, affecting not just major Android upgrades, but also monthly security patches and access to the Google Play Store. Google has an exemption to keep working with Huawei until 19 August, but whether it can get any further exemptions beyond this is up in the air.