Here's what it was like using a Huawei smartphone for the first time
Last year, Chinese tech giant Huawei launched its highly anticipated next generation of 5G Mate 40 flagship smartphones to much fanfare.
The leading Chinese phone manufacturer announced four new models in its Huawei Mate 40 series—the Mate 40, Mate 40 Pro, Mate 40 Pro+ and Porsche Design Mate 40 RS. All four models from the series will run on Huawei’s Kirin 9000 processor, the tech firm’s latest 5G SoC (system-on-chip) with more than 15.3 billion transistors.
However, only the Mate 40 Pro was made available in Singapore. Recently, I was given the opportunity to spend about two months using this smartphone. It’s my first time using an Android smartphone, so it was a whole new world for me. Needless to say, there were both highlights and (mini) challenges throughout my time with the phone.
Here’s what I thought:
First impressions and design
The phone features an edge-to-edge 88-degree Horizon Display with rounded corners for a stunning visual and ergonomic experience, with a visually pleasing Space Ring camera system at the back of the phone. It comes in just two colours: mystic silver and black. I used the mystic silver version but what distracted me (in a pleasant way) was the phone case that was loaned to me too. I absolutely loved it, but more on that below.
User experience
Be honest: What do you mostly use your phone for? Texting, replying to emails, using social media and taking photos—these are the usual activities related to smartphone usage. I did all of the aforementioned on the phone rather seamlessly, although it did a little getting used to when I was typing on the Mate 40 Pro, be it for texts or emails. I was not used to the keypad but this was something I expected since I had never used a Huawei smartphone prior to this experience.