HUAWEI P40 LITE REVIEW: THE BIG BET
Huawei and Google are now separated at home. On the one hand, the new smartphones of the Chinese house, such as this P40 Lite, arrive in Italy with Huawei Mobile Services and a new software ecosystem , on the other hand the "old products", but still very valid, can count on Google services and they will continue to do so. A distortion of the market caused by Trump's ban on Huawei and which has not yet been resolved.
The strength of the numbers, however, is on Huawei's side,
the world's second largest manufacturer of Android smartphones, which would
almost certainly have become the first without the American blockade. If there
is a reality in the smartphone market capable of creating an alternative to
Google and iOS, it is Huawei, which is fielding huge resources to convince app
developers to land on AppGallery, an alternative to the Google Play Store. It
will take time, that's for sure, but Huawei has everything to win this huge
challenge. In the meantime , new applications arrive on AppGallery every week ,
we do not know how the situation will be in a few months, for now we can only
evaluate the P40 Lite for what it is possible to do today.
Design
Huawei P40 Lite incorporates many of the stylistic traits
seen in the current smartphone market, while applying some compromises in
materials. The dimensions are generous, with a height of 159.2 mm, a width of
76.3 mm and a thickness of 8.7 mm, for a weight of approximately 183 grams. The
weight is lower than other similar smartphones, not least because polycarbonate
is used for the construction, with the exception of the display glass. Despite
the use of plastic, the difference is not so marked to the touch, certainly the
advantages in weight reduction outweigh the disadvantages of using less noble
materials .
We do not find the fingerprint reader under the screen,
since it is an LCD it was unfortunately not possible, Huawei has placed it in
the right edge, in correspondence with the power button. The detection speed,
above average, and its accuracy are very good, traditional fingerprint readers
in this respect have not yet been surpassed.
The volume rocker is also installed on the right edge, while
in the left one we find the SIM slot, which can also be used with a single SIM
and a memory card NM Card, the proprietary standard of Huawei. In the lower
edge you can see the system speaker, the USB Type C and the headphone jack , an
element that is by no means obvious and increasingly difficult to find today.
The back of the smartphone does not offer particular
details, it is now really difficult to differentiate the design of the phones.
In the P40 Lite there are two differentiating elements, the color (available in
black, green and pink) and the square photo module at the top left, which
protrudes slightly from the body. On the front, however, we note the good work
of reducing the screen frames, which are seen but are thin, and the hole for
the camera in the upper left corner.
Overall Huawei has done a good job, especially the audio
jack will be appreciated by those who have not yet converted to wireless
headphones.
Technical specifications, battery, camera and price
Huawei has updated the P40 Lite to today's standards,
equipping it with a Kirin 810 Octa Core processor, with a 7nm production
process . The GPU is a Mali G52, then we find 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of
internal memory. This configuration allows an always fluid use of the phone ,
which has no problems from this point of view. As always when it comes to
Huawei, connectivity is complete and includes LTE, Dual Band Wi-Fi, NFC and
Bluetooth 5.0.
The display is 6.4 inches with LCD panel and Full HD
resolution, with a definition of 398 PPI. The rendering of this screen is good,
you do not feel that much the lack of an AMOLED, which would have given
something more in the contrast anyway. The maximum brightness is decent for
outdoor use but we have seen better, even in the price range in which the P40
Lite is proposed, which costs € 299. We reminds you that at the moment the
offer is active which provides, with the purchase of the phone, the excellent
Huawei FreeBuds 3 as a gift, wireless headphones worth about 140 €.
The battery is 4200 mAh, a fact that, associated with this
hardware and the absence of Google Play Services, makes the P40 Lite one of the
best smartphones you can buy on the autonomy front.. With average use, getting
to two days without recharging is easy, Huawei's smartphone is a real security
in this respect.
On the photographic front, Huawei has done a discreet job,
installing four cameras on the P40 Lite. The main one is 48 Megapixel with f /
1.8 aperture and electronic stabilization . Then we find an 8 Megapixel Ultra
Wide sensor with f / 2.4 aperture and two 2 Megapixel sensors, the first for
macro shots and the second for measuring the depth of field. Huawei could have
dared more on the photographic sector to make this P40 Lite more attractive but
preferred a more standard approach. Let's be clear, the shots are of good
quality and easy to obtain, it is in the night rendering that the sensors show
some uncertainty. However, it is difficult to be disappointed with the photos
taken by this phone, perfectly in line with other smartphones in the same price
range.
Software
Huawei P40 Lite marks a turning point for the Chinese house,
being the first medium-low-end smartphone to arrive in Italy without Google
services . From this moment begins a very important path, whose goal is to
bring the largest number of applications to AppGallery in the shortest possible
time.
While it may seem strange, not everyone is tied to the
Google ecosystem, not everyone uses Gmail, and not everyone needs tons of
applications to install. Not all, but many do. So, if you buy a P40 Lite, you
need to be aware of the limitations that can be encountered.
In our test we have adopted an approach that involves only
the use of legal systems to install applications and above all simple ones,
which do not require specific skills and are usable by all types of users, even
the less experienced ones. It goes without saying that by installing apk downloaded
from the web, the app fleet increases dramatically, the phone performs a check
to verify its safety but a minimum of risk, especially for inexperienced users,
is always there.
Our software procurement sources are therefore AppGallery,
Amazon AppStore and apk downloaded directly from developer portals (as in the
case of WhatsApp for example). There would also be TrovaApp, which allows you
to download apks from the main services that provide Android applications, such
as APKPure, but in this case, automatic updates are lost. Many services of this
type are safe, others less: in expert and aware hands, the problems that can be
encountered are minimal if not zero, but a user used to open the Play Store and
freely download dozens of apps, without thinking about possible consequences,
it may not be suitable for this phone.
Starting from these assumptions, we were able to use
applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram in a simple way, three of
the most popular services in Italy. Same thing for Amazon, Amazon Video,
Infinity, Spotify, Amazon Music, TikToc, Telegram and Office. Obviously no
problem for web browsing, thanks to the proprietary browser, in which you can
use Google as the primary search engine, and for managing emails, provided you
use an alternative application to Gmail.
The rest does the EMUI 10, based on Android 10, a now mature
customization and which really does not lack anything, from the application for
health monitoring, perfect with Huawei and Honor smartwatches, to tons of
options with which to customize the OS.
Obviously all the services are missing, such as Chromecast,
and Google applications (Maps can be used but without logging in), including
YouTube (you can see only via web browser) and important pieces for a mature
software ecosystem such as Netflix and different banking applications. There is
no SkyGo, you cannot use the phone for payments and the WhatsApp backup must be
restored manually.
On the gaming front, the work to be done is enormous, we are
very far from the amount of titles available on the Play Store.Fortnite is
there, but Call of Duty Mobile is missing . At the time of writing, of the five
most popular trending games on the Play Store, only one is easily downloadable,
using the Amazon AppStore.
There are prospects for the future, just look at the
frequency with which new applications arrive on the AppGallery, only in March
the INPS, Italo, Trenit !, Vueling, VVVVID applications landed, in addition to
the banking services of MyCartaBCC, Relax Banking and Bancaperta. However,
Huawei needs time to get closer to the vastness of services used today on
smartphones and not everyone is willing to wait.
