Huawei Mate 50 Pro in review: Good hardware is not everything

The past few years have not been easy for Huawei. Nevertheless, they did not give up and each generation brought new innovations to the market. With the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, the manufacturer presented the first smartphone with a variable aperture.

In the following lines you will find out how the Huawei Mate 50 Pro performed review.

Design

Huawei smartphones have long stood for beautiful and high-quality design and this is again the case with the Mate 50 Pro. The smartphone is slightly smaller than, for example, a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra or Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max. In combination with the slightly rounded front and back, this ensures that the Mate 50 Pro is very soft and comfortable to hold. However, the buttons are placed a little too high for my taste.

The Huawei Mate 50 Pro is available in black and silver, although I would recommend the silver model to anyone interested. In my opinion, it not only looks nicer, it is also matte and therefore less prone to fingerprints than the black model.

Many people will also have noticed the relatively large notch. When the first leaks appeared, I was surprised at first, because a notch of this size is actually no longer up to date. For me, it is incomprehensible why this step was taken, because both the Mate 30 Pro and the Mate 40 Pro have smaller gaps.

unlock options

But the big notch also has a benefit. Because Huawei uses 3D facial recognition here, similar to Face ID on the iPhone. Unlike Apple, you don't have to swipe up again after unlocking, but go straight to the start screen after recognizing your face. In general, Huawei face recognition is fast, safe and reliable. I would like to see the same from other manufacturers in the future.

Of course, Huawei also installs an in-display fingerprint sensor. This works quickly and reliably, but is placed a bit too far down for my taste.

Display

Once the Mate 50 Pro is unlocked, the 6,74-inch OLED display appears. This has a resolution of 2.616 x 1.212 pixels - exactly between 1.080p and 1.440p - which results in a PPI of 428.

In everyday life, the sharpness was actually always sufficient and I could never see individual pixels during use. One could argue that others in the price range already offer displays with over 500 PPI and in principle I agree. Sure, now some say that you only see the difference in a direct comparison, but that's not the point. It's about what I can expect at such a high price point and personally I expect 1.440p. Furthermore, the viewing angle stability in the area of ​​the edges can be improved.

Apart from that, it is a really good display. It supports a refresh rate of 120 Hertz, which makes operation smoother and more pleasant. Unfortunately, this is not an LTPO display, so the refresh rate cannot adapt. In addition, the Huawei Mate 50 Pro offers a really usable display brightness. Although this is not at the level of a iPhone 14 Pro, but I have never had any problems using it.

Performance

Despite the current problems, Huawei has managed to install one of the best processors on the market with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G. In combination with the 8 GB RAM and 256 GB of internal storage, the SoC gives the Mate 50 Pro excellent performance. Apps open and close extremely quickly and the entire operating speed is at a very high level.

Unfortunately, Huawei is not allowed to use 5G technology, which is why this is a 4G-only smartphone. I have two views in this regard: on the one hand, 4G is fast enough and the expansion of 5G in Germany has not yet arrived at a point where there is really any added value. On the other hand, the customer should be able to expect the best possible technology with a four-digit RRP. 5G is the future and no one knows how quickly the expansion will progress.

Software

The biggest problem with the Huawei Mate 50 Pro is and remains the software. Unlike in the Chinese market, the manufacturer does not use HarmonyOS, but remains true to EMUI version 13.

The software on a smartphone is generally always a very subjective topic. One likes it, the other doesn't. For example, my colleague Fabian likes to use EMUI. For him it is one of the best user interfaces. I personally didn't like her that much though. Yes, looks are known to be a matter of taste, but for me personally the EMUI is simply too colourful, too confusing and overloaded. In addition, Huawei pre-installs a massive amount of bloatware. With smartphones in the lower price segment, I can still understand that, because manufacturers can also push the price down. But not on a smartphone at this price. I don't want the GMX app, nor any weird games, and certainly not Tinder on my smartphone.

By now everyone should be aware that Huawei is not allowed to use Google services on their smartphones. Of course, that puts many people off at first and I was also skeptical at first as to whether I would get along without Google services, but what can I say, I was actually pleasantly surprised. Apps are not obtained from the Google Play Store, but from the in-house AppGallery or my personal recommendation: Petal Search. This app selects your favorite apps from various sources and installs them for you. However, it should be noted here that Petal Search does not provide automatic updates for the apps.

You can actually use some of Google's own apps via GSpace. These include, for example, YouTube, Gmail, Maps or Google search. Huawei Pay is also an alternative for Google Pay. What actually doesn't work is Android Auto on the one hand and Google Cast on the other. I personally really missed the latter.

You can also use some Google apps via GSPace. (Picture:TechnikNews)

In conclusion, I can only say the following about the whole Google topic: In my opinion, Huawei does not lack the app selection. Many apps work and there are alternatives for many more. It lacks the simplicity that the Google Play Store offers. One source and all apps are updated automatically. That doesn't exist here and I doubt that the average consumer would use this commprowant to miss.

camera

The Mate 50 Pro is the first Huawei flagship in a long time that was created without collaboration with Leica. Since the Huawei P9, the Chinese and German companies have worked together and revolutionized the camera market. Be it a night mode, pixel binning, periscope technology or the RYYB sensor. Huawei drove innovation and I am glad that this is no different with the Mate 50 Pro.

On the hardware side, the manufacturer relies on a triple camera system consisting of a 50 megapixel wide-angle camera, a 13 megapixel ultra wide-angle camera and a 64 megapixel telephoto camera, which enables a 3,5x optical zoom. The impressive thing here is the 50 megapixel wide-angle camera, because Huawei is the first manufacturer to install a 10-step variable aperture from f/1.4 to f/4.0.

The actual image quality is - as we know it from Huawei - at a very high level. The 50 megapixel wide-angle camera offers the best image quality of the trio. Beautiful sharpness, color reproduction and dynamic characterize the images.

The images are convincing even in poor light conditions. I would actually recommend not switching to night mode, because the color display is much more appealing and realistic in automatic mode.

The 13 megapixel ultra wide angle is a bit worse here. By no means bad, but by no means on the level of one OPPO Find X5 (Pro) or Vivo X80 Pro.

I also expected a little more from the zoom. Especially when you consider how good the zoom of the Huawei P50 Pro was. Although the same hardware is used here, the P50 Pro still takes better pictures. In my opinion, there is a lack of sharpness, especially in the ranges above 3,5x. The color reproduction between the wide-angle camera and the telephoto camera can also be improved. While the ultra-wide angle and wide angle are quite close to each other and the images are a bit warmer, the images from the telephoto camera are rather pale and lifeless. A Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, Google Pixel 7 Pro or Xiaomi 12s Ultra definitely have a better zoom.

Rechargeable battery

At 4.700 mAh, the battery of the Huawei Mate 50 Pro is a bit smaller than that of comparable competitors. Nevertheless, the battery life is absolutely solid and easily lasted me a day. The efficient SoC and the lack of Google services play a role here.

If the battery is then empty, it can be recharged quite quickly thanks to the included 66 watt power supply unit. Wireless charging with 50 watts and reverse wireless charging are also supported.

All in all, battery performance worthy of a flagship.

Other

Under the heading “Miscellaneous”, I would like to go into the little details that round off the package that the Mate 50 Pro offers. Huawei’s flagship is of course again IP68 certified, i.e. against the ingress of water and dust.

In addition, there is a really good X-axis vibration motor and the voice quality when making calls is absolutely solid.

The whole thing is rounded off by stereo speakers. These are located on the underside and in the earpiece and actually sound quite acceptable. In my opinion, however, they could be a bit more voluminous. A iPhone 14 Pro for example, here is audibly better.

Conclusion

It is difficult for me to draw a conclusion about the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, because the hardware that Huawei offers is absolutely powerful and is definitely one of the best in 2022. But even the best hardware is useless if the software is not right. Even if I believe that there are some people who will hardly notice the lack of Google Play Services, these people should not spend 1.199 euros on a smartphone. While it used to be the case that the lead over the competition was big enough in the camera area that you could accept the lack of Google services for the best possible image quality, this is no longer the case. The competition has caught up and no matter whether it is the Vivo X80 Pro, Google Pixel 7 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra and others. They all offer more than powerful cameras.

Nevertheless, Huawei is asking for a recommended retail price of 1.199 euros. If the Mate 50 Pro had Google services, this would definitely be fair, but it doesn't. And as you can probably imagine, I can't recommend the Huawei Mate 50 Pro at this price. Huawei should have compensated for the restrictions with the price, but they don't, and if I'm restricted as a manufacturer, I can't charge the same prices as manufacturers who don't have any restrictions.

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We would like to thank Huawei AT for providing the test device! 

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