Huawei always strive to put their P series smartphones into the Photography lead, coming from their initial partnership with Leica, the company continues to push the boundaries from the P8, P9, P10, P20, P30, and now the P40 series. While we already had the experience of using the Huawei P40, the flagship of the three is the desire of the batch.
Now we won’t really go and dive into each aspect in-depth, but here is our take on Huawei’s most admirable P series smartphone yet. To simplify things, we will talk briefly more about the pros and cons of this device.
Premium Design and Feel
The P40 Pro+ feels different right off the box, it feels heavier and more luxurious. The white ceramic body also complements the whole body even better compared to the P40 and P40 Pro.
The frame is made of metal with antenna bands to suffice for the wireless connections needed. At the bottom are the USB Type-C, Sim Tray, and the down-firing speakers.
On the right side are both the power and volume toggles, the buttons are made of metal and even has a red indentation for the power button to be different.
Perhaps the most interesting of the P40 Pro+ is the quad-curve overflow display that enables the P40 Pro+ for that premium grip. Its curved edges all through any sides either front and back are a unique experience. Paired with the metal body and the ceramic white, it simply made the P40 Pro+ a simple but striking phone to behold.
Utilizing a 90Hz AMOLED display with a 2640 x 1200 Pixel resolution, the 6.58″ display is a wonder to see. Sufficiently bright outdoors and sometimes even punchy in saturation to combat the sun when needed. Or, as dark as possible for those moments at night or dark places you don’t want to disturb others. The display is simply something that is flagship worthy, colors are vivid and the 90Hz refresh rate is smooth even on any app especially browsin.
But of course, this design has some cons such as hard to have a screen protector, the display is curved in all 4 edges that it will be hard to find screen protectors for this especially full coverage ones.
Additionally, sometimes when holding the phone it’s confusing to know the orientation unless you’ve held off the camera or volume toggles. especially in the dark or in bed at night, it will take some learning curve for this.
Photography is the name of the game
The P40 Pro+ is definitely a camera smartphone for any situation, not only that it has different lenses for every scenario but also the software and high-resolution to back it up. The Penta Camera composed of the 50MP Main Camera, 40MP Ultra-Wide Camera, 8MP x10 Periscope Zoom Lens, 8MP 3x telephoto lens, and the 3D Depth sensing lens all work to deliver a better photo analysis and software optimization.
Overall photos are clear, crisp details when zoomed and not much-oversaturated colors as compared to before. Seems Huawei is now learning to optimize more on clarity rather than bouncing the colors in the previous series.
Us ourselves can’t fully utilize the pro photography features of the P40 Pro+, but we like the small gestures that Huawei makes such as suggestive AI, auto-preview in zooms, and filters with advanced features like AI Color, Golden Snap AI Background removal, best selection, and more.
The x100 zoom is also surprising, given sufficient lighting the camera can do great wonders and can be even your magnifier in some situations.
Even close range zoom is nice, though there might be some difference in the color temperature as each lens will react differently. In this case, its a sunny day that turned cool once zoomed in.
Performance is exceptional
The Kirin 990 chipset is a fast chip indeed, but more than that is the ability to become power efficient. While racking up 486k in smart performance and 530k in high-performance mode, the Huawei P40 Pro+ is proof that even an 8GB RAM smartphone is more than enough if you have the right hardware.
In the 1 month of using the P40 Pro+, the only hiccup we encountered was not because of the processor but more of internet-based lags. Perhaps the challenge really is that if you even have the right infrastructure to use the P40 Pro+ such as internet speed, hobbies, etc.
A battery that can catch up
The battery is a tank, we can honestly say that the P40 Pro+ is one of the flagships that can do a whole day of use without any worries. The AMOLED 90Hz display is great enough to be enjoyed, with a fast performance that when complemented with a long-lasting battery it’s a great combination to remove your anxiety.
On a regular day with also going out, a whole day starting at 7 am can leave us around 22% at 10 pm going home. That’s a day of heavy social media, messaging apps, light photography and some video streaming services. Oh, that’s also with some casual 5G data connection at BGC as well.
The 40W Huawei SuperCharge can charge the 4200mAh battery in less than an hour, while it’s not the fastest in the category it’s still sufficiently fast. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to experience the 40W wireless charging as it needs a dedicated wireless charger to do so.
Apps are getting better but still some hiccups
We like that Huawei is rapidly growing their App Galley and included the petal search for apps you might need for rapid installation. While some apps like Grab, Lalamove that relies on the GMS integration for the map is still a challenge, we think Huawei will get this resolved sooner or later.
For messaging apps like Viber, the main challenge is the chat backup which uses GMS like Google Drive, but you can always just copy the messages when used on a Viber desktop. So there is still a workaround.
We’re happy to see more games are also joining the App gallery including Mobile Legends, this is a good sight for Huawei players that the No.1 mobile game in PH isn’t a challenge anymore to be updated.
Any improvements?
Perhaps some points to take on the Huawei P40 Pro+ are the separation from the P40 Pro, aside from the hardware improvements is that the P40 Pro+ has a very selective audience to fulfill and these are the photo/video enthusiasts. We think for an average user, the P40 Pro can do well already, but the P40 Pro+ can future proof your needs but not significantly.
Plus, for a flagship-level smartphone, it’s kinda sad to see no dual-firing speakers that could have improved your overall needs for entertainment. Hopefully, there will be a technology that can prioritize the speakers aside from aesthetics or combine the two.
Is it worth the jump in price?
The Huawei P40 Pro+ sells for Php69,990 SRP and can be availed via Globe and Smart Postpaid Plans as well. That’s almost 20k from the Huawei P40 Pro at Php50,990 SRP, but it does give you a premium metal frame with a white ceramic body, curved 4-ways AMOLED display, the Penta-camera setup with ridiculous zoom, and even 8GB of RAM and 512GB Storage.
We say if you’re already a fanatic of Huawei and invested in their eco-system such as having their smartwatch and laptop, you won’t have the hiccups aside from using the Huawei P40 Pro+.
As for the google maps and drive integration concern… looking at the bright side Huawei’s App Galley will only get better and better with the R&D they are pouring into their eco-system. Given Huawei’s large user base, eventually, app developers will realize the market they are losing if they don’t include Huawei into the picture.
Specifications, photography, and overall package the Huawei P40 Pro+ is still a very competitive phone that can still make a dent in the flagship smartphone space.
