Huawei P50 Pro 512GB/8GB RAM (2021)

The best camera and the best phone – Last year I purchased a P40 Pro phone and contributed a review which remains available. This year, I have acquired a Huawei P50 Pro. The new phone has (1) an even better camera, (2) faster processor, (3) Huawei's new Harmony 2.0 operating system and (4) no 5G capability. Since last year, I have also had the opportunity to use a Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra… Read more

which also has an improved camera. Xiaomi achieved improvement by using larger components resulting in a significantly bulkier phone. In contrast, Huawei have bettered all competition by developing superior software and without needing bulkier components. The phone feels comfortable in the hand, the interface is easy to use and the new Huawei Harmony operating system has an elegance that makes this my best phone ever. The Harmony operating system is an improvement on Android. It includes sufficient android code to permit most android apps to be used but it seems faster and more user-friendly than Android 10 on the P40 Pro or Android 11 the Xiaomi phone. When I first received the new phone, I used Huawei's "Phone Clone" app to copy everything from my old phone to my new one and everything was working comfortably within about 10 to 15 minutes.

The very advanced camera software is extremely sophisticated. It captures images from multiple cameras and combines various elements from each camera to produce excellent final images - all in milliseconds. The colours and detail are, to my eye, perfect. The camera offers 3.5 times optical zoom but the software produces high quality images at much higher zoom levels. I also have a mirrorless Sony camera with a good quality 10 times zoom lens but now it just remains in my cupboard. The Huawei P50 Pro is the camera I prefer to use.

American trade bans mean that (like its predecessor) the P50 Pro does not have proprietary Google software but I have come to appreciate that as more of an advantage than disadvantage. I can do what I want to do without being stalked by advertising trackers. The phone is also unable to use 5G but, at the moment, I have not been using 5G anyway and 4G does all that I expect to need for the foreseeable future.

A user who needs 5G or Google software will not find this phone agreeable. However a user who wants the absolutely best small camera in a device that can also make phone calls, do messaging, access the internet etc etc will find the Huawei P50 Pro unsurpassable. I am wondering if I will ever buy another phone because I can't quite imagine how they could make a better one.