Content
- Equipment and design
- Software
- Cameras
- Performance & Tests
- findings
When in some line there is at the same timesmartphone and its Pro version, of course, all the attention goes to the older model. With the Huawei Mate line, the situation has always been particularly difficult: the company often released the basic version only in some countries and almost did not promote it. But this year, the focus has shifted a bit: the controversial design decisions in the Mate 50 Pro have warmed up interest in the younger model, and its appearance in retail at an extremely affordable price (52,990 rubles at the time of writing the review) made many seriously think about this choice. Therefore, I ask you to love and favor, Huawei Mate 50. Let's get acquainted.
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Specifications | |
|---|---|---|
| Huawei Mate 50 | ||
| Network | 2G, 3G, 4G | |
| Firmware | EMUI 13 | |
| Screen | 6.7", 2700 x 1224 dots, 90 Hz, 300 Hz touch, 10 bit, OLED, PWM 1440 Hz | |
| Chipset | Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 4G, 4 nm GPU: Adreno 730 |
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| Ram | 8 GB | |
| ROM | 256 GB | |
| SIM and memory card | Two nano-SIM + NM Card up to 256 GB | |
| Camera | Main: 50 MP, Sony IMX766, f/1.4-4.0 variable aperture, 2160p@60fps video recording Periscope: 12MP, f/3.4, OIS, 5x optical zoom, 125mm focal length, 2160p@60fps video recording wide angle: 13 MP, Sony IMX688, f/2.2 |
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| Selfie | hole in the center, 13 MP, f/2.4, , 2160p@60fps video recording | |
| Battery | 4460 mAh | |
| Charging | USB Type-C, 66W Wireless 50W Reversible wireless 7.5W |
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| Wireless interfaces | Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, QZSS, NavIC |
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| NFC | there is | |
| Biometrics | In-screen fingerprint scanner | |
| Sound | Stereo speakers | |
| Water protection | IP68 | |
| Dimensions and weight | 161.5 x 76.1 x 7.98mm 206 g |
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Equipment and design
Huawei standard black cardboard box,a standard set of accessories inside: a SIM needle, a USB cable, a 66 W charger, a silicone case. At present, seeing such a kit in a flagship smartphone is happiness. There are four colors in nature (black, silver, purple and orange), but only the first two are presented in our retail. We have a light version on the test, which looks a little ordinary, but very pleasant.
There are many reasons for the attentive eyerejoice in Huawei Mate 50. Almost symmetrical frames on all sides. Symmetrical camera module. Body made of glass and metal. Neat hole in the screen. The smartphone is verified to the smallest detail in terms of appearance, and it is impossible not to appreciate it when you use it. It's hard not to notice excellent ergonomics: rounded ends and ideal weight distribution provide a very pleasant and strong grip. The fingerprint scanner is perhaps a little small, but it works very quickly and accurately.
Briefly about the contents of the ends.Bottom: dual tray (either two nano-SIMs or nano-SIM + NM card), microphone, USB Type-C port and speaker. Right: lock and volume buttons. Top: additional openings for the earpiece and infrared port. Left is empty. The speakers at the top and bottom are a bit uneven in terms of volume and depth of sound, but when paired, they produce very good stereo sound. The vibration motor is linear and quite pleasant, but the vibration feedback in EMUI is a rarity, so you are unlikely to feel it often.
Huawei Mate 50 screen is a great OLED panelfor a billion colors, which has an increased resolution of 2700x1224 pixels. Yes, non-standard, but it does not cause any compatibility problems; Android apps have long been accustomed to running on everything from QVGA clocks to SHV TVs. There are no problems with film compatibility: the panel is flat, which greatly simplifies the application of protection. And those who do not like the darkened edges of the displays will also be delighted. PWM operates at a very high frequency, and therefore harmless to the eyes.
Brightness, contrast and color reproductionscreen Huawei Mate 50, I also had no complaints. Of course, I didn’t stand with a candle with a colorimeter, but the display looks great. There is, in fact, only one question for him: why 90 Hz? The difference between 120 and 90 is of course not as noticeable as between 90 and 60, so the display still feels fairly smooth; but if you have already tasted 120 or even more so 144 Hz, when you switch to the Mate 50, you will initially feel the difference. The frequency of the wheelbarrow is 150 Hz, which is not very much, but it will do.
Software
Huawei Mate 50 runs on EMUI 13.This is a rather original firmware with its own chips and its own visual style, but without Google services. Eugene in the Mate 50 Pro video review told how easy and good it is to get them in different ways; all these methods work on the Mate 50 as well. But I decided to go the other way.
Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro
I honestly used the Mate 50 as my primarysmartphone without installing Google services there. And I didn’t even install microG. Well, in principle, you can live. And over time it gets better - out, the location sharing in Telegram has been corrected. Maybe someday Petal Maps will switch to OpenStreetMap data, and it will become usable. The software is easily installed through the AppGallery, from there you will be transferred to APKPure if anything (but for convenience, you can simply install the APKPure application).
Mate 50 and Mate 50 Pro
However, if you use anyapplications through Google accounts, then most likely you will not be able to access your data; if only through the web version or after all by rolling Google services. But registration is almost never difficult, as there are always alternative ways. For example, I tested Genshin Impact through a Twitter account (but I had to remember the ExpressVPN password saved in Google Lock).
In Europe, there is a fairly large community of people who specifically buy"Googled" phones – and they have their own reasons for that.Basically, this is a reluctance to share their personal data with Google, which it collects very actively and not very transparently.If these concerns are close to your heart, but buying a Simple Phone, Murena One or Volla seems too drastic, then you shouldI haven't been able to find any independent estimates on the web of how much data it collects from its smartphonescompany; however, let me remind you that no evidence of Huawei's espionage was presented before the imposition of sanctions against the company.And the uncontrolled collection of personal data would be very useful for such proof.
Cameras
Huawei Mate 50 cameras are similar to those inMate 50 Pro, except for two simplifications. Firstly, OIS was removed from the main camera for some reason; deciding to rely only on electronic stabilization. Secondly, from here a completely different telephoto: not 64 megapixels and 3.5x, but 12 megapixels and 5x. As a result, the set of cameras is as follows: a 50-megapixel base with an RYYB sensor, a 12-megapixel periscope with OIS and a 13-megapixel wide autofocus sensor. The fourth eye is not a plug, but a laser autofocus that helps the main camera find an object in low light conditions.
There is one more trick:variable aperture in the main camera. Huawei was not the first to bring this technology to phones (besides the Xperia Pro-I and Samsung flagships in the past, it was, for example, the Motorola Motozine ZN5 back in 2008 - albeit with only two values f/2.8 and f/5, 6), but made a breakthrough in it. Firstly, before manufacturers did not offer more than three values – but here there are ten. Secondly, for the first time the maximum and minimum apertures differ by almost three times: f/1.4 and f/4.0. This is not Samsung with its “choice” between f/1.5 and f/2.4. In general, you can take both “dark” shots with a huge depth of field, and photos with the coolest background blur. It's a bit of a shame that Huawei slapped this technology on top of the relatively small 1/1.56″ sensor; It will be very interesting to see it paired with IMX989. We wait. In the meantime, let's look at photo examples:
I'll start with the fact that variable aperture is a topic.Very realistic photos with huge depth of field during the day, beautiful bokeh in portrait shots, and crazy light capture at night are all the results of Huawei teaching the camera to open and close. All this works automatically, but you can take control in your own hands. Shirik is great at shooting landscapes with a very large capture angle, and the periscope helps out when you need to photograph something from afar. At night, the Mate 50 performs very well for a smartphone without OIS; the only sad thing is that the telephoto almost never turns on, which is why pictures with a 5x zoom are cropped from the main camera - you understand what kind of detail is obtained. And still there are problems with a color rendition; what happened to the peppers in the photo from the store, I still do not understand.
The 13 megapixel front camera is devoid of autofocus and is not particularly interesting in anything. Selfies are good, but not outstanding.
Video for all four cameras can be recorded in2160p@60fps 8K isn't supported, but it doesn't need to be either. Electronic stabilization is very good, when shooting handheld, the picture looks stable even with a large increase (albeit at the cost of ghosting in the frame). I am very pleased that switching between the three rear cameras was implemented during the shooting, even at maximum resolution; if you decide to zoom in or out, you won't have to interrupt the recording. In general, the software implementation of video from Huawei can be called exemplary; but it was better to leave OIS in this model.
Performance and tests
Huawei Mate 50 along with other smartphonesline received an exclusive Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G chipset. This is the same 8+ Gen 1 that we know and love from other flagship smartphones, but without the support of fifth generation cellular networks. These networks still do not exist in Russia and probably will not be in the coming years, so the loss is not great. What can not be said about throttling charts:
auto - auto - performance mode
This behavior is typical of Japanese smartphones,for which energy efficiency is the most important. Chinese devices, including Huawei, usually work much more stable, especially when the chicest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is on board. It doesn’t matter that the phone slows down if you don’t poke it, but even with an autoclicker, the device can last in the productive mode for just 2 minutes - then the performance drops by a quarter, and by the tenth minute it drops to half of the original one. But this is a good result compared to the GPU, where the performance drops by half in 5 minutes and three times (!!!) in 7 minutes. At the same time, I cannot say that aggressive throttling helps in the fight against heat - the Mate 50 heats up even more than other smartphones on the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
On the other hand, the performance of currentflagship smartphones are clearly overkill, and even the most demanding games like Genshin Impact do not require all available resources. Yes, you may see not a stable 60 fps, but with small jerks and stutters, but on average it will still be about 40 fps at maximum speed in the most demanding Android game. What else do you need? We will remember and write down the fact that Huawei failed the implementation of 8+ Gen 1, but we will not forget to take into account the fact that for 99% of users, including die-hard fans of mobile games, the performance of the Mate 50 will be beyond their eyes.
And what about autonomy? Not bad.My phone was completely dead in ~5 hours of maximum brightness tests, which included an hour of browsing (-15%), an hour of YouTube through the browser (-8%), an hour of SuperTuxKart (-16%), an hour of CPU Throttling Test (-30 %) and 3DMark hour (-30%). In real use, the load will be lighter, so you can expect around 6-7 hours of screen time with active use. I note that due to the lack of Google services, the standby power consumption of the Mate 50 is very low, which allows you to stretch these 6-7 hours for a long time.
The complete charging block has a power of 66 W,but it does not charge as fast as it could, due to the use of a single-cell battery. A full charge takes about an hour, while in 15 minutes the battery is recharged by a third, in half an hour by 60% and in 45 minutes by 83%. However, a third of the battery in 15 minutes is also great. Fast wireless charging is also supported, but I could not test it: there was no fast charger at hand.
Conclusions
Huawei Mate 50 - very pleasant to usea smartphone with interesting technical solutions in the camera and forced limitations in the software. It has excellent design and ergonomics, a cool harmless screen and a versatile set of cameras, and its performance is enough for the vast majority of users, even despite serious flaws in working with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. For 52,990 rubles in retail, this is very cool.
© Oleg Lazarev.