Huawei P50 Review: One-Handed Flagship With High-end Camera

Huawei’s P50 series was long overdue. As the “super big cup”, Huawei P50 Pro regained the throne of the image machine king by virtue of advanced computational optics algorithms, and the computational photography concept of black and white dual cameras + quad-camera fusion. Although it is a little unbelievable for the parametricists, Huawei P50 Pro really counterattacked its opponents with algorithms and made the strongest sound in adversity.

Huawei P50 Pro is a well-deserved video machine king, and besides it, there is a “small cup” flagship that is also worthy of attention. Like the standard version of the P series this year, the Huawei P50 came later, and we finally met at the end of September. But as the saying goes, good food is not afraid of late. After we get the Huawei P50, we will understand that these two months of waiting were not in vain.

As the rare small-size flagship this year, and even the rarest small-size direct-screen flagship this year, Huawei P50 still maintains a one-handed design. The thickness of the whole machine is only 7.92mm, and the weight is about 181g. Hold it in your hand, you will feel a small and exquisite reunion after a long time.

In addition to being compact, as a flagship model, Huawei P50 retains the flagship configuration and powerful imaging capabilities. The flagship standard comes with a lot of top-level processors and high-screen refreshing. It is also supported by the Harmony OS 2 system. Under the compact body, it also supports 66W Huawei super-fast charging, which can quickly return blood without worrying about battery life.

In addition, although the Huawei P50 only has three rear cameras, the imaging system is the same as the P50 Pro. The latest XD Fusion Pro and XD Optics computational optics two major algorithms to optimize images, and a new primary color engine to ensure true color reproduction, Huawei P50 can still bring you the WYSIWYG experience of the Huawei P series this year.

Next, let’s experience the Huawei P50 together to see if the “small cup” flagship can really make a difference.

Design & Appearance

Huawei P50 has a 6.5-inch OLED face-to-face screen with a center-perforated design. The thickness of the four sides of the frame is almost equal, and they are all very narrow. This makes Huawei P50 have the immersive look and feel of a curved screen.

On the back, Huawei P50 uses the iconic Vientiane double-ring design, which is highly recognizable. We received the cocoa tea gold version, with AG frosted glass back cover, showing a low-key luxurious texture. This color is not obvious to stain fingerprints, and it is very durable.

Take a closer look at Huawei’s P50 Vientiane dual-ring rear camera module. The openings are basically the same as those of the older brother “P50 Pro”, but the specifications have changed.

The main camera is still a 50MPprimary color wide-angle lens. The black and white main camera is replaced by a 13-megapixel wide-angle lens. The telephoto lens below is also changed to a 12-megapixel 5x telephoto. The top opening is a laser focus module.

Although the four-camera has become a three-camera, it still basically covers the focal length of 1-5 times, and the imaging capability of the small-sized flagship is still outstanding.

In terms of interfaces, the bottom of the Huawei P50 is the same, and the SIM card slot, Type-C interface, and speaker openings are conventional configurations. There are also speaker openings on the top, which can provide stereo sound with dual speakers.

Cameras

Although it is a “small cup”, as the P series, the image is also the highlight of the Huawei P50. Compared with the big brother, Huawei P50 has changed from four-shot to three-shot, and the extreme zoom range is also smaller. Although the imaging capability is not so top-notch, it is still quite capable, because after all, the algorithm is the soul of the P50 series.

This time, the Huawei P50 series can be described as a two-pronged algorithm. The old friend “XD Fusion” is upgraded to the Pro version, which can better optimize the brightness and color of the film, and even enhance the details and layering according to the content.

There is also a new friend “XD Optics” computational optics, which specifically optimizes the optical system of the mobile phone. After confirming the distortion caused by the light passing through each lens, the image is corrected by the algorithm to a great extent. To prevent the optical system of the mobile phone from dragging down the entire image module.

The former is related to the “post-processing” of taking pictures, while the latter is related to the collection of early optical data. When taking pictures, first calculate the interference caused by optical blemishes through XD Optics, restore and retain more effective metadata, and then use the new XD Fusion Pro image engine to further optimize the performance of the film.

Looking at the shooting process of a photo, Huawei P50 will not present the final proofs immediately after the shooting is completed, but there will be a process of processing. This process is how the mobile phone optimizes the performance of the photos through algorithms.

The night scene itself is overexposed and full of noise. After processing, the dynamic range and purity are greatly improved, and even the sharpness has to be improved a lot. Although due to the limited rear camera specifications of the P50, the combination of the black and white main camera and the high-pixel telephoto is missing, the final film and the Huawei P50 Pro have a lot of differences in resolution.

But you can’t deny that the overall look and feel of this night scene at 10x telephoto is still excellent. This is the meaning of computational photography. Through in-depth optimization processing, corruption can be turned into magic.

With the support of the new algorithm, the imaging style of Huawei P50 has also undergone considerable changes. If the past Huawei P series gave everyone a vivid impression on the imaging style, then this time Huawei P50 returns to its original intention, what you see is what you get, and the restoration of the colors of real images will become a new trend.

What is meant by what you see is what you get, in the final analysis, is actually restoring the true colors, a step deeper, which actually depends on the adjustment of multiple parameters such as white balance and color temperature?

iPhone 12 Pro

Huawei P50 is equipped with a new generation of environmental spectrum information acquisition sensors, which can wirelessly approach the natural spectrum to achieve true color restoration. Among these contrasts, Huawei P50 is exactly the case, and the colors are the closest to the real visual perception.

To restore the color, for the Huawei P50 series, is not an absolute restoration of the true color of the object. Just like a piece of white paper, it will never appear absolutely white in the sunset, because the color of the ambient light will also affect the “actual color” of the object. The color determined by the actual light is the most realistic.

Huawei P50 is not an absolute white balance restoration color, but a true restoration of the human eye’s perception. This is the core of what you see is what you get. On cloudy days, many mobile phones generally show a faded texture due to insufficient lighting, but Huawei P50 can use algorithms to avoid this problem. Although it is a low-light camera, it can still present the most vivid colors, which pleases the user’s attention.

The three cameras of the Huawei P50 also have extremely high consistency. The color performance of the main camera, telephoto, and wide-angle is basically the same, which can truly restore the real scenes of various focal lengths, and the mist under 5x telephoto is also accurately recorded.

The night scene of the Huawei P50 is also very worth mentioning. All three shots can be shot in night scene mode, and the film is not bad. Not only can it suppress the overexposure of the light, but still maintain the atmosphere of the light and glare, and more importantly, it can restore the true color of the light, which can be said to be the credit of the new algorithm.

Like other brands of mobile phones, either the light suppression is too strong and the light loses the sense of atmosphere; or the brightness is increased too strongly, causing the colors to become whitish and distorted. They all need to continue to work hard on the algorithm.

The telephoto of the Huawei P50 is a periscope telephoto equivalent to 5 times the focal length. It has 12 Megapixels. The CMOS size and number of pixels are much smaller than the telephoto of the Huawei P50 Pro, and there is no black and white main camera. As a result, the imaging quality is also slightly inferior.

Under the condition that the 5x focal length fully uses the periscope lens, if the weather is bad and the light is insufficient, the details of the image will be greatly reduced. Another problem is the call of the main camera and the telephoto. The Huawei P50 is directly equipped with a 5x periscope telephoto without any transition lens in the middle, so there will be a serious loss of picture quality between 1-5x.

In the example shown in the figure, the film under 4.7 times has a strong smearing feeling, and after 5 times is fully used, the periscope telephoto lens is much clearer.

For the limited space of the Huawei P50, it is reasonable to not be able to pack more and stronger rear cameras, but with the help of multi-camera fusion algorithms, the center image quality of the middle focal length can actually be improved a lot to make up for it. Hope to follow up on the improvement in this area in future system updates.

Limited by size, the three rear cameras of Huawei P50 look ordinary in terms of hardware. There is no super large bottom and super high pixels, and there is no auxiliary black and white multi-shot. But because it is equipped with the latest algorithms such as computational optics, XD Fusion Pro, and the original color engine, still have an excellent filming rate in various scenes, and it is guaranteed to have the best look and feel when shooting.

Other mobile phones may have very powerful rear camera hardware, but it is difficult to achieve a one-click film like the Huawei P50. Huawei saves users from post-processing steps such as adjusting color, exposure and even violently stacking to optimize images. After taking a perfect photo, you can directly share it. This powerful full-process image processing capability is the Huawei P series image. On the charm.

Battery

Huawei P50 is equipped with a 4100mAh battery. It uses the software battery dog ​​produced by Kuai Technology to test its endurance performance in comprehensive scenarios such as web browsing, games, and videos. The final 5 hours consume 74% of the power. Therefore, it is estimated that its comprehensive full battery life is 7 About hours.

Charge

The small size flagship with a small battery life will naturally be more average, but fortunately, Huawei P50 supports 66W super-fast charging, which can quickly recharge and return blood.

According to the measured charging speed, the Huawei P50 can be charged from 2% to 37% in 10 minutes, and it only takes 45 minutes to recover from full blood. Compared with the traditional 30W fast charging, there is still a big improvement, especially when the battery is low. A daily emergency is more useful.

OS

Huawei P50 is equipped with the latest flagship processor, with a high refresh rate of 90Hz, and it is easy to use in the face of heavy application scenarios such as daily use and games.

However, it is worth mentioning that it is equipped with the Harmony OS 2 system when it leaves the factory. Users can experience its brand-new visual language style and extremely smooth performance without waiting for a long push.

Any interaction between universal cards on the desktop and large files, you can arrange their positions according to your personal preferences, divided into card area, work area, game area, etc., to create a unique and personalized desktop, let the phone change with your own habits, So that the more you use it, the easier it will be.

Atomized service also provides a new way of interaction. You don’t need to install any APP. You can see all kinds of information in the service center by sliding on both sides of the bottom of the phone. You can share it with your friends immediately when viewing the itinerary and news, without the need to install a client.

The highlight is naturally the powerful distributed capabilities of Harmony OS 2. You can bind the Huawei P50 with all kinds of ecological equipment around you. Using the HyperTerminal console, you can conveniently complete operations such as team binding and disconnection. It is clear at a glance which devices around and what working status they are in.

Read Also: Realme Book Review: First Notebook But Killer With i5-1135G7

Verdict

In 2021, Huawei P50 can be said to be a rare small-size straight-screen flagship surrounded by various curved screens. The configuration does not compromise. It depends on the screen-to-body ratio, fast charging speed, performance, and even design. The size of the straight screen flagship is really outstanding. Not to mention the image quality, as a member of the P series, it is unique.

With a high-brush straight screen with a narrow frame on all sides, a flagship processor, an exquisite AG glass back cover, and a 66W super fast charge, as a flagship phone for daily use, the Huawei P50 is absolutely satisfying. Its feel, design, performance, etc. are impeccable.

In terms of images, the powerful XD Optics Pro and XD Fusion algorithms, as well as the new primary color engine, we have already felt their power on the Huawei P50 Pro.

On the Huawei P50, the power of computational photography under the new technology is still there, and it does not matter if there is no super-sensing main camera. Today’s Huawei P50 has opened up a new track of computational optics, and it is worthy of the name of the flagship of the P-series imaging.

Today, when most flagship mobile phones compete for large sizes and large screens, there are not many such single-handed flagship phones, and the configuration of Huawei P50 is so comprehensive, as well as the new computational optical photography and Harmony OS 2 blessing.

If you are a fan of small screens and want to find a “true flagship” for small screens with good imaging capabilities, then the Huawei P50 with accurate positioning and accurate pricing is definitely worth experiencing.