Huawei P50 Pocket Review: Perfect Combination of Hardware Algorithms

Huawei P50 Pocket, the Chinese name is Huawei P50 treasure box, this is Huawei’s first up and down folding screen mobile phone. After the first two generations of left and right folding screen phones were classified into the Mate series, the P series launched another screen folding solution mobile phone, which also seems to be a matter of course.

On how to do a good job of folding screen mobile phones, Huawei has added more thinking about the industry’s pain points. The smaller bending radius makes the Huawei P50 Pocket thinner and lighter, with a thickness of 15.2mm after folding, and the screen is flatter, making it possible for users to use the folding screen phone as the main machine.

It is hard to imagine that a folding screen mobile phone can almost fit the upper and lower screens. Huawei has finally achieved a technological masterpiece on the P50 Pocket by accumulating technology in the previous two generations of Mate X series folding screens. The patented technology of the self-designed water drop hinge, coupled with the multi-dimensional linkage lifting structure, allows the Huawei P50 Pocket to realize the seamless folding form perfectly.

The 6.9-inch foldable, flexible inner screen has 442ppi, 1.07 billion colors, and P3 global color management. The screen ratio of 21:9 is more suitable for watching movies, with a 120Hz smart refresh rate, 1440Hz high-frequency PWM dimming, and 300Hz touch sampling rate; the screen display is smooth, and the touch is more precise.

In terms of hardware, the P50 Pocket also has the same primary color engine, computational optics, and other flagship imaging capabilities as the P50 series. The big supports XD Fusion Pro hyperspectral imaging technology, which makes the details and contrasts comprehensively improved, the color reproduction is true, and the excellent hovering angle of the screen is matched. , bring more shooting fun.

As a foldable phone, Huawei P50 Pocket also brings a lot of surprises to users on the external screen. An innovative interactive experience can be realized through the external screen, and main functions such as notifications, schedule, weather, payment, etc., can be obtained without opening the phone. , after the phone is turned on, the main screen continues the external screen function. This is the surprise that Huawei left to users on the P50 Pocket. Next, let’s experience the Huawei P50 Pocket together to see if this “P series folding flagship” can satisfy our picky appetite.

Design

After unfolding, the Huawei P50 Pocket is a 6.9-inch flexible OLED screen, almost indistinguishable from the standard version of the P50 from the front. The front lens is designed with a hole in the center, and the borders on all four sides are almost the same width.

Although it is a folding screen, the Huawei P50 Pocket still has a strong sense of immersion. Above the front hollow lens is a hidden earpiece. The hole is concealed, and it isn’t easy to detect from the front. The position of the earpiece can only be vaguely seen from a special angle.

The chin’s width, which is almost as wide as the forehead, is still excellent, and due to the reflection of the metal frame, the actual appearance is narrower than that in the photo. Then placed on the desktop, the Huawei P50 Pocket can hover at 90°. Due to its weight, the hovering angle is much larger when held in hand than when placed on the desktop.

The most eye-catching camera module design on the back of the phone is the “one mirror, one photo” camera module design. The upper module is 3 rear camera lenses and a flash, and the lower module is a screen that can touch and display notifications and other messages.

When the screen is closed, this small screen can act as a secondary screen, and the orientation can change with the orientation of the fuselage. Of course, the most direct effect is to turn on the rear camera, and the imaging effect will be displayed directly on this screen, which is the “rear selfie”.

The Huawei logo is printed on the hinge of the phone. Thanks to Huawei’s self-designed water drop hinge patented technology, combined with the multi-dimensional linkage lifting, and unfolding structure, the outstanding folding performance of the Huawei P50 Pocket is achieved.

With the screen closed, with its excellent hinge, Huawei P50 Pocket achieves a perfect seamless folding form. The phone openings are unobstructed in the closed state, with only one noise reduction opening at the top and the speaker opening and Type-C interface at the bottom.

Experience

Huawei P50 Pocket is equipped with a 6.9-inch foldable, flexible inner screen with a screen ratio of 21:9, 442ppi with 1.07 billion colors, and P3 global color management, and the display effect is very delicate.

We all know that there is a physical “Bug” in current mobile games; if the screen ratio is larger than that of ordinary mobile phones, there will be more field of view in the game.

Take “King of Glory” as an example; there is no extra option selected in the settings, but in the game, the screen is wider than ordinary mobile phones, and the position of the operation buttons is more central than that of ordinary mobile phones.

We still selected the default performance mode in the settings in the mobile version of the game “League of Legends”. However, in the actual game, the display range of the Huawei P50 Pocket is still wider than that of ordinary mobile phones.

In “Peace Elite”, the situation remains the same. Considering that it is impractical for game manufacturers to optimize the screen for each mobile phone specifically, mobile phones like Huawei P50 Pocket are inherently more suitable for playing games than other mobile phones.

Small screen experience

As we mentioned earlier, Huawei P50 Pocket uses a “one mirror, one phase” rear module. Below, the camera is around the touch screen, replacing the main screen to accomplish many things.

In addition to the common time display, the front screen of the Huawei P50 Pocket also has 4 functions, namely playing music, weather, mirror, and camera. The time and weather directly display simple content. The mirror, camera, and music need to be clicked in to use.

It should be noted that after entering any second interface of the five functions on the external screen, after unfolding the mobile phone, the main screen will continue to display the content just now on the external screen to achieve a seamless connection between functions.

Endurance

The battery of the Huawei P50 Pocket is 4000mAh. Considering that the folding screen will consume more power, let’s look at its actual performance. The test uses the battery dog ​​APP produced by Kuai Technology, which can simulate daily web browsing, playing videos, and high-frequency games. The test time is 5 hours, 47 minutes, and 09 seconds in the actual test and the power consumption is 99%. The charging rate of the Huawei P50 Pocket is 40W. During our charging process, the charging time is about 65% in the first 30 minutes, and the full charging time is about 65 minutes.

Cameras

Compared with the standard version of P50, Huawei P50 Pocket has newly added XD Fusion Pro hyperspectral imaging technology, which can provide more details and contrast to the picture, and the imaging capabilities have been fully upgraded. Of course, Huawei’s super algorithms have also appeared in Huawei P50. Above the Pocket.

XD Fusion Pro is a new image engine launched by Huawei. Previously, Huawei P40 Pro+ used XD Fusion. Now we finally see the Pro version. XD Fusion Pro comprises three processing modules: hardware input, machine vision, and neural network processing. It is a powerful combination of hardware and algorithms, not just a data engine.

Through the processing of three processing modules, the image processing work on the Sensor starts from the RAW domain, from the entire calculation to the photogeneration, bringing high-fidelity image information and precise image semantics and segmentation, and ultimately achieving the goal of improving the overall image quality. Simply put, it is to make the blue sky more like blue sky and flowers more like flowers, and the blur, dynamic range, details, and colors are all more real.

Compared with the previous generation XD Fusion, the Pro version, has deeper brightness, color, and even details and layering adjustments. Imagine the true color reproduction performance beyond Huawei P40 Pro+. This is what XD Fusion Pro brings. Improved performance, let’s take a look at the next sample.

We chose the night scene automatic mode straight out, without too much adjustment. From the edge of the picture to the focus position, the process of picture optimization can be seen.

After adjusting the noise and exposure, the dynamic range and purity of the focus position have been greatly improved; let’s take a closer look. After the screen is zoomed in, the range of algorithm optimization can be seen.

Since the shooting location is in the north, there is a certain amount of fog at night, especially the luminous buildings around the building, the light hits the fog, it will inevitably cover a layer of the mask, but in the imaging effect of Huawei P50 Pocket, we did not Obvious traces of the mask were found. Even the stars in the background of “Big Corn” were visible.

We got closer. As the distance shortens, the details on the big corn are more abundantly displayed. You can see that the lighting effects between the floors are not as dense as when viewed from a distance. The Huawei P50 Pocket captures the gaps between the light strips. The gap between the bottom and the top of the strip is different.

This method of suppressing the overexposure of the light can also be seen on the P50 series of mobile phones. Maintaining the atmosphere can also restore the true color of the light. This subtle algorithm is not an easy task.

It is not difficult to see from the performance of the night scene that the rear imaging of the Huawei P50 Pocket is not as good as that of the P50 Pro, but thanks to the addition of XD Fusion Pro can even shoot strong light sources at night and count the light strips on the light source one by one. This is a clever combination of hardware and algorithms.

Huawei P50 Pocket integrates flagship imaging capabilities such as the primary color engine of the P50 series and computational optics. In terms of imaging effects, it also tends to be true rather than deliberately smearing the picture to please users.

When we took this group of photos, the time was around 5 pm. In the northern winter, the sun would set at 5:30, and it was already evening at 5 o’clock.

We can see the light changes in different directions in the photos we took. At the same time, there is an obvious blur at the position close to the lens. The mobile phone automatically sets the focus on the branch difference of the branches, which can simultaneously show the light and shadow changes and at a depth of field level; this imaging effect is very close to the real visual perception.

The afterglow of the setting sun is not evenly spread across the eyes. This scene of interlaced light and shadow is one of the most distinctive scenes in winter and one of the most challenging scenes of the camera’s ability.

In the Huawei P50 Pocket performance, it is not difficult to see that the less intense sunlight dyes the buildings in different colors. Still, the mobile phone does not amplify this difference, but retains the truest colors, showing the original color. The way it should be.

Slightly zoom in on the picture. When shooting with a 5x lens, the details of the picture are increased while the light and shadow effects are more complete. You can even vaguely see the outline of the time on the picture, which is the closest view to the human eye.

Afterglow is one of the most beautiful sceneries in winter. We also caught up with the peculiar fish scale cloud in winter when shooting. Although the light changes on the layers of the sun carrying the clouds are beautiful, it also tests the imaging capabilities of the mobile phone.

From the proofs, the Huawei P50 Pocket still retains the original color of the sky. The golden clouds in the distance are layered, faintly visible the details. It is not easy to see the details at this distance.

We use the 2X lens and 5X lens to pull in the picture slightly, and the details are not lost because of this. Even after pulling in the lens, you can see the lighting arrangement in the opposite office building. Even the 5X lens can achieve true colors. Reduction.

We locked the focus on the stone pillars beside the bridge. The background blur was naturally separated from the focus, and the lines and alterations of the stone pillars were not hidden due to lack of light.

When we manually adjusted the picture’s focus to the rear building, the blurring of the stone pillars was not as serious as the above picture. This intentional approach is not good or bad, but it can be regarded as one of the characteristics of the Huawei P50 Pocket.

As for the macro lens, the performance of the Huawei P50 Pocket is not as stunning as the main lens, but it is still in the top level of the same class of mobile phones.

There is no need to adjust the picture parameters when shooting macro manually. Just move the phone close to the object to be shot enough distance, and Huawei P50 Pocket can automatically adjust to the macro mode.

Read Also: Motorola Edge X30 Review: With Snapdragon 8, 68W Fast Charge

Verdict

In general, Huawei P50 Pocket may be the strongest folding screen imaging flagship. Thanks to the improvement of the drop-shaped hinge technology and the multi-dimensional linkage lifting interface, the Huawei P50 Pocket achieves a perfect seamless folding form when closed while ensuring that the bending marks are minimized. After opening and closing, the screen is smooth and smooth, and the naked eye It is difficult to see the traces on the screen.

On the other hand, the super rear three-camera camera combination combined with XD Fusion Pro gives Huawei P50 Pocket’s imaging a superb color reproduction capability. You see what you get, which is not too much to please the user to adjust the color too much. Gorgeous will not suppress the original color of the picture.

Especially the adjustment of light and details during night shooting can perfectly show how Huawei P50 Pocket finds a balance between hardware and algorithm.

Unlike other folding screen products on the market, the external screen of the Huawei P50 Pocket is not independent of the main screen but is mutually implicated.

The addition of a touchable external screen solves the problem of frequently opening the main screen when there are notifications daily. The functions that can be used on the external screen can be used after opening the main screen. It can be said that the external screen is an extension of the main screen.

In terms of gaming experience, the 21:9 screen of the Huawei P50 Pocket can be said to have its physical plug-in. The long and narrow screen brings a wider game vision. This advantage can be used in current mainstream games. It can be said to be very liked.

If the Huawei Mate X series is more business-oriented, the P50 Pocket is a trendy luxury product Huawei has prepared for young people. If you are looking for fashion and individuality, you must not miss this Huawei P50 Pocket.