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- When I first played
with Huawei's new P20 Pro,

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I was cautiously optimistic.

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With its gorgeous, glassy
shell and insane triple camera,

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it seemed, if nothing else,
like a beautiful curiosity

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that would be fun to
play with for a while.

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After spending a few
weeks with the phone,

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however, I changed my mind.

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The P20 Pro is more
than just a curiosity.

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It's one of the year's
truly great Android phones.

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We've got a lot of
ground to cover.

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But can we just take a
moment to look at this thing?

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Our review unit obviously has
that blue and purple gradient

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finish that Huawei is so proud
of, and with good reason.

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It's absolutely stunning.

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This twilight finish
won't work for everyone,

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but dammit, it works for me.

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This is just the kind of
different I'd like to see

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more of from smartphone makers.

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Huawei's build quality is
downright excellent, too.

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When it comes to construction,
I would put the P20 Pro

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right up there with the iPhones
and the Galaxies of the world.

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That said, I've had this
phone for a couple of weeks.

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And it's already
showing a fair share

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of nicks on the front and back.

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It's an unavoidable truth
that a phone without a case

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is going to get a
little messed up.

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But honestly, there is
no way that I could put

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a phone like this into a case.

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At the very least,
the whole body

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is rated IP67 for water
and dust resistance,

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though it does sadly
lack a headphone jack.

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The front of the
phone can't help

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but be less striking
by comparison,

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but there's still a
lot going on here.

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Huawei went with a
6-inch AMOLED screen,

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running at 2,240 by 1,080.

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And there's honestly not a whole
lot to write home about here.

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Colors were bright
and accurate, and

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the blue cast that sometimes
affects OLED displays

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wasn't an issue here.

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Really, I just wish it
was a little brighter.

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It's perfectly fine indoors.

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But it's finally starting to
get nice out in New York City.

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And the screen is sometimes
tough to see in broad daylight.

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Meanwhile, the screen's
oddball proportions have

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proven to be pretty helpful.

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The 18.7 by 9 aspect ratio means
it's a little more than twice

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as tall as it is wide.

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That decision makes the
phone really comfortable

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to hold onto for
long periods of time,

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and it gives you
some flexibility

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when it comes to the notch.

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Like it or not, 2018 is the
year of the notched smartphone

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screen.

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In this case, the notch
houses a 24 megapixel

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front-facing camera, which
I'll get into more a little bit

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later.

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Because the screen has
that slightly longer

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than usual aspect ratio, you
can actually toggle a setting

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to hide the notch entirely
and still see everything

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you need to on the screen.

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Personally, I think the notch is
a small price to pay for having

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near edge-to-edge displays.

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But it's nice to have
the option, just in case

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you hate them on principle.

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Beneath all of that,
you'll find a fingerprint

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sensor that does a whole
lot more than just quickly

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unlock the phone.

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It works well enough at
that, don't get me wrong.

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But it also pulls double
duty as a navigation tool,

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if you let it.

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If you're like me and
you want to make use

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of every possible
iota of screen space,

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you can assign the controls
for going back, going home,

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and launching
recent apps to laps

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and swipes of that home button.

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I don't think it's quite
as elegant or intuitive

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as the iPhone X's
gesture controls,

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but they get the
job done just fine.

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Inside the phone,
things are a little more

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conventional-- or at
least as conventional

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as Huawei's Pro phones get.

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The P20 Pro packs
the same Kirin 970

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chipset with the
neural processing unit

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as Huawei's as Mate 10 Pro.

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And not to mention, the same
6 gigabytes of RAM and 128

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gigs of storage.

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All told, we're still working
with a chipset from last year.

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So the P20 pro is not
as effortlessly quick

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as some of the phones
with Snapdragon 845's

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we've already tested.

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Some apps also have a tendency
to run slightly choppier here

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than on other phones we've
tested recently, though that

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might be because of
underlying software issues

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Huawei needs to iron out.

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Overall, though,
the P20 Pro still

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packs enough power
to handle most

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tasks without breaking a sweat.

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Just don't expect flawless
performance when you

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break out the heavy-duty games.

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Intense titles like PUBG Mobile
occasionally felt choppy,

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though not to the
point of frustration.

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On the software
front, the P20 Pro

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runs Android 8.1
Oreo, painted over

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with the latest version of
the company's EMUI interface.

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I'll be honest, it wasn't
that long ago that I hated

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EMUI and basically
everything it stood for.

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To my surprise, though,
EMUI is slowly but surely

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becoming a pleasure to use.

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As with a lot of
other interfaces

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on Chinese smartphones,
the whole thing

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can feel a little overwrought,
with gobs of features

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and add on apps
that serve to remind

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you that we're a long way
from stock Android country.

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Even so, there is
a palpable sense

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that Huawei is trying to be more
thoughtful with the software it

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sticks on its phones,
and I appreciate that.

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Let's be honest, though,
you're probably here

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to learn more about
Huawei's absolutely

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ridiculous Leica triple camera.

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We're looking at a whopping 40
megapixel main camera with an F

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1.8 aperture, a 20
megapixel monochrome camera

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to help capture
those finer details,

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and an 8 megapixel
telephoto camera

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for those long-range shots.

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Normally I would
have thought this

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was a classic case of overkill.

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And maybe it is.

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That said, the way these
three cameras seamlessly come

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together to provide one
fabulous shooting experience

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is really something special.

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And the rest of the
world's smartphone makers

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should take note.

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As always, there's
a robust promo

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with lots of fiddly,
fine-grained features

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if you already know
exactly how to capture

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the shot you're looking for.

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For everyone else, though,
there's Huawei's master AI.

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Think of it as an artificially
intelligent auto-mode.

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Huawei has trained the P20 Pro
to be able to identify hundreds

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of different shooting
scenarios and adjust the camera

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settings accordingly.

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After all, a photo
of a sunset shouldn't

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be treated the same way as a
portrait or an urban landscape.

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The P20 Pro's triple
camera does a great job

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capturing detailed,
nicely-exposed photos

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by itself.

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But I was thankful to
have that AI assist just

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about every time it popped up.

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The modified photos that
come out on the other end

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usually depict a bolder, more
idealized version of what's

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in front of the camera.

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And while that might
not be for everyone,

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it's been a lot of fun to
see the world through the P20

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Pro's three eyes.

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At times, though,
the AI assistance can

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feel a bit like a liability.

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I've taken my fair
share of shots in bars.

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And I've noticed the camera
defaulting to portrait mode

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when I point the
camera at someone,

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even if the light is too
low for it to work properly.

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The images that came out were
very soft around the edges.

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And the camera inadvertently
blurred out some of the faces

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in the photos, too.

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This is not limited to bars
and low-light situations,

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so this is something
to be mindful of.

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On paper, Huawei's
master AI sounds

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like the auto mode
of the future,

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and it often works as
well as advertised.

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The thing is, it's
typically so helpful

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that when it does
occasionally flounder,

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it can be really frustrating.

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There's an option to disable
the feature altogether

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in the camera settings.

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But there really should be an
easier way to toggle the AI

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from the camera screen itself.

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While the can activate
it when necessary,

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we need to talk
more specifically

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about the P20 Pro's night mode.

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It's absolutely spectacular.

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You can check out our full
written review for more insight

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into how it actually works.

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But long story short, night
mode captures multiple images

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over the course of four
seconds and combines

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them into a single shot.

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They're not exactly
like exposures.

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They're just multiple
images stitched together.

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The results are mostly
noise-free, surprisingly

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bright, and packed
with a lot more detail

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than I expected to see,
considering I was shooting

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in the middle of the night.

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To be fair, the results
aren't always perfect.

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If you're snapping a landscape
that has people milling around

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in it, expect those
people to look

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blurry in the finished product.

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And while it works very
well in really dark--

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and I mean really
dark-- conditions,

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the difference in quality
between a night mode

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shot and a regular auto mode
photo is a lot harder to spot

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when there's at least
some ambient light.

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Considering just how
well this feature works,

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though, these minor stumbles
are pretty easy to live with.

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And of course, those three
cameras come together for what

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Huawei calls hybrid zoom.

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Zooming in up to three
times is all optical.

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But once you get
five times zoom,

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the camera is combining
data from the 40 megapixel

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and 8 megapixel sensors.

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It's not exactly lossless.

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But it's a lot closer than
I would have expected.

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And it actually makes this zoom
on the P20 Pro worth using.

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That's not something I can
say about a lot of smartphones

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out there.

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I also appreciated the
ability to take what's

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called an ultra snap shot.

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By whipping the phone
out of your pocket

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and double-tapping the
volume down button,

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you can take a photo in as
little as 0.3 seconds, which

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is ideal for when something
is unfolding in front of you

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and you just have to
get that photo now.

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Huawei's ambitious rear camera
doesn't get everything right.

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But you know what?

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I honestly can't remember the
last time I had this much fun

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shooting with a smartphone.

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The P20 Pro camera's blend
of fine-grained controls,

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helpful features, and
AI wizardry really

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feels like something special.

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And it's enough to
make me consider

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giving up on the Pixel 2 all
together for smartphone photos.

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Rounding out the package is a 24
megapixel front-facing camera,

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which is honestly a bit much.

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I mean, who really needs
to see their own face

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with that much clarity?

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The usual beauty mode features
are there to digitally airbrush

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your face's trouble spots.

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But again, portrait mode's
results can be hit or miss.

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The experience is fine,
don't get me wrong.

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But considering the work Huawei
put into making its rear camera

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special, a little more
nuance for the front camera

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would have been nice.

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That front facing camera
is also what you'll

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use to authenticate
yourself if you're

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a fan of face on lock features.

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Huawei's approach is
more like OnePlus's

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than Apple's, in that there's
no real technical trickery here.

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The phone just captures
visual data from your face,

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00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,010
and checks against that
data when you log in.

250
00:09:34,010 --> 00:09:37,000
That means it works
very, very quickly.

251
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:39,100
But it also lacks the
sort of rigor you'd want

252
00:09:39,100 --> 00:09:41,260
for really secure situations.

253
00:09:41,260 --> 00:09:43,750
As a result, you can't
use your face to buy apps

254
00:09:43,750 --> 00:09:44,920
in the Play Store or anything.

255
00:09:44,920 --> 00:09:47,020
It's only for getting
into your phone.

256
00:09:47,020 --> 00:09:49,270
Ultimately, Huawei's
approach to the P20 Pro

257
00:09:49,270 --> 00:09:52,360
wasn't just ambitious,
it was audacious.

258
00:09:52,360 --> 00:09:56,170
And the end result is a truly
impressive flagship device.

259
00:09:56,170 --> 00:09:58,420
It has its flaws and
its foibles, sure.

260
00:09:58,420 --> 00:10:01,000
But the company's
thoughtfulness across the board

261
00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:05,290
make the P20 Pro an undeniably
worthy rival to just about

262
00:10:05,290 --> 00:10:07,270
any high-end
smartphone out there.

263
00:10:07,270 --> 00:10:08,920
It sucks that we in
the United States

264
00:10:08,920 --> 00:10:11,050
will never be able to walk
into a store and buy one.

265
00:10:11,050 --> 00:10:13,360
But for everyone else
around the world,

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00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:17,398
the P20 pro is 100%
worth your attention.

267
00:10:17,398 --> 00:10:18,198