Huawei P40 Pro’s incredible hardware is here to lure you to a new ecosystem without Google Apps

Huawei is clearly ready to push its own ecosystem and to tread a new path without Google. It has been a long time since the trade ban by America came into play, and there seems to be no signs that things could go back to how they were before. The only option for Huawei is to either build a whole OS from the ground up – which they’re doing. Or to use open-source Android code without Google Mobile Services (GMS), and build their own ecosystem. Option B is easier. And it’s what they’re going with right now. So we better be ready for an influx of Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) devices. The company knows this won’t be easy, so to lure us, and to get us talking, they have gone all-in on hardware and design with their new flagship series.

Today, the company has announced three new devices:

• Huawei P40
• Huawei P40 Pro
• Huawei P40 Pro+

They all look really really really good. And each of them could stand as a very competitive flagship on its own. Essentially, the company is pushing three new flagship phones I should say. And I honestly want all of them. I don’t care about Google so much right now. That can sort itself out as time goes.

Huawei has over the past years pushed really incredible hardware. If you go back to the P20 and P30 series, and to the Mate 20 and Mate 30 series, you will see that each year, the company announced something big and new that wasn’t yet on smartphones. My favourite new feature this year with the new P40 series is wireless fast charging.

The future of charging is wireless:

There’s been talk that we could soon see phones launching without ports. Vivo has already given us a glimpse of this future with its concept phones. Huawei however, is showing us that this imagined future is now possible with the new 40W fast wireless charging. Yes, 40W wirelessly. What a world we live in!

For comparison, your current phone, yes the one you’re using right now probably came with either a 10W or 18W charger.

If it’s an 18W charger, that’s what companies used to call fast charging. And that’s wired charging. Most wireless chargers range between 5W and 10W charging. Now you can imagine a 40W wireless charger. Where exactly, tell me, would you need a cable if you have such a device?

The devices are powered by Huawei’s own Kirin 990 5G chipset. This, Huawei says, is the world’s first Flagship 5G SoC powered with 7nm+ EUV (Extreme ultraviolet lithography).

The company says the new SoC features unparalleled image processing capabilities. And that’s a big claim, I can’t wait to see with reviewers already having the device at hand.

Cameras:

The normal P40 packs a triple rear camera consisting of a 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture), a 16 MP Ultra-Wide Angle Camera (f/2.2 aperture), and an 8 MP Telephoto Camera (f/2.4 aperture, OIS).

The P40 Pro jumps up to a 50 MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS), plus a 40 MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/1.8 aperture), and a 12 MP SuperSensing Telephoto Camera (f/3.4 aperture, OIS), plus a 3D Depth Sensing Camera.

The P40 Pro+ makes things even crazier with a 50MP Ultra Vision Camera (Wide Angle, f/1.9 aperture, OIS), a huge 40MP Cine Camera (Ultra-Wide Angle, f/1.8 aperture), an 8MP SuperZoom Camera (10X Optical Zoom, f/4.4 aperture, OIS), an extra 8MP Telephoto Camera (3X Optical Zoom, f/2.4 aperture, OIS), and the 3D Depth Sensing Camera.

In terms of selfies, the new devices feature what Huawei is calling the most powerful intelligent front camera system. As you can see in the image, that front notch packs quite a lot. I can’t wait to see what sort of images the 32MP camera takes and if the extra depth sensor will be on any good use.

Which one to choose?

I think whichever device one picks, based on price, preference, etc. would be a good device. The chipset, plus the main cameras are the same across the board, so you won’t be losing out on anything.

The major differences exist between the normal P40 and the P40 Pro. They’re differences in design with the P40 not going with the ultra-curves instead being relatively flat, and in battery with the P40 Pro featuring a huge 4200mAh battery instead of the 3800mAh on the normal P40.

No Google? Well, AppGallery and your browser…

With the absence of Google Play Store, the way to get apps on all upcoming Huawei devices will be using the AppGallery. Or using third-party Android app stores. Huawei is said to have spent millions to get developers on to their platform and with recent talks of partnerships with Xiaomi and OPPO, their AppGallery could soon have a myriad of apps you can get from the Play Store, with the exception -of course- of Google Apps, and Apps from American companies.

For Google apps, and for Google-dependent services, the only option is to access them from the phone’s browser.

This could be the main thing that holds people from Huawei’s new devices. But with such good hardware, I see people slowly finding ways around using a phone with HMS instead of GMS, and I see more and more people getting into Huawei’s ecosystem. Are you ready to switch?