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Huawei P40 Pro Plus test in progress: zoom forward

"The superiority of Huawei's 10x optical zoom on the P40 Pro Plus over any other large zoom phone cannot be questioned."

• Excellent zoom camera

• Outstanding design

• Strong all-round performance

• Very expensive

• Violent for its size

• Access to some apps is missing

The P40 Pro has the best camera I've tested on an Android phone, but Huawei isn't done with the P40 series yet. The P40 Pro Plus is the real flagship in the range. It takes the camera further than not just the P40 Pro, but every other high-end camera phone available today.

I spent a few days with the P40 Pro Plus. This is my ongoing review as I work towards a final verdict next week. Although I have not yet reached my final result, one thing is certain. Huawei has raised the bar for zooming a smartphone.

P40 Pro vs. P40 Pro Plus

The P40 Pro Plus is the first cell phone in the Huawei P series to be technically superior to the Pro model. So what makes it different?

Visually, it is almost identical to the P40 Pro. However, the body is made of glass, metal and ceramic and weighs 226 grams compared to 209 grams on the P40 Pro. The same 6.58-inch OLED screen is on the front, the case is still waterproof to IP68 and is powered by the Kirin 990 5G chipset and 8 GB of RAM. Even the battery has the same capacity of 4,200 mAh, with 40 W wired fast charging or 40 W wireless charging.

The main difference is the camera. The 50-megapixel ultra-vision and 40-megapixel cine camera sensors are identical until you get to the new 8-megapixel periscope lens that Huawei calls SuperZoom. This enables a massive 10x optical zoom on the P40 Pro Plus compared to the 12mega pixel SuperSensing 5x optical zoom sensor on the P40. The SuperZoom of the P40 Pro is another 8 megapixel telephoto sensor, this time with a 3x optical zoom. The hybrid zoom is set to 20x and the camera to 100x digital zoom.

The P40 series from Huawei, consisting of the standard series P40, P40 Pro and P40 Pro Plus, is comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S20 series with the Galaxy S20, the Galaxy S20 Plus and the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

design

Put the P40 Pro and P40 Pro Plus side by side, and the main way to tell them apart is by the finish. The P40 Pro Plus has a special white or black back made of nano-ech ceramic. Each must be baked in an oven at up to 1,500 degrees Celsius for five days to achieve a sapphire-like shelf life and a reflective look that Huawei compares to that of diamonds. The white version I received looks fabulous, with a deep reflection that is subtly different from glass. It has a smooth, ice cold finish.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The camera hump on the back is slightly larger than that of the P40 Pro and not only contains an additional sensor that the P40 Pro lacks, but also the incredible new periscope zoom. Look closely and it appears to sink right into the body of the phone and to the other side, an amazing optical illusion created by the complex array of mirrors that make it work. The fact that Huawei managed to squeeze all of this into a case with the same dimensions as the P40 Pro is very impressive.

However, you notice the extra weight. The P40 Pro is already heavy, so the P40 Pro Plus is a real beast of a phone and probably not as balanced. I found that I shuffled it around more in my hand than the P40 because of the extra weight. This is the compromise if you want the mega zoom. With the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and the iPhone 11 Pro Max, both of which are similarly powerful, it is just right.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The P40 Pro Plus doesn't change the design of the P40 Pro from the front because it doesn't have to – both are strikingly attractive. However, I still find the large, pill-shaped cutout for the dual-lens selfie camera on the screen that distracts on something other than a black background.

camera

That's why you're here, isn't it? This is the reason why you chose the P40 Pro Plus over the P40 Pro. So is it worth the extra money?

The P40 Pro Plus camera is not perfect, but you need to look for the issues and be extremely critical so that they affect the results. At the time of writing, I only took a few hundred pictures with the P40 Pro Plus, and I have trouble choosing the photos that I want to share first because I like the vast majority.

Most P40 Pro Plus recordings have a wonderful tone and atmosphere that many other phone cameras lack. Although Huawei uses a lot of artificial intelligence (A.I.) and other software tricks to generate the photos, they still look natural, which is almost certainly due to the partnership with Leica. It's easy to forget that Huawei is working with the prestigious camera brand until you start taking pictures. It is no coincidence that they look so good.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Let's talk about 10x optical zoom. The P40 Pro takes 5x optical zoom and 10x hybrid images. So can you tell the difference? Yes, you really can. From two floors up I took the photo of the wood you see below, and although the wood itself is not that different in the two photos, take a closer look at the black rubber in the middle. The photo of the P40 Pro Plus clearly shows that it has a texture that is completely missing in the hybrid image of the P40 Pro.

If you zoom in on the taillight on the photo of the Toyota pickup, you can see the Toyota branding on the edge of the cluster on the Pro Plus photo, which is too pixelated in the photo of the P40 Pro. You can also see how sharp the reflections are when they follow the contours of the vehicle and also the running bar. The optical system removes all of the digital processing that creates these pixelated details. However, some adjustments still need to be made here, as the photo of the P40 Pro Plus has a green tone in some areas. Although the deeper black is accurate, it loses some of the gloss of the P40 Pro's photo.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

The 10x optical zoom gives you the certainty of getting closer to subjects when taking pictures, which I already enjoyed when taking pictures of wild animals. Distance is important for this type of photography, as is the quality of the end result, and the P40 Pro Plus has great potential for great photos of animals. However, in my photos of the squirrel, all of which were taken in a forest area speckled with sunlight, it seems that some exposure work still needs to be done.

With the P40 Pro Plus, the zoom can be increased 100 times. The images are better than those of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, but you won't want to share them again anytime soon. I like the addition of a handy second picture-in-picture viewfinder to make focusing and composition easier. Testing is still in its infancy, but based on the photos I've taken so far, the P40 Pro Plus seems to have improved the zoom of the P40 Pro, and Huawei has made another massive advance in technology. No other brand comes close to that at the moment.

Software and performance

The P40 Pro Plus has the same Kirin 990 5G chipset and Android 10 software as the P40 Pro, and Google Mobile Services is not installed. Instead, you get apps from the Huawei App Gallery and the Amazon App Store, or by using APK files that are obtained from third-party providers. I have already written about my experience with apps on Huawei phones with Huawei Mobile Services, and the P40 Pro Plus is no different from the P40 Pro and the folding smartphone Mate Xs.

Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

This means you have to change your mindset and may have to leave Google behind after purchasing the P40 Pro Plus. It is not possible to install Google Mobile Services and use the Play Store. However, some Google Apps work if you install them through APKs. However, you cannot log in with your Google account. Huawei's app gallery is growing, but there are still gaps, including Netflix, many local banking services, and social media apps.

In the past few days, I haven't noticed any difference in the performance of the phone compared to the P40 Pro, but unfortunately this means that the same problems with notifications that aren't always shown continue to exist. The battery only needed to be charged once over four days, so the P40 Pro's excellent battery life seems to have been transferred, but I will test this further in the coming week.

Conclusion

The Huawei P40 Pro Plus arrives about a month after the P40 Pro, a phone that costs £ 899 or about $ 1,140. The P40 Pro Plus costs £ 1,299, or about $ 1,645. That's a massive difference in cost considering that the main differences are the changes that allow 10x optical zoom and the pretty ceramic back. The P40 Pro Plus is a very, very expensive device.

From today's perspective, it's hard to say that the P40 Pro Plus justifies its significantly higher cost considering how well the cheaper (if still expensive) P40 Pro can hold its own against its main competitor, the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra . Maybe more will show up if I keep using the phone.

However, the superiority of Huawei's 10x optical zoom on the P40 Pro Plus over any other large zoom phone cannot be questioned. It's excellent, and like so many P-series phones before, the phone is driving the industry forward as Huawei's competitors have to work again to catch up.

The Huawei P40 Pro Plus can be pre-ordered in the UK on June 15th. The final release will be on June 25th. It is not officially sold in the United States, but can be purchased through an import service.

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