Huawei P30 Pro's 50x digital zoom is not a gimmick

The Huawei P30 Pro has unmatched imaging capabilities, says Khalid Anzar.

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Huawei's partnership with German lens maker Leica led to the birth of the P-series.

Besides premium design, top-notch hardware and flagship experience, the P-series is synonymous with superior imaging.

Taking the legacy forward is the Huawei P30 Pro with a quad camera module, featuring an industry-first periscope telephoto lens for up to 5x optical zoom.

Design (4/5)

The Huawei P30 Pro has a premium build with curved glass on the back and front.

Though the phone's back looks crowded due to a massive vertically aligned camera module on the top left, and Huawei and Leica branding all over, it is not awkward.

The front has no obstructions -- not even the earpiece opening.

A tiny notch on the top accommodates the front camera, noticeable only when the screen is on.

Display (3/5)

The phone has a massive curved OLED screen that pumps enough brightness even for outdoor conditions.

Its deep blacks make it suitable for multimedia content.

While the curved OLED panel looks on-par with the best, its fullHD+ resolution does not do justice to the big screen estate.

The screen looks pixelated due to a limited pixel per inch (PPI) ratio.

Camera (4/5)

The Huawei P30 Pro has unmatched imaging capabilities.

The phone's rear camera covers a wide spectrum of imaging.

In low light, however, the zoom feature does not work well as the camera switches from telephoto lens to bright primary sensor, forcing the camera to use digital zoom instead of optical.

The phone's advertised 50x digital zoom is not a gimmick.

The 5x optical zoom and 10x hybrid also stand true to the company's claim of lossless quality.

Importantly, the camera interface is straightforward.

For pro users, there are various modes, besides a dedicated manual mode.

Performance (4/5)

The P30 Pro is equipped with top-notch hardware, the latest Android operating system and a modest battery.

Its performance is fast and fluid; it does not lag, runs graphic-intensive games, keeps multiple apps active and does not slow down after rigorous usage.

On the software side, the phone's EMUI 9.1 user interface based on Android Pie operating system is a let-down.

The UI is responsive but full of bloatware.

The phone's power-efficient processor and fullHD+ resolution OLED screen results in excellent on-battery time.

It goes for around two days on a single charge on normal usage.

The battery takes around an hour to go to full charge from empty.

Overall (4/5)

The Huawei P30 Pro is a premium smartphone with versatile imaging capabilities.

It could have been an all-rounder if it had better screen resolution and an easier user interface.

But it is a camera phone first, anything else later.