Huawei Mate 50 Full Review

Huawei continually strives to endow the smartphones of the Mate line with cutting-edge technologies. The Mate 50 is no exception: it features a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, three advanced cameras, a 2K screen, and supports 66W fast charging. How successful was the gadget?

Glass and metal suit

Mate 50 is assembled in the best flagship traditions: all elements fit perfectly, there is not a hint of backlash. The back of the device is made of glass with a glossy backing, and the frame is made of aluminum. Thanks to high-quality materials and pleasant weightiness, The gadget looks and feels premium. From the same type of smartphone, the model stands out with a large block of cameras, which protrudes significantly from the back. The design is protected from dust and moisture according to the IP68 standard, and the complete silicone case saves from physical damage.  Buttons and audio:

On the right side, there is a power button and a volume rocker. The latter is inconvenient to use due to its too high location. There is a slot for a proprietary memory card NM Card from Huawei and an infrared port for controlling home appliances. The speakers are represented by two speakers, and the top one plays much quieter than the main one. Despite this, the stereo effect remains noticeable. Audio plays loud, tight and bass.

One of the best displays

Everyone should have such cameras

Three lenses proudly flaunt on the back of the case. Dust accumulates around them, so the camera block often has to be wiped. The main module has a resolution of 50 megapixels and an aperture of f / 1.4, a wide-angle lens is represented by a 13 megapixel sensor with a viewing angle of 120 degrees. Next to them is a 12-megapixel periscope with optical stabilization. A zoom value of 0.6x uses the wide-angle camera, 1x the main camera, and 5x the periscope camera. Further, digital scaling is already turned on with deterioration in quality. The device shoots video in 4K resolution at 60 fps. During recording, switching to any of the modules is available. Stabilization functions properly on all lenses. There are no questions about autofocus speed. The sound is also captured qualitatively: people's conversations in a noisy room are clearly audible.

Very Hot Iron

The Mate 50 features the most powerful chipset currently available on the market: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (non-5G). This is an 8-core flagship, made in 4- nanometer process technology and operating at frequencies up to 3.2 GHz. It is complemented by Adreno 730 graphics, 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256 GB of UFS 3.1 internal memory. Characteristics:

• CPU Throttling Test. Not everyone can curb the top “dragons”. The smartphone quickly becomes warm even when performing everyday tasks. In the CPU Throttling Test in 30 minutes, system performance decreased by 54% from the original, in 3DMark – by 62%. After five minutes of playing Genshin Impact, the aluminum frame at the top of the device had warmed up to an uncomfortable temperature for my hands. Despite this, the anime hit with the maximum graphics settings is doing well, producing an average of 45 frames per second. Noticeable friezes happen only in dynamic scenes and when loading the world. Apparently, the chipset has such a large power reserve that even with reduced frequencies, its capabilities are enough for comfortable gameplay.
• EMUI 13. The gadget is running the EMUI 13 operating system. There are no mentions of Harmony OS in the firmware, although in fact the same interface appears before us. Several useful features have been added to the current version of the shell. Swiping up from the bottom up on some icons of standard applications (marked with a line) brings up a widget with the main functions of the corresponding software. There was support for efficient data storage technology, the task of which is to compress files of various formats without consequences for them. The Super Hub option provides a shared clipboard between the brand's various utilities and devices.
• Privacy. The Privacy Center has also been redesigned. Now it displays which programs used access to this or that information and when. Here, you can also remove location data and timestamps from photos. And the “Super Privacy” mode in one click will restrict access to all applications to the location, camera, and microphone.

Battery

• Up to 16.5 hours of offline video viewing;
• Up to 9.5 hours of YouTube viewing;
• Gaming consumption – 56% battery for two hours of play in Genshin Impact (medium brightness).

Standalone:

The camera phone is equipped with a relatively small battery: 4460 mAh. When playing video in Full HD (medium brightness, airplane mode), the Mate 50 lasted 16.5 hours. But when playing a 1080p video from YouTube (no Google services), the device worked for 9.5 hours, which can be considered a mediocre result. In turn, a two-hour session of Genshin Impact emptied the battery by 56%, and this is the average “according to the hospital”.

Specifications

• Display. 6.7”, OLED, 2700×1224 pixels, 442 ppi, 90 Hz, HDR Vivid;
• Chipset. CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 4G (up to 3.2 GHz, 4 nm); GPU Adreno 730;
• RAM and storage 8 GB LPDDR5; 256 GB UFS 3.1;
• Battery. 4460 mAh;
• Cameras. Primary – 50 MP (f/1.4) + 13 MP (wide-angle, 120°, f/2.2) + 12 MP (periscope, 5x optical zoom, f/3.4, OIS), front — 13 MP (f/2.4);
• Communication. Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou;
• Dimensions and weights. 161.5 × 76.1 × 7.98 mm, 206 grams;
• Features. EMUI 13, Super Charge 66W, Wireless Charging 50W, Fingerprint Reader, NFC, Stereo Speakers, IP68 Protection, NM Card support.

Summary