The "1-Minute" Review
Verdict
The Mate 20 provides an all-in-one package of sleek design, a beautiful display, great performance, and amazing battery life. While it cut features from the more expensive Mate 20 Pro, it is one of the better Android smartphones available on the market.What's good
- Great battery life
- Beautiful display
- Clean, modern design
- Decent camera
- 3.5mm headphone jack
- Speedy performance
What's bad
- Display not color accurate
- Camera image details a little muddy on zoom
- No water- and dust-resistance
With the Mate 20 Pro receiving high praise from tech outlets that doesn’t mean the Mate 20 isn’t worth your time. While it might not have the trendy features of its more expensive sibling, it holds its own against other smartphones in the looks and power department.
The Mate 20 design is almost identical to the Mate 20 Pro -- right down to the square camera housing unit. But, it’s only splash resistant so make sure you don’t drop it into any puddles.
There is a variety of different colors to choose from, but only the Midnight Blue and Emerald Green provide Huawei's "vinyl" textured back. While barely noticeable, the texture provides a better grip than the standard smooth glass you’ll find on the other color options.
A 6.53-inch IPS display takes up most of the phone's face with an 88% screen-to-bezel ratio. At 2,244-by-1,080 pixels, it isn't the sharpest panel available. But, for most people, it’s sharp enough. And thanks to an RGBW stripe configuration, it looks sharper than its 381 PPI suggests.
There’s more to a screen than its sharpness. Fortunately, the Mate 20 delivers on most counts. Colors are bright and vibrant. Despite not sporting an OLED display, blacks were dark. Sadly, the colors themselves aren’t super accurate and whites have a bluish tint.
Like the Mate 20 Pro , the Mate 20 uses the Kirin 980 octa-core processor and 6GB of RAM. Thanks to the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), the phone can manage tasks effectively leading to what critics consider one of the fastest smartphone experiences available. Whether reviewers were browsing the web or playing 3D games, it worked seamlessly.
Battery life sets the Mate 20 apart from other smartphones in its price bracket. Thanks to the NPU, experts could squeeze almost two-and-a-half days worth of use out of a single charge. Heavy users can go a full day without worrying about their phone shutting down.
Should you find the battery low, fast charging offers a 50% charge in only 30 minutes.
The phone features a three-lens camera system with a 12MP main lens, 8MP telephoto lens, and a 26MP wide-angle lens. Despite lacking the beefy 40MP lens of the Mate 20 Pro , the camera on the Mate 20 captures excellent images.
Reviewers were impressed with the performance of all three lenses and captured good images. The only complaints centered on a lack of detail when zooming in. Still, for how most people will use the phone, image quality is good enough.
Night mode is where the camera really impressed critics. It took very detailed images with little grain. Unfortunately, Huawei ditched the image stabilization, which means you’ll have more motion blur in your images if you are not careful.
While it might not be perfect, experts highly recommend the Mate 20. Android Police states, “... the Mate 20 is one of the best Android phones out there right now…” Stuff.tv adds, “... the Mate 20 is a superb phone. It takes great photos, has oodles of power and a long-lasting battery…”
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Matt Adams, Android GuysThere’s a ton to love about the Huawei Mate 20. While not the Pro version, it offers a ton of features, fantastic build quality, and top-tier performance and battery life without busting your budget.
- Victor Hristov, PhoneArenaIt has its kinks and its slight issues and annoyances, but at its core, this phone is solid and reliable. Its battery life is not quite insane, but it will last you more than 99% of the phones out there right now. The camera is a bit unpredictable: it can either impress with some very nice photo at...
- Chris Ledenican, HothardwareDespite its short comings (in the U.S market at least) the Huawei Mate 20 is one hell of a phone. The battery life is industry leading and the camera is excellent. Picture quality was outstanding in a wide variety of environments and lighting conditions. The Mate 20's screen is also striking. For mo...
- Kevin Parrish, Android AuthorityThere’s so much to love with the Mate 20, from the cameras, to the performance, to the overall presentation. The Mate 20 didn’t give me much to complain about. Its user experience is clean, apps and services open near instantly, and you have plenty of options for taking great photographs and videos....
- Silvia Santos, AndroidPITIt's dazzled me from the beginning to end. It can hold its own without slowing down my daily rhythm. The photos are better than good, the facial recognition is effective. It's beautiful and powerful.
Prices (Where to Buy)
Common Questions
We've got you covered! Download a free PDF copy of the Huawei Mate 20 user manual here.
Huawei backs up the Mate 20 with a 1 Year parts & labour warranty.
If your Mate 20 has problems and is still within its warranty period, you could contact Huawei support or the retailer you purchased the phone from. You'll find Huawei's contact information here. If your phone is off warranty and needs repair for a physical problem such as a broken screen or bad battery, you should visit an authorized service centre or a local phone repair shop. You can also connect with others in The Informr Community Forum to find and share answers to questions.
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