Huawei P30 Series Launch in Paris: A Live Blog (Starts 2pm CET, 9am ET)

08:31AM EDT – Hello all! We’re live here from the Paris convention center for the launch of Huawei’s P30 smartphone lineup.

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08:35AM EDT – This is the second time Huawei has launched a flagship in Paris. Last year we saw the launch of the P20 and P20 Pro which ushered in a new era of smartphone photography.

08:36AM EDT – In particular, the P20Pro ushered in a new era of smartphone photography with the introduction of a tripod-less night mode as well as bringing some impressive sensor technology to the table.

08:37AM EDT – Huawei’s P-series have focused on photography, while the Mate series is the lineup where Huawei introduces new technology such as the newest generation Kirin chipsets.

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08:39AM EDT – The venue here rivals the size that we’re used from Samsung’s launches. In a sense, this is a good representation of where Huawei is in the mobile market nowadays.

08:40AM EDT – One bonus point for the Paris convention centre: It seems like the venue WiFi is holding relatively strong even though I’m seeing tons of WiFi hotspots around.

08:45AM EDT – The event should start in 15 minutes. I’m expecting a long presentation by Richard Yu.

09:00AM EDT – One minute to go.

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09:02AM EDT – Intro video hyping things up.

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09:02AM EDT – “P30 – Rewrite the rules of phography”

09:03AM EDT – Telefonica executive talking about the P series and Huawei’s advances.

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09:04AM EDT – Vodaphone executive talking about how the P30 will be a great smartphone

09:05AM EDT – Next in line – Orange.

09:05AM EDT – “Turning point in the industry; 5G and foldable devices”

09:05AM EDT – “The P30 are a rainbow of devices”

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09:06AM EDT – Richard Yu taking the stage.

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09:07AM EDT – Leading innovation in a variety of topics.

09:07AM EDT – “Leading mobile photography” making the mobile experience much better to like that of a DLSR camera

09:08AM EDT – “Building a better connected life means a better community”

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09:09AM EDT – Using AI to help the visually impaired. Using the NPU in the Kirin 980

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09:10AM EDT – First in the industry to introduce a dual-camera.

09:10AM EDT – Last year with the P20 – first with a triple camera.

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09:10AM EDT – Introducing the P30 and P30 Pro.

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09:11AM EDT – “Rewrite the rules of photograph”

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09:12AM EDT – Intro video about the design of the P30

09:12AM EDT – “Design inspired by nature”

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09:13AM EDT – Minimal notch and bezel design.

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09:14AM EDT – Fantastic screen-to-body ratios on both the lower end P30 and the P30 Pro – much less than the iPhone XS & XR.

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09:15AM EDT – Also much lighter designs. Notably missing from the comparison are the new Galaxy S10’s which are lighter.

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09:15AM EDT – Under-screen magnetic earpiece speaker.

09:15AM EDT – New under-screen fingerprint with 30% better unlock speed.

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09:16AM EDT – 1080p OLED isplay on the small P30. First time we see an OLED on the lower range model.

09:17AM EDT – Also a 1080p OLED screen on the P30 Pro – odd lack of 1440 on the bigger phone.

09:17AM EDT – IP68 rating on the P30 Pro

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09:17AM EDT – Nano optical colour finish.

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09:20AM EDT – Five different colours – Breathing crystal, Amber sunrise, Pearl white, Black and Aurora Blue

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09:20AM EDT – Moving onto the photography capability

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09:21AM EDT – 40MP new generation main sensor, 16MP wide angle and a 8MP 3x telephoto on the P30.

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09:22AM EDT – The P30 Pro has a similar camera setup, but now has a 5x optical zoom periscope telephoto lens.

09:22AM EDT – Uses a prism mirror to have the sensor at a 90° angle

09:22AM EDT – ToF camera on top of the 3 optical cameras

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09:23AM EDT – Huawei has abandoned a RGGB Bayer sensor in favour of a RYYB sensor.

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09:24AM EDT – Yellow captures both red and green light, and the ISP reconverts data back to RGB data.

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09:25AM EDT – Again a 1/7″ sensor for the 40MP sensor, currently the biggest in a smartphone today.

09:25AM EDT – OIS for both the 40MP sensor and the telephoto module

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09:26AM EDT – ISO400000 for the P30Pro and ISO204800 for the P30

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09:27AM EDT – Better light capture than your eyes are even capable of.

09:27AM EDT – Today’s multi-frame captures essentially eliminates the noise issues of high ISO captures

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09:29AM EDT – Pictures done with the handheld Night mode.

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09:31AM EDT – The long exposure modes are enables through AIS “AI imagine stabilisation”

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09:32AM EDT – Not only for night mode, but can be used in daylight as well

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09:33AM EDT – Very large focus on showcasing the P30’s camera capabilities

09:33AM EDT – Switching over to the new telephoto module

09:33AM EDT – 3x Optical zoom on the P30 with 5x hybrid zoom.

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09:35AM EDT – OIS on the P30 Pro telephoto seems to be implemented on the prism.

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09:36AM EDT – The P20 Pro and Mate 20 Pro already had the best telephoto modules in the industry – Huawei is currently just showing off with the new modules on the P30.

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09:39AM EDT – Live demo with low light subjects against the S10+ and iPhone XS

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09:42AM EDT – The P30 resolving details that were invisible to the iPhone and Galaxy

09:42AM EDT – Now turning off the light in the room.

09:44AM EDT – Not using the low light mode on the Galaxy S10.

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09:45AM EDT – Now addressing the new ToF camera and how it’s used for depth information.

09:45AM EDT – We already saw this on the Honor View20 – however the issues were that we lacked any sensible use-cases for the module.

09:46AM EDT – Did they just talk about the ToF sensor and not mention any uses? o_O

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09:47AM EDT – Wide angle module just like on the Mate 20’s.

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09:48AM EDT – Closer focus distance than what’s possible on the S10 or iPhone XS

09:48AM EDT – 32MP front-facing selfie camera with AI HDR+

09:49AM EDT – Switching over to video recording features

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09:49AM EDT – More and more video are using video sharing.

09:49AM EDT – “Pain points for video” – Low light, stabilisation and range

09:50AM EDT – Low light video intro

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09:51AM EDT – The P30 showing vastly better low light video capture compared to the S10 and XS

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09:52AM EDT – Dual video recording with both a wide angle and regular camera.

09:53AM EDT – This is very interesting from a technical perspective as it requires a lot of ISP and SoC bandwidth

09:54AM EDT – DXOMark score for the P30 Pro – 112

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09:54AM EDT – “Unrivaled camera experience with the P30”

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09:57AM EDT – Fashion Photographer taking the stage to talk about his experience with the P30

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09:59AM EDT – Performance improvements brought by the Kirin 980 bringing massive improvements

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09:59AM EDT – A new filesystem “EROFS” bringing significant upgrades over EXT4.

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10:00AM EDT – Leading Dual SIM capability – most other phones don’t have the full features for the second SIM

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10:01AM EDT – 3650mAh battery for the P30 and 4200mAh for the P30 Pro

10:01AM EDT – 40W super fast charging

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10:01AM EDT – 30minutes to charge to 70% capacity

10:01AM EDT – 15 Wireless charging

10:02AM EDT – Naturally reverse wiresless charging is also included

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10:03AM EDT – New EMUI 9.1 with Android 9

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10:04AM EDT – New themes for EMUI and the P30’s

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10:05AM EDT – Gesture navigation – unfortunately I find Huawei’s side swipe implementation one of the worst among vendors. It’s inferior to bottom up gestures.

10:06AM EDT – Power button serves as a assistant button when pressed for 1s

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10:06AM EDT – Samsung should take note.

10:07AM EDT – TOF camera is used for Google ARCore

10:07AM EDT – Huawei seems to have some limited use-cases for the ToF sensor such as a object volume estimation application.

10:08AM EDT – Covering Share OneHop with the Huawei Matebook – we had already covered this at MWC and CES.

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10:09AM EDT РUse the Pӈ as a digital car key.

10:10AM EDT – Partnership with Audi in 7 models, but looking forward to work with other brands such as BMW

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10:11AM EDT – Huawei bringing the bling bling with a first-party crystal cover from Swarofski

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10:12AM EDT – More various first-party accessories

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10:13AM EDT – 40W super charging powerbank – if you go out for several days in the wilderness with 12000mAh

10:13AM EDT – Can even charge your laptop at fast speeds

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10:18AM EDT – Huawei also their own wireless headphones with the FreeLace and new FreeBuds Lite.

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10:19AM EDT – New Huawei Watch GT with up to 2 weeks battery life

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10:24AM EDT – Partner talking about … designer stores selling eyewear. I’m not sure why this is part of the event.

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10:32AM EDT – The Gentle Monster smart eyewear is built by Huawei

10:32AM EDT – The PCB, batteryies, antennas included in the glass frames and supports

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10:34AM EDT – Wirelessly charging pouch for thet glasses.

10:35AM EDT – The glasses seem to be able to be used for music devices as well as assistants.

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10:37AM EDT – 799€ for the P30 and 999€ for the P30Pro, respective starting prices.

10:38AM EDT – That’s a wrap folks. I’m off to get my devices and get back home!

Original Article