Huawei p20 lite review in Spanish (full review)

Of the three models of the P20 series that were presented, today we have to analyze the Huawei P20 Lite, the younger and more affordable brother of this family. The differences we find in him are remarkable with respect to his older brothers. But different does not mean bad. Above all, taking into account the price range in which it plays. One thing is for sure, Huawei always cares about incorporating high quality cameras. Always accompanied by certification from the Leica company. Let's see if they follow the marked path.

Wanting to see our review? Let's start!

As always, we thank Huawei for the loan of the product to carry out its analysis.

Huawei P20 Lite technical specifications

Unboxing

We are in the era of minimalism and Huawei is betting on packaging of this style in which the color white predominates. Only the model name and company logo are screen printed in gold. When opening the box, the Huawei P20 Lite is the first thing we came across and there is a small detail that does not quite convince me. The terminal does not have any type of protection or coverage around it. This makes it possible to dance slightly inside the box. It is in those details that Huawei should pay attention. When examining the box we find:

• Huawei P20 Lite. Charging cable. Power adapter. Headphones. SIM tray extractor. Quick guide and warranty.

Glass, aluminum and adjusted measurements

The Huawei P20 Lite stands out for having a simple design with smooth and rounded lines that feels great in the hand. Different factors play a role in this. We are facing a 5.84-inch terminal that hardly appears to have a screen utilization percentage of 80.55% and compact measurements of 71.2 x 148.6 x 7.4 mm.

And that is mainly one of its greatest virtues. To this we must add, in addition, its reduced weight of 145 grams. They are very striking features for a large part of the market, who do not want a brick like a smartphone.

The higher models of the Huawei P20 are more powerful, it is true. But they house the fingerprint reader at the bottom of the front. This leads to an increase in the final measurements of these terminals. And all this without having an audio jack. Which does incorporate the Huawei P20 Lite.

At the back, made of glass, is where the fingerprint reader is located on the Huawei P20 Lite. Its exact location is at the top, easily accessible by the index finger. In the upper left corner we find the double camera vertically aligned. The flash is immediately below them. The case can be found in blue, rose gold, gold and black

In the lower front area there is not much to highlight, just the word HUAWEI. It is at the top, in the notch, where the call speaker, proximity sensor, selfie camera and notification LED are housed. The glass that covers the front is made of the well-known 2.5D, rounding out the almost non-existent edges.

The side edges are made of aluminum and provide extra grip where the rear glass fails. The only thing that incorporates the upper edge is the microphone for noise cancellation. Similarly, the left edge only includes the tray for two nanoSIM or one nanoSIM and a microSD card up to 256 GB.

The right edge includes the typical volume button on the top and the on / off button in the center. Finally, at the bottom edge is where the 3.5mm jack for headphones, the microUSB type C port and the speaker for multimedia content are housed. Although the situation of this speaker is increasingly common in many brands, specifically it is with this model where I have inadvertently covered it with my fingers. In that case the sound is attenuated considerably. Perhaps for this reason, it is a good idea for the future to choose another arrangement for the speaker.

Screen without surprises

In one section, the Huawei P20 Lite is at the height of its older brothers. The FullHD + resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels is the same for all three. Although the smaller screen size on this makes the pixel density per inch higher. Specifically 432 dpi. On the other hand, the FullView screen has IPS IPS LTPS technology, which has a higher resolution, lower consumption and control of the temperature range. It should not be forgotten either that with the inclusion of the notch the screen ratio becomes 19: 9.

This screen as we have said has a high resolution despite being a mid-range. Therefore, the display of web pages, videos and games is great. In turn, the rich quality of its colors must be highlighted. In contrast is where you can sin a little more because it lacks more intensity. It is one aspect in which the P20 pro wins by incorporating AMOLED technology.

The viewing angles are quite good. There is no appreciable degradation of quality from any angle. In general, we can say that we find a good screen without big surprises.

Finally, the brightness level is around 500 nits maximum and although it is not one of the best, it is appreciated for its good work outdoors in the sun, where it is possible to continue using the terminal without major problems. The only one that can be reproached is the automatic brightness, since sometimes it does not finish going as well as it should and in the end one ends up leaving it in manual mode.

In the screen settings, we will have the opportunity to change the type of color temperature that we want as in previous models. We can select between a manual temperature, by default, warm or cold.

Speaker no, headphones yes

The sound of the Huawei P20 Lite is unfortunately not a strong point. The sound quality is good but it lacks sound and power. For most situations it will be enough but you cannot expect much more.

Luckily, in addition to keeping the Jack audio input, headphones are included in the box. Without being a wonder, they are quite decent and this type of addition is always appreciated. The sound quality with them is good and has a good volume.

When connecting headphones, we will have a setting for them, called Huawei Listen. Depending on the headphones that we connect and then select, we will have a default equalization, or if we prefer, we can modify these settings manually.

The last option available in the settings corresponds to Audio 3D, which emulates and modifies the sound source.

Oreo 8 and EMUI 8 hand in hand

Although there were doubts regarding which version of Android it would bring from the factory, it was a good surprise to know that it would be the latest update to Oreo 8.1. In contrast, version 8.0 of the EMUI layer was more predictable.

This version of EMUI evolves with Oreo to offer a somewhat cleaner design adapted to the current times. However, despite being a layer increasingly focused on the global world than China, there are still reminiscences of its intrusive system.

Proof of this are the apps installed as standard. In this case Ebay, Booking, Quik and Netflix. Luckily, they can be uninstalled if desired. The same does not happen with other Huawei own apps. In the case of the system management application, the continuous sending of alerts on the consumption of apps in the background is annoying. You can configure these alerts, but avoiding them altogether is more difficult.

As usual in the latest versions of EMUI, the customization options are very wide. We will have the option to choose how the main screen is shown. Modify the size and between various positions for the icons and there is even an option to sort them by shaking the terminal.

Among other settings, we can decide which digital buttons appear on the bottom bar or if we want to eliminate this bar and operate the system with gestures or with the help of the fingerprint sensor.

With the system application, Game Suite, we can focus on playing without being bothered by notifications or other messages.

There has been a lot of hype around the setting included by Huawei in order to hide the notch. The only thing this adjustment does is hide it by adding a black stripe in that area. It may be more aesthetic for those who hate notch but it is not for much more. Whether the notch is visible or hidden, the biggest flaw is the inability to see the pending notification icons in the top bar. There is only room for Wi-Fi icons, mobile data, Bluetooth, NFC, percentage, battery icon, and time. It is a defect that is seen in other terminals and I particularly do not like anything.

Fair mid-range performance

What do the Mate 10 Lite, the Nova 2 and this P20 Lite have in common? Despite being practically a year apart, they all have the Huawei Kirin 659 and 4 GB of RAM. If you are the creator of a processor and it continues to work well in mid-range models, why change it?

The Kirin 659 has eight cores. Four of them run at 2.36 GHz and the other four run at 1.7 GHz. They are accompanied by the Mali T-830 dual-core GPU. Despite being a mid-range processor, it shows that it has the power to move the system without messing up. During the test time we have not noticed any jerk or problem when moving through the applications or when using multitasking.

It is normal that, in addition to being well optimized the operating system, its use is fluid, since AnTuTu gives a score of 88324 points.

However, for applications that require high graphics load such as some games, the GPU still lacks some power. Sometimes we have noticed a drop in frames or a slight slowdown. But nothing that interferes with the gaming experience.

The Huawei P20 Lite has only two models, not counting the colors of the case, which differ exclusively by the storage capacity. One model has 32 GB and the other with 64 GB.

The fingerprint sensor, on the other hand, works perfectly. And what is even better, unlocking the terminal is quite fast and effective. At no time did we have problems with finger recognition.

While it is true that the fingerprint sensor has long since settled, it is now facial recognition that is entering strongly. Even in the mid-range like this. Its performance is quite good in general, especially in environments with good light. Normal thing, since it has the same strengths and weaknesses as a camera in use. In low light or if we have part of the face covered with an object, the recognition is slower or does not stop working. You cannot ask for the same quality as top-of-the-range models.

Camera: Betting on Bokeh

Like its older brother, the P20 Lite has three cameras certified by the Leica company that have given such good results in the past. Although in this case, the second rear camera is only used for blur or Bokeh mode. This lens features only 2 megapixels and a focal aperture of f / 2.4. Enough to help the main camera which has a 16 megapixel CMOS type sensor with an f / 2.2 aperture. In addition, it has automatic focus, digital zoom, continuous shooting, and self-timer.

The photographs taken with the main camera and in good light have a high quality in practically all aspects. The detail given by this camera is really good and there is no grain or blur. Especially using the movement mode. The images offered by the P20 Lite are solid and without traces of movement.

The colorimetry of the snapshots, for example, shows a rich variety of colors and according to what we photograph. The same goes for contrast, not capturing overexposed or washed out images. The dynamic range does not require much use of HDR since the contrast between the shaded and illuminated areas is usually shown accurately. Perhaps sometimes a little higher contrast in the sky is necessary and this is where the HDR does end up giving the necessary brushstroke.

The Bokeh effect is one of the main characteristics of this terminal. Therefore, Huawei has focused on achieving a truly achieved effect. Not only do they make use of the second sensor, but they have worked in conjunction with the software. This is noticeable when taking snapshots. Blurring is done exactly at the back of the photo, without misunderstanding. However, if you want to touch up this effect afterwards, you can do it. The P20 Lite does not store the photos already taken, but saves the two captures made with both sensors in RAW. If we proceed to edit one of these photos, a bar will appear between which to choose more or less blur depending on the aperture we choose.

In night scenes the level of detail is still good and there is no high level of grain. In this type of scene, the camera does a good job with the light. Showing an image quite faithful to the original. Using night mode captures more light in exchange for sacrificing a few extra seconds of processing.

It is a shame that although the video recording is good and quite decent. It is only possible to record at 1080p and not at 4K or 60 fps.

The front selfie camera is 16 megapixels and has a larger focal aperture than the rear ones, 2.0. This lens has a quality very similar to the later one. Also achieving good colors and contrast. Curiously, without the need for a second camera, the blur effect that we can find among the options, continues to achieve a really attractive and well-processed effect. In turn, in this mode the foreground colors are enhanced to give a better finish to the result.

A way that cannot be missed is the beauty mode that is so fashionable. The result is not as exaggerated as that of other terminals, but I am still not convinced of the final result, on many occasions the artificial retouching used is still noted.

The software for the camera is generally good, but sometimes too sober when we want to use other modes or settings. For normal mode, portrait, blur or camera change we have icons easily accessible from the main window, for the rest of the functions it will be necessary to expressly enter the settings. Among them we find other modes such as: augmented reality, professional mode, HDR, panoramic, light painting, fast or slow motion and the typical color filters. The professional mode widely used by many, does not really have many options in this model. We can adjust white, exposure or ISO sensitivity and little else.

A battery that doesn't measure up

The battery is one of the sections that I expected the most from the Huawei P20 Lite. With its current scarce 3000 mAh of capacity and making normal use of social networks and web browsing, the maximum duration we have had has been one day and four hours. With just over five and a half hours of screen. A duration that is not bad for normal use but still far from what is expected at this point. With more intensive use when playing games and movies, the battery level drops dramatically. If we also use the data outdoors, consumption skyrockets.

It must be recognized that it is not easy to achieve low consumption with a Full HD + screen and only 3000 mAh, but further optimization would improve these numbers.

The 9V 2A fast charge works excellently. Managing to load a percentage per minute until reaching half an hour. From there, we will need one more hour for the full charge. In total, an hour and a half when not having the Supercharge of the superior models.

Connectivity

Among the connections we found no major news. The Huawei P20 Lite includes low-power Bluetooth 4.2, Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / 5GHz, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, NFC, and FM radio.

With the spread that the contactless payment is being made, the inclusion of NFC comes that neither painted to make these payments using the smartphone.

Conclusion and final words of the Huawei P20 Lite

This Huawei P20 Lite makes it clear that the average ranges that we all knew years ago with more defects than virtues has come to an end. Huawei knowing that not everyone needs a high-end like the Huawei P20 PRO and seeing how well received its previous Lite model was, has managed to find the right path and open up to a larger market with this model. A terminal with many virtues. Starting with the design and its careful glass finish. How light and small it feels in the hand is also one of its strengths, which has fascinated all those who have supported it. If you find a catch, it can be found on your multimedia speaker. Which is easy to cover with the hand or fingers.

The screen has its strengths but the notch is still not entirely convincing, despite its lack of aesthetics, there are software details that still remain to be solved. Precisely, in the notch, there is facial recognition and it must be recognized, for a terminal of this range, that it works quite well. However, we do want precision, it is the fingerprint sensor that works great.

We recommend reading our guide to the best mid-range smartphones.

We cannot forget another section with great virtues, the cameras. Both the front and the rear are developed in a great way, offering details, colors and blur effects that are very successful.

On the technical side, it is surprising how well optimized the system is. Most apps run without problem, only in some powerful games you can notice a slight jerk.

The biggest defect attributable to this terminal is in its autonomy. The maximum duration we have achieved is one day and several hours, and we certainly expected a longer duration. Probably, as we said above, having maintained the FullHD + resolution with only 3000mAh was an error.

If we look at it globally, its virtues are greater than its defects. It is important to know how much autonomy matters to us above all else. The current price of the Huawei P20 Lite is 300 euros, it can be perfectly placed on the positive side. It is an affordable terminal with a high average rating of its sections.

ADVANTAGE	DISADVANTAGES
+ The design gives the feeling of compact and lightweight.	- Autonomy could be better.
+ Very good quality of the cameras and the Bokeh effect.	- It lacks power to the sound.
+ Optimized system with many options.	- Apps stuffed with shoehorn.

The Professional Review team awards you the Gold Medal and the Recommended Product Badge.

Huawei P20 Lite

DESIGN - 88%

PERFORMANCE - 80%

CAMERA - 89%

AUTONOMY - 75%

PRICE - 80%

82%