Huawei Mate 20 X Review

• Overview
• Design and Build Quality
• Display
• Performance
• Software and User Interface
• Camera
• Battery Life
• Connectivity and Networking
• Additional Features
• Comparison with Other Related Phones
• Pros and Cons
• Conclusion

Overview

The Huawei Mate 20 X is a powerhouse smartphone that leaves no stone unturned when it comes to delivering an exceptional user experience. With its gigantic 7.2-inch OLED display, this phone is a visual treat, perfect for gaming and multimedia enthusiasts. Powered by the Kirin 980 chipset and paired with 6GB of RAM, it ensures smooth multitasking and lag-free performance. The camera system is equally impressive, capturing stunning shots with its triple-lens setup. Priced at £799 in the UK, the Mate 20 X offers great value for a premium phone. There is also a 5G variant available for those seeking even faster connectivity. Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X is a true contender in the world of smartphones, delivering power, performance, and an immersive multimedia experience.

Design and Build Quality

The Huawei Mate 20 X showcases an impressive design and build quality that exudes a sleek and premium look and feel. Its physical appearance is characterized by thin bezels and a teardrop notch, allowing for a more immersive viewing experience on its massive 7.2-inch OLED display. The phone's form factor is undeniably large, but Huawei has managed to keep its weight and dimensions in check, ensuring it remains portable despite its size. The back panel of the Mate 20 X features a smooth texture and a polished finish, adding a touch of sophistication to its aesthetics. The construction of the phone feels robust and sturdy, instilling confidence in its durability. The buttons and controls are thoughtfully placed and offer good tactile feedback. While the large size of the phone may hinder one-handed usability, it provides a comfortable grip for extended use. The overall fit and finish of the Mate 20 X are top-notch, with attention to detail evident in every aspect of its design. Huawei has successfully created a device that not only looks premium but also feels solid and reliable.

Display

The Huawei Mate 20 X boasts a massive 7.2-inch OLED display, making it ideal for those who enjoy a larger screen size. The screen offers a resolution of 2240 × 1080 pixels, which provides crisp and vivid visuals for an immersive viewing experience. The aspect ratio of the display is 18.7:9, offering a wider and more cinematic feel when watching videos or playing games.

In terms of display technology, the Mate 20 X utilizes OLED technology, which delivers deep blacks, vibrant colors, and excellent contrast levels. The color accuracy and vibrancy of the display are impressive, ensuring that images and videos look true to life. The brightness levels of the screen are sufficient for indoor use, but it may struggle slightly in direct sunlight.

The touch responsiveness of the Mate 20 X is smooth and accurate, allowing for seamless navigation and effortless scrolling. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass, which provides durability and resistance against scratches and accidental drops. The pixel density of the screen is around 346 pixels per inch, ensuring sharp and detailed visuals.

The Mate 20 X supports HDR (High Dynamic Range), which enhances the contrast and color range of compatible content, resulting in more realistic and vibrant visuals. The display also offers a wide color gamut, allowing for a broader range of colors to be displayed.

The viewing angles of the Mate 20 X are excellent, ensuring that the screen remains clear and visible from various angles. The display also features an anti-reflective coating, which helps to reduce glare and improve visibility in bright environments.

Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X offers a large, vibrant, and immersive display that enhances the viewing experience for multimedia consumption and gaming.

Performance

The performance of the Huawei Mate 20 X is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset, which ensures a smooth and lag-free user experience. The CPU configuration consists of a 2.6GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A76, 1.92GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A76, and 1.8GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A55, offering efficient multitasking and app loading speeds. The GPU, Mali-G76 MP10, delivers impressive graphics scores in gaming benchmarks, making it a capable gaming device.

In terms of gaming performance, the Mate 20 X is equipped with GPU Turbo technology, optimizing the gaming experience by enhancing graphics and reducing power consumption. This feature provides a smoother gameplay experience, even for demanding games. The large 7.2-inch OLED display enhances the immersion, further enhancing the gaming capabilities of the device.

The Mate 20 X also performs well in CPU benchmarks, showcasing its processing power and efficiency. The HiSilicon Kirin 980 chipset, combined with the device's system optimization, ensures fast and responsive performance across various tasks. Whether it's multitasking or running resource-intensive applications, the Mate 20 X handles it with ease.

Thermal management is also noteworthy on the Mate 20 X, as it effectively dissipates heat during extended gaming sessions or heavy usage, preventing the device from overheating. This ensures consistent performance without any thermal throttling.

In benchmark tests, the Mate 20 X consistently delivers impressive scores in synthetic benchmarks, showcasing its overall performance metrics. The processor efficiency and GPU efficiency contribute to its excellent scores, making it a reliable device for power users and gamers alike.

Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X offers a high-performance experience, whether it's gaming, multitasking, or running demanding applications. With its powerful chipset, optimized software, and excellent thermal management, it ensures a smooth and lag-free user experience.

Software and User Interface

The Huawei Mate 20 X runs on the Android 9.0 operating system, also known as Android Pie. This version of Android provides a smooth and intuitive user experience, with several new features and improvements.

Huawei has customized the Android interface with their own EMUI (Emotion UI) skin, giving the Mate 20 X a unique look and feel. The EMUI offers a clean and user-friendly interface, with customizable themes and icons. It also provides additional features and settings, such as gesture navigation and a built-in screen recorder.

The Mate 20 X comes with a selection of pre-installed apps, including Huawei's own apps like Huawei Health, Huawei AppGallery, and Huawei Music. While these apps can be useful, some users may consider them as bloatware if they prefer using alternative apps. Fortunately, most pre-installed apps can be uninstalled or disabled, allowing users to customize their device according to their preferences.

Overall, the software experience on the Huawei Mate 20 X is smooth and user-friendly, thanks to the combination of Android Pie and EMUI. The customization options, along with the pre-installed apps, provide a good balance between convenience and personalization. Whether you're a fan of Huawei's apps or prefer using third-party alternatives, the Mate 20 X offers a solid software experience.

Camera

The camera of the Huawei Mate 20 X is quite impressive, offering a versatile and high-quality photography experience. The device features a triple camera setup with a primary 40-megapixel sensor, which enables capturing stunningly detailed images. The wide aperture and focal length of the camera lens allow for excellent depth of field and artistic bokeh effects in portrait mode. The sensor size contributes to enhanced image quality, especially in low-light conditions, where the Mate 20 X excels. The device's image stabilization feature helps eliminate camera shake, resulting in sharp and blur-free photos and videos. The camera's dynamic range ensures that both highlights and shadows are well-balanced, producing natural colors and preserving details in challenging lighting situations.

When it comes to daylight photography, the Mate 20 X delivers outstanding results with vibrant colors and excellent sharpness. The AI scene recognition feature intelligently identifies different scenes and adjusts the camera settings accordingly for optimal image quality. Indoor photography is also impressive, with the camera effectively managing noise reduction and maintaining clarity and detail.

For outdoor photography, the Mate 20 X captures vibrant and well-saturated images with accurate colors. The device's camera features include HDR mode, panorama mode, and a pro mode that allows for manual adjustments to settings like ISO and shutter speed.

In terms of video recording, the Mate 20 X supports 4K video and offers video stabilization for smooth footage. It can also record slow-motion videos and create captivating time-lapse sequences. The device supports various video formats, providing flexibility for sharing and editing videos.

Overall, the camera of the Huawei Mate 20 X delivers exceptional performance across different photography scenarios, providing users with the ability to capture stunning images and videos with ease.

Battery Life

The Huawei Mate 20 X comes with a powerful 5,000mAh battery that provides impressive battery life. With this large capacity, the phone can easily last a full day of extensive use, including gaming, streaming, and browsing. The battery performance is further enhanced by the phone's power-efficient Kirin 980 processor and optimization features. The Mate 20 X also supports Huawei's Super Charge technology, allowing for fast charging. This means that you can quickly top up your battery when needed, saving you time and ensuring that you can get back to using your phone without much delay. However, it is important to note that the Mate 20 X does not support wireless charging, which may be a drawback for some users. Overall, the Mate 20 X offers excellent battery performance and is a reliable choice for users who need a phone with long-lasting battery backup.

Connectivity and Networking

The Huawei Mate 20 X offers a range of connectivity options to ensure you stay connected wherever you go. It supports 5G network compatibility, enabling you to experience lightning-fast data speeds for seamless browsing, streaming, and gaming. Additionally, it is equipped with dual SIM functionality, allowing you to use two SIM cards simultaneously for better convenience and flexibility.
In terms of wireless connectivity, the Mate 20 X supports Wi-Fi standards, including Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, ensuring reliable and high-speed internet connectivity. It also features Bluetooth version for easy pairing with other devices, such as headphones or speakers. NFC capabilities are included, allowing you to quickly and securely make contactless payments using compatible payment systems.
The Mate 20 X comes with a USB-C port for fast charging and data transfer. This versatile port also supports USB OTG (On-The-Go) functionality, enabling you to connect various peripherals like USB drives or keyboards to your phone.
GPS and navigation are essential features of the Mate 20 X, ensuring accurate location tracking and guidance when you're on the move. You can also use the Mate 20 X as a mobile hotspot, sharing your internet connection with other devices.
Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X offers a comprehensive range of connectivity options, ensuring you have all the tools you need to stay connected and navigate the digital world seamlessly.

Additional Features

Comparison with Other Related Phones

When comparing the Huawei Mate 20 X with other related gadgets in the market, it becomes evident that it offers several unique features and competitive advantages. Let's take a side-by-side comparison to understand its market positioning and value for money.

In terms of display size, the Mate 20 X stands out with its massive 7.2-inch OLED display, which is larger than most flagship phones available in the market. This makes it ideal for those who prefer a bigger screen for multimedia consumption and gaming. In comparison, devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and iPhone XS Max have smaller screens at 6.4 inches and 6.5 inches respectively.

When it comes to performance, the Mate 20 X holds its ground with the powerful Kirin 980 chipset and 6GB of RAM. It competes head-on with other flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and OnePlus 7 Pro, which also feature top-of-the-line processors and ample RAM for smooth multitasking and gaming.

In terms of camera capabilities, the Mate 20 X shines with its Leica triple camera setup, producing stunning images with its 40MP primary sensor. This puts it in competition with devices like the Google Pixel 4 and iPhone 11 Pro, which are known for their impressive camera performance.

One area where the Mate 20 X falls slightly behind is in terms of water resistance. Unlike devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10+ and iPhone 11 Pro, it does not come with an IP rating for water and dust resistance.

In terms of pricing, the Mate 20 X offers good value for money, especially considering its premium features. Priced at £799 in the UK, it is more affordable than devices like the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 and iPhone 11 Pro, which are priced higher in the premium segment.

Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X stands out in the market with its large display, powerful performance, and impressive camera capabilities. While it may lack some features found in its competitors, it offers good value for money and caters to those looking for a premium phone with a big screen.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

Conclusion: The Huawei Mate 20 X is a phone that impresses with its large display, powerful performance, and impressive camera capabilities. It offers a premium and sleek design, making it an attractive choice for those who prefer bigger screens. With its long-lasting battery life, it can easily handle a full day of extensive use. However, the phone's large size may be impractical for some users, and it lacks certain features found in its higher-tier sibling, the Mate 20 Pro. Overall, the Huawei Mate 20 X offers a great combination of features and performance at a competitive price, making it a solid choice for those seeking a flagship-level phone.