Huawei Mate 20 X - My Short Review

HarborFront

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OK, just bought it last Sunday and has been using it for 2 days now. Below is my short review

Why I like it over the SAMSUNG Note 4 and
Why I choose the 20 X over the 20 PRO? Note that the 20 X and the 20 PRO share many same features


My needs are
1) A new phone with a quantum jump in features and performance
2) Currently, Kirin 980 is the fastest android processor for year 2018. My Note 4 is 4-yr old 5.7 inch smartphone running SD805 with 3GB RAM which I’ll be retiring soon after serving me faithfully all these years.
3) As age is catching up a large screen size for easier reading is better
4) A phone with a long battery life so no need to carry a power bank daily like what I was doing
5) Reduced weight of 20 X vs Samsung Note 4 + 20000mAh power bank
6) No need of PIN/Password/Face Scan/Fingerprint Reader for I need instant notifications from my home IoT devices
7) Preferably to have wireless headphone instead
8) 5G would not be ready in my country till at least after mid next year although phones with 5G and WPA3 will be available in the first quarter next year. This allows time for me to choose my 2019 foldable 5G phone.
9) No intention to use the 20 X as a gaming device. Mainly use for daily use and watching videos.
10) No interest in phones with curved edges for they are difficult to hold
11) Prepare myself to handle the large foldable phone in year 2019


PROS
1) 7.2 inch size – to prepare for next year’s foldable phone
2) 5000mAh battery – 2 days of usage without charging
3) AMOLED screen
4) Kirin 980 CPU – fastest android processor for year 2018
5) 6GB RAM
6) Triple cameras – Telephoto(5x optical zoom), Wide and Ultra-Wide
7) Dual stereo speakers
8) Android Pie 9


CONS
1) Large and heavy if carry alone
2) A tiny notch
3) No 5G and no WPA3
4) No in-screen fingerprint reader
5) No 3D face scan
6) Comes with headphone jack
7) Proprietary nano SD card and card reader by Huawei

8) No Google Night Sight-like feature for shooting in total darkness without flash
9) No LED notifications

These few days I have been testing the 20 X and I’m pretty satisfied with it. Comes with the package are
1) TPU case
2) Flip case
3) 22.5W ac charger
4) Pen – non-bluetooth
5) Foldable Bluetooth keyboard – yet to collect


I’m still waiting to buy a tempered glass screen protector. Heard that Huawei will release one later. Hope that it’ll be at least of the same or better quality than the Nillkin Amazing XD CP+ Max tempered glass screen protector below

Nillkin Amazing XD CP+ Max tempered glass screen protector for Huawei Mate 20 X

Not sure a liquid tempered glass will be better in sensitivity than a non-liquid type.

I’m not going to reinvent the wheel. Below are the specs and some Youtube videos

Specs

HUAWEI Mate 20 X specifications |HUAWEI Global

Reviews









Battery Drain Test



My next phone in the year 2019 will have features like

1) Foldable
2) 5G and WPA3
3) Preferably 4K screen. Latest report says the SAMSUNG Infinity Flex 5G phone for next year will not have a QHD+ screen in order to save battery life. Let’s see what the Chinese can come up with.
4) 5000mAh and above battery capacity
5) Ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint reader
6) 3D face scan
7) 8/10 GB RAM
8) 256 GB storage
9) Notchless
10) At least 3 rear cameras with telephoto, wide and ultra-wide
11) Screen-vibrating speakers
12) Wireless headphone
13) Video recording/playback of 4K@60 fps. Super Slow Mo at 1080p. Great low light shots.
14) Fast charging with 40W ac charger
 
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HarborFront

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OK, a problem just surfaced.

Not enough data! Although the 5000mAh battery can last for 2 days with always-on VPN for 4G use but my data is insufficient even though my data plan is 12GB per month.

Guess I need to subscribe for an Unlimited Data Plan

:unsure:
 
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Cortex

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I was talking to my 17 year old daughter regarding which phones are liked by her friends, some younger some older. I use an iPhone 7 & expected that name to some up, it didn't most of her friends now have Huawei & a smattering of Samsung's. Both my daughters & my youngest son have Huawei mates. If I were Apple I would be worried as the 16 - 18 age group are the ones who will be buying the tech when they are working & to them it seems Apple is old hat and overpriced - She said the cameras on Huawei are 'the best + battery life is better than iPhone's' - Time will tell, but the camera on her Huawei seems as good as my bridge camera.
 
G

Genux

New iPad Pro is foldable. All these Android phones just copy Apple.
 

HarborFront

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Huawei Mate 20X to re-release with 5G support


Meantime found some annoyances
  1. The screen is not that bright if use in bright sunlight
  2. The built-in dialer has no video call feature unlike the Mate 20 Pro which comes with video call in its dialer. Need to use either Google Duo or a 3rd-party app like Whatspp, WeChat etc.
 

dash

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I see a dealbreaker or two that may have steered you away from Samsung, but I'm loving my S10+. I'll likely be looking for a 5G device sometime next year, but I'm not sure I want a foldable. You know what you want though and I can appreciate that.
 

HarborFront

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Found another shortcoming. From what I read on the net

In Android 7/8/9 if you navigate to => Settings => Wireless & networks => VPN, there should be a "Always-on-VPN" and/or a "Block connections without VPN" option setting

both of which are essentially a Kill Switch built into android. So if you have a dedicated VPN without a Kill Switch you can go the above path to set one.

Otherwise, if your phone is rooted, you can use the AFWall+ firewall app

Apparently, Huawei's EMUI interface does NOT support "Always-on-VPN" nor "Block connections without VPN". So, if you need a Kill Switch then choose a VPN that comes with one and make sure you are not using Huawei's EMUI interface

Alternatively, you can set using OpenVPN as below


Read here for more info


 
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Rebsat

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Keep up the great work bro. Thank you for sharing your amazing knowledge with us. Sure, I will ask you if I need further details. (y)
You are a real saver for Android fans over here. ;) God bless you.
 

HarborFront

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Found something in my Mate 20X which I thought wasn't there

When I was first looking for a new phone I was looking for one without any social media apps. I was happy that I found none in the Mate 20X and bought it i.e. there's none shown up in the 'Apps' section.

Last night when I ran Revo App Permission Manager and App Inspector I found the following pre-installed FB files there which can only disable but cannot uninstall. FI, Huawei phones no longer support rooting.

FB App Installer
FB Services
FB App Manager

I know it's common for phone manufactures to have FB pre-installed in their phones due to contractual win-win agreement. But hiding FB and deceiving the public....isn't Huawei being sneaky here?
 
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HarborFront

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News of the Mate 20X 5G model is out


Features

5G
8GB RAM
256GB storage
Fast 40W supercharger

but battery reduces to 4200mAh from the standard 5000mAh. Also, not sure if it supports WiFi 6 which currently is only available in Samsung latest phones

FI, even the upcoming Huawei Mate X 5G don't support WiFi 6

 
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dabluez98

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Oct 2, 2018
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Found something in my Mate 20X which I thought wasn't there

When I was first looking for a new phone I was looking for one without any social media apps. I was happy that I found none in the Mate 20X and bought it i.e. there's none shown up in the 'Apps' section.

Last night when I ran Revo App Permission Manager and App Inspector I found the following pre-installed FB files there which can only disable but cannot uninstall. FI, Huawei phones no longer support rooting.

FB App Installer
FB Services
FB App Manager

I know it's common for phone manufactures to have FB pre-installed in their phones due to contractual win-win agreement. But hiding FB and deceiving the public....isn't Huawei being sneaky here?
May i ask why u care ao much about face scan and even 5g, i find finger scan very convenient and for face scan not smthng i get excited about i mean i cant find reason why. Stable phone hardware and software is my first criteria
 

Gandalf_The_Grey

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Found something in my Mate 20X which I thought wasn't there

When I was first looking for a new phone I was looking for one without any social media apps. I was happy that I found none in the Mate 20X and bought it i.e. there's none shown up in the 'Apps' section.

Last night when I ran Revo App Permission Manager and App Inspector I found the following pre-installed FB files there which can only disable but cannot uninstall. FI, Huawei phones no longer support rooting.

FB App Installer
FB Services
FB App Manager

I know it's common for phone manufactures to have FB pre-installed in their phones due to contractual win-win agreement. But hiding FB and deceiving the public....isn't Huawei being sneaky here?
Is "Revo App Permission Manager and App Inspector" 1 app or 2 different apps?
Sounds interesting (y)
 
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HarborFront

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Is "Revo App Permission Manager and App Inspector" 1 app or 2 different apps?
Sounds interesting (y)
I use both to see the differences

App Inspector - only shows permissions used by apps


Revo App Permission Manager - allows you to control and protect your privacy

 
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HarborFront

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May i ask why u care ao much about face scan and even 5g, i find finger scan very convenient and for face scan not smthng i get excited about i mean i cant find reason why. Stable phone hardware and software is my first criteria
I'm talking about Facebook here. As far as 5G is concerned, like it or not, it's the next revolution in mobile technology. This is progress.
 
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HarborFront

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OK, using ADB commands I finally managed to get rid (uninstall) the below Facebook packages from my phone

com.facebook.services
com.facebook.appmanager
com.facebook.orca
com.facebook.system
 
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