I've been trying out both the P30 pro and P30. (I also tried the S10+ and S10 snapdragon shortly). I'll give me opinions. Note I'm coming from a Sony Xperia Z5 Compact (4.6in phone)
Overall, I think I prefer Huawei over Samsung mainly for the better night performance. There are lots of conditions where your lighting might not be so great so its good to have that option. Between the P30 pro and P30, I prefer the P30 due to its size and more useful zoom. However, not having OIS is a big deal so I might try to live with the P30 pro.
- The P30 pro vs S10+ and P30 vs S10 feel exactly the same in size but the Huawei feel much heavier. The P30 and S10 fit in my pocket more comfortably and felt better in my hand. I felt the P30 pro and S10+ a little too big and uncomfortable. In my shirt pocket, it felt strange as it dragged my shirt down.
- The button placement on the Samsung is terrible. The power button is way too high and they put the rest of the buttons directly across. So when you reach up, you keep hitting the other buttons.
- I found that on the samsungs, my palm was hitting the edges very often even after configuring a larger edge area. I did not have this issue with the huawei.
- I found the fingerprint and face unlock much faster on the Huawei phones
- I used Nova Launcher so I didn't notice a whole lot of difference between One UI and EMUI. I actually felt it was harder to find things in settings on the Saumsung. Overall usage was about the same.
- The samsung supports MST which lets you pay nearly anywhere where the huawei only works with NFC. Overall, its nice to have but not that big of a deal
- The p30 pro doesnt have a headphone jack. I dont use it very often so when I do, I don't mind using an adapter
- In terms of idle drain with SIM removed and only on WIFI, I didnt find much difference between the samsung and huawei. However with the SIM inserted, I found the samsung lasted significantly longer (10-20%). I found the P30 pro lasted a good 20%-30% or so longer than the P30. Now it was hard to make sure they were configured exactly the same but they all lasted at least two days.
- I travel alot and when I'm flying I like to record tracks. The samsungs recorded a better accuracy than the Huawei. However, when I reviewed the tracks from the actual path, I found they were about the same. All were better than my old phone
- Camera: I found that the P30 pro's OIS was useful at night as it was able to get a focused photo much more easily than the P30. However, if I took my time and held very still, the two were about the same. P30 pro was still able to be brighter. Unless it was super dark, I found the "photo" mode more useful than "night" mode as I didnt have to wait as long. Night mode was far better on the Huawei vs Samsung though. Now Huawei will make dark photos look like they are taken during the day vs Samsung which look more like the actual scenario. The saumsung phones are supposed to have OIS, but I found them just as blurry as the P30.
During the day, I felt they were all about equal here. I thought the samsung photos were a little sharper and better depth. Overall, I think the Samsung photos "look" better but they all look good. It also has a wider wide angle lens which can be useful in tight areas. When using Super Macro mode, on the P30 you can use any camera. On the P30 pro, you can't use the 5X. Therefore, you can get the P30 much closer with its 3X. Speaking of zoom, I found the 3X more useful than the 5X in typical situations - The samsung display is much better than the Huawei. With the higher resolution, its much clearer. Also, its capable of getting much dimmer (for example on the always on screen).
- I know the p30 doesnt have wireless charging but I never use it so it doesnt matter
Overall, I think I prefer Huawei over Samsung mainly for the better night performance. There are lots of conditions where your lighting might not be so great so its good to have that option. Between the P30 pro and P30, I prefer the P30 due to its size and more useful zoom. However, not having OIS is a big deal so I might try to live with the P30 pro.
Last edited:
