So I finally received my Chinese version Mate 20 Pro Emerald variant and I spent the last 24 hours setting it up, now it's finally getting into a more or less stock android feeling. I decided to write a post because man, I've never spent so much effort just trying to setup a new phone.
Ordering
I ordered the phone from Huawei T Mall store on Nov. 11th. I paid about 1250 CAD through Alipay for the phone and ~ 600 RMB having my friend sending it to me via DHL. I also had to pay some import tax getting it into Canada but it's just bad luck, plus the tax really depends on how much you declare the value to be.
First Impression
I had a Oneplus 5, I like the cleanness of its ROM, it's close to stock android and I was using the Rootless Pixel 2 Launcher which makes it essentially a stock Android device. The Mate 20 Pro is a bit heavier than the Oneplus 5 and it's just slightly bigger.
I started with applying the tempered glass screen protectors I bought also from Taobao when I ordered the phone. Sadly I can't seem to get it in the right place, and it's greatly affecting the screen responsiveness and accuracy. I ended up throwing them away.
Turning it on, and I'm already having issue with the initial setup process. First of all, I was asked to create a Huawei ID. But guess what -- I live in Canada but Canada isn't an available option in the region list, somehow US is. I mean, this phone is not even available in US, why would you provide that as an option but not Canada?
I went ahead choosing US as the region. It asked for phone verification, that worked for me because US and Canada share the same country code.
After that, I uninstall a bunch of pre-installed apps -- they are mostly popular apps in China, plus a few useless utilities made by Huawei. I uninstall about 25 apps during this process.
Then I tried to restore all my apps from the old phone, first step would be getting Google Play Service working. Surprisingly Google Play Service is pre-installed. but I wasn't able to update it through the Huawei App Store, because US Huawei ID apparently is not supported. In fact I can't use any of the pre-installed Huawei apps, they are all blocked. So I deleted my account and created a Chinese one instead.
I was able to access the app store and update Google Play Service, along with Play Store. Google backup apparently didn't work. I ended up using the Huawei "Phone Clone" app to transfer all my stuff to this phone. It does the job pretty well.
Getting third party launcher working on Chinese ROM (If you have a global version then this may not apply to you)
Spent sometime getting all the apps logged in and tweaking settings, I started to look into replacing the stock launcher. But then you can't change launcher on the Chinese rom, so I did some research and here is what I did:
1. Install a third party launcher. I chose Nova Launcher here. Never used it before but Rootless Launcher kept crashing and for Rootless Pixel 2 Launcher, there is an annoying security alert saying "Google is using microphone" that kept popping up.
1. Enable developer mode
2. Enable USB Debug
3. Connect the phone to PC
4. Access ADB shell
5. uninstall stock launch: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.huawei.android.launcher
6. Reboot
A few notes on using this 3rd party launcher hack:
* I also installed the Nova companion app to have Google Feed panel access.
* You need to allow Nova companion to auto-launch in Settings -> Apps -> App Launch, otherwise rebooting the phone will make Google Feed panel disappear.
* If you select gesture navigation in system setting, swiping up from bottom may not work.
Getting Google Assistant to work
The phone has the Huawei voice assistant by default, and changing the default Assistant app to Google doesn't work. The shortcut still only bring up the Huawei voice assistant. The fix is to uninstall the app using the same process above. The package name is com.huawei.vassistant. After reboot, I was able to access Google Assistant using the home button (I still prefer three key navigation). "OK Google" doesn't work on Home screen though.
Make sure push notifications are working
I also noticed I don't receive push notifications most of the time. For example, I have Duo Mobile which is used as an authenticator at work. Having the screen on, I didn't receive the push notification. I had to launch the app manually to see the authentication request. Here is a workaround:
1. Settings -> Apps -> App Launch
2. Find the app you wish to receive push notification
3. Disable auto manage, it will ask you how you want to manage manually, choose Auto-launch and Run in Background at least
Known Issues/Todo list
Here are some of the things that I'm having issue with but haven't figured out a solution yet. Please let me know if you know a solution to any of them:
1. Google Pay Contactless does not work. This is almost a deal breaker. From what I've read, it seems to be just Chinese version doesn't work.
1. LastPass accessibility setting gets reverted to off randomly. This seems to related to when I close all apps using the trashcan button on recent apps screen.
2. Default Assistant app setting mysteriously gets reset to None. Still don't understand why.
3. Text in the notification just look so bad. Also not sure how to tweak that.
4. The security alert for app using microphone keeps popping up in Google Assist and Google Feed. I'm not sure how I should feel about that...
Things I like about this device
1. Chinese version supported dual SIM. I believe the global version does not.
2. photos in low lights are awesome.
3. charging is super fast! I also got the wireless charging thing.
4. I'm happy with its battery performance so far.
5. It's a faster device overall. The games I play run smoother on this phone comparing to Oneplus 5. I understand OP5 is an older phone but that's the only reference point I got.
That's what I had so far. I'm also keeping an eye on the progress of FunkyHuawei Mate 20 Pro support -- I'm looking forward to flash the global version ROM hoping it has better google integration and less chinese-oriented useless "features".
Hope it helps!
Ordering
I ordered the phone from Huawei T Mall store on Nov. 11th. I paid about 1250 CAD through Alipay for the phone and ~ 600 RMB having my friend sending it to me via DHL. I also had to pay some import tax getting it into Canada but it's just bad luck, plus the tax really depends on how much you declare the value to be.
First Impression
I had a Oneplus 5, I like the cleanness of its ROM, it's close to stock android and I was using the Rootless Pixel 2 Launcher which makes it essentially a stock Android device. The Mate 20 Pro is a bit heavier than the Oneplus 5 and it's just slightly bigger.
I started with applying the tempered glass screen protectors I bought also from Taobao when I ordered the phone. Sadly I can't seem to get it in the right place, and it's greatly affecting the screen responsiveness and accuracy. I ended up throwing them away.
Turning it on, and I'm already having issue with the initial setup process. First of all, I was asked to create a Huawei ID. But guess what -- I live in Canada but Canada isn't an available option in the region list, somehow US is. I mean, this phone is not even available in US, why would you provide that as an option but not Canada?
I went ahead choosing US as the region. It asked for phone verification, that worked for me because US and Canada share the same country code.
After that, I uninstall a bunch of pre-installed apps -- they are mostly popular apps in China, plus a few useless utilities made by Huawei. I uninstall about 25 apps during this process.
Then I tried to restore all my apps from the old phone, first step would be getting Google Play Service working. Surprisingly Google Play Service is pre-installed. but I wasn't able to update it through the Huawei App Store, because US Huawei ID apparently is not supported. In fact I can't use any of the pre-installed Huawei apps, they are all blocked. So I deleted my account and created a Chinese one instead.
I was able to access the app store and update Google Play Service, along with Play Store. Google backup apparently didn't work. I ended up using the Huawei "Phone Clone" app to transfer all my stuff to this phone. It does the job pretty well.
Getting third party launcher working on Chinese ROM (If you have a global version then this may not apply to you)
Spent sometime getting all the apps logged in and tweaking settings, I started to look into replacing the stock launcher. But then you can't change launcher on the Chinese rom, so I did some research and here is what I did:
1. Install a third party launcher. I chose Nova Launcher here. Never used it before but Rootless Launcher kept crashing and for Rootless Pixel 2 Launcher, there is an annoying security alert saying "Google is using microphone" that kept popping up.
1. Enable developer mode
2. Enable USB Debug
3. Connect the phone to PC
4. Access ADB shell
5. uninstall stock launch: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.huawei.android.launcher
6. Reboot
A few notes on using this 3rd party launcher hack:
* I also installed the Nova companion app to have Google Feed panel access.
* You need to allow Nova companion to auto-launch in Settings -> Apps -> App Launch, otherwise rebooting the phone will make Google Feed panel disappear.
* If you select gesture navigation in system setting, swiping up from bottom may not work.
Getting Google Assistant to work
The phone has the Huawei voice assistant by default, and changing the default Assistant app to Google doesn't work. The shortcut still only bring up the Huawei voice assistant. The fix is to uninstall the app using the same process above. The package name is com.huawei.vassistant. After reboot, I was able to access Google Assistant using the home button (I still prefer three key navigation). "OK Google" doesn't work on Home screen though.
Make sure push notifications are working
I also noticed I don't receive push notifications most of the time. For example, I have Duo Mobile which is used as an authenticator at work. Having the screen on, I didn't receive the push notification. I had to launch the app manually to see the authentication request. Here is a workaround:
1. Settings -> Apps -> App Launch
2. Find the app you wish to receive push notification
3. Disable auto manage, it will ask you how you want to manage manually, choose Auto-launch and Run in Background at least
Known Issues/Todo list
Here are some of the things that I'm having issue with but haven't figured out a solution yet. Please let me know if you know a solution to any of them:
1. Google Pay Contactless does not work. This is almost a deal breaker. From what I've read, it seems to be just Chinese version doesn't work.
1. LastPass accessibility setting gets reverted to off randomly. This seems to related to when I close all apps using the trashcan button on recent apps screen.
2. Default Assistant app setting mysteriously gets reset to None. Still don't understand why.
3. Text in the notification just look so bad. Also not sure how to tweak that.
4. The security alert for app using microphone keeps popping up in Google Assist and Google Feed. I'm not sure how I should feel about that...
Things I like about this device
1. Chinese version supported dual SIM. I believe the global version does not.
2. photos in low lights are awesome.
3. charging is super fast! I also got the wireless charging thing.
4. I'm happy with its battery performance so far.
5. It's a faster device overall. The games I play run smoother on this phone comparing to Oneplus 5. I understand OP5 is an older phone but that's the only reference point I got.
That's what I had so far. I'm also keeping an eye on the progress of FunkyHuawei Mate 20 Pro support -- I'm looking forward to flash the global version ROM hoping it has better google integration and less chinese-oriented useless "features".
Hope it helps!
