Reviews

Huawei P30 Lite Review: Best midrange smartphone available?

Not a far cry from its more premium counterparts

Published

May 6, 2019

Gab Orlina

If you’ve been living under a rock these past few months, Huawei is basically killing it with smartphone release, after smartphone release. Of course, there are the other issues they’re dealing with, but with smartphones, the Chinese giant keeps it coming.

So, when the company announced their newest flagship lineup, the P30 series, I was excited to see what was in store. Until, I was hit with the harsh reality of their prices.

Then comes the Huawei P30 Lite, the more budget-friendly option in the series. The device packs a punch with a powerful chipset, the latest EMUI, and a triple-camera setup similar to the more premium variants. But, can the Huawei P30 Lite truly compete with the best of them for its value?

It has a 6.15-inch IPS display with a dewdrop notch

At the bottom, there’s a USB-C port and headphone jack

The glass back has the triple-camera setup and a fingerprint sensor

Premium performance across the board

The Huawei P30 Lite was a thrill to use as a daily driver. I felt how fast the device was, mostly because of its Kirin 710 processor and 6GB of RAM. Apps opened without a hitch almost all the time, except obviously when I opened too many apps at once. EMUI 9.0 was fairly easy to navigate around, and Android gestures worked perfectly.

Gaming on the P30 Lite was superb and fast, thanks to GPU Turbo 2.0. Everybody’s favorite mobile game Mobile Legend ran with almost no lag whatsoever. Other games worked just as fine with GPU Turbo on, so the mobile gaming experience is as good as can be at this price point.

I felt that the device’s battery life was almost excellent. I got through almost an entire day from one full charge, mostly surfing the web, social media, YouTube, a little bit of gaming, and listening to music. Heavy gaming on the phone cuts that time by nearly half, but it’s still pretty solid for a 3340mAh battery. Because of fast charging from the USB-C port, one full charge took about two hours.

Built well, but be careful with it

Here’s the thing: I love the glass back of this phone. From afar, it doesn’t seem to be a total fingerprint magnet so I can easily vouch for it. But if I were you, I’d recommend a case on this phone at all costs. I can’t count how many times the phone slipped off any type of surface I put it on. Still, I didn’t see a single scratch on the device.

Also, the phone’s display was hypersensitive to human touch without a case on. Despite that, I’m surprised how bright the display is under direct sunlight at full brightness for an LCD panel. Colors are pretty accurate, especially while watching HD videos on YouTube in the open sun.

With the SIM card tray slot placement, I liked that it was on top rather than on the side of the phone, especially when you have a phone case that covers only the sides. Also, the phone does tend to get hot even with regular use, especially if you’re not in a well-cooled place.

The four cameras are great for a midrange device

I honestly think that the cameras performed better than expected out of a midrange smartphone. Of course, I found some features of the cameras that did disappoint me. For starters, the ultra-wide-angle lens didn’t seem to get clear details properly. It had some potential, but viewing the images simply wasn’t satisfying.

: Photo Mode, AI Mode on

: Wide Angle, AI Mode off

: Wide Angle, AI Mode on

: Night Mode

: Pro Mode

Second: I really think Huawei should start fixing the integration of AR Emoji into the camera. When it first came out, I really thought it had a slight chance of trumping Apple’s Memoji. Sadly, even a 32 megapixel front camera wasn’t fully capable enough to handle AR Emoji for this device. Facial recognition took forever to properly calibrate, and emoji responded a bit late to facial movements.

I can definitely say, however, that the great features ultimately outweigh these missed opportunities. First, I applaud the night mode of this triple-camera setup. Of course, it took some practice for me to properly take good pictures in the dark with night mode. I didn’t expect the colors to be super accurate, but the pictures came out beautifully on my end.

: Photo Mode, AI Mode off

: Photo Mode, AI Mode on (focused on plants)

Secondly, the front camera has great selfie quality. Even with beautification at zero or adjusted to the maximum, face detection is accurate and images are bright. The AI lens was a bit of a struggle to work with depending on what object the camera was focusing on. Even so, details for me were clear and distinct, and the colors were accurate.

Is this your GadgetMatch?

At PhP 16,999 for the variant reviewed here or INR 19,990 for the lower-end model in India, the Huawei P30 Lite brings a premium feel to the midrange line. A packaged deal of a powerful chipset matched with a quick and responsive UI is really all you could ask for.

You can maximize this phone to its fullest extent, from browsing on the internet to watching videos and playing games on it. In addition, the device looks and feels premium in terms of build quality.

The real star of the device is its set of cameras. It has its hiccups, but overall it really gets the job done in terms of detail and color accuracy. You can even take an amazing photo of the stars with night mode.

The Huawei P30 Lite brings the premium finish to the midrange game. If you want a taste of what premium feels like while on a budget, this phone definitely won’t disappoint.

Laptops

Apple M2 Max MacBook Pro 16-inch Review: Four months later

Insanely Powerful!

Published

June 5, 2023

GadgetMatch

Apple silently revealed the revamped M2 Pro and M2 Max-powered MacBook Pros just last January 2023.

While the design isn’t any different from its predecessors, it promises significant boosts in performance.

However, this isn’t meant for those who already owned the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pros launched in 2021.

Spoiler alert: This is a huge upgrade from the 16-inch Intel Core i9 MacBook Pro from 2019.

But would you compromise the portability of the 14-inch version over a bigger screen and battery?

Watch our review of the new M2 Max 16-inch MacBook Pro, four months later.

Features

How well do PlayStation games run on the ROG Ally?

Spoiler: Pretty good

Published

May 29, 2023

Rodneil Quiteles

The ROG Ally has caused quite a buzz in the gaming community at large. Personally, I’m thrilled at the prospect of owning a handheld gaming PC/console to play games I otherwise would not have access to. I mainly play on my PlayStation 5 (PS5). Naturally, I was curious how some of my favorite games will run on the ROG Ally.

Things are promising on paper. The ROG Ally is built to be able to run AAA titles. Here’s a quick look at the specs of the unit we had for recap:

Model	RC71L
CPU	AMD Ryzen™ Z1 Extreme Processor 4nm Zen 4/ 8 core & 16 threads 24M cache CPU Clock: up to 5.10 Ghz TDP: 9 – 30 watts
GPU	With AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme Config: AMD Radeon™ Graphics RDNA3 & 4G RAM capacity / 8.6 TFlops 12 CU GPU Clock: 2.7GHz
Panel	Full HD (1920 x 1080), 120 Hz / 7 ms eDP1.4b, 500 nits, IPS-panel, 100% sRGB, FreeSync™ Premium, Gorilla® Glass Victus™ and Gorilla® Glass DXC, 10-point Touchscreen Gyro support
Memory	16GB (LPDDR5 6400Mhz) dual channel LPDDR5 8GBx2 on board memory
Audio	2 x 1W speakers with smart amp technology, Dolby Atmos®, Hi-Res Audio, AI Noise Cancellation
Wi-Fi / Bluetooth	WiFi 6E (802.11ax) / Bluetooth® v5.2
Storage	512GB (for Z1 Extreme config) +SD card slot UHS-2
I/O PORT	ROG XG Mobile interface (8PCI express lanes) and USB Type-C combo port (with USB 3.2 Gen2, DP 1.4 support) — (1x) 3.5mm Audio jack — (1x) Micro SD slot (UHS-II, Micro SD 4.0) — (1x)
Battery	40Wh
Adapter	65W PD adapter, supports pass through charging
Dimensions	280.44 * 111.18 * 21.22 mm 608g

PlayStation Studios on PC

PlayStation, in the past couple of years, has decided to spread the love and let PC players experience some of the best they have to offer. Currently, there are 12 PlayStation exclusive titles playable on PC. And they’re available on either Steam or the Epic Games Store.

In case you’re curious the available games are as follows:

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
God of War (2018)
Uncharted: The Legacy of Thieves Collection
Destiny 2: Lightfall
Horizon: Zero Dawn
Returnal
Days Gone
HELLDIVERS
Predator Hunting Grounds
Sackboy: A big Adventure
The Last of Us Part 1

PlayStation Asia was kind enough to give us codes for three of the 12 titles now available on PC. Here’s how they ran on the ROG Ally.

Quick note: I played on Performance mode with brightness hovering at around 50-55% indoors in an air conditioned room.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered

Marvel’s Spider-Man, along with NBA 2K, is my comfort game. Whenever I feel frustrated or just having a bad day, I fire up either game. On Spider-Man, I just swing aimlessly around the digital Manhattan that Insomniac built.

It was such a delight to learn that I can do this on the go now too with Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered playing pretty darn well on the ROG Ally.

I had the framerate limiter turned on, maxing out at 60. Despite that, I only reached a max of 31 fps with dips to as low as 15. It looks bad on paper, but is much more tolerable during actual gameplay. The dips usually happened during cutscenes. Majority of the gameplay hovered around 25-30 fps.

I knew it was never gonna reach the level of detail and smoothness that I get on the PS5 and LG C2 combo that I usually play on. There was plenty of noticeable stuttering especially during the busier sections of the game. But I didn’t think any of it was game breaking.

Audio wasn’t as loud as I hoped it would be despite me playing in a pretty quiet room. I opted to pair it with Bluetooth earbuds (OnePlus Buds Pro 2) to get the most of the audio. There were no audio delays whatsoever which was a very welcome development.

My average play time was about one hour and 20 minutes. That’s with the battery going from 100% to 20% each time.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

Coming from the same Studio and pretty much being essentially the same game, Spider-Man: Miles Morales didn’t run too differently from Spider-Man Remastered.

I played in the exact same conditions: Indoor room, AC on, started at 100%, performance mode, and medium brightness settings. Curiously, the frame dips happened more during open-world swinging and not as much during cutscenes. This could be because of the busier version of New York due to the events of the game being set during the Christmas season.

But the numbers weren’t too different. I still maxed at 31 fps, with most of the gameplay hovering around 25-30 fps, and the lowest dip coming in at 16fps.

Again, nothing game breaking and it is much more tolerable during gameplay. Naturally, you have to have your expectations set properly. The ROG Ally is, after all, a handheld gaming PC.

Average play time is around one hour and 25 minutes with about 75% to 80% of the battery life being consumed.

Returnal

Returnal is one of the titles I was most excited to try. I was curious about how the audio and controller rumble would translate to the ROG Ally. On the PS5, Audio and DualSense implementation are two of the game’s many strengths.

Due to audio cues on enemies’ locations, this game is best played with earbuds/headphones on. The experience on the ROG Ally isn’t quite 3D Audio on PS5 levels, but it’s as close as it gets.

The same can be said for the controller rumble. It’s not as precise nor finely implemented as the DualSense – that’s a unique feature after all. However, I was still thoroughly impressed with how the ROG Ally implemented rumble in certain sections of the game. The rumble effect is also a testament to how well-built the Ally is. Despite the internals shaking, the Ally never felt brittle nor that it would suddenly come apart.

Knowing this is a shooter game, I turned the framerate limiter off and reached highs of 115 fps. The framerate did dip to as low as 15 fps which is about the widest variance I got from any game I played using the Ally. This did affect gameplay especially during sections where I had to deal with multiple enemies.

I did experience plenty of crashes which isn’t ideal for a game like Returnal whose progress relies on you surviving as long as you can on a single run through. But this only happened during the first few minutes. After a while, it seemed like the ROG Ally had adjusted to the performance-demands of the game.

It took about an hour and 10 minutes before I had to plug-in the Ally to not lose a playthrough.

Remote Play?

Since the ROG Ally is essentially a handheld gaming PC, you can certainly install the Remote Play app on it. However, you can’t just immediately use the gamepad. To play Horizon: Forbidden West, and generally just run the app, I had to pair the Ally with my DualSense controller.

You can map the gamepad so that it works but mapping isn’t an activity I enjoy nor did I have the time (I had to return the review unit) to do it. Other reviewers pointed to using a third-party app called Chiaki. But again, I didn’t have time to test it. I did see gameplay of it though so it seems to be working just fine.

Knowing that you can do all these on the Ally actually makes you question the upcoming PlayStation Q handheld. Sure, the integration will likely be seamless. But its core function can already be replicated on other handhelds and handheld-like devices. I digress.

It’s worth noting that the relatively smooth experience I had with the ROG Ally was also aided by an internet connection that constantly hovers in the 250+ mbps range along with a Wi-Fi 6 router.

The ROG Ally is PlayStation friendly

If you want to know what it’s like playing PlayStation 5 games on a handheld device, the ROG Ally is easily one of the best devices to play with. The gameplay isn’t quite as smooth but you shouldn’t expect it to be. And yes, you’ll find yourself reaching for the power adapter after a little over an hour of playthrough. But being able to play AAA titles on a handheld device still feels crazy to me.

Having started gaming on a family computer and covering tech for a living, it’s still mind-blowing to me how far technology has come. The stuff I only dreamed of as a little fat gamer is coming true thanks to the ROG Ally and its contemporaries.

The ROG Ally Z1 Extreme retails for US$ 699. The ROG Ally Z1 variant retails for US$ 599. Pre-orders begin on May 11. It will be available for sale worldwide on June 13, 2023.