P30 Pro remains one of the best Android smartphones on the market (Image: Express Newspapers • Huawei)
P30 Pro remains one of the best Android smartphones on the market for its great hardware – the phone comes with arguably the most capable camera system on any device, delivers commendable battery life and boasts an eye-catching design.
Huawei is making the P30 Pro more affordable than ever with a new deal that is giving customers £100 cashback when they buy one.
This effectively cuts the price of the device down to around £799 at most UK retailers honouring the discount.
Here is a full list of P30 Pro offers Huawei fans can take advantage of right now:
• Huawei P30 Pro, black, 128GB – £899.95 with £100 claimable cashback GET THE DEAL HERE
• Huawei P30 Pro, breathing crystal, 128GB – £899.95 with £100 claimable cashback GET THE DEAL HERE
• Huawei P30 Pro, aurora, 128GB – £899.95 with £100 claimable cashback GET THE DEAL HERE
• Huawei P30 Pro, amber sunrise, 512GB – £1,099.95 with £100 claimable cashback GET THE DEAL HERE
While the P30 Pro is renowned for its hardware, the Huawei software it runs is also notable.
P30 Pro arrives pre-installed with Huawei’s EMUI 9.1 skin based on Google’s Android 9 Pie operating system.
Huawei has exponentially improved its smartphone software in recent years – Express.co.uk believes EMUI 9.1 offers one of the best Android experiences around thanks to its stream of useful features and intuitive interface.
Huawei is not settling with its skin though – the tech powerhouse recently revealed a new version of EMUI at its scheduled developer conference in the industrial Chinese city of Dongguan.
Dubbed EMUI 10, the new software is based on Google’s forthcoming Android Q and boasts a cavalcade of radical improvements when compared to its predecessor.
Express.co.uk attended Huawei’s recent showcase and was able to test out EMUI 10 running on a P30 Pro – here are its best features.
1 – A refined aesthetic
Huawei has given EMUI the tagline “beyond the beauty” and it’s evident the firm wants to make its newest software very easy on the eyes.
One of the most fundamental changes to EMUI 10 comes with what Huawei calls a “magazine style layout” that attempts to deliver greater amounts of free space within native apps to allow for easier navigation.
During Express.co.uk’s testing it seems as though this philosophy has resulted in app content being spread out across a device’s display to a greater degree than ever before.
Huawei has also been very smart about the placement of certain functions within apps – EMUI 10 appears to make it easier to use larger devices with one hand by placing useful features towards the bottom of a handset’s panel rather than at the top.
Such a move is similar to Samsung’s One UI Android overlay that released towards the end of 2018.
Huawei has also attempted to make EMUI more natural to navigate – when a user taps an app, the button in question will deliver an animation mimicking a physical press.
Huawei is adding 3D Touch-like functionality to its smartphone software (Image: Express Newspapers)
This in particular is a subtle change but was certainly appreciated during this publication’s testing.
Huawei is also allowing users to adjust their always-on-display (AOD) with a much greater degree of customisation, too.
With EMUI 10, users will be able to add clock faces and pictures to their AOD – something that has been available on Samsung devices for some time.
Huawei has also declared it will be launching an AOD market that will allow fans to download designs from developers.
EMUI 10 also totes a number of nuanced alterations that, when combined, refine the skin immensely.
When the phone displays the time, the colour of the numbers exhibited will now reflect the time of day for example.
Finally, Huawei is also adding 3D Touch-like functionality to its smartphone software.
Now, when a user presses on an app icon with more force than normal, a list of functions will appear allowing them to quickly skip to certain functions.
For instance, if a user performs this action on Huawei’s Settings app, they will be presented with buttons allowing them to quickly adjust Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile data and more.
Huawei has been very smart about the placement of certain functions within apps (Image: Express Newspapers)
2 – Dark Mode is better than ever before
Huawei recognised the popularity of operating system Dark Modes early on – the firm debuted such a function in its Mate 20 Pro handset that launched running Android 9 Pie back in October of 2018.
The Chinese tech company is upping the ante of its popular theme with EMUI 10 – the firm is now making it easier for users to turn off the lights in third-party apps.
Huawei stated it has created a new system that will automatically adjust third-party programmes to ensure they harness a Dark Mode.
Unfortunately Express.co.uk was unable to test this feature out – however this publication remains excited at the possibility of enabling the popular theme in more apps.
However, this outlet can confirm Huawei’s smartphone Dark Mode looks much better in EMUI 10 – the theme seems optimised in a greater capacity rather than simply inverting colours as seemed to be the case with EMUI 9.0.
3 – The app drawer Android fans have been waiting for
Android is renowned for its app drawer that provides access to the user’s suite of applications in alphabetical order.
On Google Pixel devices, and various smartphones from other OEMs, this menu is accessed by swiping all the way up on a device’s display from the home screen.
However, until now Huawei’s app drawer approach had been slightly different – the tech giant had made users press a button located on the device’s home screen to access it instead.
In EMUI 10 though, the Chinese firm is allowing fans to summon the app drawer in the way Google intended.
While this may seem like a small tweak, it allows the user to access their array of programmes with the flick of a finger and also frees up space on the home screen.
Huawei has declared EMUI 10 will release in beta for the P30 Pro on September 8 (Image: Huawei)
4 – Giving the best camera hardware better software
EMUI 10 dramatically alters the aesthetic of the camera application on Huawei devices.
The programme has been granted a simplified layout that harnesses almost entirely black and white colours with touches of red.
The app makes it easier for individuals to know which mode they have selected – large text highlighting a particular option will be shown after it has been chosen.
Arguably the biggest addition to the camera app comes from increased photo colour options that can be accessed at the top of a device.
Previously, Huawei’s software had only allowed users to choose between “Standard”, “Vivid” and “Smooth” colour modes.
Huawei’s camera app in EMUI expands the options available in this regard – now users are able to choose from a number of new Leica-branded selections in addition to more established ones like monochrome.
EMUI 10 dramatically alters the aesthetic of the camera application on Huawei devices (Image: Express Newspapers)
5 – All the new features of Android Q
EMUI 10 is based on Android Q and is therefore anticipated to come with a number of new features Google has already confirmed will debut in the new operating system.
That means Huawei fans should benefit from improved notifications, permissions that give greater control over how important information is collected and refined gestures.
During a briefing with Huawei after its Developer Conference, the firm stated EMUI 10 will adopt the new gestures Google has already outlined for its new operating system that ditch Android’s traditional back button in favour of a swipe from the side of a phone’s display.
Similar navigations are already present in Huawei’s current EMUI software – however those available in Android Q should refine them by ensuring a back swipe does not clash with an application’s side menu for instance.
Huawei P30 Pro EMUI 10 release date
Huawei has declared EMUI 10 will release in beta for the P30 Pro on September 8, however it is currently unknown when the new software will arrive in full.
The Chinese firm stated its Mate 20 series will receive EMUI 10 “later on”.
As is the case with all early software versions, it is advised the EMUI 10 beta is not installed on a user’s primary device.
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