Let’s start this review by reminding you that Google is restricting Android access to Huawei and Honor  devices . We do not yet know what direction this restriction will take, even towards the new P30 Lite , fortunately the Chinese company has promised that existing devices will continue to receive security updates.

Packaging

The usual box of Huawei devices contains a 9V / 2A power supply , some medium quality earphones and a USB / USB-C cable . The only real absence that could be felt is the insertion of a standard cover, given the “natural” protrusion of the device’s camera.

Design

Fortunately, the Chinese company has decided not to retouch the aesthetics of the new Huawei P30 Lite  too much compared to its older brothers. For this reason, the design of the phone remains faithful to the P30 series of phones,something quite different from its predecessors. Among the mid-range devices this is one of the most visually beautiful: despite having a plastic body, the painting and its features are well done, so much so that it could be mistaken for real metal. Thanks to its non-bloated measures and its low weight, it is easy to hold and to use quickly. The iridescent colors of this device then give a truly stunning finish, which could easily disguise your mid-range phone with a top-of-the-range one. As we mentioned above, the only real drawback of the design is the protrusion of the camera, which certainly does not allow the P30 Lite to be easily placed on a flat surface.

Unfortunately and we still don’t understand why the fingerprint reader for secure unlocking of the device is not positioned on the front of the phone, but on the back. The use is not easy, but fortunately we can use the face unlock, faster and more intuitive. Otherwise, the phone remains fairly common to everyone else, with the power and volume buttons positioned on the right side, the speaker grille, and a 3.5mm headphone jack at the bottom. Last detail not to be underestimated is that the P30 Lite does not mount a Gorilla Glass, so the screen can be fragile and less resistant, however the company has decided to mount a pre-installed screen protector, which should protect it from scratches and small falls.

Technical specifications

Camera

The new mid-range device of the Chinese company is certainly equipped with a really interesting photographic sector. Generally the Lite class of smartphones has quite common features when it comes to screens, charging types and cameras, but the P30 Lite is equipped with a triple rear camera.

The main camera has a 48 megapixel sensor, with an aperture of f / 1.8, reinforced by an ultra-wide 8 mega pixel lens, with the latest 2 megapixel depth sensing sensor. If this device has a nice ” rear ” we tell you right away that even the front is not far behind, because well hidden in the hollow of the front of the phone, we find a 24 megapixel sensor with an f / 2.0 aperture.

These sensors give the P30 Lite a really good photo quality. Your photos will be full of detail, colors are captured accurately, and even in low light the photos are able to maintain high quality. Unfortunately, the phone’s automatic shooting mode limits us to 12 megapixel shots, an annoying trend of Huawei devices, since if we want to increase the quality of our images we would lose the help of the software. As with other Huawei smartphones , we can have fun with a long list of shooting modes, among which we point out the time-lapse mode and the vertical one.

Display

One of the best features of Huawei phones is the circular notch drop, which is elegantly hidden in the upper part of the display, which fortunately is not lacking in the P30 Lite . Too bad that unlike its high-end siblings, this device is equipped with a 6.15-inch screen with 2,312 x 1,080 resolution, but which uses a regular LCD panel instead of the best OLED .

Obviously we must also contextualize the choice not to use an OLED screen at the price of the device, which as far as we are concerned is still a good compromise. Users can choose to use a “vivid” or “normal” color mode that manages to cover 93% of the sRGB color gamut. In the end, what really matters is being able to use your device even in sunlight, and all in all the P30 Lite succeeds in this feat.

Software

The software is the sore point for the Chinese company. Despite Google ‘s restrictions , this device is equipped with Android 9.0 Pie with EMUI 9.0.1. In this respect, the device is not in a bad way, it is equipped with a consolidated operating system that maintains the standard, even if the graphic aspect has not been changed at all. We will therefore find all the classic features of Huawei, such as the phone manager, “digital management”, and other small features to make everything more customizable.

Autonomy 

The P30 Lite has a 3340 mAh battery , which guarantees users a considerable prolonged continuous use, arriving at the end of the day with a lot of peace of mind. Obviously, the heavier the performance required of our device, the more the battery decreases in longevity, which is why it is not a phone suitable for use in games. Recharging it will not be a big problem, because thanks to the 18W power supply it will take about 2 hours.

Price

The starting price of the P30 Lite is 369 € . This is news that reassures us a lot, because last year the P20 Lite cost exactly like this. We must say that the price seems balanced and adequate to the device, even if the more we go up with the prices, the more the competition becomes fierce. In this price range, users can also consider cheaper alternatives such as  Xiaomi ‘s Pocophone F1 and  Sony Xperia 10 Plus.