Huawei P50 Pocket - Latest Phone Foldable

The Huawei P50 Pocket is the company's latest foldable, and this one is available globally for the first time. The Pocket, unlike last year's Mate X2, will be marketed outside of China, and its EUR1300 beginning price is almost acceptable, plus it's the other type of form factor that you might also call tiny.

The Pocket gets a Snapdragon 888 chipset as part of the high-end P50 series, but without 5G support due to the US-China trade war that has been dragging Huawei's smartphone industry down for more than three years. The Pocket seems solid on the essentials, with a base configuration of 256GB and 8GB of RAM (512GB/12GB is also available). And it has an external memory slot, albeit NanoMemory.

1- specs at a glance:

• Body: 170.0x75.5x7.2mm, 190g; glass back, aluminum frame.
• Display: 6.90" Foldable OLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 1188x2790px resolution, 21(-ish):9 aspect ratio, 442ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 4G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz, Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680).
• Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM.
• OS/Software: HarmonyOS 2.0 (China), EMUI 12 (Europe), no Google Play Services.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 40 MP, f/1.8, Laser AF; Ultra wide-angle: 13 MP, f/2.2, 120˚, AF.
• Front camera: 10.7 MP, f/2.2, (ultrawide).
• Video capture: 
• Rear camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/120/240fps, gyro-EIS.
• Front camera: 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240fps.
• Battery: 4000mAh.
• Fast charging 40W, Reverse charging 5W.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (side-mounted); NFC; UV illuminator.

Promises Faster Wired Charging Despite Bigger Battery, Wireless Charging Or Banned On Huawei.

There's also the issue of Huawei phones not having Google Play services, so the Pocket will have to be very convincing in other areas to compensate.

2- unboxing:

The components in the box help a little, as it's a more comprehensive package than the Galaxy's cable-only version. This proprietary charging mechanism still relies on USB-A on the brick end, so we ordered a 40W Huawei SuperCharge converter and USB-A-to-C cable to go with it.

A two-piece protective cover is also supplied, featuring adhesive strips around the side borders to keep it fastened to the phone. The metallic-looking shape echoes the phone's frame, while the clear back panels show off the textured glass.

3- Design:

The Huawei P50 Pocket in the hero Premium Edition livery with golden-colored embellished glass panels has most likely been seen online. That wasn't the one that showed up on our doorstep, but after a brief period of disappointment, we began to love our white unit's more understated design.

The Pocket, though, is anything but ordinary, even in this more constrained garb. It almost feels redundant to say that about a foldable phone, but this one stands out even among foldable ones.

The two circular islands on the top half of the phone, as well as the different finishes on the panels, ensure that the Pocket stands out. If you want a more modest flat shell with a screen that still folds in half on the inside, the black edition, if available in your market, maybe just the appropriate understated flat shell with a screen that still folds in half on the inside.

Because of the Pocket's, unique bending mechanism, it can essentially close tight, leaving no gap between the two pieces. That is, no visible gap between the frame and the display, but there is some air between the two sections - which, of course, you want to avoid hurting.

With its non-parallel sides and 2mm gap at the hinge end, the Flip seems nearly like an early prototype design when compared to the Pocket.

4- battery life:

The P50 Pocket has a 4,000mAh battery, which may not seem like much for a 6.9-inch phone, but it's significantly more than the Galaxy Z Flip3 (3,300mAh). Meanwhile, the P50 Pro adds a tiny boost to the Pocket's battery capacity, increasing it to 4,360mAh, which isn't a huge figure among its peers.

Despite the Pocket's rather large cell, we found the phone to be underwhelming. 

In the movie playing test (at 60Hz, as expected), we got 11:04 hours, but only 9 hours of web browsing via Wi-Fi (that, too, at 60Hz because the HRR logic blacklisted our testing software). 

In this situation, 23 hours of voice call time is quite adequate.

The Endurance rating of the P50 Pocket is therefore calculated to be 66 hours.

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EMUI 12 with Android 11 core:

In Europe, the P50 family including the Pocket is said to operate on EMUI 12, and in China, Harmony OS 2.0. 

The difference could be confined to pre-installed programs and utilities, but we don't know for sure. However, here is how our European EMUI 12 version looks.

EMUI 12 On the P50 Pocket (left) and P50 Pro.

For starters, EMUI 12 acknowledges that it is based on Android 11, but it lacks Google Services and the associated Google applications suite. Instead, Huawei's Petal Search and Petal Maps, Huawei's services as part of HMS Core, and the AppGallery app store are used in EMUI 12.

But, before we get into the features that are shared by all EMUI 12 devices, let's have a look at what makes the Pocket unique. For starters, it offers a Super Privacy mode that, when enabled, limits access to the camera, microphone, and location services.

5- Performance:

Thermal management is an issue with the P50 Pocket in particular. If placed on a table to run Antutu, the phone would last little more than two or three runs before overheating and aborting the test.

If we ran the CPU Stress test benchmark in a similar environment, we'd see drops in performance as low as 30% approximately 20 minutes into the test, followed by spikes to near peak levels, and so on for the rest of the one hour run. To be fair, if we maintained the phone upright (with its back against nothing), it might be able to sustain roughly 85% of its peak performance. On the other hand, if you're holding it in your hands instead, you're not going to help it much.

This somewhat wobbly behavior will allow higher temperatures for longer but will drop sharply when it reaches the cut-off point, which is a feature of Performance Mode. 

Outside of that mode, the phone will throttle at lower temperatures but maintain a more steady performance output, even if it is lower than the high points of the Performance mode.

6- Two plus one camera on the back, 10.7MP selfies inside:

With a Quad Bayer main unit and a standard ultrawide, we may argue that the P50 Pocket, has a standard camera system. Furthermore, it uses a 32MP camera for its main party trick function, the Sunscreen Test, which we didn't find to be used for anything else. 

However, it comes with a built-in UV light that allows for a couple more party tricks, this time including the main camera. 

Fans of the German optical glass company will be disappointed that there are no Leica labels on this phone. We're guessing that the two companies' collaboration is limited to the P50 Pro.

The primary camera employs a Quad Bayer-type sensor with a nominal resolution of 40MP and a default resolution of 10MP. Huawei's specs pages are sparse, and they don't specify anything other than the f/1.8 aperture, but based on prior Huawei implementations, it should be a 1/1.7" imager with a 27mm equivalent focal length. There's also a laser autopilot on board.

7- Pros and Cons:

Pros:

• Foldables are always eye-catching, but this one appears to be considerably more so.
• Fits in tighter pockets than other foldable since it folds without a gap.
• The inner monitor is excellent in every way, while the exterior display provides additional capabilities.
• Charging is quite quick.
• The UV light gives amazing photo chances on its own, and the sunscreen test feature can be handy for the right consumer.
• When using the back cameras and external display, the main camera is excellent, the ultrawide is decent, and the selfie-shooting potential is excellent.
• Even without Google, EMUI 12 is pretty capable.
• Other Huawei devices work and communicate properly with it.

Cons:

• If you worry about that, there is no IP rating, and it does not desire to stay open at odd angles.
• In the grand scope of things, the battery life is unimpressive, but it's not bad for a foldable.
• The speakers aren't loud enough.
• There are no Google services available.
• There aren't many HDR-compatible apps if any at all.
• There will be no 5G.
• Under constant load, there is a proclivity to throttle hard.
• The portrait mode is unreliable, and the internal camera quality is mediocre.

8- Competition:

When it comes to forming factors alone, the Huawei P50 Pocket has only one obvious competitor: the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G. On its own merits, the Flip has an IPX8 rating for added security, all of Google's apps and services, a brighter display that can display HDR content from both sides, and louder speakers.

The Pocket, on the other hand, is superior in several areas, most notably in the camera sector, where it appears to be the better choice all around. 

The UV light not only allows for amusing photo experiments but also serves as a unique and possibly useful sunscreen test. Huawei's charging is also much faster, and it includes the option of memory extension if you still want it. 

We'd also argue that it's the more stylish and refined of the two devices.

Conclusion:

The P50 Pocket, like the Galaxy Z Flip series, is a half-phone-to-full-phone foldable, leaving the tablet-sized Mate X2 for those with wider pockets (and access to the Chinese market). When folded, the Pocket is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, but it opens up to expose a large 6.9-inch OLED display on the inside, making it somewhat larger than the Flip. It's also a little heavier, but it comes with a bigger battery to compensate.

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