After Huawei’s Mate 20 Pro launch this week, we had the opportunity to take Huawei’s new phone out and about around London, including a river cruise with a difference.
Usually, if you cruise the Thames, you’ll do so in a slow, leisurely fashion, which I’m sure must be fun. We didn’t do this; instead, we boarded a jet boat and raced down the Thames in drenching rain, across choppy water and – frankly – the freezing cold.
This seemed like the perfect environment in which to hold up an expensive brand new smartphone, risk losing it into the murky waters, all in the name of seeing how the camera performed.
I mean, what could go wrong?
The short answer is nothing, really. Considering the difficult environment, not only did the Mate 20 Pro capture a fairly immersive video, but we also captured a number of photographs while smashing down the Thames which – though risky – demonstrates the AI capabilities in stabilising photos in the most inhospitable environments.
While some of these photos turned out less than brilliantly, most of them were perfectly serviceable, and it pays to remember these were shot (a) from a moving boat (b) in appalling weather and (c) with water all over the phone, screen, and myself.
A lot of fun, but also a rather unique way to really put a new camera-phone through its paces.
Chris travelled to London as Huawei’s guest for the launch of the Mate 20 Pro.
Thank you for the samples. Great to see mate 20 pro’s camera in action in these harsh situations. Your hands-on impression made me cancelled my pixel 3xl pre order at JB. The versatility of mate 20 pro’s cameras really amazes me, and one of my largest gripe about Huawei’s image processing – plastic doll selfies – seems to be solved and looks pretty fine too.