Huawei and Google are now separated at home. On the one hand the new smartphones of the Chinese house, like this P40 Lite, arrive in Italy with Huawei Mobile Services and a new software ecosystemon the other the "old products", but still very valid, can count on Google services and will continue to do so. A market distortion caused by Trump's ban on Huawei and which has not yet been resolved.
The strength of the numbers, however, is on the side of Huawei, the world's second largest Android smartphone maker, who would almost certainly have become the first without the American blockade. If there is a reality of the smartphone market capable of creating an alternative to Google and iOS, that is Huawei, which is putting in place huge resources to convince app developers to land on AppGallery, an alternative to the Google Play Store. It will take time, that's for sure, but Huawei has everything to overcome this huge challenge. In the meantime, new applications arrive every week on AppGallery, we don't know how the situation will be in a few months, for now we can only evaluate the P40 Lite for what it is possible to do today.
Design
Huawei P40 Lite takes up many of the stylistic traits seen in the current smartphone market, however applying some compromise in materials. The dimensions are generous, with a height of 159.2 mm, a width of 76.3 mm and a thickness of 8.7 mm, for a weight of 183 grams approximately. The weight is lower than other similar smartphones, also because polycarbonate is used for the construction, with the exception of the screen glass. Despite the use of plastic, the difference is not so marked to the touch, certainly the advantages in weight reduction outweigh the disadvantages of using less noble materials.
We do not find the fingerprint reader under the screen, being an LCD it was not possible unfortunately, Huawei has placed it in the right edge, at the power button. The detection speed is very good, above average, and its accuracy, traditional fingerprint readers in this respect have not yet been exceeded.
Also on the right edge is the volume rocker, while in the left one we find the SIM slot, which can also be used with a single SIM and a NM Card memory card, Huawei's proprietary standard. In the lower edge you can see the system speaker, the USB Type C and the headphone jack, an element that is not at all obvious and increasingly difficult to find today.
The back of the smartphone does not offer particular details, it is now really difficult to differentiate the design of the phones. In the P40 Lite there are two differentiating elements, the color (available in black, green and pink) and the square photographic module at the top left, which protrudes slightly from the body. On the front, however, we note the good work of reducing the screen frames, which are seen but are thin, and the hole for the camera in the upper left corner.
Overall Huawei has done a good job, especially the audio jack will be appreciated by those who have not yet converted to wireless headphones.
Technical specifications, battery, camera and price
Huawei has updated the P40 Lite to today's standards, equipping it with a processor Kirin 810 Octa Core, with 7 nm production process. The GPU is a Mali G52, then we find 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. This configuration allows an always fluid use of the phone, which has no problems in this respect. As always when it comes to Huawei connectivity is complete and includes LTE, Dual Band Wi-Fi, NFC and Bluetooth 5.0.
The display is 6.4 inches with LCD panel and Full HD resolution, with a definition of 398 PPI. The performance of this screen is good, there is not much lack of an AMOLED, which would have given something more in contrast anyway. The maximum brightness is discreet for outdoor use but we have seen better, even in the price range in which the P40 Lite is offered, which costs € 299. Recall that at the moment the offer is active which provides, with the purchase of the phone, the excellent Huawei FreeBuds 3 as a gift, wireless headphones worth about € 140.
The battery is 4200 mAh, a data that, associated with this hardware and the absence of Google Play Services, makes the P40 Lite one of the best smartphones that you can buy on the autonomy front. With an average use, reaching two days without recharging is easy, Huawei's smartphone is a real security in this respect.
On the photographic front, Huawei has done a decent job, installing four cameras on the P40 Lite. The main one is from 48 Megapixel with f / 1.8 aperture and electronic stabilization. We then find an 8 Megapixel Ultra Wide sensor with f / 2.4 aperture and two 2 Megapixel sensors, the first for macro shots and the second for measuring depth of field. Huawei could have dared more on the photographic sector to make this P40 Lite more attractive but preferred a more standard approach. Let me be clear, the shots are of good quality and easy to obtain, it is in the night performance that the sensors show some uncertainty. However, it is difficult to be disappointed by the photos taken by this phone, perfectly in line with other smartphones in the same price range.
Software
Huawei P40 Lite marks a turning point for the Chinese home, being the first medium-low end smartphone to arrive in Italy without Google services. From this moment begins a very important path, whose goal is to bring as many applications to the AppGallery in the shortest possible time.
While it may seem strange, not everyone is related to the Google ecosystem, not everyone uses Gmail and not everyone needs tons of applications to install. Not all of them, but many do. So if you buy a P40 Lite, you have to be aware of the limits that can be encountered.
In our test we have adopted an approach that only involves the use of legal systems to install applications and above all simple ones, which do not require specific skills and which can be used by all types of users, even those who are less experienced. Needless to say, by installing apk downloaded from the web the app park increases dramatically, the phone performs a check to verify its safety but a minimum of risk, especially for less experienced users, there is always.
Our software supply sources are therefore AppGallery, Amazon AppStore and the apk downloaded directly from the developer portals (as in the case of WhatsApp for example). There would also be TrovaApp, which allows you to download apk from the main services that make Android applications available, such as APKPure, but in this case automatic updates are lost. Many services of this type are safe, others less: in expert and aware hands, the problems you can face are minimal if not zero, but a user accustomed to opening the Play Store and freely downloading dozens of apps, without thinking about possible consequences, it may not be the right one for this phone.
Based on these assumptions, we were able to easily use applications such as Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, three of the most popular services in Italy. Same thing for Amazon, Amazon Video, Infinity, Spotify, Amazon Music, TikToc, Telegram and Office. Obviously no problem for web browsing, thanks to the proprietary browser, where you can use Google as your primary search engine, and for managing emails, as long as you use an alternative application to Gmail.
The EMUI 10, based on Android 10, takes care of the rest, a mature customization that really does not lack anything, from the health monitoring application, perfect with Huawei and Honor smartwatches, to tons of options with which to customize the OS.
Obviously all the services are missing, such as Chromecast, and Google applications (Maps can be used but without logging in), YouTube included (you can see they are via web browser) and important elements for a mature software ecosystem such as Netflix and various banking applications. There is no SkyGo, you cannot use the phone for payments and the backup of WhatsApp must be restored manually.
On the gaming front then the work to be done is enormous, we are very far from the amount of titles available on the Play Store. Fortnite is there, but Call of Duty Mobile is missing. At the time of writing, of the five most popular trending games on the Play Store, only one is easy to download, using Amazon AppStore.
The prospects for the future are there, just look at the frequency with which new applications arrive on the AppGallery, only in March did the application of INPS, Italo, Trenit !, Vueling, VVVVID, in addition to the banking services of MyCartaBCC, Relax Banking and Bancaperta. However, Huawei needs time to get closer to the vastness of services used today on smartphones and not everyone is willing to wait.
