Credit to Huawei (whatever they may or may not be doing to rub Donald Trump up the wrong way), they've been putting a lot of work into the P30 Pro smartphone's camera system, with update after update, each quoting imaging improvements. And for each update ('185' here) I test the phone (quoted by me as 'being what the Lumia 1020 would have been if Nokia had carried on development for the next five years') against some likely contenders. Here it's the benchmark flagship that's the Lumia 950 XL, but in a subtle twist I'm only looking at the main 40MP camera - I'm not involving that periscope 5x zoom. That way, any hyper zoom examples won't skew the scoring. Which of the two phone cameras can produce the high quality output?
This has been mentioned a few times over the last six months - the odd reader would complain that the Office UWP application under Windows 10 Mobile would suddenly start demanding an Office 365 sign-in, when theoretically any device 'with display under 10' should have full creating and editing capability. I have a theory - and a walkthrough for people seeing the titled warning and have qualifying phones or accounts...
The Windows 10 Mobile-powered Alcatel IDOL 4 Pro is one of the strongest media-centric smartphones from the last few years, whatever its other failings (cough - camera, slow fingerprint scanning). And, in my usual line of comparisons, I wanted to pitch it against something modern from the Android world that could match - or even beat - its video and music playback prowess. Enter the Razer Phone 2, belatedly in here for review, and used side by side with my Windows 10 phone for the last week.
In a week of 'tangential' articles for AAWP, here's another - Windows 10 live tiles seem to be on the way out. No, not on Mobile, that UI is fixed in stone and only getting security updates each month. But on the Desktop. A leaked future build of Windows 10 showed a Start menu with simple icons and this does seem to make sense - of all the relatives and friends you've helped set up Windows 10 on a laptop, how many have ever customised their tile layout? Exactly.
Following his intriguing part one, and detailed part two looking at 'Pre-Touch' technology, guest writer Michael 'Mivas_Greece' (surname withheld by request) brings us the third part of a tale of Nokia and Microsoft prototypes (one of which he has access to), focussing on the variations and specifications. And don't miss the 'bonus' part 4, also below.
This is the end-July 2019 update (1 new entry, 2 entries relinked, 2 entries removed) to the AAWP directory of curated UWP applications, those with native Windows 10 UI and which support different orientations, Continuum and even use on laptop or tablet.
It's a fair cop, AAWP phone feature comparisons are starting to be a little artificial, in that they're not direct 'on sale' competitors. But a great many AAWP readers will still be mulling over where to 'jump' when the time comes. From a Lumia 950 or, as here, from an Alcatel IDOL 4S or 4 Pro, for example. Here's my blow by blow, head to head with the top end OnePlus 7 Pro, I'll follow up with an imaging equivalent in a few days.
Yes, the likes of the Huawei P30 Pro have brought 5x telephoto lenses to the smartphone world. But for casual, real world zooming, i.e. modest zoom on likely subjects at 2x and 3x, what are the pros and cons of computational versus optical zoom in smartphone cameras? I explore this, with the help of the Lumia 1020, a modern Pixel 3, a modern Samsung, and that aforementioned P30 Pro...
I often get asked which accessories I recommend - power banks, keyboards, headphones - and I've tested quite a few, so I thought it would be useful if I listed my Top 5 accessories, the ones I use day to day and which travel with me, either in a pocket or in my briefcase. All highly recommended, and I'll link back to my original reviews, for more information. In no particular order...
I realise I'm the lone voice shouting in the wilderness here, but after multiple comments on multiple imaging features here on AAWP I wanted to respond - with a real world example - of why higher contrast and sharpening may look better on the phone screen but they're 'damaged' photos and greater purity (yes, yes, 'PureView') is where phone camera makers should be aiming their shots...
