Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAmong the best smartphones in the sub $300 range (works on the Sprint & T-Mobile Networks)!
Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2019
I needed a replacement phone, due to a swollen battery on my Huawei Mate SE (I discovered overcharging a cell battery increases gasses in the battery from a phone tech, so don't leave your phone constantly charging, folks). I could have had the battery replaced by a tech for $55, but decided to treat myself to a slight upgrade. I was very happy with the Mate SE, so I went to Youtube for reviews of Huawei phones. After seeing a number of very favorable reviews of the P30 Lite, I ordered this phone late last Saturday, and received it the following Monday.
I had debated spending $500 or more for a "high end" phone, but learned a lot of the technology in more expensive phones is dedicated to photo-taking technology. I'm not a selfie-addict, so I let common sense take over, and opted for a phone in the $300 range (I found a vendor that sold this phone for $259, and 2 day delivery- I didn't want to wait a week in the event my old phone died).
The phone comes with the described accessories- USB-C cord, screen protector, charging brick, and a very thin, rubberized case. The phone is very sleek and slippery. I'd suggest putting the case on immediately, so it doesn't slide out of your hand. I originally placed it on a glass table top, and it slid all over the place.
The phone has a massive 128 gig internal storage capacity. I put a 128 gig SD card in the 2nd slot. I can't imagine what I'd fill the phone with, but I think most of us have discovered over time that we tend to fill our phones up with pics and music. I'll have plenty of room to download Netflix vids to watch when I'm on a treadmill.
Out of the box, the phone was charged to about 56%, and was loaded with Android version 9.
The on speaker at the bottom is very loud. I tend to link to a bluetooth speaker or headphones for music and videos anyway. I haven't tried a phonecall on speakerphone yet.
The phone seems only able to pick-up the 2.5 Ghz channel on your wireless network.
Exporting all my apps and settings from my old phone to the P-30 was almost seamless, using Huawei's Phone Clone app (you can obtain it in the Google Play Store, for your old phone). This turns both phones into hotspots, and you keep both phones close to each other, and 99% of my apps and settings were exported.
By default, ALL your apps will be displayed over multiple screens. I thought I would have to spend hours arranging my apps, but discovered the setting (see attached pic) for "Home screen style" under Settings>Home screen & Wallpaper>Home Screen Style> then select the bottom choice, "Drawer." This brought almost all my app icons I had from my old phone, where I nested similar apps in their own "drawers" labeled "music," "tools,' etc. This saved me HOURS of work. All your apps will now be in a drawer that looks like a circle with 3 rows of 3 dots. You can then drag whatever apps out, and align them how you wish. If you drag one app into another, you create a- I think they're called "drawers" which you can then label. This helps categorize apps.
"Ease of use" is relative. If you're new to the Android world, going through all the settings can be daunting, and there's LOTS of settings under the hood. I'm still discovering many. I appreciate built-in apps, like App Lock, which enables you to protect your apps like email, and banking by preventing use by other people. You unlock the app either by your fingerprint, or passcode.
I enabled fingerprint and facial recognition to unlock the phone. The responsiveness is instantaneous. One trick with the fingerprint scanner on the rear of the phone: when looking at pictures, you can use a finger to swipe to the next picture, so you can view a gallery of of photos with one hand, instead of two.
There is a notch at the top of the phone, which can be hidden via settings.
I find the camera much faster than my old phone, and more variety in how to take take photos. The photos are crisp, and capture colors fairly accurately. Are they iPhone quality pics? No. The camera isn't a big deal for me, but it's nice to have a camera that takes good quality photos. The digital zoom works very well. Sending pics via MMS seem fine to me, unlike another reviewer.
There's no native internet calling feature, but there's 3rd party apps that support that (but you will be issued a new phone number).
Scrolling is fast and smooth.
I found one little quirk: When viewing Youtube, the video is about 20% smaller than the screen. You can go fullscreen using your thumb and forefinger to stretch to fullscreen. It may be a power saving feature; I'm not sure.
Huawei is known for its extremely long power use. You'll have to experiment in Settings to find the one right power setting for you.
There's plenty more features to be discovered, but at this price point, this phone is a winner.
