Huawei Mate 20 Lite

Huawei Mate 20 lite: A Sleek, Powerful Mid-Range Marvel

The Huawei Mate 20 lite is a stylish and powerful mid-range smartphone that packs impressive features into its sleek body. With a generous display, robust battery life, and an array of top-notch cameras, it's designed to keep up with your active lifestyle. Here's a detailed look at what makes the Mate 20 lite a standout choice.

Design & Build Quality

The Mate 20 lite showcases Huawei's prowess in design and craftsmanship, featuring a sleek glass front and back, sandwiched by an aluminum frame. Measuring just 158.3 x 75.3 x 7.6 mm (6.23 x 2.96 x 0.30 in), it's easy to handle despite its large display. At 172g (6.07 oz), it feels substantial without being too heavy.

The glass back not only looks premium but also offers better grip than metal or plastic bodies. However, like any glass phone, it may be prone to shattering upon impact, so a protective case is recommended.

Display

The Mate 20 lite flaunts a 6.3-inch LTPS IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels (~409 ppi density). The 19.5:9 aspect ratio ensures an immersive viewing experience for games, videos, and browsing. The screen-to-body ratio is approximately 81.7%, thanks to the minimal bezels.

The display supports a wide range of colors and offers good brightness levels, making it easily visible under sunlight. It's perfect for multimedia consumption but may lack the deep blacks and vibrant colors of AMOLED displays found in higher-end devices.

Battery Life & Charging

Powering the Mate 20 lite is a non-removable Li-Ion 3750 mAh battery, which delivers excellent endurance with a 97-hour endurance rating. This means you can expect to use your phone for around four days on a single charge with moderate usage.

The battery supports fast charging (18W), ensuring you spend less time plugged in. With the included charger, you can juice up from 0% to approximately 50% in just about 30 minutes.

Cameras

The Mate 20 lite boasts an impressive triple camera setup on the rear:

• A 20MP wide lens with f/1.8 aperture and PDAF, ensuring sharp and well-lit photos.
• A 2MP depth sensor for bokeh effects.

The main camera setup offers features like LED flash, panorama, and HDR. It can capture detailed 1080p videos at 30 fps.

On the front, you'll find a dual selfie camera setup comprising a 24MP wide lens and a 2MP depth sensor. The main selfie camera captures vivid and detailed images, making it perfect for self-portraits or group selfies. It also supports HDR for better dynamic range in bright conditions.

Performance & Storage

The Mate 20 lite is powered by the Kirin 710 (12 nm) chipset with an octa-core CPU (4x2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 & 4x1.7 GHz Cortex-A53). This ensures smooth performance for everyday tasks, and the Mali-G51 MP4 GPU handles casual gaming decently.

Running on Android 8.1 (Oreo), upgradable to Android 10, with EMUI 10.0, the Mate 20 lite offers a clean and intuitive user experience out of the box. The phone comes in two storage variants:

• 4GB RAM / 64GB storage (expandable via microSDXC)
• 6GB RAM / 64GB storage (expandable via microSDXC)

Both variants offer ample space for apps, games, and multimedia files.

Connectivity & Sensors

The Mate 20 lite offers a plethora of connectivity options:

• Bluetooth 4.2 with A2DP and LE support
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (dual-band), Wi-Fi Direct, and hotspot
• NFC (SNE-LX1 variant only)
• USB Type-C 2.0 port
• FM Radio
• GPS with A-GPS, GLONASS, and BDS support

The phone also comes with a single Nano-SIM slot or a hybrid dual SIM slot (Nano-SIM, dual standby), allowing you to use two SIM cards simultaneously.

Sensors on board include fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, and compass.

Sound

The Mate 20 lite features a 3.5mm headphone jack, a rare find in modern smartphones, allowing you to connect your wired headphones directly. The loudspeaker offers decent sound quality for calls and multimedia playback.

Color Options & Price

The Mate 20 lite is available in three attractive colors:

• Sapphire Blue
• Black
• Platinum Gold

Priced at around €230 (~$275), the Mate 20 lite offers excellent value for money, considering its impressive features and build quality.

Final Thoughts

The Huawei Mate 20 lite is an outstanding mid-range smartphone that punches well above its weight. With its stunning design, powerful performance, impressive cameras, and robust battery life, it's a compelling choice for those looking for a premium experience without breaking the bank.

Whether you're a casual user seeking a stylish daily driver or a power user needing a reliable workhorse, the Mate 20 lite has something to offer everyone. Its wide range of features and attractive price point make it an excellent value proposition in the competitive mid-range market.