It's no secret that I'm a big fan of Huawei's P series, with the P30 Pro being my favorite phone last year. So, as soon as I had the opportunity to get my hands on a phone from the P40 series, I did so to see where the Shenzhen-based manufacturer decided to work further and what aspects it wants to improve.
I know, don't jump, we're talking about a lite here, which is usually a "watered down" version of the phones in the same range, and that's what's happening here as well. The P40 lite is actually a rebranded version of the Nova 6 SE, a phone that didn't make it to Europe but offers a good package at a low price.
Appearance and screen
Let's start with the beginning: we have a beautiful design, with a color that captures several shades of emerald green depending on the light to which the back of the device is exposed. Huawei calls this color exactly Emerald Green, and offers two more variants: Black or Light Pink/Blue.
The camera assembly is reminiscent of the one on the Mate 20 Pro, with the four cameras framed by a square, but it is placed on the top left of the phone, not in the center. The camera bump is small, and with a cover you will be able to hide it anyway.
The screen is not curved (we are still talking about a lite), and hides a punch-hole type space on the left side for the selfie camera. On the bottom we have a headphone jack, the USB-C charging port and the loudspeaker, on the right we find the power (with integrated fingerprint sensor) and volume buttons, and on the left we have the place for a hybrid Dual SIM.
P40 lite does not come with the Google suite of services. We talked about methods of installing various applications that we use every day and how you can live without Google in the Mate 30 Pro review, so I won't go into this part again.
The screen is of the LTPS type, with 6.4 inches and a resolution of 1080 x 2310. It is a correct screen for this price segment, the colors have good fidelity and the content will be seen without problems. The phone came with a protective film directly applied, which saves you from a small extra expense, if it will be sold like this in retail. Another nice thing is that the screen is just as fast as the one on the Mate 30 Pro
Performance and functions
The fingerprint sensor on the side is very fast, and it works well, I haven't encountered any problems where it doesn't recognize me or has serious lag (as I've experienced even on flagships from 2019). As for face unlock, it's a bit slower, but it's a plus that I didn't manage to trick it with photos or other methods, although there is no depth sensor on the selfie camera.
As for the operating system, we have an Android 10, with the EMUI 10 interface applied on top, so of course you benefit from functions such as Dark Mode (which I for one started to activate almost as soon as I get my hands on a phone) or Huawei Share, if you have a laptop from the Chinese manufacturer.
You won't have any problems with the battery. There are 4200mAh inside the P40 lite, which ensures a full day's use and even more if you activate Dark Mode and the smart screen resolution function, which is turned on by default anyway. In addition, you also benefit from 40W charging, which brings your phone to 70% in just 30 minutes.
The performance is ensured by a Kirin 810, on 7 nanometers and with eight cores. This processor, combined with the Mali-G52 MP6 graphics accelerator, allows the smartphone to run games and applications with fairly high requirements. I tested it in Asphalt 9, and luckily I didn't encounter lag or any other sign that the processor can't cope with the task. In any case, it gives you more than enough power for a lite and won't give you reasons to complain about performance.
The loudspeaker is a powerful one, but if you are not satisfied, you have the option of using headphones, thanks to the 3.5mm jack.
Cameras, price and conclusions
As for the camera, Huawei has done a good job again. Even if we are talking about a lite device, the Chinese manufacturer brings on it 4 cameras (or 3, it depends on what you think about the depth sensor), which are capable of obtaining excellent results in good light conditions. Only when you try to put them in difficulty will you notice the differences compared to a flagship device, which in the end are absolutely normal.
The main lens has 48MP and 26mm, so it allows you to take clear, detailed and fairly faithful photos. You can see below some examples, made within the Museum of Recent Art. I like the fact that Huawei seems to have worked more on the way it identifies color nuances, so you no longer need a filter like that Leica Smooth on flagships to get natural color in the photo.
For ultrawide photos you will use an 8MP camera, and for macro you have a 2MP lens. The fourth camera is the 2MP depth sensor, which helps distinguish details in a photo. The selfie camera is 16MP, and can record up to 1080p at 30 frames per second.
I admit that I didn't have much time to test the camera, but from the results obtained so far I am quite satisfied with it. The clarity of the images is excellent, the colors are, as I said above, true to their natural shades, and I have not noticed any noise or graining problems so far.
The only minus I've noticed so far is the way it recognizes black, which sometimes leaves something to be desired. I may talk about the P40 lite's camera in detail in a later article, though, because I need to put it through some more tests. At first glance, however, it seems like a fair, good camera, with more than satisfactory results in good light.
Regarding the price, I could not make any criticism. 1299 lei seems like a good, fair price to me, and Huawei also offers a pair of FreeLace wireless headphones, if you pre-order. I think the Huawei P40 lite is the right phone for those who want good performance, a capable camera and a great battery at a low price.