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Battery life
- 4,200mAh battery
- 40W charger included
- No wireless charging
The Huawei Mate 20 X 5G packs the same capacity battery as the Huawei P30 Pro at 4,200mAh, which is a stripped back capacity compared to the original Huawei Mate 20 X, which featured a 5,000mAh cell.
The Mate 20 X’s battery was excellent, but the Mate 20 X 5G’s is just sufficient. It makes it through from morning to night with about 5-10% left in the tank with moderate use, and a 90-minute Full HD video played back at full brightness depleted it by about 15%.
Heavy users may well need an afternoon top-up though, especially if you’re in a 5G area and anticipate a lot of screen-on time.
Also like the P30 Pro, the Mate 20 X 5G supports fast charging, up to 40W, and this powers the phone up incredibly quickly given its capacity, charging from 0-100% in roughly one hour.
The phone also has a dark mode to eke a bit more juice out of it, as well as software features to monitor battery usage so you can track down rogue apps.
Camera
- Triple rear camera
- 24MP selfie camera
- 4K video at 30fps
The Mate 20 X 5G features the same triple-lens Leica setup as found on the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and performs more or less the same, though has been updated since it launched, bringing its low light capabilities up to speed with the P30 series.
The 40MP main camera features an f/1.8 aperture, and is complemented by a 20MP ultra-wide lens (f/2.2) and an 8MP (f/2.4) telephoto lens.
This triple setup means the Mate 20 X has a versatile camera system, comparable to that of the Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Note 10 ranges. It’s capable of capturing crisp macro shots, wide-angle group shots or zoomed-in portraits.
The camera app has key modes covered: photo, video, night, portrait, panorama and more. Obscure modes like Light Painting, AR Lens, Monochrome, etc. are tucked away in the ‘More’ tab as well, and there’s even an option to download additional shooting modes.
As for photo quality, in well-lit scenes, the camera can take excellent photos, rivaling the best out there in terms of detail, especially when you override the standard megapixel-count and unleash the Mate 20 X 5G’s full 40MP shooting capabilities.
Go beyond the phone’s 3x optical zoom though, and photos lose a fair bit of detail, especially compared to the optical zoom-tastic P30 Pro and Oppo Reno 10X Zoom.
The onboard AI is able to detect around 1,500 objects in any given scene and can add pop to your photos. That isn’t always a good thing though; photos can end up looking too zingy, especially in green-heavy scenes, so if you want to play it safe or like flatter, natural photos, toggle AI scene recognition off.
One highlight on the Mate 20 X 5G is low light shooting. Even when you don’t fire up night mode, the phone sees in the dark, much like the P30 Pro, performing significantly better than the original did when it launched. That said, the main benefit is experienced through the main camera, with the telephoto and ultra-wide cameras falling behind at night.
With its 24MP (f/2.0) selfie camera, you can grab some good looking shots with a range of portrait modes and filters. While there’s no autofocus, thanks to HDR capabilities it copes admirably even with backlit scenes - just make sure you’re an arm’s length away when taking a selfie.
Videos can be recorded at up to 60fps in 1080p, and 30fps at up to 4K. Results look good, with autofocus working like charm even in low light. There are a few filters to make videos look more interesting, including a Sin City-esque AI color mode, though even without the gimmicks, across resolutions it’s a competent performer in all but the lowest light.
Camera samples
