We review the P20 Lite!

Huawei’s on fire with their P20 series of phones. The P20 Pro is one of the most revolutionary phones we’ve ever used in the past few years, and the company hopes that some of the magic that made their latest flagship great rubs off on the P20 Lite. The P20 Lite is a legitimate selfie powerhouse that’s obviously aimed at the mid-range segment of the market, and despite missing many of the highlight features of its two bigger brothers it’s still a very capable shooter on its own.

Huawei P20 Lite specs

• Kirin 659 octa-core processor
• 4GB of RAM
• 5.84-inch FullView 2.0 full HD+ display, 19:9 display aspect ratio, 2280 x 1080 resolution
• 64GB/128GB of storage, expandable via microSD
• 16-megapixel primary camera sensor, 2-megapixel secondary sensor with PDAF and LED Flash
• 16-Megapixel f/2.0 camera sensor
• Dual SIM
• 3G, LTE
• WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Fingerprint scanner, USB-C
• 3000mAh battery with Fast Charging
• Android Oreo with EMUI 8.0

A few styling changes make for better ergonomics

It’s not surprising that the P20 Lite shares many of the same design and styling cues of the P20 and P20 Pro. The vertically arranged camera module on the rear is similar to its more expensive brothers, though the phone feels flatter and lacks the gentle curves that the P20 Pro has. There’s a fingerprint scanner on the rear that ruins that whole “looks like a point-and-shoot” illusion that the P20 Pro had going, though that means there’s no unsightly chin on the front.

Despite being tagged as a “lite” version of their flagships, the P20 Lite doesn’t skimp out when it comes to the materials used in its construction. The frame, for example is made out of metal and the rear of the phone is made out of glass. The two color variants also have unique finishes. Specifically the Klein blue variant uses a new generation of glitter cover film which gives it a unique texture, while the Sakura Pink model also gets special juju in the form of 3D bright pearl powder. Our black review unit looks pretty boring, so get those two color options if you have the chance. The rear glass is scratch-prone though since there’s no kind of protection on it, so make sure to swaddle your phone like a newborn child until you get a phone case of some sort for it.

Controls are on the right side of the phone, while the microSD card is on the left side. The USB Type-C port is on the bottom while the 3.5mm audio jack makes a welcome return.

There’s a notch, but you can remove it

The phone has a 5.84-inch FullView 2.0 display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and 2280 x 1080 resolution. Yes, there’s still the dreaded notch at the top, but like the P20 Pro and P20, you can remove the notch via software which puts two black bars at either end of it. The display panel has a a wide
color gamut of NTSC 96 percent and uses the DCI-P3 color space.

As far as the actual display, it looks great for what it is. The removal of the chin at the bottom helps with the overall aesthetic, and the phone’s front looks better for it. Color reproduction look great, and the panel looks better than your average notched display at the price point.

Find out how the P20 Lite performs in the next page