Huawei - Spies, Cyber Warfare but they make a hell of a phone
Posted April 25, 2019
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EmailFirst the good news: Huawei has released what many are calling the best phone for video in the world. The P30 Pro.
Here's a great review by Canoopsy on YouTube
The bad news is that Huawei, the Chinese tech company that makes the P30 Pro is in a lot of trouble.
The U.S. Department of Justice has just charged the company and its chief financial officer, Meng Wangzhou, who is also the daughter of the company’s founder, with fraud.
As far back as 2003, the company was accused of stealing intellectual property, including from U.S.-based network hardware maker Cisco. The companies settled out of court, but Huawei has been accused of stealing other firms’ intellectual property and violating international economic sanctions. Throughout 2018, a flurry of activity has signaled the level of concern in the international intelligence community, and pressure on the company – and other Chinese technology firms – has mounted.
In Britain, PM Theresa May, who has enough problems with Brexit and the Conservative Party is now under fire for contracting with Huawei to set up Britain's 5G infrastructure. There are concerns that the Chinese will be able to listen in to conversations in Britain - if there is anything worth hearing is another question.
Finally, as if that was not enough, the heads of the NSA, the CIA and the FBI have all said not to use Huawei phones.
"The heads of six major US intelligence agencies have warned that American citizens shouldn’t use products and services made by Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE. According to a report from CNBC, the intelligence chiefs made the recommendation during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Tuesday. The group included the heads of the FBI, the CIA, the NSA, and the director of national intelligence."
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
OK
Now onto the P30 Pro
Digital Trends.com has given the P30 Pro a stellar review:
"There are times when the Huawei P30 Pro’s camera is so staggeringly good, it defies belief. I’ve questioned whether I’m mistaken, and what I’m seeing is an error, or that my eyes are playing tricks. Whether it’s taking a seemingly impossible photo in the dark, or zooming right in on a subject far away, the P30 Pro’s camera is a bit like being Superman.
If you don't mind that Superman is an operative of the Chinese government, I suppose.
Never the less...
When it comes to the camera part, the only part we are really interested in, the lenses are all from Leica, which is, I think, the best you can get. It has 3 of them, matching the move to multiple lenses (and beating out the Blackberry by one). It gets an astonishing 40 MGPX, which is the same as my digital Hasselblad, for a lot less money.
I am not a big fan of zooming, but the P30 Pro has a 5x optical zoom and a 10x digital zoom.
The battery is supposed to last an astonishing 16 hours while playing video, which is in itself pretty astonishing.
All in all, it seems to be a great phone, if you can get past the espionage issue.
Oh yeah, one more thing. It is not yet available in the US, but in Europe, it is going for about £995.
