The Huawei P50 Pocket is Huawei’s configuration for the clamshell foldable phone design. It was launched on the 12th of January as a part of the Huawei P50 flagship model series. From a glance, it looks well designed, with two variants available to the public – the Premium Gold Edition and the normal version which only comes in White.
As a part of the flagship model series, the P50 Pocket is equipped with all the higher-end hardware you can ask for in an android device – except 5G connectivity. It is also the most expensive foldable phone available in the Malaysian market right now.

Specifications & Price

Unfolded Dimension (in mm): 170(H) x 75.5(W) x 7.2mm(D)
Folded Dimension (in mm): 87.3(H) x 75.5(W) x 15.2(D)
Weight (in gram): 190 approx (including battery)
SIM: Dual SIM (Nano Sim, Dual Standby)

Memory Card Slot: Nano Memory (NM) Card up to 256 GB , shared SIM slot
Internal Memory: 8GB RAM + 256GB ROM (Normal Edition)
Internal Memory: 12GB RAM + 512GB ROM (Premium Edition)
OS: EMUI 12
Chipset: Snapdragon 888 4G
GPU: Adreno 660

Battery: 4000 mAh with Huawei Supercharge 40W support
Wireless Charging: No

Display Size: 6.9 inches (Main Screen), 1.04 inches (Cover Screen
Main Screen Display Technology: OLED, up to 120 Hz refresh rate,1440 Hz high frequency PWM dimming, 300 Hz touch sampling rate
Cover Screen Display Technology: OLED, up to 60 Hz refresh rate, 120 Hz touch sampling rate
Display Resolution: FHD+ 2970 x 1188 (Main Screen), 340 x 340 (Cover Screen)
Colour Depth: 1.07B (Main Screen), 16.7M (Cover Screen)

Rear Cam Resolution (Multiple): 40MP True Chroma(f/1.8) + 13MP Ultra-Wide Angle(f/2.2) + 32MP Ultra Spectrum(f/2.4)
Auto Focus: Yes
Zoom: Digital Zoom
Image Resolution: up to 7296 x 5472
Video Recording Resolution: Up to 4k, with 1080p@960fps for slow-motion video

Front Cam Resolution: 10.7MP Wide Angle @ F2.2
Image Resolution: up to 3776 x 2832
Video Recording Resolution: up to 4K, with 1080p@240fps for slow-motion video

Price: RM5999 for the standard variant, RM7299 for the Premium Edition

First Glance

The unit that we received was the White coloured normal variant. The body design of the Huawei P50 pocket made a very good first impression. For the P50 Pocket, the design team moved away from the previous flat coloured and aurora themes and settled with a contoured body which gives it a much classier and elegant look.

The first impression I had on this phone was that it looked posh. The contours stood out and not only is it eye-pleasing – it feels great in your hands as well. The only downside is that this feeling in my palm will inevitably be replaced by a phone cover.

The original finishing is no doubt in glass, and it feels solid when held as well. The hinges were smooth and the phone folds flush to prevent the penetration of dust and pocket lint.

Battery And Performance

With the 40W Huawei SuperCharger, the charging time from empty to full takes about 30 minutes. The Smart Charge function is also available, which will detect if the device is on an overnight charging routine and temporarily stop the charging at 80% to prevent overcharging.

With the 120Hz permanently on, the fully charged P50 Pocket managed to pull an entire day’s (8 am – 7 pm) activity with about 40% left to last for the night. With the refresh rate capped at 60Hz, the day ended with 53% left at around 7 pm at night. The difference is not as huge as I’ve expected but the power consumption of doubling the refresh rate may not be that much after all. This 13% difference will still provide me with at least a good extra 15 to 30 minutes of entertainment before plugging in the cable.

Powered by the Snapdragon 888 4G with 8GB of RAM, the P50 Pocket meets all the requirements of a flagship phone. The only downside is that the Snapdragon 888 is known for its heating issues and the P50 Pocket suffers from this as well. Activities such as intense gaming and prolonged video recording will bring the temperature up, but thankfully not to the point that it overheats and shuts down. Regretfully, the P50 series doesn’t come with 5G connectivity even though Huawei is one of the global leaders in 5G technology. This is due to U.S. sanctions which cause Huawei’s global mobile devices to exclude 5G connectivity.

Camera

The P50 Pocket is equipped with three sensors on the back camera ring – a 40MP True-Chroma(f/1.8), 13MP Ultra-Wide Angle(f/2.2) and a 32MP Ultra Spectrum(f/1.8). After messing around with the available settings, the conclusion I had was that it’s great for selfie, portrait, and landscape photography. The images are crisp, detailed, and although the colour accuracy tilts a little towards the oversaturated side of the scale, it’s not too bad. The most impressive part for me is the Ultra Wide Angle photography capabilities. Every shot I’ve attempted was as satisfying as it gets, with all the necessary details caught in the frame.

While the rest of the features are great, the camera lacks optical zoom and RAW format photography. Although these two features may not be utilized often, the optical zoom does come in handy every now and then.

The front-facing camera is a 10.7MP Wide Angle (f/2.2). The video calls that I’ve made with the front-facing camera are very clear when the connectivity is smooth enough. My favourite part here is the Wide Angle. While functionally great – it only works in MeeTime video calls, where I can show more of my background to the person on the other side. Otherwise, most of the selfies are taken using the back camera since this is a flip phone.

The other feature that is worth noting is the Sunscreen scanner feature on the Mirror app. It sounded gimmicky at first, but I was quite impressed after trying it out. While I do not have any sunblock applied, the 32MP Ultra Spectrum sensor did pick up the Anti UV coating on my glasses. This proves that it does detect the portion of your portrait which doesn’t have sufficient sunblock applied.

Gaming

Due to limited game availability on Huawei’s AppStore, I’ve only managed to test the P50 Pocket on very few games. The prominent titles used for testing are Genshin Impact(3rd party APK on APKPure), Asphalt 8: Airborne and Mobile Legends.

Genshin Impact

It performed adequately on Genshin Impact running on Overclocked graphic settings. There were a few screen stutters every now and then but it is barely noticeable and it does not affect the gameplay experience at all. Everything was graphically stunning, the colours were bright and vivid, and besides the minor stutters mentioned earlier, the entire gameplay was as smooth as it gets. This is also probably due to the built-in software game acceleration feature in all Huawei devices.

The only real setback which I find lacking is that the audio output feels imbalanced, and the bottom speaker seems to be louder in Genshin Impact. This is probably because the game isn’t optimized for Huawei’s devices as it wasn’t downloaded from an official app store. The other games which are downloaded from Huawei’s official AppStore did not have this issue.

Asphalt 8

The maximum graphic setting that I could set for Asphalt 8 was medium and this setting made the game felt like an Arcade Racer – which is not bad, but I wish it could be more immersive. The game itself was played on Tilt-To-Steer controls and with some adjustments in the sensitivity settings, the controls became naturally responsive. It was also easier on the P50 Pocket as the unfolded length is slightly longer than most phones and this helped to provide finer adjustment to the controls. The sound quality was also good enough to bring a balance to both the in-game sound effects and the background music.

Mobile Legends

On Mobile Legends, every single setting was maxed out and the experience was impeccable except for one little issue. The phone heats up immensely in Mobile Legends. The cover did manage to prevent my hand from feeling the heat of the phone, but it does get very hot when I accidentally touch the secondary screen on the back of the phone. It wasn’t as bad on the other games, at most a slight heating up during some parts which requires heavy graphic processing.

Dynasty Warriors

The other game that I’ve tested the P50 Pocket on is Dynasty Warriors Mobile, a game known for its graphical mess due to it being a Musou Game. The game ran perfectly fine in the highest graphic setting @ 60FPS. There were slight graphical tears during cutscenes, but the entire game ran smoothly otherwise. The device warm up a little as well, but nowhere near as bad when it was running Mobile Legends.

What I Liked

Beautifully designed exterior with a very classy look to it.
Able to run most games comfortably.
Great display with vivid colours and smooth 120Hz experience.
Awesome battery performance and optimization.

What I Wished Was Better

Better temperature control – but not entirely Huawei’s fault.
Better price tag. Too expensive even for the normal edition.
Optical zoom for camera.
An upgrade to the current SuperCharger which is currently limited to 40W.

Verdict

The P50 Pocket is undoubtedly a flagship phone and performs like one. The external design is also one of the best-looking Android phones to date. Besides the heating issue which plagues most devices that are powered by the Snapdragon 888, this phone will fit the bill for serious gamers who prefers single-player games or casual. As for those who are competitive gamers, I wouldn’t recommend this device. With 5G rolling out, competitive gamers should stay away from 4G devices as they will not have the competitive edge that comes with 5G connectivity.