Quick Verdict
The Huawei P30 Lite might not have quite as many of the pro-quality features we see on the P30 Pro, and other flagships, but for those who don't want to spend a lot of money on a smartphone, the price of the P30 Lite could be an attractive pull.
In a nutshell, if you're looking for a budget-friendly, modern-looking smartphone which will capture decent images for sharing online without too much effort on your part, the Huawei P30 Lite could be on your 'worth considering' list but don't be fooled by its premium looks as you'll have to spend much more cash to get the 'all-singing-all-dancing' features we've come to like on smartphones.
Plus, with so much competition in this saturated area of the market, it's hard to say that the Huawei P30 Lite will be at the top of your list.
+ Pros
- Good selfies
- Decent storage/RAM
- Good AI features
- Smart design
- Decent display
- Price
- Cons
- Better results from the 12MP option than the 48MP
- Oversaturates reds and greens
- Can oversharpen shots
- Zoom isn't great
Huawei's latest series of smartphones seems to have a smartphone for all types of customer with the Huawei P30 Pro serving up all of the bells and whistles you can imagine while the Huawei P30 Lite, on test here, gives those who don't really want to spend a huge amount of cash on a smartphone a good option. In the middle of the two is the P30 - a smartphone we'll be putting to the test shortly.
Coming in at a very reasonable £329, the P30 Lite offers some of the better features we're used to seeing on more expensive handsets; giving those who don't want to spend over £700 on a new smartphone the chance to get a bit more bang for their buck.
On test, we have the Peacock Blue version with its cool light-bending patterns but the P30 Lite is also available in Pearl White and Midnight Black from 10 May 2019.
Huawei P30 Lite Features
The Huawei P30 Lite looks very similar to the other smartphones in the P30 range but under the shiny surface are money-saving specs that give the device its 'budget' label rather than 'flagship'.
On the back is, what Huawei call, a tri-lens set-up with a 48MP f/1.8 wide-angle lens, 8MP ultra-wide angle lens and a 2MP bokeh lens (is the depth sensor really a camera? Let us know your thoughts below). It's worth noting that you can only capture images at a 48MP resolution when using the wide-angle lens, not the zoom function or the ultra-wide-angle lens and the 24MP f/2.0 front-facing camera has a fixed focal length.
Autofocus is supported and when shooting at a 12mp resolution, you have access to 1x/2x zoom but they're not technically optical zoom as the camera simply crops into the centre of the 48mp sensor. There's no optical image stabilisation but electronic image stabilisation is used when capturing 1080p video (no 4K built in) with the rear camera but it's not used when capturing video with the selfie camera.
As you'd expect from Huawei, plenty of shooting modes are built in, such as a dedicated night capture option, and there are beauty features available for those who like to smooth out their skin before pouting for their picture.
Away from the cameras, you find a 6.15inch (2312 x 1080) display with a dewdrop front-facing camera and a screen-to-body ratio of 90%.
4GB RAM + 128GB ROM is built in along with a 3340mAh battery and a headphone socket (a feature some still 'tut' at when it's not included on more premium smartphones). The Huawei P30 Lite features Android 9.0 but only runs the Kirin 710 chipset.
Key Features
- Rear Camera: 48MP f/1.8 wide-angle lens, 8MP ultra-wide angle lens and a 2MP bokeh lens (supports AF)
- Front Camera: 24MP, f/2.0, fixed focal length
- Camera Features: AI, Pro Mode, Portrait and Aperture modes
- Video: Full HD
- Display: 6.15-inch (1080x2312)
- ISO: 50 to 3200
- RAM/Storage: 4GB RAM + 128GB ROM
- Battery: 3440mAh
- Size: 72.7mmx152.9mmx7.4mm
- Weight: 159g
Huawei P30 Lite Handling
As with all new Huawei smartphones, the Huawei P30 Lite looks great. It's available in a variety of colours and the curved edges, almost bezeless design, big screen and dewdrop camera make it look more expensive than it actually is. However, the plastic frame does allude to its slightly cheaper price but the back is made of curved 3D glass which makes it sit well in the hand. It also makes it slippy so do pop a case on it for extra reassurance. It will also protect the glass back from fingerprints and smudges, something modern smartphones are, annoyingly, prone to.
There is a fingerprint sensor built into the back of the P30 Lite (another giveaway of its price point as more expensive smartphones now have fingerprint sensors built into the screen) and just up and left from this is the camera set-up which protrudes quite a bit so makes the smartphone unbalanced when placed on a surface.
We do have to say that Huawei is brilliant at creating really eye-catching smartphones and the Peacock Blue colour we have on test is superb with its colour gradient and signature light-bending S.
To the side are the volume/power buttons which feel plastic-y but do the job and on the bottom is a USB-C port, mono speaker and 3.5mm headphone jack - a feature you don't see very often any more but still a welcomed sight for many.
On the front is a big 6,15-inch full-HD LCD display that Huawei says has a screen-to-body ratio of 90% and for a budget-friendly smartphone, the screen really is excellent. It's bright, sharp and colour accuracy is pretty spot on. Plus, the dewdrop front-facing camera design is much less distracting than a thick top bar that stretches across the screen.
The camera app is no different to any other Huawei smartphone recently released with easy to navigate options, quick access to the gallery, zoom buttons and plenty of AI clever tricks to keep most photographers happy. You can scroll through the shooting modes at the bottom of the screen (above the shutter release button) and switch between playback, photo and selfie modes. In "Pro" mode, you can manually change camera settings and at the top of the screen, there are different shortcuts depending on what photo mode you're in and to the right is the zoom scale which you click to alter between wide, 1x and 2x. You can 'pinch zoom' on the screen to access the digital zoom which takes your reach to 6x. You can also use the screen to set the focus position, as well as adjust exposure, and if you hold the shutter button down, continuous shooting kicks in.
As for modes, there are plenty to play with including Aperture, Night, Portrait (with bokeh, beauty and lighting controls), Photo, Video, Pro, Time-lapse, Panorama, HDR, Slow-mo, Light Painting and Document Scan built-in.
The phone has an AnTuTu performance rating of 119982 and a Geekbench score of 1538 single-core and 5487 multi-core.
Battery life - The battery is rated at 3340mAh which isn't the biggest out there but unless you hammer its usage, you shouldn't have too many problems.
Huawei P30 Lite Performance
The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.
Huawei P30 lite Sample Photos
Sample Photos - In good light, and if you don't look too closely, image quality looks good and for those simply sharing photos online, you'll probably be happy. However, detail does falloff in a lot of shots and quite a few images came out over processed and over sharpened. Fringing can be seen around trees and greens/reds are over saturated. This didn't happen every time we hit the shutter button but it's worth noting that in less than perfect conditions, quality can be less than desirable.
The 24MP selfie camera can produce some lovely looking selfies and there's hardly any clipping when using the bokeh modes. There's a built-in beauty mode but be careful with it as it can make skin look plastic-y and too smooth. Although, some will probably like this!
The Aperture mode is really good and it means you can add blur to the background, without too much effort, making your subject 'pop' from the frame.
48MP Vs 12MP
The Huawei P30 Lite has a 48MP sensor which it uses to create 12MP images by, in the simplest terms, resizing it down. Click the images below to compare the 48MP image with the 12MP result and if you use the zoom feature of your browser, you can see just how much detail the 48MP image captures, too. Having said that, there are much better levels of detail in the 12MP images and dynamic range is better, too. This is probably down to the sensor that's built in that's just not quite as good as the ones built into more expensive smartphones. It has its merits having a 48MP sensor built in but there are still some flaws that need to be worked on.
If you do want to capture images with the 48MP sensor, it's worth noting that this is a fixed lens so you have to use your feet to zoom whereas the 12MP shooting setting gives you access to the wide, 1x and 2X zoom (plus up to 6X digital zoom).
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Huawei P30 lite Lens test images
Lens Performance - Overall, lens performance is good with no signs of CA, minimal purple fringing and no noticeable vignetting/distortion.
The 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens definitely allows you to capture more within the frame and it also produces the most accurate colour results. The detail levels are pretty good and there are no signs of purple fringing or CA. When using this option, you can access the 1X/2X zoom options which have a habit of oversaturating greens and detail does fall off rather quickly. 1X isn't too bad but look closely at the images captured with the 2X option and detail becomes smudgy. Unless you really need it, we'd recommend staying away from the zoom that goes beyond this point as the 6X digital zoom results are rather terrible with a serious reduction in sharpness. It's great to have zoom options built in but when optical zoom isn't used, it's never the best.
Overall, we've seen better results from smartphones with smaller sensors and optical zoom than the Huawei P30 lite can produce.
The 48MP f/1.8 wide-angle lens will probably be the lens you use the most, either capturing images at a 48MP or 12MP resolution. We did have the occasional problem with purple fringing and oversaturation, though.
Huawei P30 lite ISO test images
ISO Noise Performance - As always, stick to lower ISO levels where possible but if you do need to use higher ISOs, be aware that ISO800 and up does start to lose detail with ISO3200 showing high levels of noise.
Huawei P30 lite White-balance test images
White Balance Performance - AWB under mixed lighting does a good job, as does the AWB setting under fluorescent. The fluorescent is a little warm but the tungsten preset is pretty good. AWB under tungsten lighting is a little yellow.
Huawei P30 lite Digital filters
Digital Filters - Plenty of Digital Filters are built in which you can apply once you have captured your images. Above are just a few examples, of what is, an extensive list of filter choices.
Panorama mode - There are no stitching issues, colours are accurate and detail is good throughout the image.
Video - Electronic image stabilisation is used when capturing 1080p video (30fps) with the rear camera but it's not used when capturing video with the selfie camera. There's no 4K mode which is surprising as even some of the less expensive smartphones now have this built-in.
Value For Money
The Huawei P30 Lite is priced at £329 putting it in competition with a rather large group of smartphones. Other smartphones, available for around the same price, include:
- Huawei P20 priced at around £399 - 12mp RGB f/1.8 and 20mp BW f/1.6 dual Leica rear cameras, Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), 4K video
- Honor 9 priced at around £289 - 20mp mono camera, 12mp colour camera, f/2.2 max aperture, 27mm equivalent, 8mp selfie camera, 4K video
- Honor 10 priced at around £300 - Dual rear camera - 24mp f/1.8 black and white, 16-megapixel f/1.8 colour, 24-megapixel front camera, 4K video
- Nokia 7.1 priced at around £185 - Rear Camera: 12MP, f/1.8 main lens and a 5MP, f/2.4 secondary lens (ZEISS optics), Front Camera: 8mp, f/2.0 (ZEISS optics), Video: 1080p (both cameras), 4K (rear camera), Pro Mode, ISO 50-3200
For other mid-range smartphone suggestions, have a look at our 'Best Mid-range Smartphones For Photography' guide or peruse our '10 best budget Android smartphone' feature.
Huawei P30 Lite Verdict
The Huawei P30 Lite might not have quite as many of the pro-quality features we see on the P30 Pro, and other flagships, but for those who don't want to spend a lot of money on a smartphone, the price of the P30 Lite could be an attractive pull.
It has a triple camera, and, OK, sometimes the shots are a little oversaturated and the 48MP sensor isn't that great but for those who simply want to share images online with friends, the P30 Lite does an OK job. Plus, selfies are actually rather good so those who regularly use Snapchat or Instagram will be happy.
You get plenty of storage, good AI features and the overall design of the P30 Lite makes it look a lot more expensive than it is. The screen-to-body ratio is excellent with the dewdrop front-facing camera not only taking up less room but it also makes the smartphone look cooler, too.
For those looking for a budget-friendly, modern-looking smartphone which will capture decent images for sharing online, the Huawei P30 Lite could be on your 'worth considering' list but with so much competition in this saturated area of the market, it's hard to say that the Huawei P30 Lite will be at the top of your list.
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