Huawei P20, P20 Pro are getting gesture controls with EMUI 9 + Android 9 Pie update
According to the release notes, the update version 9.0.0.156 brings quick startup of apps and improves their performance. It also brings new notification sounds and some safety-related tweaks.
Huawei has started to roll out EMUI 9 update based on Android Pie 9.0 to its P20 and P20 Pro (Review) smartphones in China. In an announcement on Chinese social media platform Weibo, the company said that the update is bringing full screen gestures controls. User can now slide the screen to the left or right to return to the previous screen, slide the bottom to get to the main interface and slide the bottom edge to enter the multitasking interface. The gesture controls seem to be an amalgamation of gestures from iOS and Android.
According to Huawei’s official website, the company pushed the update to users who have successfully registered for internal testing on November 28. It recommends people to update the Huawei apps in order to make them work perfectly on the new OS. In terms of UI, Huawei claims that the update is inspired by natural colors and landscape elements (like natural light and shadows) are integrated into the interface design. Notifications have sounds of nature like water and birds, among others.
The latest update also brings ‘Password Autofill’ feature that will automatically fill the passwords once a user has authorised it. The company has also added recording editing, accelerated playback and other functions to optimise the layout of the interface of the voice recorder. The update also brings improvements to the startup speed of TOP third-party applications and the operation speed of WeChat scan code payment, view big picture, photo sharing, etc. WeChat is one of the most used instant messaging apps in China. According to Statista, WeChat has over a billion daily active users globally.
Huawei P20 and P20 Pro features and specifications
Powered by the Kirin 970 chipset, the Huawei P20 and P20 Pro smartphones come with an AI-powered camera and proprietary optics which have been “co-engineered” with Leica. The Kirin 970 SoC is equipped with a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU) onboard and both the phones ran on EMUI 8.1 based on Android 8.1 Oreo when they were launched. The Huawei P20 pro sports a 6.1-inch full-HD+ OLED FullView display whereas the P20 comes with a 5.8-inch full-HD+ RGBW screen. The P20 and P20 Pro come with 4GB and 6GB RAM respectively and they both sport 128GB of internal storage.
The highlight of Huawei P20 Pro is the world’s first triple camera setup on the back. The smartphone features a 40 MP RGB 1/1.7-inch sensor, a 20 MP monochrome sensor and an 8MP sensor with a telephoto lens on the rear. The telephoto lens also is capable of 3x optical zoom. Its rear camera also supports 10x digital zoom, a laser transceiver for faster autofocus, 5x lossless hybrid zoom, a Leica colour temperature sensor, and a high ISO range of up to 102400.
The Huawei P20 features a dual rear camera setup with a 12MP+20MP setup. Both P20 and the P20 pro are equipped with a 24.8MP front-facing camera, which supports a 3D portrait lighting effect feature.
Before the introduction of screen gestures, the company accommodated an “edgeless fingerprint” feature and gestures like short tap for back, long tap for home, and swipe left or right for multi-tasking on the home button itself. Further, the two smartphones are equipped with wireless Hi-Fi audio and dual stereo speakers which support Dolby Atmos and Dolby AC-4 audio.
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