The Huawei P20 has made phone notches a non-issue

"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
03/28/2018 at 16:37 • Filed to: None

Like many people, when the iPhone X was introduced, my reaction was, GET THAT NOTCH THE FUCK OUT OF THE SCREEN, A LITTLE TOP BEZEL WOULD BE WAY BETTER THAN THIS BUCKTOOTH-ASS BULLSHIT. Well, here comes Huawei to soothe my itchy OCD.

The Huawei P20 series phones have a notch. It’s not as big as the iPhone X, because there’s no extra Face ID hardware, only an earpiece and selfie camera. But Huawei included a super simple and yet amazingly brilliant software tweak that TOTALLY REDEEMS THE NOTCH.

Huawei’s notch de-notchification technique is way simple and yet makes complete sense. You can, if you want, !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! so the notch blends in with it.

You still have your clock, battery, and other assorted status icons at the top of the screen, but the notch disappears into the black status bar. At least it does on the OLED screen of the P20 Pro, and maybe slightly less so on the LCD screen of the regular P20. But still. I completely approve of this notch tweak. Hopefully all the other Android phone makers steal it.

Huzzah to you, Huawei!

DISCUSSION (32)

HammerheadFistpunch > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 16:39

What, you think Apple believe in choice? pfft. This is the way we designed it and this is the way you’ll use it!

For Sweden > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 16:40

There’s only one Oppo approved phone.

Kinja'd!!!

Tekamul > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 16:41

Any concerns about a Huawei phone being shut off by telecom companies under gov’t pressure in the near future?

Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan' > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 16:43

I’ve had a P9 Lite for around 2 years now and I’m super happy with everything it offers for waaaay less than an iPhone or whatever number Samsung is on. It isn’t the top range model but I can’t imagine the couple of milliseconds of speed I would gain from the more expensive hardware is worth it. I’m way into Huawei, I think they make great stuff.

And also, can we all agree that we’re at a point in time where even the cheapest model of any smartphone is completely satisfying? I think that’s a great thing. Because a few years ago, you HAD to get the top of the line, because the cheapest smartphone was dumb as fuck, they were tiny with shitty screens where you had to reeeeally push into the phone to get it to respond. Now they’re all just fine.
Or maybe I’m just getting over the whole thing, I dunno. Before, a phone was something important to me, but now I just don’t give a shit anymore, give me any of ‘em and they’re all good.

Textured Soy Protein > Tekamul
03/28/2018 at 16:46

The government can stop telecom companies from selling Huawei phones and using Huawei network equipment. But as long as the particular Huawei phone you’re using supports the radio bands and network features of your carrier, the carrier can’t really block it if you pop a SIM card in an unlocked phone.

In my case, while I really dig the P20 Pro’s camera and hide-a-notch, I wouldn’t buy it for two reasons:

It works on VoLTE on both T-Mobile and AT&T but only does wifi calling on AT&T. I’m on T-Mobile and use wifi calling only as a fall-back option, not default, but I’d like to keep it.

The only high quality bluetooth audio codec it supports is Sony LDAC, not the much more common Qualcomm aptX, because it’s got a Huawei chipset, not Qualcomm. I have cheap/good aptX gym headphones. There’s a grand total of one pair of expensive Sony neckbuds that support LDAC.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 16:47

But then you’re stuck using their horrid, grotesque, putrid, vile skin over Android.

I tried using a P8 light for a while and gave up because it was simply that hateful to use. And since they have their own processor, it is nigh-on impossible to root their phones to get a better OS. It might be better now, but when I tried living with that phone a couple years ago, I could not deal.

I do however think that phone is sexy as hell, and I prefer a front-mounted finger print scanner.

Textured Soy Protein > Otto-the-Croatian-'Whoops my Volvo is a sedan'
03/28/2018 at 16:49

My wife has a cheap Moto G5 Plus that is perfectly fine in general use. The camera’s a little blah and the screen colors are kinda washed out especially compared to the OLED on my Galaxy S7 Edge, but overall it’s a fine phone. I have the color mode on my S7e set to a less-crazy saturated option than the default, but the G5+ screen feels kinda crap in comparison.

Textured Soy Protein > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/28/2018 at 16:50

Supposedly their skin has gotten less bad recently. I don’t need completely stock Android, as long as there’s nothing too irritating left over after switching to Nova Launcher and Gboard.

Mercedes Streeter > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 17:08

I’ll probably buy a P20 just to display it next to my Honor 8. Just look at it!

Kinja'd!!!

These Chinese brands have their phone designs on point!

Textured Soy Protein > Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2018 at 17:13

I for one am not interested with shiny glass-backed phones that need to live their lives in cases to avoid being shattered by the occasional drop.

I have two clear cases for my S7 Edge: a Spigen that’s nice and crystal clear and does a good job of showing off the shiny finish, but also more slippery, and a Poetic that’s got some ridges and bumpers on it but is still low-profile enough, that’s easier to grip but the clear part picks up mad scratches and is kinda drab looking.

I got the Spigen first, but it was slippy I tried the more-functional Poetic, which I liked the more-functional-ness of, but I’m back to the Spigen at the moment because it’s prettier.

Both cases have (knock on wood) successfully protected the phone from one or more drops. Not that I constantly drop my phone but it does happen on occasion.

The only reason I have the shiny silver version of the S7e is because that was the only option for the unlocked version, and I don’t like how non-clear cases look with the shiny silver front bezels.

But I’d happily take a boring black phone in a boring looking case, as long as the phone has all the features I want and the case is reasonably low-profile, grippy, and drop-resistant.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 17:16

It’s been a while since I used that phone so it may have changed, but I was not at all impressed with the OS.

I do hope they have indeed improved their skin. And I think The Goog has made their stock apps much easier to install instead which helps.

Tekamul > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 17:20

Actually, the telecom can absolutely block phones by manufacturer, by removing it from the IMEI LUT. As soon as you connect to a GSM, the device is in the table, and the IMEI tells the carrier what device it is. They can blacklist an entire manufacturer, the same way they blacklist a single stolen phone.

I’ve never understood the lack of WiFi call support. It instantly expands phone call coverage to essentially everywhere a customer spends any real time.

Mercedes Streeter > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 17:26

I totally get that! :)

I get a case for any phone I have, glass back or not. I don’t like seeing my personal objects taking on any kind of damage! With that said, I’ve yet to break a glass phone in any way, so super shiny glass phones remain appealing to me.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/28/2018 at 17:30

Custom ROMs are a must on most Chinese android phones.

Textured Soy Protein > Tekamul
03/28/2018 at 17:42

Fair point, although I guess the follow-up question to that is whether any US carriers have or would use IMEIs to block a certain phone manufacturer, rather than focusing on stolen phones.

Textured Soy Protein > Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2018 at 17:44

I still think my Moto X Pure with metal sides and nice soft textured plastic back was the way to go.

Kinja'd!!!

It felt premium enough and the back was in a case anyway. I like wireless charging but basically any non-metal back material will work fine with it.

Tekamul > Textured Soy Protein
03/28/2018 at 18:07

They have not, but it’s possible from a technical standpoint. As far as whether or not they would, the hypothetical would be if Chinese firmware is deemed a national security threat, and the block is ordered by the gov’t.

They could oppose it in court, but ‘national security threat’ is a thinly veiled cudgel, becoming more popular these days.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2018 at 18:11

I have an Honor 8 as well. The shiny glass back was so exciting for the first 5 minutes it got a backside protection film thrown on it and it went into a case :)

Awesome phone though!

Mercedes Streeter > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
03/28/2018 at 18:26

Admittedly I’ve only ever booted on my Honor 8 once. Since then it’s been in a display case, then stored in my “collectible phone” stash.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Mercedes Streeter
03/28/2018 at 18:35

I am confuse. Please explain the purpose of this “collectible phone” stash?? How large is this collection? Are you opening a mobile smart car mobile smart phone museum? Genius!

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
03/28/2018 at 18:59

If you can root them, absolutely. Their proprietary chip makes rooting the Huawei phones nearly impossible.

I am so far please with my Oneplus 5. They don’t ruin Android with a BS skin, and they use the same chips as every other phone, so you can load whatever ROM you want, if you know how to do such things.

That Huawei is sexy though. It really is a shame about their OS changes.

Mercedes Streeter > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
03/28/2018 at 19:02

It’s a stash of my favourite smartphone designs! It’s not too large, it’s only occupied with a Galaxy S7, Honor 8, and a Nextbit Robin. It also used to have an iPhone 6S, but I sold that one.

My “everyday stash” includes a HTC Desire 510, an iPhone 8 Plus, a Galaxy S8, and a LG X Power.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/28/2018 at 20:04

Right, Huawei uses the MediaTek chip.

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
03/28/2018 at 20:06

Kirin, unless MediaTek makes their chip for them.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable)
03/28/2018 at 20:11

You are correct. Who’s the oddball who uses the MediaTek then?

ADabOfOppo; Gone Plaid (Instructables Can Be Confusable) > TheTurbochargedSquirrel
03/28/2018 at 20:18

A cursory search says they supplied Helio smartphones. No idea of they are still supplying anyone else.