The Redmi Note 11 series has made its global debut already and Xiaomi is now getting ready to launch the series in the Middle East with a launch event set in the UAE for February 15. 

Xiaomi will announce the models that will make it to the Middle East at the event along with their pricing and regional availability. Expect to see the new Redmi Note 11 phones launched in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the rest of the GCC markets a few days after the February 15.

• Best Xiaomi phones in the Middle East
• Best phones under AED 1,000
• Best phones in the UAE and Saudi Arabia

Xiaomi has tweaked the global versions of the Note 11 series compared to the Chinese variants of the series which consists of four devices - Redmi Note 11, Note 11S, Note 11 Pro 4G, and Note 11 Pro 5G. The Note 11 series is going to succeed the Note 10 series launched in the global market back in 2021. 

Starting with the design, all four smartphones feature a flat frame that makes them look quite similar to iPhones. The smartphones have a glass panel at the back with a camera island situated at the top left corner and a side-mounted fingerprint sensor. At the front, the devices have a punch-hole cutout for the placement of the selfie snapper. 

Redmi Note 11, Note 11S specifications

Globally, the Redmi Note 11 and the Note 11S sport a 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED display coupled with a 90Hz refresh rate. Along with that, the smartphones are powered by a 5000mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging. Redmi Note 11 houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor, and the Note 11S comes with a MediaTek Helio G96 chipset.

In terms of optics, Redmi Note 11 comes with a quad rear camera setup, including a 50MP primary snapper, 8MP ultra wide-angle snapper, 2 MP macro snapper, and a 2MP portrait snapper. The rear camera setup of the Redmi Note 11S is similar to that of the Redmi Note 11 expect the 108MP primary sensor. At the front, Note 11 rocks a 13MP selfie shooter, and Note 11S includes a 16MP selfie shooter.

Redmi Note 11 Pro 4G, Note 11 Pro 5G specifications

The LTE and 5G variants of the Redmi Note 11 Pro have similar configurations apart from the chipset and the camera setup. Redmi Note 11 Pro 4G is powered by a MediaTek Helio G96 processor, and the Note 11 Pro 5G houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor.

As for the camera setup, Note 11 Pro 4G sports a quad rear camera setup consisting of a 108MP primary shooter, 8MP ultra wide-angle shooter, 2MP portrait shooter, and a 2MP macro shooter. On the other hand, the 5G variant of the device flaunts a triple rear camera setup, including the same lenses with a missing portrait sensor.

Apart from that, both the smartphones feature a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display paired with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1200 nits of peak brightness. The smartphones have LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 2.2 internal storage. The storage of both devices is also expandable up to 1TB via a microSD card.

They operate on the MIUI 13 custom skin based on the Android 11 operating system. The smartphones draw power from a 5000mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging to fully fuel up the devices in less than an hour.

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Xiaomi has announced that it is brining its latest range of phones to the Middle East. The Xiaomi 11T and the Xiaomi 11T Pro were revealed in the UAE yesterday. 

Other than the 11T and the 11T Pro, Xiaomi also launched the Xiaomi Pad 5 and a new version of the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G called Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE.

The Xiaomi 11T and the 11T Pro phones are similar to each other with the three most notable differences being: the processor, the charging speed and the price.

Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11T Pro: release date and price

• The Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11T Pro will be available October 12, 2021
• Xiaomi 11T price starts at AED 1,699 /SAR 1,999 (256GB)
• Xiaomi 11T Pro price starts at AED 2,399 / SAR 2,499 (256GB)

The Xiaomi 11T will be available with a brushed finish in Meteorite Gray, Moonlight White, and Celestial Blue. It will comes in two configurations: 8GB+128GB for AED 1,699 and  8GB+256GB for AED 1,899 in the UAE and SAR 1,999 in Saudi Arabia.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro will also be available with a brushed finish in Meteorite Gray, Moonlight White, and Celestial Blue. It will also be available two configurations: 8GB+256GB for AED 2,399 and 12GB+256GB for AED 2,599 in the UAE and SAR 2,499 in Saudi Arabia.

The Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11T Pro will be available online through Amazon and other vendors as well as through retail stores. The phones are expected to be available on October 12, 2021 in the UAE and KSA.

Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11T Pro: Specs, cameras and display

The standard Xiaomi 11T has the MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor while the Xiaomi 11T Pro uses the much higher end Snapdragon 888. Both phones have 8GB of RAM variants while storage options are 128GB or 256GB. The Xiaomi 11T Pro is also available with 12GB RAM.

Both the Xiaomi 11T and the Xiaomi 11T Pro feature a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with FHD + resolution (2400 x 1080) and a 120Hz refresh rate. Unlike the Xiaomi Mi 11, the 11T has a flat screen instead of a curved one. The screens on both models are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

Both phones have a 108MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 5MP telemacro. The front camera of both models is 16MP.

Xiaomi 11T and Xiaomi 11T Pro: Charging speed and battery

The highlighting feature of the Xiaomi 11T Pro is the charging speed at a whopping 120W which can fully charge the phone in 17 minutes. The regular Xiaomi 11T has 67W charging, which is also much faster than competing phones.

Both phones have a 5000mAh battery which is also a fairly high capacity.

The Xiaomi 11T and the 11T Pro will come with the Android 11 and MIUI. Xiaomi has announced that mobiles will receive 'three generations' of Android updates, and four years of security patches. 

Apple has announced that Apple Music is now available in 52 additional countries- two of which are Kuwait and Qatar.

The subscription based music service was already available in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain and with the addition of two additional countries, Apple Music is now available to all consumers across the GCC.

Apple Music as a catalog of over 60 million songs and pricing in the UAE starts at AED  9.99 per month for students, AED 19.99 for individuals and AED 29.99 for families which allows access for up to six people. Pricing for other GCC countries is on a similar level.

 Besides Apple Music launching in Kuwait and Qatar, Apple has also made the App Store available to Iraq and Morocco which gives regional developers a larger audience to serve and monetize.

Apple Music is available for iOS and Android devices – for full details check out Etisalat’s official website

• Read our review of Apple Music

We wondered if Apple's new affordable phone would be called an iPhone 9 or an iPhone SE 2. But Apple is simply called the iPhone SE, and it’s the new ‘cheap’ iPhone that comes in at just AED 1,699  while offering a host of cutting-edge features. 

Apple will be releasing the iPhone SE on Friday April 24, with pre-orders opening Friday, April 17. Pricing starts at AED 1,699 for 64GB of storage. The 128GB model is priced at AED 1,909 while the highest storage model with 256GB comes in at AED 2,329.

While the design of the new iPhone SE might seem similar to the iPhone 8, inside it’s a different story. Where the iPhone 8 used the A11 Bionic chipset, the new iPhone SE packs the same A13 Bionic engine that powers the iPhone 11 range.

Apple has placed a lot of importance on the camera of the new iPhone SE. Despite only packing a single sensor (not even the dual-sensor setup found in the iPhone 8 Plus) Apple is still lauding this as the best single-sensor snapper it’s ever created – thus making it even better than the iPhone XR’s camera.

You’ve got the choice of three colors: black, white or Product Red (that’s just another name for red).

The iPhone SE 2020 could very well be the phone attracting Android users that have budgets around AED 1,500 or the phone many will buy for their kids and parents. It's a great way to enter the Apple ecosystem and, as an added bonus, comes with one free year of Apple TV Plus subscription.

• Everything we know about the iPhone 12

Oppo has officially introduced the Oppo Reno3 Pro and Reno3 in the UAE. The Oppo Reno3 Pro releasing in the UAE is the global variant of the phone which is slightly different to the versions launched in China and India.

Both the Oppo Reno3 Pro and Reno3 will be available for pre-orders from March 19th 2020 at any OPPO official retailer stores in the UAE or online at Oppo official website, Noon and Amazon. Customers who pre-order will start recieving their phones from March 26th.

Oppo Reno3 and Reno3 Pro prices and specifications

The Oppo Reno3 Pro is priced at AED 1,899 and  will be available in two colours- Auroral Blue and Midnight Black.

It features a 6.5-inch Full HD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) resolution AMOLED screen which is coated with a layer of Corning's Gorilla Glass 5. The display has an in-built fingerprint reader, a refresh rate of 90Hz and supports DCI-P3 colour gamut range.

The Oppo Reno3 Pro is powered by MediaTek's Helio P95 with 8GB RAM and 256GB UFS 2.1 storage. The phone runs on ColorOS 7 which is based on Android 10. 

Coming to the cameras, the Reno3 Pro has a quad-camera array on the back which consists of a primary 64MP sensor, 13MP telephoto lens with 2x optical zoom, 8MP ultra-wide-angle lens and a 2MP black and white sensor. The front-facing camera is expected to be a 44MP sensor making it the first phone to feature such a high-resolution sensor alongside a 2MP depth sensor.

Oppo Reno3 Pro is equipped with a 4,025mAh battery with support for 30W fast charging, thanks to VOOC Flash Charge 4.0.

The regular Oppo Reno3 is priced at AED 1,399 and comes with 6GB RAM and 256GB storage along with a 48MP primary camera as well as the 44MP front-facing camera.

Pre-order and get more

Oppo is running promotions for pre-orders within the UAE and if you were to buy the phone, this would be the right time to do so.

Anyone pre-ordering the Oppo Reno3 Pro will recieve the OPPO Enco Q1 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphone for free while customers pre-ordering the Oppo Reno3 will get a promotional OPPO VOOC Car Charger.

Apple has posted guidelines for developers working on apps that relate to COVID-19. Apple will only allow apps it considers that are from credible sources, which include government organizations, health-focused NGOs, companies deeply credentialed in health issues, and medical or educational institutions.

Apple is recommending that only developers from one of these recognized entities submit an app related to COVID-19. Games or entertainment related apps with COVID-19 as their theme will not be allowed. According to Apple:

The App Store should always be a safe and trusted place for users to download apps. Now more than ever that commitment takes on special significance as the world fights the COVID-19 pandemic. Communities around the world are depending on apps to be credible news sources — helping users understand the latest health innovations, find out where they can get help if needed or provide assistance to their neighbors.

Further, Apple recommends that developers  use the "time-sensitive event” option on the expedite request form to ensure prioritized review when submitting a COVID-19 related app to the App Store.

The above doesn't come as a surprise, as Apple has always swayed towards an overly protective stance when it comes to dealing with controversial topics.

• Apple WWDC 2020 is now online-only: here's what you need to know

It's official- we love foldable phones in the UAE.

Huawei made it's foldable phone, the Mate Xs, available for pre-orders on the 11th of March and, just four days later, the phone has already been sold out. 

Priced at AED 9,999 the Huawei Mate Xs is easily the most expensive phone we've come across but that doesn't seem to drive consumers away. In our review of the Mate Xs, we mentioned that it has the best design we've seen for folable phones.

Huawei hasn't released the number of phones that were made available for pre-odering, and if you were looking to pick one up, you'll have to wait a bit longer. We don't currently have any information on when the second batch of phones will be made available for pre-ordering but we will update this article when we find out. 

• Huawei Mate Xs review

Samsung is going strong with updating its entire lineup for 2020. The next one to get a revamp is the Galaxy A71, which is the most premium smartphone in Samsung’s A-series.

Hot on the heels of the A51, the Samsung Galaxy A71 brings major upgrades to the cameras, chipset as well as the battery and charging. It follows the same design as all of Samsung’s recent smartphones with a quad-camera array on the back and an Infinity-O display on the front.

Samsung Galaxy A71 specifications

The Galaxy A71 has a big 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with a Full HD+ resolution at a 20:9 aspect ratio. There’s a punch-hole notch in the center for the selfie camera. An in-display fingerprint scanner is also present, alongside face unlock.

The biggest change comes with the cameras, which are now placed in a rectangular island on the back. It consists of a 64MP f/1.8 primary camera, followed by a 12MP ultra-wide shooter with a 123-degree field of view, a 5MP macro lens and a depth sensor. The front camera uses a 32MP sensor and can also record a slow-motion selfie video. Other shooting modes include UHD video recording, Super Steady, AR Doodle, crop zoom, etc.

The Samsung Galaxy A71 is powered by the Snapdragon 730 SoC, which is an octa-core chipset built on an 8nm manufacturing process. That is paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The storage can be expanded by an additional 512GB via micro SD. The battery is rated at 4,500mAh with support for 25W fast charging over USB Type-C.

Samsung Galaxy A71 price in the UAE

In India, the Samsung Galaxy A71 is available in a single configuration and comes in colours such as Prism Crush Black, Prism Crush Silver, Prism Crush Blue. It is priced at AED 1,522.86 and will is available now.

• Samsung Galaxy A71 hands-on
• Google tells Samsung to stop making changes in Android

Samsung released its second foldable phone, the Galaxy Z Flip alongside the Samsung Galaxy S20 series on February 11. While the S20 series will release early March, pre-orders for the Galaxy Z Flip were live on the Feb 12 and 13 and the unit was on store shelves February 14th. Within a day, all of those units are now completely sold out.

If you didn't manage to get the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip, you'll now have to wait a bit longer. TechRadar was monitoring local online retailers and while there was availability available till today morning, it now appears that all allocated units have been bought and the next batch lands on February 18.

Samsung has confirmed by issuing a press release that the Galaxy Z Fold is all sold out- though there is no mention on the number of units that were made available. You can check our hands-on video with the Galaxy Z Flip.

Galaxy Z Flip comes with 256 GB internal storage for AED 5,499.00 in two colors Mirror Black and Mirror Purple. You can order it now if you'd like to receive your unit by Feb 18.

• Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy Z Flip
• Hands-on: Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra

If you're looking to purchase a high-end Android phone, the current choices are the Samsng Galaxy Note 10 Plus and the Huawei Mate 30 Pro. Each phone comes with it's set of advantages and drawbacks and we've compared the two to find out where each one excels.

Design and Display 

Both the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus are large devices with big screens that need two hands to operate. The Note 10 Plus is larger when it comes to length and width and that is to accommodate the bigger screen which measures 6.8-inches compared to 6.53-inches on the Mate 30 Pro 5G.  

If you’re looking for the larger screen, the Galaxy Note Plus wins but if you prefer a phone that is more manageable in your hands then we like the Mate 30 Pro more. It also has a more striking design with a waterfall screen and the optional vegan leather that look stunning in orange, especially with gold accents. 

While both the phones sport an OLED display, Samsung has the lead which is no surprise as it is one of the largest manufacturers of display panels. The Note 10 Plus has a bigger and higher resolution screen with support for HDR10+ that give it an edge over the Mate 30 Pro. 

Features and Performance 

Under the hood the Samsung Galaxy Note10 Plus is powered by Exynos 9825 chipset while the Huawei Mate 30 Pro uses Huawei’s flagship the Kirin 990 chipset with integrated 5G- more on that in the next section. Huawei is using the latest 7nm+ technology which is newer and more efficient. 

With RAM and storage, the Note 10 Plus comes with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage compared to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage on the Mate 30 Pro. Both phones use UFS 3.0 for storage.  

Looking at the benchmarks, the Note 10 Plus scores 4532 and 10431 in single and multi-core scores under Geekbench whereas the Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G scores 3851 and 12636 making is a bit slower in single core tasks but faster in multi-core tasks. 

While the phones are evenly matched for specs, Samsung does provide you the S-Pen with the Galaxy Note 10 for some added functionality.  

Connectivity 

Whereas both devices are similar in terms of design and features, the one area where Huawei pulls ahead is with connectivity which comes as no surprise as Huawei is one the pioneers of 5G technology.  

Although the Galaxy Note 10 Plus comes with a 5G variant, it only supports the current NSA (Non-Standalon) 5G standard while the Mate 30 Pro 5G supports both SA (Standalone) and NSA (Non-Standalone) modes of 5G which means that your phone will support and enjoy higher speeds once network operators upgrade their infrastructure to true 5G instead of the current (NSA) hybrid LTE/5G architecture. 

We’ve seen some network speed tests on Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G which have reached speeds of 1,432 Mbps download- that's the fastest we’ve seen on any 5G device.  

Camera

Huawei has built a solid reputation for being amongst the best in the industry when it comes to camera technology and with the Mate 30 Pro, Huawei pushes even further offering the industry’s first pair of 40MP cameras. 

The primary 40MP camera on the Mate 30 Pro features the same RYYB sensor that we first saw on the Huawei P30 earlier this year that’s capable of taking stunning shots in daylight or lowlight. With the Mate 30 Pro, Huawei has focused on video and together with the 40MP Ultrawide lens, the 8MP telephoto that’s capable of 3X optical zoom and a 3D TOF sensor, you are awarded with the highest-spec camera in the phone industry. 

On the Galaxy Note 10, Samsung hasn’t made much improvements compared to the S10 released earlier in the year. You get the same triple camera setup with 12MP sensor on the primary camera, 12MP of the telephoto with 12X zoom and 16MP on the ultrawide along with the TOF sensor.

 The Galaxy Note 10 Plus is capable of taking some great shots but if you want better photos and videos, you’d be hard-pressed to find any phone that’s as versatile as the Mate 30 Pro. 

Software

While Huawei pulls ahead with connectivity and camera, the one area where you will struggle with the Mate 30 Pro is with software due to the lack of Google Mobile services present on the phone. Huawei is building its own framework with Huawei Mobile services and getting more apps into its App Gallery every week. In fact, many of the popular apps used by users across the world are already preset on Huawei App Gallery and with the establishment of the Global Developer Service Alliance program, things will only get better. 

Over time, this could pay off in a way that Apple currently enjoys with Huawei owning both the software and the hardware for a much more seamless and integrated solution. But for now, Google Play Store is the standard across all Android phones and the lack of that puts the Mate 30 Pro 5G at a disadvantage. 

There are ways to add Google Mobile Services to the Mate 30 Pro but none of them are official methods that are guaranteed to continue working. Samsung, on the other hand, doesn’t have any political restriction placed on it and is thus allowed to bundle GMS and PlayStore on the Note 10 Plus which puts it at an advantage when it comes to apps. 

Battery Life 

Bigger devices mean bigger batteries and both the Huawei Mate 30 Pro and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus have very large capacity batteries that easily last a day and then some. In terms of capacity, the Note 10 Plus has a 4,300mAh battery while the Huawei Mate 30 Pro sports a 4,500mAh battery. 

Both the phones support fast charging through USB Type-C and while both phones also support wireless charging, the Mate 30 Pro offers a faster 27W wireless charging compared to Samsung’s 15W wireless charging.  

Price

Given the high-end design, features and performance, it should be clear that we are not looking at budget phones. Samsung does price the phone higher at AED 4,499 but the Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G isn’t cheap at AED 3,899 either.  

What you're getting out of the high-end specs, design and features of both phones, and considering the current market, the prices for these phones are justified.  

Verdict 

Both the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 5G and the Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G are flagship products of each brand and will easily last you a few years. They excel at day-to-day use but do offer specific advantages- the Note 10 has a better screen and comes with the S-Pen.  

There’s also the question on Google Apps and while we have no doubt that Huawei will continue to attract more add developers and grow its Mobile Services, Samsung does have the upper hand in software for the moment.  

This could change in the future and if you are more interested on the hardware side than the software side, the Mate 30 Pro excels with a newer chipset, a better camera and a more future-proof 5G solution that will last you even when network operators switch to Standard Alone 5G infrastructure.  

Following the launch of the 4G version of the Mate 30 Pro, Huawei has now announced the 5G version of its flagship product for the Middle East. 

For the UAE, Huawei has priced the phone at AED 3,899 which is AED 300 more than the 4G model. Just like the 4G model, the Mate 30 Pro 5G will only come in one configuration which is with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Color options include Orange and Emerald Green. 

The phone will be available for pre-orders starting January 15th and with each pre-ordered consumers will receive: DJI OSMO Mobile 3 stabilizer, HUAWEI Supercharge Wireless Car Charger and Exclusive 2 year warranty- that's quite a bundle.

The smartphone will be available for purchase across Huawei experience stores and select retailers in the UAE on January 23rd.

Unlike other Huawei phones, the Mate 30 Pro does not come with Google Mobile Services pre-intstalled. It's still used Android 10 and Huawei's EMUI 10 but you'll have to use Huawei App Gallery to download apps.

Huawei highlighted that over 6 million apps are available on App Gallery with many of the regional apps such as Anghami, Dubizzle and Etihad Arilines already present on it.

While the Mate 30 Pro may be lacking in the Google apps department, there's no denying the phone's photographic prowess – Huawei's new flagship boasts a quad-Leica camera setup on its rear with dual 40MP sensors (wide + ultrawide), an 8MP telephoto lens and a 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) depth sensor. On the front, it's got a 32MP wide camera for selfies and yet another 3D ToF sensor.

Logitech is generally known as the company that makes really good accessories such as mice and keyboards. But there is another side to the company that makes products for businesses - specifically for video or voice conferencing, and we were at the Logitech office to try their new Tap Controller. 

The Logitech Tap is part of the Logitech conferencing solution that works with cameras, microphones and speakers across Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and Zoom services. Logitech provides this solution for all sizes of teams - from a single-user room to one with over forty participants. 

If you need to conduct a video call or conference, you will need to provide your own television or projector and a Small Form Factor PC (if required by your setup), but everything else for that meeting can be powered by a Logitech product.  

To start off, Logitech offers a variety of high-end video cameras such as an ultrawide camera for tight spaces to AI powered cameras that can focus on attendees. During the demo, the camera was able to distinguish the people in the room from the background and automatically adjusted the framing to zoom and show everyone in the room. 

Depending on your setup, the microphone built on the camera could be enough, or you could add additional Logitech Rally Pad mics. These mics can capture audio across all angles, and in a room where we had about ten people, Logitech had set up two microphones. As per the specs, each mic has a range of 4.5m in each direction, which means that one mic should be sufficient between 4-6 people. 

The same thing applies to speakers - you can set up as many as you’d like, but the demo room that we were in had two speakers. They were on each side on the TV, and were loud enough for the entire room. 

The final and most interesting piece of the video conferencing setup was Logitech Tap, which is a custom device with a wedge shape and touchscreen on top. This device easily allows you to create or join meetings without the need for a PC. You can set the Tap up as a room under Office 365, which doesn’t require any additional licenses for it. 

We were given a quick demo on how easy it was to set up or join a meeting, and it was quite refreshing to see how smoothly and quickly everything worked. There was no back and forth between “can you hear us?” or “can you see us?” that precedes most meetings. Logitech estimates that 8-10 minutes are lost prior to every online meeting in getting tech to work.  

Tap is also expected to plug into automating lighting, climate, and blinds for your room, so a simple tab will close your blinds, turn on all your lights or change the temperature right from its screen. 

The Logitech Tap and the rest of its ecosystem wants to take the pain out of voice and video conferencing. Setup can be as simple as just installing one unit or a complicated and expensive affair based on your needs. 

Pricing starts at USD$4,000 and goes up depending on your exact requirement. 

Huawei recently released the Mate 30 Pro in the UAE and like the Mate 20 Pro from last year, this latest model also  pushes the envelope when it comes to design, performance, screen and camera technology. 

If you’re looking to pick the Huawei Mate 30 Pro, you should know that it comes with Huawei Mobile Services (HMS) instead of Google Mobile Services (GMS). But what exactly are Huawei’s or Google’s mobile services and how do they differ? 

HMS vs GMS

To start off, let’s make it clear that both HMS and GMS run on top of the Android operating system and technically, allow you to use Android apps. Where you’ll start to see a difference is how you get apps on your phones and how some of these apps work based on which platform your phone is based on. 

It starts with your basic ID to sign on to each of these services- with Huawei it’s your Huawei ID while with Google, it’s your Google ID which is generally your GMail account. Using this ID, you then sign on to the cloud services that both of these platforms provide and sync your data such as your photos, your contacts, calendars and notes, as well as you device settings and logs such as call logs, messages and Wi-Fi settings.

Services offered across the two clouds can be differ- for example, Google Mobile Services don’t back up your call logs or messages and you have to rely on third party tools for that but Huawei has that as part of its mobile services. 

Getting your favourite apps on the Mate 30 Pro

The biggest difference that exists between the two services is how you download apps on your phone and if those apps store and rely on either of these services to fully work. Google uses the Play Store to download and manage all your apps whereas Huawe has its App Gallery for the same purpose. 

Google obviously has more apps on its store because it has existed for a lot longer but that doesn’t mean there is no room for other app stores. In fact, other manufacturers such as Samsung also have their app stores (Galaxy Store) installed on all their phones. There are tons of third-party app stores as well such as Apptoid, APKMirror and the Amazon App Store so if an app is not currently present on Huawei’s app gallery, you might be able to find it on one of these alternate stores.

We checked out the selection of apps available of App Gallery and compared them top apps and games available on Android in Google PlayStore in the UAE. 

1. ToTok - Available on Huawei App Gallery
2. WhatsApp Messenger - Not currently available
3. TikTok - Not currently available
4. Imo - Available on Huawei App Gallery
5. Shareit - Available on Huawei App Gallery

Three out of the top five apps are already available on App Gallery while the other two can be downloaded from third-party app stores giving you access to all the top apps on the HMS based Mate 30 Pro. There are tons of local apps such as noon, DEWA, The Entertainer and Vox cinemas also already available on the App Gallery and we have no doubt that this list will keep growing.

Where things get a bit tricky is when apps rely on Google Services for functionality such as storing data or using your Google account. It’s understandable that some of the apps that Google makes such as GMail, YouTube or Google Photos don’t function without Google Mobile services but an alternate to that is using the web versions of these apps which work fine but don’t necessarily provide a native experience. 

There are some third party apps as well that rely on Google services but can function without it. Apps such as WhatsApp that uses your Google Drive to store your chats is one example- however there are ways to work around that. Ideally, these apps should have their own infra-structure so they’re not tied to any third-parties that could dictate who their customers are.

But if you are one of the users that heavily depends on GMS at the moment, there is a workaround for that too. We’ve used plenty of phones imported from China with no Google services pre-installed on them and through specific apps, have managed to get them fully working. The Mate 30 Pro isn’t an exception to that and the following video explains how you can get GMS working.

There’s a chance that the above solution stops working as it isn’t necessarily an official solution. We would thus recommend sticking to Huawei Mobile Services for Mate 30 owners- it is officially supported and with time, will only grow bigger and better.  

We finally have an official release date and pricing information for Huawei's new flagship, the Mate 30 Pro in the UAE. But the sale process is not how you would buy any other ordinary phone. 

While demo samples will be present across Huawei experience stores, in order to purchase the unit, you'll have to register your interest through Huawei's website between 1st to 15th December.

For its local release, Huawei has priced the phone at AED 3,599 and you will only get one configuration which is with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Color options include Black and Space Silver. 

Users that purchase the device will also get 2 years warranty, one time complimentary screen replacement, 200GB of Huawei Mobile Cloud storage, 6 months of Huawei music membership, a SuperCharge wireless car charger and a Smart View flip cover. That's quite a bundle.

Unlike other Huawei phones, the Mate 30 Pro does not come with Google Mobile Services pre-intstalled. It's still used Android 10 and Huawei's EMUI 10 but you'll have to use Huawei App Gallery to download apps.

Huawei explained to TechRadar that it wants to make sure that fans buying the Mate 30 Pro are made aware of this and that's the reason it is selling the device in this particular fashion. 

Once you're registered your interest, you will be invited to an event where Huawei representatives will answer all your questions and help you migrate data should you decide to purchase the phone.

While the Mate 30 Pro may be lacking in the Google apps department, there's no denying the phone's photographic prowess – Huawei's new flagship boasts a quad-Leica camera setup on its rear with dual 40MP sensors (wide + ultrawide), an 8MP telephoto lens and a 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) depth sensor. On the front, it's got a 32MP wide camera for selfies and yet another 3D ToF sensor.

• Huawei Mate 30 Pro vs Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus

The introduction of the Core series of processors was a new chapter in Intel’s history. Year after year, following a ‘tick-tock model’, Intel defined the benchmarks on how fast and efficient processors should be. But the last few years have taken some of that shine off- not only has Intel struggled to move to a smaller manufacturing process below 14nm but ARM-based processors that drive almost every single smartphone out there have become the most sought-after piece of silicon.

Steve Long, Vice President & General Manager of Intel’s Sales and Marketing Group was recently in the UAE to promote the Intel Innovation Center in Dubai and TechRadar Middle East managed to get some time with him during his visit. 

Why has it taken Intel so much time to move to a manufacturing process below 14nm technology?

Driving innovation is our first and foremost priority, independent of processor technology. The focus should be on what you are bringing out and how you are making a difference, and how people use technology. Gone are the days where it was about the bits and bytes of it, now it’s about what people can do with it.

Are you saying that Moore’s Law is dead?

It is absolutely not. It’s alive and well. We continue to bring and drive innovation, and push things forward. We are ramping our 10th gen processors on 10nm technology. The 10nm is important as it allows us to bring new capabilities and differentiate our capabilities around better integration and graphics improvements. The new technology allows us to bring AI and deep learning inside the CPU where we can actually improve the user experience.

When can we expect these 10nm processors for desktops?

This is not what I would want to talk about right now but here’s what you should think about – what we do at Intel is we ramp technologies, and our 10th gen processor which we just announced will be the fastest ramp that we have ever executed. Over the next 3-4 months, you will see it will surpass any ramp. We have a phenomenal product in the works that’s coming out next year.

Can you talk a little about Project Athena?

Ultrabooks set a wave of innovation around thin and light form factors, and setting a certain level of expectations from a user delivery that lead us to where thin and light are pretty much mainstream. I think we are at the cusp of the next wave of innovation with Project Athena. 

With Project Athena, we went out and studied how people actually use technology. This is years of making- we are studying what we call a new class of consumers. We categorize them as ‘mobile go-getter’, somebody who is used to using multiple devices. They are used to a phone first experience but then go to the PC to get things done. And they have a higher expectation of what they want out of the PC.

For Project Athena we studied how these mobile go-getters actually use technology, and we drove an experience-first innovation. We saw that they expect their device to be always ready, they come to the device and they want to focus, and they want their device to be adaptable. Those are the three things that a user wants out of it. There’s a ton we can talk about the engineering and technologies that makes those things possible. We are working with hundreds of ecosystem partners on creating components that can enable those three kind of things that the user cares about. 

Does the recently announced dual screen Microsoft Surface Neo fall under Project Athena? 

Our vision of devices continue to evolve and foldable form factors will absolutely and eventually fit into a category of Project Athena. Neo is the first foldable device which is powered by Intel, which we spent years co-engineering with Microsoft on that product. It doesn’t categorize as experiences that we are measuring for Project Athena, but it will eventually fit into the Project Athena form factors as we go forward.

Microsoft's Surface launch event showcased hardware based around your competitors. Does that worry you?

Competition brings out the best in everyone- it’s better for consumers. We are excited to compete with products that we have, with Microsoft and with all of the OEM partners. 

The Surface group, the devices that we have, and the form factor and the experience they are trying to drive, and their vision for the Surface products is one where Intel will continue to participate in. 

Their data center, Azure, are co-built together using our artificial intelligence, which is based on some of the capabilities of Intel technologies, so it’s still a great partnership and we are excited about what we can do with them.

AMD is finally coming back and giving Intel some competition. How do you see that playing out in the next 2-3 years?

Like I said, we continue to push the innovation envelop across the global scale and our differentiation is at a platform level. Very few companies can integrate different technologies and bring them to a market in a way that you can aggregate memory differentiation, you can aggregate Wi-Fi 6 where we have features that users care about. And when you look at the aggregate of all the different technologies that come together in a platform, we believe we are well positioned to continue to compete and take things forward. 

And we are going to take on markets – we are going to go after graphics, and take our game in places where we haven’t been before. We are very excited about what’s coming out. You are going to see us by the end of next year or the beginning of the following year getting into the discrete (graphics) side as well.

We’d like to thank Intel and Steve Long for allocating their time to TechRadar and are excited to see the products that Intel releases over the next couple of years.