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Security alert: Meitu - the app catapults your personal data to China
by Dominik Bärlocher
Huawei in Paris: The P30, China, the USA and the future
26.3.2019
Translation: machine translated
The Huawei P30 Pro and its little sister, the P30, are a reality. The specs sound very familiar, but that's not the most exciting thing about the press conference in Paris.
Glass façade. Curved roof elements. White. Modern. The Paris Convention Centre in the French capital evokes thoughts of functionality, modernity and speed. For journalists from all over the world attending the launch of the Huawei P30 and its big sister, the Huawei P30 Pro, one sentence on the Centre's website is important: "Now a free-standing conference centre, it will provide space for the very largest events."
Space is always in short supply at Huawei events. Video producer Stephanie Tresch and I are used to sitting on a staircase somewhere and working. Or using the camera case as a desk, me typing and Stephanie scurrying back and forth between rows of journalists with her Sony a7iii. Because at such events she is a photographer, videographer and journalist. I listen and write along live.
Today, several thousand people from all over the world have gathered. After watching a few clips of seemingly random people, all self-praise for Huawei, we hope that things will finally get underway. But the suspicion arises: Huawei doesn't just want to show off a smartphone today, it also wants to burnish its own image a bit.
Then the moment the thousands have been waiting for: Huawei's CEO Richard Yu takes to the stage.
A little bit of charity
The CEO of Huawei's Consumer Business Group, Richard Yu, is a charming man. His English is still not the best, but he easily makes up for it with his shameless enthusiasm. Even if we don't quite understand everything. Sometimes he pronounces "A"" as "egg", then corrects himself to "Ey Ai". When it comes to attempted image polishing, Huawei could theoretically save itself the clips and just let Richard Yu do the talking.
With the Kirin 980, Huawei doesn't just want to make the average user's day a little easier. An initiative called Track AI is designed to help children in particular who are unable to actively communicate. The company took a first step last winter when an AI-powered solution made sign language accessible to all by using an avatar to translate spoken words into sign language in real time.
Where's the background?
Richard Yu, however, is not looking at the current situation with the US government. Or the company's situation. No data on success, not a word about the company's strategy. Nothing. This is highly unusual, as it is customary for CEOs and high-ranking executives to report on the fortunes of their company on stage at such events. But not today.
But the espionage affair is one such topic that is keeping journalists busy. We remember, simplified: US President Donald Trump tweets something about "Huawei bad". Legislators ban Huawei's devices from the USA. Acute espionage concerns are expressed. Data is said to be flowing to China. Scandalous
.
However, this is only the short version of a story that first made waves in 2003. At that time, Huawei was first accused internationally of stealing intellectual property. In addition, accusations of espionage are made from time to time, as no company in China operates 100% independently of the government due to the political situation. According to the international consensus, the government can call on companies to help gather information and the companies must keep track of it.
To this end, Chinese law requires Chinese smartphone hardware and software manufacturers to collect metadata from their users on the Chinese market.
Huawei's links to the government are said to be stronger than those of other companies. Company founder Ren Zhengfei was once a high-ranking member of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
In the spring of 2018, the American intelligence services warned against the use of devices from Huawei and ZTE. This was despite the fact that there were no concrete indications or evidence of data flowing to China. Since then, Huawei, just like other Chinese manufacturers, has been facing a harsh wind. International laws are being signed that prohibit government employees from buying and owning devices from certain manufacturers. Two Huawei employees have been arrested. CFO Meng Wanzhou in Canada and another employee in Poland. The suspicion: espionage. The evidence: Pending.
Huawei is not facing this pressure at all. In Paris, it's all about one object and one object only: the Huawei P30 Pro. And a little bit about the P30.
Huawei P30 and P30 Pro: the familiar-sounding milestone
Despite the rather sparse press conference and the international tensions, the journalists at the Convention Centre are not waiting for Richard Yu to make a statement, but for a new smartphone. Because the consensus seems to be that selfies are more important than accusations of espionage. I only partially agree with that now.
The Huawei P30 and its big sister, the Huawei P30 Pro, run on the Kirin 980 system on a chip and boast about the camera. This sounds very similar to the presentation of the P20 Pro, except that the three cameras have become four. The fourth lens is a time-of-flight camera (TOF), which is even better at measuring distances and calculating what is where and how far away. Otherwise, okay big battery and all that.
"We bring you exquisite design," says Yu. He briefly rattles off the specs, then a commercial. Calm music, so incongruous with the aggressive market strategy that the company is pursuing with the device. Because if you buy one, you can get a Sonos One Box for free if you register on Huawei's website. There is probably no bigger challenge this spring.
The device's speaker is special: it is not a speaker in the traditional sense, but a device that makes the screen vibrate. The technology sounds familiar from Sony's TV technology. Does it also work on smartphones? The advantage of building the phone with a vibrating body is that you don't have to install as many notches. This was particularly prominent on the Mate 20 Pro from last autumn.
A real eye-catcher, however, is not the curved OLED screen, which is supposed to be particularly thin, but the "Breathing Crystal" colour scheme. It is inspired by salt lakes. The effect is similar to the colour shade formerly known as Twilight, i.e. a kind of colour gradient. Twilight is history, by the way. It is now called Aurora and is similar in colour to a can of Sprite. Funnily enough, the orange-red colour is met with applause from the audience, the rest seems to be so used to it.
The camera software and hardware have been improved. Massively so, according to Yu. Because the zoom of the P30 Pro is 5x optical. When the hybrid zoom system kicks in, we're at 10x, and when digital and AI are added, we're at 50x. The images that Richard Yu shows on the screen behind him are impressive. Very impressive, in fact. The presentation of the camera system continues. A lot is promised. What Richard Yu doesn't know and Stephanie and I realise at about the same time: We are testing it. Everything. Every claim. Because if even half of it is true, then the P30 Pro is a winner. Without question.
We'll find out tonight whether the P30 Pro actually delivers what it promises. Because as soon as we're out of the Centre, we'll be picking up test devices. Then we'll devote ourselves entirely to the phones and get back to you in the night. If you have any questions or want to know something specific, let us know. We will provide you with an answer if possible.
See you later.
Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.
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