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00:00Hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap, and this is something a little bit special.
00:04It's the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS, a super premium and super expensive version
00:10of the P20 Pro.
00:11And as soon as you open the box, you're greeted by a Porsche Design card of authenticity.
00:17Very fancy.
00:18You also get a whole range of accessories, all in black, including earphones, two super
00:23fast chargers, and USB-C cables.
00:25So it's a nice box, but what about the phone?
00:29Well there's no mistaking that this is from Porsche Design.
00:32I've got it in black, although it also comes in red, with a metal and glass body, mirror
00:36finish, and a symmetry of design that the P20 lacks.
00:40So the biggest difference between the P20 Pro and this Mate RS is of course the design.
00:45But that's not all.
00:46It also offers up to a massive 512GB of storage, a sharper Quad HD Plus resolution screen,
00:53stereo speakers, wireless fast charging, a unique new cooling technology, but probably
00:58most interestingly, the Mate RS is the first widely commercially available phone to come
01:03with an in-screen fingerprint reader.
01:06That's pretty cool.
01:07And of course it also comes with all the best bits of the P20 Pro, like the huge 4000mAh
01:12battery and the same awesome Leica engineered triple camera setup.
01:17Specs wise, we've got a 6-inch QHD Plus OLED display, the Kirin 970 processor, 6GB of RAM,
01:23and in this particular model I've got here, 256GB of storage.
01:27It runs Android 8.1 with Huawei's own EMUI 8.1 on top.
01:31Their software has come a long way in the last couple of years, and I'd say it's just
01:35as good now as rivals like the Samsung Experience UI on the Galaxy phones.
01:39And Huawei's AI technology built into the Kirin 970 chip is genuinely useful, from automatically
01:44switching camera modes depending on the scene, saving battery by optimising the power management
01:49of your apps, and probably a million other things going on under the hood that we just
01:53don't see, but that contribute to a fast and responsive phone.
01:57So how much is all this going to cost you?
01:59Well, so far it's only confirmed in Euros, but this model is an eye-watering €1550,
02:06with the 512GB model going for over two grand.
02:09That's crazy money, so I can't say I'm going to be rushing out to buy one when it comes
02:13out in May, but maybe if you can afford a car with this badge, you can afford a phone
02:18with this one.
02:20But the big question for me, when there's a brand partnership like this between Huawei
02:23and Porsche Design, is just how much influence did Porsche really have in the development
02:28of it, or is it all just a marketing gimmick?
02:30Well, as well as driving some fancy Porsche Macans around the Austrian countryside over
02:35the last few days, I also visited the Porsche Design headquarters and asked what their lead
02:39designer thought of the notch on the P20 Pro.
02:42He shook his head and called it a compromise.
02:44Porsche Design is not a fan of notches, so the symmetrical bezel of the Mate RS, the
02:49centralised placement of the camera lenses, and the removal of the P20's fake speaker
02:54grille on the bottom of the phone all suggests Porsche Design had a big part in creating
02:59the Mate RS, which is really good to see, although there are some definite design similarities
03:03between this and the Samsung Galaxy S9+, except Samsung did keep the headphone jack.
03:09It's a beautiful-looking phone, but the mirror-glass back really is a fingerprint magnet, and it's
03:14quite slippery as well, so I found myself using the leather case provided in the box
03:18most of the time.
03:19But it's not just a pretty face, it's fast, it has exceptional battery life, and the best
03:24photography camera on any phone right now, with a 40-megapixel RGB lens, a 20-megapixel
03:29monochrome, and an 8-megapixel telephoto, which gives you 3x optical zoom.
03:34This thing, like the P20 Pro, is the photographer's dream.
03:38Take a picture at night in auto mode, or with any other phone, and it looks good, but switch
03:43it to night mode, and it's insane.
03:46With AI stabilisation and a 4-second exposure, this and the P20 Pro are absolutely incredible
03:52for photos.
03:53You can also get some great bokeh effects in your photos if you use the aperture mode,
03:58although the lack of stabilisation while shooting 4K video is disappointing, it's basically
04:02unusable, so if video is important to you, then maybe this isn't the best option.
04:07But if you want to see some more photos, or even some behind-the-scenes shots, then make
04:11sure to follow me on Instagram at The Tech Chap.
04:13So it looks nice, the extra storage is kind of handy, although honestly I don't think
04:17I need that much, but what is really cool about the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS is
04:22the new in-screen fingerprint reader.
04:25Register a finger, tap the screen, and you're in.
04:27It's pretty neat, but not as fast or as consistently reliable, or actually even as secure as the
04:33other fingerprint reader on the back of the phone.
04:35And not only that, but if you use the super quick face unlock as well, usually that's
04:39unlocked the phone before you've even tapped the screen with your finger anyway.
04:42So it's more of a proof of concept, and a bit of an impressive tech demo, rather than
04:46a genuinely useful addition, in my opinion, for the moment at least.
04:51However, as impressive as this phone is, and it really is, personally I could never justify
04:56the cost, but if money is no object, or maybe less of an object for you, and you want the
05:01best smartphone in the world right now, this is probably it.
05:06So personally, I think I prefer the design of the P20 Pro, not at all.
05:10But what about you?
05:11Which do you think looks better?
05:12Vote in the poll at the top right, and let me know what you make of the Porsche Design
05:16Mate RS in the comments below.
05:18So I've had an amazing time with the phone in Austria over the last few days.
05:21I'm going to fly back to rainy old England now, but I'll see you guys next time, right
05:26here on the Tech Chat.