This Week in Mobile - Xiaomi and Huawei Mix it up!

Welcome to This Week in Mobile, Tech Travel Geeks' weekly column covering what has happened in the world of mobile. If we haven't covered it on Tech Travel Geeks we'll link to the best content on the web.

I'll just put this out there before I type any more: though this post is being published on April 1st 2018 there are no April fools in here. None. Don't bother looking for any. It is pointless to search for an Easter Sunday Aprils fools in here.

This week two of the biggest handset manufacturers in the world released their new flagships. Xiaomi announced the Mi Mix 2S and Huawei announced the P20 range (P20 Pro, P20 and P20 Lite). Both these manufacturers happen to be Chinese and both are expanding globally.

I'm particularly interested on what comes from China in the mobile space and always actively use at least one device from Xiaomi and one from Huawei. Currently I'm using a Xiaomi Mi 6 and a Huawei Honor View 10 (as well as a Huawei Honor 7X).

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S

Xiaomi started the bezelless craze a while back with the original Xiaomi Mi Mix. My friend Iain has one and he very kindly let me play around with it. It is a lovely premium device.

This week Xiaomi announced the Mi Mix 2S, which is the latest version of their bezelless line. Powered by the latest and most powerful chipset from Qualcomm, with a dual camera on the back, a 18:9 aspect ratio display and ceramic and metal build the device sits comfortably in the premium category of smartphones.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S technical specifications at GSMArena.com.

I expect this device to sell well in Asia and southern European markets where Xiaomi is already a popular brand. An important ingredient to the recipe of the future success of the device is pricing: the entry level model (with 6GB of RAM) starts at around $530 and the top end model (with 8GB RAM) will be around $650. Dan Seifert over from The Verge explains more in the video below.

Harish over at Android Central has had some hands on time and has written a great preview about the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S

Huawei P20 Range

Huawei's P series devices are their flagships, usually launched in the first half of the year. This week the Chinese manufacturer announced the P20 line.

At the top of the range the P20 Pro sits with a 6" AMOLED screen (with a notch), a large battery, AI capable chipset and software and a new triple camera on the back.

Huawei P20 Pro technical specifications at GSMArena.com.

The cameras, one 40MP, one 20MP and one 8MP, paired with Huawei's own chipset and software are the main highlight for me. This weekend I caught up with our friend Jonathan Morris from jmcomms.com and saw what the camera can do in person. I was really impressed by the results, and look forward to hopefully having a Huawei P20 Pro of my own next week.

Check out Jonathan's content on the Huawei P20 Pro over at jmcomms.com.

Alex Dobie over at Android Central did a great preview of the P20s and also released a great video about it. His description of the camera setup of the P20 Pro as "absolutely bonkers" is pretty much spot on.

The Huawei P20 and P20 Lite fill in the lower price categories all the way down to the mid-range while bringing the same design language and most of the same software features.

Huawei P20 technical specifications at GSMArena.com.

Huawei P20 Lite technical specifications at GSMArena.com.

The P20 Series from Huawei touches on the mid-range, with the P20 Lite, and all the way up to the high end with the P20 Pro. The P20 Pro puts itself in the same category as the Google Pixel 2 XL and Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus with price, but promises better cameras thanks to the partnership with Leica. I look forward to bringing you my impressions once I get my own P20 Pro.

Tesla Model 3

This weekend I found myself informed and amused by the Modern Dad (Phil Nickinson) and Mr Mobile (Michael Fisher) videos about the Tesla Model 3. Check them both out below.

Great videos which get me thinking: how quickly is the driving experience going to change in the next few years? Phil's perspective as a dad whose daughter is going to be learning to drive soon is interesting and his logic is sound.

I'm sure Lukasz has certain opinions and expectations of the Tesla Model 3, so I'll let him start thinking of writing a post about it soon...

Thanks for reading this far if you have. We will wrap up this week's edition of This Week in Mobile here. We'll be back next week, safe travels!