So I have been eager to get my hands on the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro, not because I wanted to smash it against things, but I wanted to get it because firstly, this Orange vegan version of the phone was completely SOLD OUT during the first day of sale!

And second of all, it now has Google Apps directly on the HUAWEI App Gallery, so no more crazy workarounds to get that on your phone.

Now, while this is not the Orange vegan version of the phone, this is the new Carbon Black vegan leather version, which looks super sexy and there is also a Silver variant of this as well.

This is also the new Kunlun Glass Edition. So what is Kunlun glass, you may ask? Well, allow me to explain that and show you how EASY it is to get Google Apps on the phone!

Kunlun Glass

So Kunlun glass uses a metal oxide to create dense microcrystalline structures that result in an ultra-durable glass and also an ultra-clear glass.

So whether or not you are using it for regular scrolling or media consumption, it is so much more vibrant than any other smartphones because of its resilience treatments on the smartphone’s glass.

Instead of typically adding layer after layer of glass on top, to make it more “durable” which may increase the resistance but of course will impact the visibility of the smartphone, and that was not the case over here.

Now, they have also performed some high-temperature heat processes to increase the overall durability, which has a whopping 10x increase in drop resistance!

And HUAWEI has done its own tests in its labs when it comes to the crack resistance of Kunlun glass, where they have even dropped a weighted metal ball from about 2 meters high, and it didn’t even dent the glass!

So no, they didn’t do any walnut breaking, watermelon breaking, or even a Crab breaking test. So yes, you can keep all the crabs at bay! (Get it? Crabs.. at bay?)

So with that, it makes the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro to be the first-ever SGS 5-star certification for glass drop protection.

Lighthouse

Alright, let’s not drop the ball just yet, maybe just the phone because that is super durable, because the most important feature is of course the availability to have Google Apps natively in the HUAWEI App Gallery.

Now, like Apple’s App Store, this is not a separate Google store because it is now available in HUAWEI’s very own App Gallery, and it finally just WORKS!

So this is done through a new app called Lighthouse, and don’t worry, the App Gallery Security will scan that and every app, as usual, to ensure that it’s clean and also malware-free.

So after finding and installing the Lighthouse app in the App Gallery, it will prompt to install the Lighthouse Ex app, so click Install.

After both apps are installed, open the Lighthouse App, click Account to add your Google Account, and you’re done! And if you like, you can always add more Google accounts as well.

And right after that, you don’t need to use the Lighthouse app anymore after the initial sign-in since it acts as more of a “bridge” between the device and also on the Google Apps.

Then now, you can finally go back to the HUAWEI App Gallery and search for YouTube or any other Google Apps, and voila, it’s there!

And everything works perfectly, with your Google Accounts, with apps like YouTube, where you can see your profile, watch history, which is all in there, and there is also no limit on the playback quality as well.

Then apps like Gmail, Google Chrome, Google Photos, Google Meet, Google Lens, Google Keep, and even Google Drive also work, where you can also typically share a file from your device to the Google Drive, and since I have a host of smart home products in my house with Google Assistant, the Google Home app also works very well too.

Now, the Lighthouse feature isn’t just going to be available on the HUAWEI Mate 50 series but also coming to devices like the HUAWEI Mate Xs2, nova 10 series, nova Y90, Matepad SE, MatePad Pro 12.6 and the P50 series as well.

So yes, FINALLY, you can use every Google App natively on the HUAWEI Mate50 Pro series, and of course it’s super easy as you guys have seen. This is very game changing because this could also finally make a comeback of HUAWEI in the smartphone market once again.

Everything Else

Now, besides these two major things, what else is new and cool about the phone then? Firstly, it comes with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and not the Kirin processor, so that is great to know.

And during my first impressions, it has been working very well together with the EMUI 13, which gave a very smooth and fluid experience so far with some nice AI features too.

I am also eager to test out the battery life because HUAWEI smartphones have always given me the best battery life compared to any other smartphone as well.

And I am also planning to test out the amazing camera arrays, especially with the XMAGE image processing and the Professional camera mode that has up to 10 different physical aperture sizes to choose from, the first on a smartphone.