[Huawei Mate 10  Guides, News, & Discussion] Jevansent:
This is a cut and paste from what I wrote on a Singapore forum. Pricing for Singapore and firmware for Asian unit only.

Just got mine for the last week – SGD $795 from Moby Shop in Far East Plaza.

Here is my early impression of the phone.

Screen:

- Really deep blacks for an IPS LCD, I can't tell the diff with my S8+ AMOLED in the presence of anything more than low light in the room. It has to be really dark for you to tell the diff between the Mate 10 LCD screen black and the S8+ AMOLED black. However you can definitely can tell the difference in a dark room though. Very impressive contrast ratio for an LCD.

- Very cool screen temp, on default it is already quite a cool hue. If you set it to the cool temp setting will make the whites too blue.

- Max brightness is slightly retina scorching – definitely easily visible outdoors in sunlight.

- The colours however are still not as vibrant as my 18 month P9 Plus with a 1080p AMOLED panel. Let's not kid ourselves, all the premium phones are going OLED for a reason, it is probably the superior technology from colour and battery efficiency perspective. I have become accustomed to the Samsung style over saturated colours over the years and colour wise it is not a match for AMOLED panels even on the Mate 10 vivid setting.

- QHD sharp beautiful screen other than losing saturated colours to AMOLED, amazing to watch Youtube HDR videos

- I can tell the sharpness difference between the Mate 10 5.9" QHD and my P9 Plus. 5" 1080p but it's not huge and you have to be picky to see it

- There might be some jealousy when you put it next to an AMOLED screen to be honest but only if you compare it directly otherwise you won't miss it

- Pentile screen RGB-RGW configuration but you can't tell even looking closely. There is no stippling like older gen Pentile screens.

Speakers / Audio:

- Speakers are amazing, louder than S8+ and P9 Plus easily, crazy loud, can easily fill a whole room if it's quiet

- 3.5mm audio not perceptibly louder or better than other phones specifically but I have not tested with HiFi speakers / lossless audio

Performance:

- Fast, no lag on daily use

- I have not tested gaming*

- To be fair all flagships I think depend more on software not being bloated than the raw power of the processor. I think all current gen flagships are adequately powered from hardware perspective. Depends on whether or not the phone has been bogged down with bloatware and it doesn't seem so with the Mate 10

- This NPU business really has no impact currently on day to day use apart from the camera recognising objects. Over-hyped at present.

Camera:

- Not adequately tested but it is definitely much brighter than the P9 Plus. You can even appreciate how big the 1:1.6 lenses are just looking at the back of the phone!

- Low light is admirable, probably not the best but pretty comparable to the S8+

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nPobmTax52MllGMlhSY0dDU0k

Mate 10 – Night shot setting with vivid colours. About 23 sec exposure. ISO stated to be "100" but it's definitely lower – when you manually try ISO 100 it is over exposed at lower exposure times. Amazing colours, even if they are not real.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nPobmTax52UmFUcU5VZGFoc2c

S8+ – Manual settings ISO 50 (lowest), 8 sec exposure (maximum on S8+ pro mode is 10 sec only), white balance 5000K with vivid colours.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nPobmTax52aDlySnlVTzZlRlk

P9 Plus – Night shot settings with vivid colours. Also 23 sec exposure. Again ISO stated to be "100" but it's definitely lower just as on the Mate 10.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nPobmTax52UEFfazJkd1Yzclk

Mate 10 – minimal lighting. Picture is brighter than in real life.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nPobmTax52OGZFajNkZjhOS2s

S8+ – as above pic is brighter than in real life.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B9nPobmTax52MG5kcjRFOW5Fb0U

P9 Plus – Fail! Really can't make it with the 1:2.2 lenses.

Battery:

- Definitely can at least make it to 5+ hours SOT, sometimes 6+ depending on usage.

- This is already updated to the firmware update ALP-L29 8.0.0.115 (C636). I believe the original was 8.0.0.103. Apparently there was some bug with Google Play services chewing up battery. Instructions for update at the bottom.

Build:

- I always thought I would prefer thicker + bigger battery but to be honest this is the first time I have held a phone and realized why manufacturers are ditching 3.5mm jacks to save space – it is miniscule mm differences on paper but it does have a perceptible different in hand feel

- The in hand feel of the P9 Plus being just a tad thinner or the slightly lesser width of the S8+ and the Mate 10 Pro (dummy phone) do feel better.

- Otherwise the glass sandwich build is solid + free TPU case in box + already applied plastic screen protector (lousy quality fingerprint oil magnet unfortunately but better than nothing). Looking forward to buying the Ringke Fusion case + Nillkin glass screen protector for it once it is out.

- I have not tested the water resistance so can't comment

Software:

- EMUI 8.0 minimal difference as far as I can tell from EMUI 5.0 on my P9 Plus. I actually quite like it.

- Some incompatibilities – can't install Solid Explorer (had to sideload – not sure if this is Oreo or EMUI related and SE has not been update since June 2017). SE also can't detect my SD card but ES file explorer can.

- Sideloading apps / install unknown apps is now separately allowed from app to app (i.e. from solid explorer or chrome etc – peculiar setup)

- You can get rid of nav bar to maximize screen space and use the single button at bottom to do back/home/recent apps with gestures like the P10 but I find it less intuitive than using the standard bar. You can however hide the nav bar and call it up anytime by swiping up, so it's a good compromise.

- Fingerprint scanner like all Chinese phones (Huawei and Xiaomi are what I have tested) are way faster and more reliable than the S8+ (slightly slower and higher chance to misread and not unlock – this has been tested on multiple S8+ and a Note 8 as well)

HOW TO UPDATE TO LATEST FIRMWARE 8.0.0.115 (C636) ASIAN MODEL ONLY*

- For some reason the firmware is not coming up on System Update yet despite it being available on Firmware Finder and being allowed for install when verified with IMEI

- Firmware finder on Google Play Store

- Usually on P9 Plus I would update using Firmware Finder proxy downloaded directly from Firmware finder as an apk but the FF Proxy apk will NOT install on Mate 10 for whatever reason

- Install using DNS method from Firmware finder

- Use DNS Changer from Google Play Store to change the DNS and follow instructions from Firmware finder

- You will end up downloading the Firmware twice in a row for some buggy reason – 2+GB becomes 5+GB. This used to happen on my P9 Plus as well

- Everyone online suggests you download the full firmware instead of the OTA update for any Huawei phone update

Other thoughts:

- Read online on Youtube comments that the Mate 10 Pro OLED screen was sourced from China screen manufacturer BOE who could not produce QHD OLED screens till recently which explains Huawei's weird "decision" to put a 1080p OLED on Mate 10 Pro – this sounds most likely a supply constraint decision rather than a real conscious decision from them. Everyone in the market is trying to wean themselves off the Samsung supply chain for panels – look at the millions Google and Apple have invested in LG for them to supply OLED panels to them.

- Choice of 10 vs 10 Pro probably boils down to SD card / 3.5mm jack for 10 vs waterproofing / better in hand build feel / OLED panel colours for 10 Pro. Can't comment if the 1080p Mate 10 Pro vs 1440p Mate 10 makes much of a diff, but I suspect not.

Sorry for long winded post. Feel free to ask any questions.