[Huawei Mate 10  Questions & Answers] ThoroSOE:
I moved from an LG G4 that I updated to stock Nougat 7.0 (was never officially released outside Korea; it was a HUGE improvement over Android 6, especially in camera performance and battery lifetime). And I must say ... the Mate 10 Pro is better in most ways, but disappointing in one very important aspect.

Pro:

- way faster in every respect (although with the Nougat ROM the G4 was reasonable fast)

- AMAZING battery life (2 days of regular use for me, never afraid of leaving the house with 30% battery)

- blazingly fast fingerprint reader

- much, much brighter screen (great even in sunlight)

- way better voice quality and reception as a phone

Con:

- VERY bad camera algorithm (It is one-sided. Everything not made of straight lines and flat surfaces looks VERY unnatural and loses MANY details) both for still images and video

- surprisingly bulky in the pocket compared to the curved and tapered design of the G4

The camera is the biggest disappointment, because this is pretty much the most important feature for me on a new phone. The camera reviews somehow were very off this time and I plan to change phones way earlier than the 2-3 years I usually have as a cycle. (Here's hoping for the next LG or a real top of the line Nokia. Loved, loved, LOVED my Lumia 1020 and 1050 for their cameras).

My biggest gripe is, that the hardware is not bat at all. I can get out quite a lot from the DNG files. Dynamic range is great and the metering is rather accurate. BUT still the level of detail is lower than the older G4 could provide. I am very sure, that a G4 with a stronger ISP and more modern autofocus-tech would blow the Mate 10 out of the water in most respects with the images it could produce - and I mean both the out of camera jpegs and DNGs. The G4 images had an amazing level of detail and were very natural and appealing.

And don't get me started on the POOR video quality (washed out, low detail, zoom that goes in steps, mediocre audio, ...), that cannot even begin to hold a candle against the G4. It looks and feels like a lower midrange phone camera! It is embarrassing.

One saving grace for the Mate 10 camera story is the black and white mode. Even in lower light scenes it is amazing. Truly. GREAT level of detail and great processing. Why on earth could they not go closer to the b/w processing with the colored pictures? It strikes a GREAT balance of noise reduction and sharpening. And the atmosphere of those b/w images is something of its own. One shot I took on my commute on the train looks like it belongs into an artsy article about the trials of life in a top of the line magazine. And it was just a random shot with no setup (I was still testing out the camera). Really, try the b/w mode for atmospheric pictures.

But all in all, the camera performance is my least favorite in a long time. I rank all my recent predecessor phones (G4, Lumia 1050, Lumia 1020) higher for their time with the G4 (on stock Android 7) even being better overall compared directly to the Mate 10.

In all other aspects the Mate 10 kills it and is amazing. Too bad the camera is this important for me. Lets hope for a BIG camera software update soon ...