Right off the bat, I will say that I have not spent more than an hour with either of these devices, so this is in no way a review of both but more of hands-on experience of what we get from some of the hottest devices in the market in this price range.

From the title, it is clear that both of them cost the same price, thirty thousand shillings and without focusing on the brand – since individual brand enthusiasts already know which side they lie, we’re going to breakdown which device deserves your money based on the specifications and features they offer.

Design

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When it comes to the looks of these phones, the Huawei P30 Lite takes the crown without throwing any punches. The device looks more modern and flashy compared to the Galaxy A50. The gradient colour on the P30 Lite, as replicated as it has been even by cheaper devices, still looks great and exudes a lot of premium feel compared to the more blunt look we get on the Galaxy A50.

The front of these devices are fairly similar with a teardrop notch on each and a sizeable chin that has refused to shrink. Even though we don’t get the more modern punch-hole camera, at least we don’t get the atrocious forehead notch that OEMs were churning out last year.

Both devices are made out of polycarbonate plastic that mimics the looks and feel of glass, so there’s that, the only differentiating factor is really the screen size, which sees the Galaxy A50 pack a bigger 6.4″ while the P30 Lite packs a 6.15″. Speaking of displays, the A50 has a SuperAMOLED display that outshines Huawei’s LCD display.

Software

Image Courtesy

When it comes to user experience, the software takes precedence. As good as a phone may look, the user experience may not be a good thanks to the execution of the software and that’s the story of the Huawei P30 Lite. Both devices run on Android 9.0 Pie but the Galaxy A50 has Samsung’s One UI interface on top while the P30 Lite has Huawei’s EMUI interface.

These two interfaces create a big divide between the two phones, as much as both of them are feature rich with tricks you’ll probably never need to use, the look of the UI is simply hideous on the P30 Lite. The UI looks like it’s from years back and the company has not bothered to make any changes while on the other hand, Samsung has been doing the most to improve the user experience on their devices.

Without digging deep into the workings and features of the UI, aesthetically speaking, the A50 is more pleasant to use.

Camera

No, I don’t have sample photos or “ashy selfies with zero stabilisation” but I have an opinion from my limited usage. Both devices have triple lenses, a standard lens, wide-angle lens and depth sensor on the back and a single lens on the front. When it comes to camera performance, there’s negligible differences between the two. Both phones will sturn you in broad daylight with colourful images and details, night shots take a bit of a hit but it is manageable, unfortunately, I didn’t get to play around with portrait mode but the ultra-wide feature on both works well, with the A50’s Ultra-wide visibly looking better than that on the P30 Lite.

I know most people thought that the Huawei would outright take this category but keep in mind that the P30 Lite does not share the same Leica optics with its more powerful sibling the P30 Pro which is a photography powerhouse. However, this does not say that you will be disappointed by the camera capabilities of the P30 Lite, you will be more than pleased especially with the selfie camera but don’t expect a big difference between these two phones; the P30 Lite and the Galaxy A50.

In case you want to base your decision on hardware specs, the Huawei P30 Lite has a 32MP selfie shooter with a triple 24MP (main) + 8MP (wide) + 2MP (depth sensor) camera setup on the back while the Samsung Galaxy A50 has a 25MP selfie shooter with a triple 25MP (main) + 8MP (wide) + 5MP (depth sensor) camera setup on the back.

Memory and Battery

Image Courtesy Android PIT

These will be more of technical specifications as opposed to experienced usage as my time with the two devices was limited. Starting off with the memory expectations, both devices feature 4GB of RAM but the lines are drawn when it comes to storage options, which sees the P30 Lite steer ahead with 128GB of storage and the Galaxy A50 lag behind with a seemingly meere 64GB of storage.

On the battery side, the roles are reversed. The Galaxy A50 packs a juicier 4000mAh battery while the P30 Lite has a 3340mAh. Both serve well and should last you throughout the day considering the difference in screen size of the two.

Verdict

Reasons for the Samsung Galaxy A50

• Better and bigger display
• Better wide-angle camera
• In-display fingerprint scanner for the cool factor

Reasons for the Huawei P30 Lite

• Better design and looks
• Better selfie camera
• Higher storage option