Huawei P50 Pro Review: Life Without Google 

Im about to sell my p50 pro bcos some apps just coudltn work that well even though I used gspace & app gallery (gojek, garmin connect etc) .. I'm back to my p30 pro.. P30 pro is the Best phone ever

@@BearishDrawingClub I’m still with p30 pro …. Still amazing

indeed. and Huawei's AppGallery itself actually makes it pretty easy to sideload apps. though doesn't change that some apps won't work still, or will only partially work due to lack of certain google services (SafetyNet, FireBase, for example). Not to mention that manually sideloaded apps won't be automatically updated when a newer version comes out. Gspace is still a third party app though, and unless you're willing to pay, there are ads when using it too. Some might be willing to deal with these issues or some might be precisely looking to avoid google completely. but for me, I use a lot of google services, so I find it a huge hassle.

@@axhng but have u tried mircoG to enable apps that only work with Google Mobile Sevices? MicroG is the same as GMS

​@@alxjamuschua yeah. tried that too. I was able to get the notifications part working, but apps that require safetynet still doesn't quite work for my unit. couldn't sign it too and it kept saying is has problem communicating with Google servers and refused to let me sign in. gave up after trying for a while. maybe something with my settings, maybe it's just this particular device, maybe it's the app, or maybe i need to install more things (which means even more research and googling), but it's not worth the hassle anyhow for me. Sideloaded apps still won't be automatically updated, and microG might not always work since Google could potentially change something that might break it. For 1.5k SGD, it doesn't make sense to me to go through all those hoops to me. so my opinion is that if you (or the apps you use) need google in ANY capacity, there's no point getting this. Especially when something like the S21 ultra has been a few hundred dollars cheaper for like the past half a year or so, and that has much better software and hardware experience overall imo. SO even if theoretically the p50 pro does have full GMS, i think the software and hardware as it is still doesn't justify its 1.5k price tag. So unless someone vehemently hates google (or apple), wants nothing to do with them at all, and is willing to pay extra (for slightly inferior hardware) to do that, by all means then. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

unfortunately i haven't really kept up with dongles, DAC, etc. so not sure if there are any better options out there. Happy enough with the JM10, apple dongle, that I didn't feel the need to look at other options. I feel like for the most part a lot of DAC AMPs like these tend to be quite similar with only very minor differences, and in the end i'm not really that particular about those small differences. 😅 I think your best bet for an answer would probably be on headfi. www.head-fi.org/threads/usb-c-to-3-5mm-adapters-dac-lets-find-the-best.908839

yeah. it's a huge shame too. like few years back Huawei was going toe to toe against Samsung. But now...

@@axhng if huawei is still around, i believe not much will preorder s22 ultra already...

​@@keyoke19871 😂😂😂 i think OPPO is probably the closest competitor to Samsung now for Android phones in Singapore. Find X5 Pro looks quite good (aside from no long range telephoto). If vivo can improve their software (maybe join OnePlus and OPPO and share their software), and bring in their Pro+ models, I think they'll have a good chance too. The X70 Pro+ hardware looked quite promising.

Hi Danny. I searched my inbox and found 1 email which i actually replied to on 9/12/2021 5:41 PM (GMT+8). But didn't get any response after that though, or perhaps they were accidentally directed by outlook to the spam inbox and subsequently deleted. Anyway, thanks for reaching out again anyhow, but at this current point in time I'm taking a break from reviewing audio gear though. 😂 Cheers!

ah, unfortunately didn't really use the app much during my time with it, only used grabfood i think. But there is a possibility that grab might be using google maps APIs which could have some issues. though i don't have the phone with me anymore so can't test it out more.

true, they would probably want to keep pushing out flagship devices for the Chinese market too since ecosystem there doesn't require Google to begin with. Another thing that came to mind was actually Honor. IIRC Honor devices does have GMS, i wonder why they don't just rebadge Huawei flagship devices as Honor devices and sell it in the global market with GMS. maybe there are some restrictions. but well, let's hope that things will get better for them eventually.

@@axhng yeahh I think they released a p50 look alike with lower specs or smth? ...Even though they supposedly sold it for it to be more independent from Huawei...and I never really saw Honor anywhere anymore

​@@MebiManga Yeah, and there is the Magic3 Pro which has better specs and google support. I think they could have just sell Honor phones as their flagship devices globally, and then sell more budget friendly phones in those region to try and maintain or gain market share. If they have a well spec'ed phone at a cheaper price (to compensate for the lack of GMS), I think it would attract more users who want something well spec'ed and cheap, and dont mind going through some hoops. It could be a good option here in SG too since it does have a lot of the basic local apps in app gallery, so folks with lighter usage like elderly, or folks who are looking for a secondary device, might be willing to just go with Huawei. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@@axhng Ahh yeah that's a good alternative as well.

unfortunately no idea what glass it is using, but the only info i did find was from androidauthority's review which they mentioned "We asked Huawei for clarification on what glass is being used on the phone for protection, but the company only confirmed that it was not Gorilla Glass on the version you can buy in Europe."

@@axhng thank you so much for the reply. I was on the brink of buying this phone, but read some bad things. Will decide between the Honor Magic4 Pro and Xiaomi 12. Living in South Africa means we don't get all the nice models, but the most insane overpriced Samsungs with Exynos chip sets.

I think will depend on the app still. Since it lack google service, any app that uses google's firebase notification will probably still have issues.