Hello Matilda Quartus, goodbye Vodafone

Every couple of years, when the contract expires, I succumb to temptation and sign up for a new smartphone.  Like its three predecessors, the latest one is called Matilda.  I blogged about the others here in 2017.

My Sony E5 has served me well; so well in fact that I now never take a conventional camera with me on walks. But over the past two years phone technology has marched on, so when the time came to search for a new one, I had a list of things to aim for.

• Screen size 5½-6 inches. That extra ½ inch or so really does improve readability with my ageing eyes.
• EE network. I've remained loyal to Vodafone for the best part of 8 years but reception isn't great in my corner of Lydney. I've done my research and EE is definitely the best around here.
• A good camera. The Sony was a great improvement on the Samsung that went before it, but even my partner S's low-cost LG phone now out-performs it in challenging light conditions.
• At least 32GB internal storage. The E5's 16GB has proved to be too small, limiting the number of memory-hungry apps I could install and limiting performance. 

I've never felt the need to buy premium smartphones, contenting myself with models that were considered top of the range a year or two ago.  However, the one I chose this time is a little different – a recently released upgrade of an older model.  It's a Huawei P Smart 2019. It has a 5¾ inch screen, 32GB of internal memory and, thanks to being bought from the Gloucester EE shop, is on the right network. A pleasant surprise was that I got 10% off the normal price of £18/month as S's phone is also with EE.

My first task was learning how to say Huawei. Hoo-wee?  Hah-wee? The guy in the EE shop pronounced it 'Hoo-wah-wee' and I believed him.  But now I know better; it's 'Wah-way' and (according to Wikipedia) means 'splendid act' or 'China is able'.  Really, I never had this problem with Samsung or Sony!

It's early days but I'm pretty confident that the camera will out-perform the Sony's. It has a feature called 'AI' (Artificial Intelligence), which I'm still learning how to use.  Basically, the camera recognises what's it's shooting and adjusts itself accordingly. So, for instance, when I took these photos in the Brecon Beacons yesterday, the camera recognised 'blue sky' and appears to have increased the saturation.

Without AI

With AI

AI will also recognise close-up subjects, such as a person or flower, and blur the background so as to make the subject stand out. I haven't tried that one yet but here's a publicity shot to illustrate it:

Finally, the really good news is that I now have reliable network reception in my home. So, at long last, I can stop using the land-line phones to make calls, cancel the 'Any Time Calls Boost' with Talk Talk and save myself £10/month. That more than compensates for the extra cost of Matilda Quartus over her predecessor.