Huawei Pura X Max (AMA)

[Ray1976]

Just got my hands on the white version. Will be putting it to its paces for the next few weeks. Take note this is a Harmony OS running on a China ROM. The latest version is 6.1. The one I bought is the Collector's Edition that comes with 16GB Ram / 512GB storage capacity. The chipset is the new Kirin 9030 which is much more efficient.

First impression, the feel on hands is good. Typing on the front screen is good. Animation is very fluid. More to come...

The reason I am getting this is to get a feel of what to expect from the upcoming iPhone Fold. If the feel is right, then it is a win for Apple.

 

[Jurong640]

How much does it cost? bought directly in China, or buy via taobao and ship it over?
How is the crease? - not sure if you seen Oppo N6, is it the similar zero feel crease?

 

[teckhwee]

I'm also using. Lets share experiences.

Surprisingly all apps I want to use works. banking, singpass, even my office exchange email that requires device admin activation works. (was not working on HOS 5).
When searching for apps in easyabroad, it searches playstore automatically as well.
Only issue so far is keyboard don't work fully with android apps, like autocorrect, auto capitalization, auto punctuation etc.
Btw I exported my google passwords via chrome browser (PC) and inport it into password vault so re logging in to apps is easier. though not autofill, but atleast you can trigger the vault from keyboard and search and copy paste. Autofill does not work with android apps...

 

[chari-men]

How much does it cost? bought directly in China, or buy via taobao and ship it over?
How is the crease? - not sure if you seen Oppo N6, is it the similar zero feel crease?

More expensive than cn vivo x300u 1tb photokit lol..

 

[Ray1976]

I'm also using. Lets share experiences.

Surprisingly all apps I want to use works. banking, singpass, even my office exchange email that requires device admin activation works. (was not working on HOS 5).
When searching for apps in easyabroad, it searches playstore automatically as well.
Only issue so far is keyboard don't work fully with android apps, like autocorrect, auto capitalization, auto punctuation etc.
Btw I exported my google passwords via chrome browser (PC) and inport it into password vault so re logging in to apps is easier. though not autofill, but atleast you can trigger the vault from keyboard and search and copy paste. Autofill does not work with android apps...

I wouldn't export the entire password vault from chrome browser over to the Huawei. I'm not comfortable.

 

[Ray1976]

Took some time yesterday evening to setup the phone. Easyabroad is the way to go from here on. I have installed the Aurora store and although I managed to install it using APKTool M to re-mod the apk file. The new Harmony OS 6.1 simply refused to grant installation rights, rendering it useless.

At present, most of the apps used in Singapore is working fine, including Singpass, DBS banking app. However Carousell app is currently not working. I have submitted the issue to Huawei Easyabroad support team and they replied that due to some compatibility issue, it is not working and once the so-called "issue" is fixed, they will re-upload it to Easyabroad app store.

For the uninitiated, you cannot use microG or GBox combo that you used for EMUI 14.2 or 15 (global rom) as this is Harmony OS (China ROM).

Google Calendar also cannot use at this point. The workaround is to install Outlook email client which comes with Google Calendar sync. Not the most elegant way to get my event to appear for me to keep track but alas this is the way it it.

I will provide more updates on my user experience as I go along. One thing is for certain, I will not be using this phone as my daily driver. For those interested to get your hands on a used set. Do watch out as I will be selling mine after my review period, which is usually around 2 weeks to a month.

 

[Ray1976]

More expensive than cn vivo x300u 1tb photokit lol..

Yes, super expensive for early adopters. Wait for the price to drop if you can.

 

[chari-men]

Yes, super expensive for early adopters. Wait for the price to drop if you can.

its premium build but not worth it tbh.. for that premium price without google pay.. average size battery.. SOT of 6 hours.. heat management soso.. bottleneck by kirin processor.. unable to unlock 120hz for most games.. good cameras.. pura x market positioning was much better..

 

[Ray1976]

How much does it cost? bought directly in China, or buy via taobao and ship it over?
How is the crease? - not sure if you seen Oppo N6, is it the similar zero feel crease?

The crease is a non-issue for me simply because the screen real estate is actually shorter compared to the more conventional foldable which is has a "longer" vertical body which makes the crease much more perceptible. I really liked Huawei's implementation of their hinges..it is super quiet, and easy to open and close. Almost effortlessly compared to some other foldables.

 

[Ray1976]

its premium build but not worth it tbh.. for that premium price without google pay.. average size battery.. SOT of 6 hours.. heat management soso.. bottleneck by kirin processor.. unable to unlock 120hz for most games.. good cameras.. pura x market positioning was much better..

Agreed...I do not recommend anyone to get it UNLESS you are like me, a tech nerd that likes to play with the latest gadget. For those who really want to get a "feel" of how iPhone fold will turn out? This Huawei Pura X Max will be the precursor.

And yes, the Kirin SoC chipset still cannot compare to the Snapdragon but it holds on its own as Harmony OS is quite well optimised. Don't expect to play triple A game titles on this phone, it will throttle and gets warm very fast! But for everything else, the feel is great. This is a new "form factor" so if you are getting one to play, this will definitely pique everyone's interest.

 

[Ray1976]

Some member asked me whether there Huawei will release a global version for this Pura X Max. If you take a leaf out of their sales strategy, it is highly unlikely the Pura X series will hit the global market. The first gen did not go global and the Huawei Mate XT trifold took almost 2 years after its launch to reach Singapore. And yet, we are still stuck at EMUI 14.2.

It is a pity that because of the ban by US govt, the GMS also cannot work, else Huawei's avant garde design in smartphone will make the competition in innovation evern better than what we have at the moment.

 

[Ray1976]

 

[Ray1976]

What apps working with Harmony OS 6.1:
- All the google suite works EXCEPT fof the ones I have mentioned below.
- Singpass
- DBS/UOB/OCBC bank apps
- Nets
- Whatsapp (I decided to use Linked Device instead because I can't get it to backup to my Google Drive)
- Outlook
- Discord
- Instagram
- Facebook
- Thread
- Reddit
- X
- Rednote (xiaohongshu)
- Telegram
- Food Panda
- Shopee
- Taobao
- Straits Times (ST)
- Channels News Asia (CNA)
- Tiktok
- ValueClub (The Challenger app)
- iGV (Golden Village)
- Waze
- Apple Music
- Spotify

Apps that didn't work:
- Carousell (WTF...I didn't expect that)
- Google Calendar (very disapppointed as I rely on Google Calendar alot!)
- Google Pay/Wallet
- Android Auto
- Pixel Watch plugin

I will add on or remove when there is new updates.

 

[007Mi6]

Thanks for sharing. Questions below:

(1) Does 5G SA works? How is the speed and which telco are you using on it.

(2) Any advertisement? I heard some China branded phones have a lot of advertisements popping up.

(3) How is the transition from 1 app to another while using? Like you need to move from SingPass to another app after logging in.

(4) Can run dual apps concurrently and whether it would lag or heat up? For example watching YouTube and browsing HWZ or Reddit.

(5) What are the apps installed by default?

(6) How do I transfer the photos / videos to a windows PC or Mac? Can transfer photos or share with iOS or Android users?

 

[Ray1976]

Thanks for sharing. Questions below:

(1) Does 5G SA works? How is the speed and which telco are you using on it.

(2) Any advertisement? I heard some China branded phones have a lot of advertisements popping up.

(3) How is the transition from 1 app to another while using? Like you need to move from SingPass to another app after logging in.

(4) Can run dual apps concurrently and whether it would lag or heat up? For example watching YouTube and browsing HWZ or Reddit.

(5) What are the apps installed by default?

(6) How do I transfer the photos / videos to a windows PC or Mac? Can transfer photos or share with iOS or Android users?

1) No 5G for me as my data plan is 4G only, so I am unable to test it. But based on the specs, it does support 5G. Maybe @teckhwee can share with us his experience with 5G? There is eSim support (very rare for MIC phone).

2) Compared to Xiaomi (notorious of the bunch), Huawei does not have many personalised ads. There are however a few bloatwares that can be uninstalled.

3) Very smooth. No complains there. Take note Kirin is like Google's tensor chip, meaning the SoC is optimised to run on their OS smoothly. If you run graphic intenstive games for prolong period or resource intensive app like video editing, the phone will get warm pretty fast.

4) You can run up to 3 apps side by side. You can resize the apps much like what Oppo and Vivo implementation of foldables. And yes, it run smoothly. The sound coming out from this phone is pretty amazing. Very punchy. Depending on what kind of apps you are running, if one of the apps is a game and is graphic intensive, then the phone can get "toasty".

5) Taobao is one of the default app I recalled. Most of the apps are Huawei's proprietary apps as I have mentioned but can be easily uninstalled.

6) Yes, you can use Huawei share link. To share files between PC and MaC, you will need to download their Huawei Hisuite s/w. Sign in to the same Huawei ID on both the phone and the Hisuite s/w.

 

[teckhwee]

Strange, carousel worked for me. Infact I just posted and sold a phone entirely on Pura X max today...
Battery life isn't great, drops quite fast, but charging speed from my 100w gan charger is fast, though no idea what w it was charging at. overall battery life for now is only slightly better than fold 7. Maybe cos of all my installed android apps and they all sync in the background fine.

Notifications surprisingly works well. was trying to find the usual auto launch and battery optimization permission settings but there isn't any available... yet notifications works, but I find out that it is best you launch the android app you want notifications to come in once if you rebooted the phone, else notifications will not come in.

Saw someone posted on youtube that he paired an already set up google wear watch to pura x max to get google wallet working on the phone. Sounds like a good plan.

 

[Ray1976]

Strange, carousel worked for me. Infact I just posted and sold a phone entirely on Pura X max today...
Battery life isn't great, drops quite fast, but charging speed from my 100w gan charger is fast, though no idea what w it was charging at. overall battery life for now is only slightly better than fold 7. Maybe cos of all my installed android apps and they all sync in the background fine.

Notifications surprisingly works well. was trying to find the usual auto launch and battery optimization permission settings but there isn't any available... yet notifications works, but I find out that it is best you launch the android app you want notifications to come in once if you rebooted the phone, else notifications will not come in.

Saw someone posted on youtube that he paired an already set up google wear watch to pura x max to get google wallet working on the phone. Sounds like a good plan.

I can't get Carousell to work...did you install from Easyabroad ?

Can post the YT link here...would like to take a look

BTW how's 5G speed?

 

[teckhwee]

Yes Carousel from easyabroad. It got stuck a little after logging in, as it needs to load the singpass page to verify you. quit the app and open again, and log in again and it worked. I remembered I use facebook login as Google login option wasn't available.

This video.

 

[teckhwee]

I'm on starhub and don't think I got 5G, it shows 4G, but the speed is good enough.

 

[Ray1976]

Some have asked me for the images shot with this phone. Well here you are. The squeaky clean images that Huawei renowned for.