The largest launch event of a Huawei phone in South Africa kicked off late on Wednesday evening at the Kyalami International Convention Centre in Midrand.
There was even a countdown timer, on the largest screen I had ever seen at a launch, to mark the start time of Huawei’s flagship P30 series launch, but the African stereotype held true.
Once it started, with a violin performance that shook my high tops with its deeply filled bass, I was captivated.
Phone launches tend to be formulaic but this one had a flair for the theatrics with candy-floss coloured balloon-like décor, a stage that looked like a runway, a dance floor with DJ Vin Deysel on the decks, a large contingent of shiny outfits, a mini fashion show by Quiteria & George (who dressed Beyoncé when she was in South Africa) and, of course, the dancers and the violinist, whose name, surprisingly, was not on display.
But the glitz can hold for only so long and 40 minutes in I started to fidget because, even with Huawei knowing that the phone specs were all over the news and the web, they still took pains to describe each feature in detail.
The emcees for the evening, Lalla Hirayama and Kat Sinivasan, barely got seven minutes of stage time appearing in the beginning and at the end of proceedings.
It would have been wiser if they had conducted proceedings throughout the one hour and 40 minutes of the official event, as their energy and stage presence might have kept the crowd from ducking to the bar at the back of the room every so often.
Besides the phone, Pearl Thusi was the other big star in attendance with many keen to greet her or take a selfie with her.
Without a doubt the coolest part of the night was the on-stage reveal of the P30 Pro.
Coming down in a disco ball that refracted light to all corners of the room, the phone was plucked out from within and easily received the biggest cheer and clap of the night.
Huawei’s tag line #RewriteTheRules was specifically created for its constant advancement in smartphone photography, but with this event it really did try to rewrite the rules.
I wouldn’t call it an overwhelming success, with technical difficulties and forgotten names plaguing the event, but it certainly has set a better standard for smartphone launches.
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