I’m inclined to say that this may be Huawei’s best shot yet at a beautiful smartphone.
Another year, Another Flagship…
Given that the tide of the Chinese smartphone market rising, it’s no surprise that they’re already on their way to giving some big names, namely HTC, Sony and Microsoft a run for their money. Huawei is in a bit of a spot where it’s placed and that’s not a bad thing. Trying to find a place between the premium and mid range, it’s comfortably settled itself positioning itself as the third largest phone manufacturer globally. It’s sub brand Honor is also making a few headlines, it’s using tech from Huawei but as a brand stems to be iconically different, case in point with their latest offering, the Honor 7.
Question remains if the shiny Mate S is Huawei’s best attempt at making everyone else notice and after my initial impressions of the device, I’m inclined to say that this may be Huawei’s best shot yet at a beautiful smartphone. This is an early hands on impression of the device we’ve received and is considered as a review in progress as we take the device through its paces and even compare it to its distant cousin from Honor.
On the outside
The Mate S takes its aesthetics from a combination of both the Mate 7 and P8. It has a large-format 5.5-inch device with a metal body, a comparable example would be closest to the HTC. Unlike most builds, the Huawei whispers exquisite with its design and build quality. Measuring at 149.8 x 75.3 x 7.2mm, this 5.5 inch device is light, at 156 grams. I also like the texture and the color of the phone may even please those who are enthralled by Rose gold these days. I prefer something with a little less oomph but I like to see different shades on devices.
It’s also a pleasure to hold, the volume power buttons are on the right side and when you mount the case supplied, it’s easy to use the standby/power button to check notifications real quick. The fingerprint scanner is flawless, after registering a print, it’s been working great and the speakers line at the bottom. While I wouldn’t go as far as to call the entire design seamless, it’s still a pretty unibody.
On the Inside
There are different version that the Mate S will come in. The standard 32 GB in grey and champagne and 64 GB in gold or coral which is what I have here and a third “luxury” 128 GB model which touts a feature, Apple just spoke of quite recently and that’s force touch. The luxury model will have a pressure sensitive screen and there’s no word on release of that model just yet.
On the inside is a Kirin 935 processor, an octa-core, spread over two chips (4×2.2Ghz, 4×1.5Ghz), and 3GB of RAM and for a phone that runs in full HD alright, it’s important to note that the other devices have pushed that boundary with Samsung’s S5 having a 2K display but it’s dependant on whether you will be able to discern differences. The battery too will be a deterrence for a few since it’s around 2,700 mAh, proper battery management is going to be key.
Powering the hardware is Huawei’s latest skinned iteration of Android, Emotion UI or EMUI which removes the app menu but widgets can be slotted in. The fingerprint scanner can also doubles as a touchpad which is convenient if you’re going to use the phone in one hand. I haven’t been a fan of Huawei’s iterations and there’s also doubts whether we will see this device get a marshmallow update soon too.
The camera has a 13 MP rear camera and 8 MP front and it retains the same sensor we’ve seen with last year’s P8. I have had a little time to play with this camera, while decent, may need further testing to see if it’s a worthy snapper. I have no doubt though it will be great for selfies.
Out of the box
I did an unboxing of the device, and it’s great to say that Huawei does reward their customers. It’s a nice touch to see a nice smart case, a charger and headphones.
Huawei Mate S Smartphone Specs |
|
| Name | Huawei Mate S |
| Model | CRR-UL00 |
| Release Date | September |
| Band | 2G: GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz 3G: UMTS:850/900/AWS/1900/2100(B8/B5/B4/B2/B1); CDMA:N/A DC-42M:B1/B2/B4/B5/B8; TD-SCDMA: B34/B39 4G: FDD-LTE: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B17/B20 TDD-LTE: B38/B39/B40/B41 |
| Sim Card | Dual card dual standby dual active(One Micro SIM card, one Nano SIM/SD card) |
| Service Provide | Unlocked |
| Color | Silver |
| OS | EMUI 3.1(Android 5.1) |
| CPU | HUAWEI Hisilicon Kirin 935 octa core |
| GPU | Mali T628 MP4 |
| ROM | 64GB |
| RAM | 3GB |
| Display Size | 5.5 Inch |
| Type | IPS |
| Resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| Color | 16000K colors |
| Card Extend | Support TF card up to 128GB extended |
| Camera | Dual Cameras, front camera 8.0MP; back camera 13.0MP with AF, F/2.0 |
| Huawei Mate S Mobile Phone Basic Function | |
| Video encoding | 1080P, H.265, H.264, H.263, MPEG-4, RV7-10, Xvid, VP8, WMV9 |
| Video File Format | 3gp, mp4, wmv, rm, rmvb, asf |
| Audio encoding | MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC, AAC +, eAAC +, AMR-WB, WMA2-9, RA, PCM, OGG, FLAC |
| Audio File Format | mp3, mp4,3gp, wma, ogg, amr, aac, flac, wav, midi, ra |
| Ebook | Support |
| FM | Support |
| Flash | Support |
| Sensor | Gravity sensors, Light sensor, Close to the light sensor, Brightness sensor, Temperature Sensor, Fingerprint Sensor, Hall sensor, Gyro, Compass |
| Earphone Port | 3.5mm |
| GPS | Yes |
| Bluetooth | Yes, BT4.1 |
| WIFI | Yes, 802.11 a/b/g/n |
| Multi-Touch | Yes |
| Language | English, Chinese, etc |
| Other Feature | WIFI, GPS, FM, Bluetooth, Ebook, Email,Messaging, wallpapers, calendar, calculator,clock, camera, tethering & portable hotspot, etc |
| Dimension | 149.89 mm × 75.35 mm × 7.2 mm |
| Net weight (Including battery) | 156g |
| Huawei Mate S Accessories | |
| 1 x Built-in 2700mAh Battery | |
| 1 x USB Cable | |
| 1 x Charger | |
So how much will it cost ?
That’s something that Huawei hasn’t formally announced and as we get more information on this side, it will be a key influential factor on whether you should purchase this device. It’s got a lot going for it and it as worked phenomenally so far but in the battle of the premium space, price will decide it for Huawei as it finds itself square between the more premium Samsung Note 5 and the newly released Nexus 5X .
