Obviously, smartphones with a screen size of no more than five inches are considered convenient for communication and carrying with you. However, if the gadget is used, for example, to watch videos or as a navigator in a car, then a larger screen size is required. For such purposes, the Huawei Mate 8 smartpad was created. Let's see what the new "Chinese" can please.
Specifications and performance
- Huawei Kirin 950 octa-core processor with a clock frequency of 2.3 GHz;
- video accelerator Mali-T880 MP4;
- Android OS latest version 6.0;
- 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory;
- slot for microSDXC memory cards up to 128 GB;
- dual SIM support;
- GPS navigation;
- light and proximity sensors, barometer, digital compass;
- Fingerprint's scanner;
- battery capacity 4000 mAh.
As you can see, the "stuffing" of Huawei Mate 8 is solid. The performance is more than enough to run the interface and most everyday applications smoothly. There are no problems when watching videos in high definition. You can also play modern three-dimensional games on your smartphone without any problems.
Appearance
The appearance of the device is flagship. The case is metal, its thickness is 7.9 mm. The surface is matte, respectively, it does not leave fingerprints, and the smartphone does not slip in your hand. The manufacturer offers four body color options: silver, black, gold and golden brown. The assembly of the case is perfect, the smartphone feels solid, even with strong twisting there are no squeaks.
The front panel is covered with protective 2.5D glass. The side bezels are very thin. Despite the six-inch screen, Huawei Mate 8 does not look like a clumsy shovel. The smartphone is easy to use with one hand.
Screen
The 6-inch screen received a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels, it is impossible to detect pixelation with the naked eye, the picture is clear, the colors are natural and saturated. The tilt angles are maximum, the device can be tilted as you like, and the image quality does not change at all. The display has a high contrast ratio and correct color reproduction, which can be customized to suit your needs.
The maximum brightness is sufficient for using the device under bright sunlight, the smallest font is easy to read. The light sensor intelligently and quickly adjusts to the environment. Multi-touch confidently and clearly perceives up to ten simultaneous touches.
Camera
The Huawei Mate 8 has a 16-megapixel camera made by Sony. The main camera is equipped with dual LED flash and autofocus. There are a lot of functions and settings in the application, there is even a “professional” mode that offers fine-tuning. The quality of the shots that the Huawei Mate 8 camera produces at the highest level is sufficient under any conditions. It is worth noting that the automatic mode also allows you to get clear and beautiful pictures.
The front camera is equipped with an 8-megapixel autofocus sensor. She does a great job with video calls and produces beautiful selfies that are not ashamed to post on social networks.
Results
You can definitely call it the flagship model. It is well thought out in terms of ergonomics, it has a large and high-quality screen, powerful hardware and excellent cameras. Also pleased with the battery capacity of 4000 mAh, which allows you to use your smartphone all day without interruption. You can buy Huawei Mate 8 for $490.
Huawei Mate 8 video review
Smartphone Huawei Mate 8 - review
The second desktop with applications. By default, several applications with a Chinese interface are installed here (search engine, browser, social networks, navigation), which, however, are easily removed. Instead of the Google Play store, the HiApp store is installed here, which is better not to be allowed to install and update any recommended applications, because they will all be in Chinese.
Regarding the installation of Google services. The Google Play Store is easily found by searching HiApp and installed. And then the services you need are installed from the Google Play Store.
The only service that for some reason I could not install from the Google Play Store is Google Contacts synchronization. But this application was easily installed through the GApps Installer (Google services installer). Quick switch icons.
They are easy to edit.
In the list of running tasks there is a button "Clear" (unload programs from memory).
The themes of the shell and icons, as usual with Huawei, can be changed within a very wide range. Here, for example, one of these topics - in a completely different style.
The shell supports a two-window mode of operation.
From the blocking window, you can immediately call the camera. Also, with a swipe gesture from the bottom up, a branded action and application bar appears.
View of the application bar on the lock window when the audio track is running.
Talk. There is a recording mode.
Testing the channel speed for 4G showed the expected speed. The same applies to the speed of Wi-Fi - it was at its maximum.
The quality of telephone communication is good, the subscriber was heard very well. The noise reduction system worked quite effectively. Audio The sound of the built-in speaker is surprisingly high-quality: quite spacious and even with some bass. Myst Nail2 armature earphones are good: surround and fairly clear sound, decent highs and some bass.
Plantronics BackBeat Pro full-size headphones in wired mode are not very good: the sound is more or less voluminous, but slightly muffled, good bass, which lacks fullness, not outstanding highs at all.
Tanks gave out 58 FPS. 
Settings The settings, as usual with Huawei, are very advanced and varied. 
Dual SIM settings. One of them is 2G / 3G / 4G, the second is just 2G. However, 4G/3G can be assigned to any card.
Switching mode between Wi-Fi and mobile connection. By the way, a useful thing: when it is turned on, the smartphone does not cling to the dying Wi-Fi to the last, but switches to mobile Internet.
The home screen can be switched to simple mode with large icons and simple settings.
Display settings. You can change the color temperature, viewing modes, typeface and font size.
Notification settings.
Notifications for each application.
Fingerprint management. With it, you can also take photos and videos, answer a call, turn off the alarm, open the notification panel. By the way, the scanner works well, recognizes normally. (But, as usual, there are problems with recognizing a wet hand.)
Setting the on-screen buttons.
Control.
Application Rights Manager.
Energy setting.
Memory.
The smartphone saw a 128 GB memory card in exFAT without any problems.
Memory cleaning functions.
As usual, a wide variety of movements are supported.
The knuckle gestures are pretty handy too.
shooting modes.
Settings.
Sample pictures. (All are clickable.) At home under normal lighting. 
Bright sunny day. 
In room. 
Sunny day. 
Mainly cloudy. 
Cloudy. 
Night. 
Indoors with poor lighting. 
Evening. 
Selfie front camera. 
Well, here's a video example.
I must say that the camera has been noticeably improved. Now she shoots more or less at the level of other flagships. In terms of performance and quality, it is somewhat inferior, especially to the Galaxy S6 edge + and LG G4, but not too much. In general, the camera is quite decent, you can and should use it. Discomfort, as I had with Mate 7 (although the camera was not at all terrible there), is not observed here. The pictures are bright, saturated, the white balance almost does not mess up, the exposure is wrong within reason (and this is easily corrected). It focuses well, but sharpness is not too fast (compared to S6 and LG G4). By the way, here the camera can still be called (and immediately removed, if set) from sleep mode by double-clicking the volume rocker. System data and performance Data on CPU-Z.
AnTuTu test. The highest index. First place in the table.
Geekbench tests.
Well, the PCMark test. By the way, the Galaxy S6 edge+ has 5260.
It seems that this is really the fastest smartphone on the market right now. Well, it’s practically clear that the device is very fast: everything flips and starts smoothly and without jerks, there are practically no lags. Using a smartphone is very comfortable. Battery life I remember the Mate 7 showed a very good battery life. What happened here. Internet. The display brightness is set to a comfortable 50% without auto-tuning. All wireless communications are enabled, the page is updated in the browser every 30 seconds. Almost exactly 12 hours - almost the same as the Mate 7 (and that platform is not as productive). Video. The screen is set to a comfortable 10th brightness level of the player (maximum is 15th), the "Airplane" mode is turned on, a television series with hardware decoding is spinning in the MX Player in a cycle. 10 hours 10 minutes is good, but the Mate 7 lasted noticeably longer. Reading. The screen is set to a comfortable 30% brightness without auto-backlight, the page is automatically scrolled in AllReader, the "Airplane" mode is on. 18 hours 24 minutes. synthetic test. At a comfortable screen brightness and with wireless communications turned on, PCMark conducted a test of mixed modes: surfing, photo processing, video, reading, and so on, that is, emulating a good smartphone load with various standard actions. Here's what happened. In general, this is very cool, the Galaxy S6 edge + has 7 hours 41 minutes. This test means that the smartphone will last a full day with the most active load.
Purely, almost by the evening of the first day, with a normal load, the smartphone had somewhere around 70% of the charge. And, in general, from one charge, he lived up to three days - in the all-inclusive mode. If you do optimization (turn off wireless communications and coordinates, when it is not necessary, turn off automatic synchronization), then it can live up to five days. It also has well-optimized power consumption in standby mode: it ate only 2-3 percent of the charge per night. So with battery life, everything is very good here. The smartphone supports fast charging in 9V / 2A mode. At the same time, up to 50% of the smartphone is charged in just 50 minutes, and a full charge from scratch takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes. Observations at work and conclusions In the process of testing, I did not find serious glitches, although occasionally it happened that the Play Market for some reason was cut down at startup. Noticeable heating of the back cover did not appear even when using heavy applications. There was only one serious glitch. I was unable to install the Epic Citadel game: when I tried to download it from Google Play, Google Play crashed when the download started. And nothing helped here: neither an attempt to download via 4G, and not via Wi-Fi (it helped in some cases), nor even a complete reset of the system. I don’t know why this toy didn’t work out here. All other games and applications installed without any problems. What conclusions can I draw here? The device turned out to be very worthy. A powerful platform, excellent equipment, a very high-quality display, excellent battery life, the camera is not top-end, but quite high-quality. If this model is compared in price with the Galaxy S6 edge +, then in Russia Mate 8 starts at 35 thousand, and S6 edge + - somewhere then from 42 thousand, that is, S6 edge + is about 1.2 times more expensive. At the same time, compared to the S6 edge +, the Mate 8:
- there is support for a second SIM card or memory card; larger display (but we remember the on-screen buttons) with similar dimensions; more powerful platform; noticeably better battery life; slightly worse sound in headphones; slightly worse camera; less showy design.
Huawei Mate 8 is a phablet for the business segment. This is evidenced by the design, and capabilities, and even the display size of 6 inches. The model replaced the previous iteration of devices. The developers themselves claim that they did not seek to redraw the appearance of the gadget. It's more of a bug fix and an update to the extremely successful Mate 7.
What characteristics does the refreshed Mate 8 have and is it worth paying attention to it?
Appearance
The main work in relation to the hull was focused on the little things. Panel joints have become much more accurate, the design of the rear module and the scanner has been brought into proper condition. In an evaluative comparison, the effect of "polishing" is visible to the naked eye.
Additionally, the fingerprint sensor and the peephole of the main camera were “rounded”. In combination with a square, angular design, it looks very extravagant. The front module was shifted to the opposite side, and the speaker was sent down, where it belongs. Such imperceptible touches greatly refreshed Huawei 8.
The dimensions were left the same: 80.6 × 157.1 × 7.9. Only the mass rose slightly due to the battery - up to 185 g.
Display and sound
Huawei engineers were almost the only ones who intentionally put screens in Full HD models. No, there is an opportunity to "shove" Quad HD, or even 4K, but why? But the matrix was changed to the latest generation IPS instead of AMOLED. It would seem that OLED is much more economical, but experts know better.
It is impossible to find fault with the image quality - it is perfect. Almost 368 ppi at 6” diagonal is a fairy tale. The temperature is slightly too high, but this is regulated in the settings. The second drawback is that the color rendering profile is simply not configurable. But this flaw has been around for a long time. Although the flagship could have been eradicated.
But the speaker can sometimes make you twitch in surprise - very loud. And what is characteristic - high-quality. Yes, you won’t catch the difference between a banal MP3 and a heaped up WAV, but in headphones the situation changes dramatically.
Iron
Huawei Mate 8 is an ode to Chinese chip engineering. The company has made SoC, making competitors at the beginning of 2016. Previously, all Kirin CPUs could only somehow keep up with Qualcomm and Exynos. Kirin 950 has a set of 8 Cortex cores (4-2.3 GHz, 4 - 1.8 GHz) and a 16 nm manufacturing process. This indicates minimal consumption and heating. Yes, they left the archaic Mali-T880 MP4 here, but also for games with his head.
Memory is either 3/32 or 4/64. Different packages are available for certain markets. However, there is also a microSD slot. But it is inserted instead of the second SIM. Again we are forced to make a choice. The Mate 8 is characterized by support for all the latest 3G and LTE bands, GPS and more. Full stuffing.
The 4000 mAh battery takes autonomy to a whole new level.
Camera
The rear module has been completely changed. Here we have a 16 MP sensor from Sony (IMX298), an 8 MP front eye and instant focus, regardless of the time of day.
The colors are natural, not stretched, as in color reproduction. Special gourmets and just knowledgeable people are free to play with focus, sensitivity, balance, ISO and other aspects. Fortunately, the settings allow it.
Unfortunately, the phone can't shoot in 4K. And night shooting is clearly not the strong point of Huawei Mate 8. But with certain manipulations, you can improve the result.
The target audience
Who is this 6-inch phablet suitable for? Perhaps businessmen and busy people who appreciate powerful hardware, rich functionality and high autonomy. The design fully meets all the criteria of a successful person: strict, no frills, muted colors and devoid of gloss.
And the delivery set is far from the most stingy. Here and charging with micro USB, and a good headset and a bumper case. Everything is in separate boxes and neatly packed - no faults. It will be nice even to give such a phablet without blushing for your actions.
Specifications Huawei Mate 8
| General characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Model | Ascend Mate 8, Huawei Mate 8, NXT-L29, NXT-AL10, NXT-CL00, NXT-DL00, NXT-TL00, NXT-L09 |
| Date of announcement/start of sales | November 2015 / November 2015 |
| Dimensions | 157.1 x 80.6 x 7.9 mm. |
| Weight | 185 |
| Body colors | Champagne Gold, Moonlight Silver, Space Gray, Mocha Brown |
| Number and type of SIM cards | Nano-SIM - NXT-L09 Dual SIM (Nano-SIM, dual stand-by) - NXT-L29 |
| Operating system | Android OS, v6.0 (Marshmallow) |
| Communication standard in 2G networks | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 CDMA 800 |
| Communication standard in 3G networks | HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 CDMA2000 1xEV-DO / TD-SCDMA |
| Communication standard in 4G networks | LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500) |
| Display | |
| Screen type | IPS-NEO LCD, 16 million colors |
| Screen size | 6.0 inches |
| Screen resolution | 1080 x 1920 @468ppi |
| Multitouch | yes, up to 10 simultaneous touches |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 4 |
| Sound | |
| 3.5mm jack | eat |
| FM radio | eat |
| Additionally | 24-bit/192kHz audio |
| Data transfer | |
| USB | microUSB v2.0, USB Host |
| satellite navigation | GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS/ BDS |
| WLAN | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, DLNA, WiFi Direct, hotspot |
| Bluetooth | v4.2, A2DP, EDR, LE |
| Internet connection | LTE, Cat4; HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, EDGE, GPRS |
| NFC | Yes |
| Platform | |
| CPU | HiSilicon Kirin 950 Octa-core (4×2.3 GHz Cortex-A72 & 4×1.8 GHz Cortex A53) |
| GPU | Mali-T880 MP4 |
| RAM | 3 GB RAM - NXT-L09, NXT-L29 4 GB RAM - NXT-L29 |
| Inner memory | 32/64 GB |
| Supported memory cards | microSD up to 256GB |
| Camera | |
| Camera | 16 MP, f/2.0, 27mm, OIS, phase detection autofocus, dual-LED (dual tone) flash |
| Camera features | 1/2.8″ sensor size, geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR |
| Video recording | [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] |
| Front-camera | 8 MP, f/2.4, 26mm, 1080p |
| Battery | |
| Battery type and capacity | Li-Po 4000 mAh non-removable |
| Additionally | |
| Sensors | Light, proximity, gyroscope, compass, accelerometer, barometer |
| Browser | HTML5 |
| IMAP, POP3, SMTP | |
| Other | — Fast battery charging: 37% in 30 min - DivX/XviD/MP4/H.265/WMV player - MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/Flac player — Document editor — Photo/video editor |
| Equipment | |
| Standard equipment | Huawei Mate 8: 1 USB cable: 1 User manual: 1 Warranty card: 1 Charger 5V/2A: 1 |
Prices
Video reviews
The smartphone was first introduced at CES 2015, we have a first look at this model from Eldar Murtazin on our website. The model will not be officially sold in Russia, but the device is interesting, so we decided to tell you more about it.
First of all, I would like to note that there will be two versions of the smartphone on sale, the difference in price will be 100 euros, and you can see the differences in characteristics below.
Specifications
| HUAWEI NXT-L29 | HUAWEI NXT-L09 | |
| size | Height: 157.1mm; Width: 80.6mm; Depth: 7.9mm Weight: 185g (approx.) | |
| colors | Moonlight Silver; space grey; Champagne Gold; Mocha Gold | Moonlight Silver; space gray |
| display | 6" FHD Screen 1080p (1920x1080), 368ppi High contrast 1500:1 |
6" FHD Screen 1080p (1920x1080), 368ppi 16.7M colors, color saturation(NTSC) 95% High contrast 1500:1 |
| CPU | HUAWEI Kirin 950 (64-bit,16nm FinFET+), Octa-core (4 x 2.3 GHz A72+ 4 x 1.8 GHz A53) + i5 co-processor | |
| operating system | Android™ Marshmallow 6.0 | Android™ Marshmallow 6.0 |
| Memory | 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM or 4GB RAM + 64GB ROM | 3GB RAM + 32GB ROM |
| network | 4G TDD LTE: Band38/39/40 4G FDD LTE: Band1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/26 2G GSM: SIM1:850/900/1800/1900MHz SIM2:850/900/1800/1900MHz |
4G TDD LTE: Band38/39/40 4G FDD LTE: Band1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/12/17/18/19/20/26/28 3G UMTS: 800(B6,Japan)/800(B19,Japan) /850/900/AWS/1900/2100MHz (Band6/19/5/8/4/2/1) 2G GSM: SIM1:850/900/1800/1900MHz |
| Dual SIM | Dual SIM Supported | N/A |
| GPS | GPS/A-GPS/Glonass/BDS | GPS/A-GPS/Glonass/BDS |
| Connectivity | BT4.2 support BLE Micro USB (High Speed USB) |
Wi-Fi 2.4G/5G, a/b/g/n/ac with Wi-Fi Direct support BT4.2 support BLE Micro USB (High Speed USB) |
| Sensors | Fingerprint Sensor, G-Sensor, Gyroscope sensor, Compass, Ambient Light Sensor, Proximity sensor, Hall sensor, Barometer | |
| NFC | NFC supported | NFC supported |
| Camera | main camera 16MP, F2.0 BSI CMOS dual tone flash PDAF+CAF autofocus Digital zoom, up to 4x time-lapse recording front camera |
main camera 16MP, F2.0 OIS (optical image stabilization) BSI CMOS dual tone flash PDAF+CAF autofocus Digital zoom, up to 4x time-lapse recording Photos: max 4608 x 3456 pixels Video recording: 1080p, 60 fps support 720P 120FPS Slo-Mo recording front camera |
| Audio | Audio decoding formats: MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-WB, WMA2-9, RA, PCM, OGG, and FLAC Audio file formats: MP3, MP4, 3GP, WMA, OGG, AMR, AAC, FLAC, WAV, MIDI, and RA |
|
| video | Video decoding formats: 4K video, H.265, H.264, H.263, MPEG-4, MPEG-2, RV7-10, Xvid, VP8, WMV9 Video file formats: 3GP, MP4, WMV, RM, RMVB, and ASF |
|
| Image | Image decoding formats: PNG, GIF (static), JPEG, BMP, WEBP, and WBMP Image file formats: PNG, GIF, JPEG, BMP, WEBP, and WBMP |
|
| Emotion UI | EMUI 4.0 | EMUI 4.0 |
| Battery | 4000mAh | 4000mAh |
| In the box | handset; headset; charger; USB cable Quick Start Guide; Safety Information | |
| Disclaimer | Specifications may change without notice; images are for illustration purpose only. Colors may vary, colors and features may not be available in all markets, please check with local retailers for exact offer. | |
Equipment
- Smartphone
- Charger
- PC connection cable (also part of the charger)
- Wired headset
I really liked the box itself and the packaging of the smartphone. See for yourself how beautifully everything is packed, each accessory in a separate box. Pay attention to the headphones, they resemble Apple's branded headset.
Appearance, materials, controls, assembly
What might be of interest to a smartphone, most of which is occupied by the display? Is that how exactly this display fit into the case. The Mate 8 has no problem with this, note how great the device looks when turned off. One gets the feeling that the frames on the sides of the display are completely absent, in fact, of course, this is not the case.
Above the display are the peephole of the front camera, light and proximity sensors, as well as a light indicator.
The older version (for 700 euros) will be sold in four colors, but only gray and silver are available for the younger one, the latter is just on our test.
Most of the body is made of aluminum, it is a little rough and very pleasant to the touch. The manufacturer decided to emphasize the ends with a glossy edging, it turned out, of course, beautifully, only this gloss will quickly become covered with scratches.
On the right side there is a volume rocker and a power button, both buttons protrude strongly, so they are convenient to use, they are also easy to grope blindly.
On the right is a tray for a SIM card and a memory card.
A 3.5 mm headphone jack is installed on top, and a microUSB port and speaker grills are installed on the bottom. As it turned out, one of the meshes is decorative, in fact the sound comes only from the right speaker. It remains a mystery to me why the company did not supply full-fledged stereo speakers.
In my sample, there were no assembly problems, including plastic inserts, which Eldar Murtazin spoke about at first glance. The device is perfectly assembled, there are no backlashes, squeaks and gaps.
Dimensions
As you can see, the device is slightly thicker than its key competitors, but I was surprised to find that it was more comfortable to hold it in my hand than the same Nexus 6P, despite the fact that the latter has a gain in dimensions in all respects. The device barely fits in the hand, and it is out of the question to work with it with one hand. It is all the more fun to watch the one-handed mode available in the settings. It has almost no practical meaning. Even if you type with your thumb, you will be forced to intercept the device with your other hand.
Compared to Lenovo Phab Plus
Compared to Asus ZenFone Selfie
Compared to Apple iPhone 6
Screen
Before testing, I did not look at the characteristics of the Mate 8 and was sure that it was the QHD resolution that was used here, I really liked the picture on this screen. I usually write that six inches of FHD resolution is not enough, but in the case of the Mate 8, such a statement would be unfair.
The screen has a wide range of brightness, natural color reproduction and good behavior in the sun. If desired, in the settings you can change the color scheme of the device for yourself. To be honest, I really liked the display in this smartphone, much more than the screen of the same Nexus 6P.
I would like to draw your attention to an interesting detail regarding the display bezels. In the off state, it seems that the frames are almost completely absent, but in fact this is not the case. In addition to the frames themselves, you can see a small black bezel around the screen, which does not look so impressive anymore.
Operating system
The device runs on Android 6.0 along with a proprietary shell EMUI 4.0. Huawei traditionally shoveled the entire Android in their desire to improve it and make it more functional. They partially succeeded, for example, instead of the built-in keyboard, Swype seems to me much more appropriate, the dialer supports the Russian language and Smart Dial, there are many smartphone behavior settings, there are proprietary applications for most tasks (from file manager to notes).
But I didn’t like the white rims around the icons at all, I already somehow wrote a separate post about this phenomenon in our Android blog, I won’t repeat myself, but I will refer you to that article http://android..
Another unpleasant feature of the model is attempts to control push notifications of instant messengers. Due to such masterful behavior, messages from the same WhatsApp or Telegram sometimes reached me with a long delay or did not come at all. So the first time you turn it on, I recommend immediately turning off all these economizers.
And I can’t help but note the beautiful ever-changing wallpaper on the lock screen. Huawei has been using this feature for more than a year, but it does not become less impressive from this.
Fingerprint scanner
The speed and accuracy of the fingerprint scanner of this smartphone is comparable to top models (iPhone 6s Plus, Nexus 6P), you just need to lightly touch it with your finger, and the smartphone is already unlocked. If desired, you can configure the reception of a call or turn off the alarm clock when you press the scanner.
Performance
For a couple of weeks of use, I had no complaints about the performance of the device. It behaved perfectly both in everyday use (browser, launcher, settings, third-party applications), and with productive games. Great fast smartphone.
Offline work
I really liked the autonomy of this device, and it's not just in our synthetic tests. With everyday use, I get one and a half to two hours of the display turned on during the day, this includes web surfing, reading mail and social networks, chatting in instant messengers and literally ten minutes of navigation.
Everyday use
Reading mode
HD video viewing mode
Smartphone discharge per night
Usually, devices react differently to my, in general, very light mode of use - most are discharged by 50-75%, but the Mate 8 is discharged by only 25%, in my opinion, this is an excellent result. And in sleep mode, the smartphone almost does not discharge, only 2-3% per night.
Camera
The device takes excellent pictures during the day, but under artificial lighting, the quality of the photos deteriorates, they turn out to be “noisy”, plus they lack sharpness. Night shooting is also not always good for a smartphone, out of three shots, only one (on the road) turned out to be successful. It also seemed to me that the device has a separate "food mode", I even specifically ordered the "Philadelphia" to test it! But, apparently, they didn’t add it specifically to this device, so I had to take a regular shot, and, it seems to me, there are no problems with photographing food even without separate “food modes”.
Smartphone consHuaweiMate 8:
- Inconvenient software;
- Weak camera performance;
- Problems with the color displayed on the display;
- Inconvenient notification system.
average cost: $ 625.
Key Features: 6-inch 1080p display, Kirin 950 processor, 3/32 GB RAM and internal memory, Android 6.0, 4000 mAh battery, metal case.
Manufacturer: Huawei.
What's happened?
Every time you release a new Huawei smartphone, you wonder if you can get the same thing, only without this terrible software. Last year, with the release of the Nexus 6P, we got the answer to this question. What was avoided there is fully realized in Huawei Mate 8.
HuaweiMate8 - Design
What you really always expect from the flagships of the Chinese manufacturer is the amazing appearance. The Huawei Ascend P8 and Huawei Mate S are crafted with the craftsmanship you would normally expect from companies like Apple, with a mixture of glass, metal and other high quality materials.
And Mate 8 fully corresponds to the high level, somewhat reminiscent of the design of the Nexus 6P. The edges of the smartphone are cut off, reflecting light like a gem. And although Apple used the same trick back in the iPhone 5, it still looks great.
Similar to the Mate S, the back cover is slightly curved. This allows you to more comfortably hold the smartphone in your hand compared to other competitors. And this is good, because the smartphone is really large. Given that, it's surprising how light it feels. Despite its 185 grams, this weight seems to be evenly distributed throughout the smartphone.
But the strength causes complaints, because after a few days of use, scratches begin to appear on the case, and very noticeable. On the other hand, the smartphone comes standard with a protective case included.
Huawei Mate 8 - Display
Most of the Mate 8's display specs are among the best, except for one - resolution. It's not a 6-inch 4K display like the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium or QHD like the Samsung Galaxy S6. Here, only 1080p, which was relevant in 2014. This may be a reduction in manufacturing costs, but we are dealing with a premium smartphone with a price of $ 625.
This is not to say that the screen is so bad, the resolution is quite clear, it has decent viewing angles and good brightness. The main problem is with color reproduction, whites have a pinkish tint, blacks are quite deep and at this size it is well suited for watching YouTube.
Huawei Mate 8 - Software
The software is an ongoing problem on all Huawei devices. Rather than slightly complement the look and feel of Android, like Samsung and HTC, Huawei is completely redesigning it.
Everything from the notification panel to the quick lock screen settings has been changed for the worse. Almost all the useful features of the interface, invented by Google, have disappeared. The result is a mixture of iOS and Android, but without the style and convenience of both. For example, there is no icon for downloading applications, and quick settings are separated from notifications.
And the issue is not only in the design of the interface, one gets the impression that many things do not work properly. Even with the new version of EMUI running on Android Marshmallow, one of the major new features like Google Now on Tap is inexplicably missing.
Notifications from Google apps are still broken, as they were on the P8 and Mate S. When receiving a notification from Gmail or Hangouts, the text turns black and blends into the background of the dropdown menu, making it unreadable. It's nice to see a smartphone running the latest version of Android, but when it's lame, it's more of a step backwards than forwards.
Huawei Mate 8 - Performance
Although the software leaves much to be desired, the performance of the smartphone is beyond praise. It is one of the fastest smartphones I have ever used. And all thanks to the Kirin 950 octa-core processor. This 64-bit chipset has 4 cores at 2.3GHz and four at 1.8GHz. And in addition to this 3 GB of RAM.
Applications open without the slightest hint of freezing, the only thing with which it does not work so quickly is with the camera application, but more on that later. New games on Huawei Mate 8 run without problems and stops.
When tested on Geekbench, the smartphone scores 6300 points, surpassing the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge + with its 5014 points. It's a pretty significant step up from last year's two models.
On the back of the smartphone below the camera is a fingerprint scanner, which is also very fast. The initial setup will take three to four clicks, after which the smartphone can be unlocked almost instantly.
The smartphone has 32 GB of internal flash memory as standard, and there is also a microSD card slot, so that the amount of memory can be doubled.
Huawei Mate 8 Camera
On the back of the Huawei Mate 8 is a 16MP OIS camera with f/2.0 aperture and phase detection autofocus. The camera has a fairly large number of manual settings. Thus, you can change the focus, adjust the optical image stabilization and white balance.
An unpleasant moment was the periodic slowdown of the camera at random. Sometimes the application opens and autofocus works for a few seconds, and the next time it freezes for 15 seconds with a black screen.
When the camera is working normally, the results are also mixed. The 16 MP lens captures a lot of detail, but the image quality could be better. And there are claims to pictures taken in good light. In natural light, photos turn out better, photos at night boast rich blacks.
The camera app is similar in appearance to that of iOS, with a choice of features at the bottom of the screen and the use of live filters. It is one of the best native Huawei apps and I wish it didn't suffer from random freezes.
1080p video recording results are also good and reasonably clear. The 8 MP front camera is capable of providing decent photos for selfie lovers, but some settings are better to stay away from.
Huawei Mate 8 - Battery, speakers and call quality
A powerful 4000 mAh battery is hidden inside the large metal case. This capacity is quite impressive, especially when you consider that a lot of power is saved by running the display at 1080p rather than QHD.
So the Huawei Mate 8 is capable of delivering a battery life that surpasses that of many competitive phablets. When using the device all day in normal conditions - working with email, messages, making calls until midnight, we have 49% battery left and thanks to the Doze feature in Android Marshmallow, it only drains 3-5% per night.
Watching an hour of video drains the smartphone by 8%, but watching an hour of streaming video reduces battery power by 11%.
Unlike the Nexus 6P, Huawei decided to go against the decision to replace the more used microUSB port with USB-Type C. This is normal at the moment, but competitors are actively equipping new models of USB-Type C smartphones, so the Huawei Mate 8 may not be competitive in the future .
As expected, the smartphone does not support wireless charging, but there is a possibility of fast charging. Thanks to it, you can charge a completely discharged battery up to 50% in 40 minutes. The battery can be fully charged in 80-90 minutes.
The smartphone does not have front speakers, the sound comes out rather flat from the bottom speaker. However, adding front speakers would seem to make the smartphone too tall. It is also worth noting the sound recording application, which uses several microphones located around the perimeter of the smartphone at once. Call quality is also good, especially when using the speakerphone.
Do I need to buyHuaweiMate 8?
Huawei Mate 8 is a smartphone with great looks, long battery life and high performance. The impression is spoiled by software and problems with the camera. If you have $625 and want to spend it on a big-screen Android phone, there are other options to consider.
The Nexus 6P isn't much more expensive, but it's a much better smartphone. If you search, you can find a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 for a similar price, there is also a Moto X Style, which is cheaper and is also a good choice. Huawei helped Google release one of the best smartphones in 2015, but it needs to seriously work on its bugs if they want to do the same this year.
Summary
An excellent battery and an attractive design are not enough to recommend this smartphone, which is inferior in some aspects to its main competitors.
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