To begin with, I hope you don’t find it harsh if I say the Mate 8 is not really as powerful as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 or say it is not equal in strength to LG’s V10, but then there is the hope that it comes at a lesser cost — though we don’t know much about regional prices now. But then if you go about converting the cost, the Mate 8 runs into an astonishing $600, , I guess I will say this typically outweighs the functionality of Mate 8’s real-world capabilities, so we could have it on expectations that Huawei lowers this for its final local pricing.
Huawei Mate 8
I wouldn’t definitely say the Mate 8 is the perfect, all encompassing large-screen phone to get, but then I would say if placed at the right price, fans of big phones will now have on their table a good alternative in an all-metal build. For most persons we shared the device with during the review, they kind of prefer Nexus 6P to this.
I will go straight and list its good sides:
An impressively long-lasting battery
The Mate 8 comes with the latest version of Google’s software, Android 6.0
The Mate 8 is all-metal build
Carries fingerprint-reader similarity with that on the back of the Huawei-made Google Nexus 6P
It presents loud speaker audio
On the Cons:
I find the large size discriminatory and it is possible to say you might not be comfortable fitting it in your hands.
I will point out here that the Dim screen
Just on a downscaling note, Screen resolution is too low
Huawei Mate 8
Battery life and screen size set the Mate 8 apart, but…
I think if you are particularly interested in big phones, the Mate 8’s 6-inch screen blesses you with adequate the opportunity to play wild. When I held the Mate 8 in my hand, the screen has this bright and awesome look …though that is till I stream video, and then high-res photos or hold it next to any other phone. It is then it crept into my notice concerning the dim look of its 1,920-by-1,080-pixel resolution even getting to look a bit hazy than other phones which it shares category with at any brightness level, most particularly the tremendously vibrant Nexus 6P.
If brought in comparison with ultrasharp displays in the likes of the Nexus 6P’s 2,560-by-1,440-pixel resolution, higher-res graphics has a less detailed look; the reason behind this is because there are fewer pixels on the Mate 8, much on the down side than you noticeably see on a large-screen phone.
A lot of the time, the Mate 8’s resolution won’t come to hurt your viewing pleasure, but then I feel it would have been better it Huawei really should have improved some meters to the next class in resolution so as to combat the well-priced Nexus 6P (2,560×1,440 pixels).
Huawei Mate 8
More promising news here is that battery here is a master hit — the Mate 8 kept up an average of 15.6 hours in some of the video drain tests we did here. In basic day-to-day life, too, it seemed I had sufficient battery reserves after using it throughout the day continuously. Some of that I guess boils down to the dimmer screen, there is yet the condition turning on the phone’s power-saving settings, should your battery ever does get dangerously close to flatlining,
Bonus points: Camera and Android 6.0
Photos were an additional big hit here. The 16-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front-facing camera gave me off picture-perfect rounds of photos in one of the most impressive lighting settings, outside and indoor. Please don’t get me wrong here; o didn’t say it doesn’t have its flaws — camera photos of course carry their limits and it is also the I did get some weirdly yellow indoor shots in deeply discouraging lighting — but then the camera components have lately gotten rotund improvement which most higher-end models will take photos you like. Selfie shots were deserving applause when tested in the hand and of course yet on a selfie stick in midst of crowded New Year party.
Here’s an additional bonus here: the Mate 8 comes with the Android 6.0 Marshmallow, this is Google’s latest software. One thing to point out for being updated are features like Now on Tap (which pops up extra info when you press the home button) Doze (automatic battery-saving software) and ) — I also like bringing in Google voice search (“Ok, Google”) from any screen. The reality that it has Android 6.0 hopefully brings the implication that Huawei will get on to update the Mate 8 as Google introduces updates in phase.
Huawei Mate 8
If you have not made use of a Huawei phone before, you should be acquainted with the fact that Huawei liberally peppers Android with its own recipe, which it terms the Emotion UI (EMUI 4.0). It’s a pretty interesting change if you well accustomed to the Nexus 6P’s vanilla Android. In this setting, your apps lay out along multiple home screens just the same way you see on the iPhone, and the lock screen as well as notifications pull-down menu have diverse effects equally. Use some time in whiling around with the settings menu and lock screen, and you could possibly come to agree that is exactly how you want it.
The processor
Huawei does more than simply making gadgets, it also now produces processors, too. Just like Samsung, Huawei began making use of its Kirin chipset in phones. The Mate 8 did reasonably well in our diagnostic tests, but then on a general note, it was quite behind top phones from Samsung and Apple. More disturbing, Riptide GP2, which I frequently use to test smartphones, crashed the six or seven times I tried to push the limits in graphics settings (it played on medium-level graphics, though). Aside this, those crashes could have been more connected with how the developers coded the app; the phone performed fine. Everyday tasks which include opening apps and uploading photos worked without hitches and seamlessly, and boot time was on par.
The size
On a personal note, the Mate 8’s dimensions are almost too large. The handset is pretty heavy and wide, and even though there’s a setting for one-handed controls, I don’t think I would ever use them. The fingerprint sensor on the back which is pretty handy to unlock the phone is dead on when you position your finger correctly, but I had to stretch to reach the sensor even more on the Mate 8 than I did on the Nexus 6P, so I couldn’t always unlock the phone the first time around. If you have long hands, you may not have my problems.
Versus the Nexus 6P and others
Without local pricing, it is not easy to say if the Mate 8 is really deserving your money or not. In normal circumstance though, the Nexus 6P is the more mainstream pick. It is seemingly easier to hold, screen sharpness and brightness are on point and you get to brag about the perks of owning Android 6.0’s debut phone, like getting new updates first and little things like a camera quick-start trigger.
Huawei Mate 8
In face of this, the Mate 8 is a phone that, for the right price, is worth seeing in the mix. We will be watching if Huawei can maintain costs low enough to give big-screen phone fans another, cheaper option to make decisions from.
The Good Huawei’s Mate 8’s battery life goes on and on, it goes about snapping commendable photos and has a fast, accurate fingerprint sensor and a loud speakerphone.
The Bad This ginormous 6-inch phone is just too unwieldy for smaller hands. It has a dim screen and a low resolution compared with other phones.
The Bottom Line The huge, metal Huawei Mate 8 has plenty of appeal and only minor drawbacks that big-phone fans can deal with, but the Nexus 6P is still my top Huawei pick.
