Huawei’s new, reasonably priced pill has a wonderful show, however there’s nonetheless one huge factor which stops me from recommending it.
The MatePad 11.5″S seems to be good worth at simply £349/€399, with its display an actual spotlight. Because the identify suggests, it’s an 11.5-inch LCD panel, full with excessive 2800 x 1840 decision and a refresh price that may routinely transfer between 30- and 144Hz.
Nevertheless, it’s the coating on the display that actually helps the MatePad stand out from rivals. Huawei calls it ‘PaperMatte’ 2.0, however the significance right here is that it’s matt slightly than the standard shiny.
The massive profit is the reflections, or lack thereof. In accordance with Huawei, floor reflectivity stands at below 2%, with 99% of sunshine interference eradicated. Alongside 500 nits of peak brightness, it means you possibly can comfortably use the MatePad in any atmosphere – together with direct daylight.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
The sheltered environment of a demo room weren’t the most effective atmosphere for me to totally check this, however visibility, element and readability have been all glorious. And the brilliant, vivid colors have been simply nearly as good as non-matt rivals, with out the standard pressure in your eyes.
One other good thing about the MatePad is the anti-fingerprint coating. It’s an actual novelty to have the ability to use a pill for a number of minutes with out there being any noticeable smudges on the show.
It’s price noting that Huawei isn’t the one firm utilizing matt shows on tablets – TCL’s Nxtpaper is simply as spectacular – however I’m glad to see it come to such an reasonably priced slate.
Huawei hasn’t revealed which processor is powering the MatePad 11.5″S, but it surely didn’t really feel sluggish as I used to be swiping round. And the 8800mAh battery is beneficiant for a tool of this measurement and worth.
Its aluminium unibody design feels premium, but at 510g it stays comparatively light-weight. Nevertheless, you possibly can mix it with a devoted magnetic keyboard accent, which gives 1.5mm of key journey and a great vary of angles.
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
Anyron Copeman / Foundry
It’s additionally suitable with the third technology of Huawei’s M-Pencil stylus, which may detect greater than 10,000 ranges of strain.
The massive drawback
Nevertheless, given all this great things, why don’t I believe you can purchase it?
Sadly, it has largely the identical HarmonyOS 4.0 software program because the Pura 70 smartphones, that means you continue to don’t get any Google providers – together with the Play Retailer.
It means all of Google’s personal apps, plus in style third-party choices similar to WhatsApp, Fb, Netflix and Disney+, are all unavailable until you need to determine a option to sideload them by way of the net. Even then, they won’t work correctly.
Huawei’s US commerce ban has been in place since 2019, and there are not any indicators of it being lifted anytime quickly. Till then, units such because the MatePad 11.5″S have very restricted attraction in Europe, nonetheless good the {hardware} is.
For those who’re nonetheless considering shopping for it, join the UK Retailer e-newsletter by 3 June to get a ten% early hen low cost. Pre-orders will then go reside on 4 June, earlier than an on-sale date of 18 June.
Choose a tool that we are able to advocate? See our round-up of the most effective Android tablets accessible proper now.