Huawei MatePad Pro
Huawei MatePad Pro (هواوي ميت باد برو) is definitely the cheapest among its peers, and the price of the basic option (Wi-Fi, 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of storage) is almost affordable.
To date, there are two concepts for creating a premium tablet. You can either “inflate a smartphone” or is use components and software typical of a PC, but in a more elegant form.
Huawei MatePad Pro is based on the Kirin 990 processor, known for Huawei P40 Pro on Android 10 AOSP. Thus, if you look only at the platform, then this is really a large-sized smartphone, a typical multimedia tablet and not necessarily a replacement for a laptop. But…
The manufacturer made sure that the functionality of the device was not limited to consumption of content. A keyboard and a stylus are available as an accessory, and EMUI 10 software shell used as an interface received a special PC mode. More than Android, it resembles KDE (Linux desktop environment) and supports applications in a format similar to Windows.
Huawei MatePad Pro is a breath of fresh air in the boring tablet market. It feels premium, although the lack of Google services means that its potential is slightly limited. But all that makes it even more of a curiosity.
And what’s in the box? First impressions
And now my test model is finally here. To my surprise, the tablet arrived in a rather large white box, although the device itself is small. In addition to Huawei MatePad Pro inside, I also found a powerful modular charger (40 W), a traditional SIM card eject tool and an adapter from USB Type-C to a 3.5 mm jack for wired headphones. And of course – all sorts of paper instructions, warranties, etc.
Huawei MatePad Pro
In addition, a keyboard and a proprietary M-Pencil stylus were also included, which ordinary customers still have to buy separately. Although, if you hurry up and pre-order before June 22, the stylus can be received as a gift.
Huawei MatePad Pro
Literally from the first second you realize that you have a premium tablet in your hands. Modern materials, an unusual dark blue color, the relative lightness of the tablet – all this is impressive. Sometimes it seemed that I was holding just a large, but very convenient smartphone. Even the main cameras are vertical. Huawei was able to pleasantly surprise me here.
Huawei MatePad Pro
But still, the device shows some similarities with the iPad. And this should not surprise anyone. In such cases, I always quote the words of my favorite artist Pablo Picasso: “Un artista copia, un gran artista roba” (Good artists copy, great artists steal). Simply put, a bad artist copies the work and someone else’s style, and a good one steals in order to create solely his unique creation on the basis of the stolen one.
First of all, the Huawei device is a much cheaper alternative to the iPad Pro. Although there are some nuances that should also be mentioned. The problem is that Huawei devices have stopped receiving support for Google services. And MatePad Pro runs on Android 10, but without access to Google Play store and many applications, games and services. Although maybe for some it is not critical at all, especially since Huawei MatePad Pro has something to surprise a potential buyer.