Just got lucky, I got Huawei Ascend Mate up for my next unbox and review.
Huawei is making a history for their huge leap into mobile device industry. Their market in terms of numbers is growing on the mobile market competition. As they enter the stage of Phablet, they introduce Huawei Ascend Mate might be a good market as a low-cost but not low-quality, perhaps this a good match up against on other Phablet manufacturer in the market. I might say this on myself, low cost but quite up-to-date midrange Phablet product.
By the way, did you know that you can have this Huawei Ascend Mate unit on Globe Postpaid plan (check it out). Wondering what’s inside the Huawei Ascend Mate? Here it is!
I don’t know if some stores has same package included. (Huawei Ascend Flip Cover Case and Globe Tattoo Prepaid Micro-SIM card are all free!)
The Huawei Ascend Mate Unit Box!
Inside is the Huawei Ascend Mate Unit.
Manual (I’m sorry forgot to include on the picture), Micro USB cable, Micro USB Data Sync / Charger, and the 3.5mm Headset earphone.
Structure Built
The form factor of Huawei Ascend Mate is a bar style, exterior parts made in solid and sturdy type plastic, for extra durability. Silver trim plastic covers the sides and Black Plastic Plate at the back. The 6.1-inch HD Phablet might not be everyone’s mobile phone or device, main reason is the handling. If you got smaller hands, you may prefer to less size than to this Phablet. One hand operation might not be the forte for this unit. Structure Built Rating: 7/10
From the Sides
The top side (3.5mm Headset connector with Dolby enhancement – which is the best part I have used, Microphone and Micro-SIM card slot)
Audio Rating via 3.5mm Headset connector: 10/10 (Tried it on HD Videos/Movies, you’ll feel the Dobly sound into your ears, to add more thrill sound experience, put high quality headphones.)
The bottom side (Micro USB connector and Microphone)
Microphone Rating/Audio Recording: 10/10 (Since it has two Microphones (Dual), audio recording were almost flawless and the sound were perfectly clear.)
The right side (Volume Keys up and down, Power button On/Off/Sleep/Wake is in Silver plastic type)
The left side (SD card slot up to 64GB capacity)
The Front Part of Huawei Ascend Mate
Unveiling the 6.1-inch HD IPS+ 1280 x 720 LCD touch screen, with Emotion UI and Corning Gorilla glass protection. I might say the biggest advantage of this unit is the huge screen display. Pretty good to watch movies and internet video streaming (Youtube), and internet surfing is all good in feel and touch.
Video/Movie Playback Rating: 8/10 (Having HD IPS is also a huge plus in this unit)
From the upper part, is the earpiece and 1MP front camera to deal with video calls and frontal camera shots. (Selfie? ^_^)
From bottom part, is the navigation controls (Back, Menu, and Show Taskbars). The best part of the navigation controls, you can hide it and to fully experience the screen and then reveal it with a slide upwards on the bottom part of the screen. Front Visual and HD Rating: 8/10
About Huawei Ascend Mate Emotion UI
Good part: Like Samsung has it own UI, Sony Xperia Smartphones got one, and even HTC, which embedded to keep the mobile device performance ready and stable within its core OS. While Huawei, on the other hand, has no differ to those mobile makers, Emotion UI is a clean, simple, optimize and quite good in terms of the stability of the mobile device.
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See the Screenshots below (Huawei Emotion UI, Apperance, Settings…)
Bad part: In my opinion, having NO APP DRAWER can be something new or frustrated in some users. Although, you can create folder to manage and categorize the applications spread around on the home screen, Huawei new approach to manage apps not entirely a good option for new users. Having said that Huawei Ascend Mate has a 6.1 inch screen can be beneficial on having App Drawer, this would let you see everything into one big picture.
Emotion UI Rating: 6/10
The Back Part of Huawei Ascend Mate
Covered with sturdy black plastic plate, has a 8.0-megapixel Autofocus rear-facing camera with LED Flash.
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From below part of it, is the External Audio Speaker (Loudspeaker) is quite well made audio output. Audio Rating via External Audio Speaker (Loudspeaker): 8/10
In my opinion, I didn’t expect the rear camera to be as good as High-end Smartphone camera, not until I test it for myself. It did surprise me on how the detail of the camera is. There are more things you can do here, such as the settings, from HDR, to effects, exposure and more tweaks you can do without additional apps to install.
Sample Photos:
Sketch Gray Camera Effects / Normal Photo with LED Light / Normal Photo during Day Light
Indoor Lighting with LED Flash / Normal Photo during Day Light
On contrary, having 6.1-inch Phablet to take capture photos can be difficult to operate, especially if you have small hands, you might out of focus or worse you might drop it. Lacking of physical camera shutter button which is a remedy for some users finding difficulty to operate the touch to capture photo.
Photo/Image Capture Rating: 7/10
Camera Video in details:
HUAWEI ASCEND MATE SAMPLE VIDEO SHOOT via Youtube
This is a sample outdoor video shoot of Huawei Ascend Mate.
HD (1280X720) (1080p)@30fps – Video Shoot during day time.
HUAWEI ASCEND MATE FULL HD SAMPLE VIDEO SHOOT via Youtube
This is a sample outdoor video shoot of Huawei Ascend Mate.
FULL HD (1920X1088) (1080p)@30fps – Video Shoot during day time.
Having video capture/recording while on the Full HD, did quite flawlessly excellent job. But reminder, it’s really hard to operate when you’re on the move or small hands to handle it. Video Recording/Capture Rating: 8/10
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Huawei Ascend Mate in Details (Specs, Apps, Games, Features…)
Running on Operating System: Android 4.1.2 (which is quite up-to-date)
Network Band:
UMTS 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz
GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
2G and 3G, GPRS and EDGE Supported
(Sorry no LTE, Maybe it would a disadvantage part, in some ways, still it has reasons way this Phablet is in low cost.)
CPU/CHIPSET: 1.5 GHz quad-core Hi-Silicon K3V2 + Intel XMM6260
(Huawei has its own chipset built-in to the unit, but still lacking other performances, it might be due to low cost of the unit or perhaps it is a still on development stage. Other thing to see while Huawei makes its own chipset it is because due to the stability of the unit. The CPU embedded likely outdated, but still kicking within the device other performances. Within other performances/operations there were times you may feel slight lag but on the long run, it will naturally go on to smooth sailing.)
Display: 6.1-inch HD IPS+ 1280 x 720 LCD touch screen, (~241 ppi pixel density), 16M colors with Emotion UI and Corning Gorilla glass protection
(Display quality is stunning especially when brightness is up to full, with impressive vibrant color and black appears in deep. Glossy black front design enhances the look of the unit to be appealing and looking more expensive. What’s good to see is the cleaner, simple and optimized look and feel of the Emotion UI, durability within glass protection is a plus. But in the previous notes, Emotion UI still needs to prove itself to be a dominant in overall competitive UI. Having said, it is a 6.1-inch, lacking home screen auto-rotation can be another thing to be disappointed, but if you go on to the settings, and other apps, auto-rotation would work out.)
BEST PART: Multi-touch is in 10 finger points. HD Screen, 6.1 inch all good for typical apps/games/video operations.
Camera:
8.0-megapixel (3264×2448 pixels) AF rear-facing camera with LED Flash, Geo-tagging, face detection, HDR / Video: 1080p@30fp
1.0-megapixel HD front-facing camera / Video: 720p@30fps
(As on the previously mention about the camera, I couldn’t tell anything to not liking it, especially tons of tweaks you can do to it.)
INTERNAL STORAGE: 8GB ROM (SD card slot supported up to 64GB)
Some users complain about the 8GB Internal Storage is too short, think again, because in my opinion, estimated 4.7GB user accessible is quite good enough for me, and the best part of it, you can used your SD card as the primary storage. I already installed huge apps like Real Racing, Dungeon Hunter 4, Asphalt 8 Airborne, NBA2K13 and Plants vs Zombies 2 without uninstalling other apps.
Compared it to other brands who has Smartphones/Phablets is less than 8GB, and 1GB user accessible and you can’t even used your SD card as primary storage.
BEST PART: SD Card can be a primary storage.
RAM: 2GB (other countries) / 1GB *mostly asian countries (like PH)
(In the Philippine market, 1GB RAM is the max, others claim it to be 2GB RAM, I think in Australia, it was 2GB RAM.) But for this huge Phablet, in my opinion, it should be at least 1.5GB RAM.
Connectivity:
Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth 4.0 LE EDR
microUSB v2.0
(Wi-Fi works great, all depends on the internet connection or ISP you have. Bluetooth connects on other devices without any issues.) NO NFC compatibility.
Entertainment:
Video player: supports AVI, MPEG4, mp3, AAC+, Enhanced AAC
Headphone: 3.5 headset connector
(Dobly enhancement is the best part in here)
Sensors: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
(Working fine and nothing to complain.)
Battery Capacity: Non-removable Li-Ion 4050 mAh / Standby time up to 9 days on WCDMA / Normal Usage: 48 hrs. / 3G Talk time: 24 hrs. / 3G Internet: 11 hrs
(Non replace battery maybe seems disadvantages for some users, but the good part of the battery is a lot of juice it carries to do a lot of tasks for a whole day or 2.)
TEST ON MUSIC PLAY:
My Battery juice at 48 percent drops at 46 percent, while at Audio – MP3 Music playing, under the time duration of 60 mins. and 22 secs. (loss only 2% of battery juice)
TEST ON VIDEO PLAY:
My Battery juice at 87 percent drops at 85 percent, while at Video – Movie Playing via MX Player (Brightness Level 5, Volume Level 15, using 3.5mm earphones), under the time duration of 16 mins. (loss only 2% of battery juice)
TEST ON WI-FI:
My Battery juice at 80 percent drops at 70 percent, while at Wi-Fi – Internet Video Streaming via Youtube, under the time duration of 1 hours and 4 mins. (loss only 10% of battery juice)
BEST PART: battery juice it carries 4050 mAh.
Dimension (H X W X D): 163.5 mm x 85.7 mm x 9.9 mm (6.5 inches x 3.4 inches x 0.4 inches)
Weight: 198 g (6.98 oz)
Form Factor: Bar Style
Color available: Crystal Black and Pure White
In the Box: Unit, USB Charger, microUSB v2.0 Cable, 3.5mm Earphone, Manual
Other Features of Huawei Ascend Mate:
Easy Panel – Huawei’s Easy Panel can be accessed from all screens, so that commonly used tools can be opened within applications. The “in-app” panel includes instant access to notes, messages, calculator, and video playback.
Smart Reading – Simply highlight a word and instantly look it up on Google search, Wikipedia, or Google translator.
Magic Touch – The “Magic Touch” features allows you to operate the Huawei Ascend Mate even when using thick winter gloves.
Guiding Wizard – Huawei Ascend Mate’s GPS maps include Huawei’s patented “Guiding Wizard”, which uses the phone’s video camera to guide you with arrows overlaid on streaming video of the road ahead, accurate down to the lane.
One Hand UI – Huawei Ascend Mate’s large screen doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the convenience of one-hand usage. With a minimized keyboard and dial pad for both right and left-hand users, you can still enjoy the ease of operating your phone with just one hand.
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HUAWEI ASCEND MATE ANTUTU SCORE/DETAILS:
As expected in turns out to be in the midrange mobile device.
Antutu Scores: 16107
HUAWEI ASCEND MATE 3D/HD GAMES YOU CAN PLAY: BACK TO TOP
Averaging my gameplay within Huawei Ascend Mate is to Normal to Above Average. There are times little lags happens within loading on certain games but after that, the game were playable and running smoothly.
Mobile Racing Games that you might want to try out via Huawei Ascend Mate. Here’s couple of Youtube Videos using Huawei Ascend Mate on playing the following games.
ASPHALT 8 AIRBORNE
ASPHALT 8 AIRBORNE
CSR RACING
REAL RACING 3
REAL RACING 3
Another games I tried out and run smoothly without issues or lags.
Wondering Huawei Ascend Mate Price?
Philippine market ranges PHP 16,700 – PHP 17K mark. (Depends on mobile stores)
PricePanda price comparisons for Huawei Ascend Mate (check it out – click here)
TO SUM UP: REAL TALK:
Good deal price, Good and Large Screen Display, Long lasting battery life (tested for real).
There were times little issues on performances, 8GB internal storage not a big deal, you can switch it to SD card primary storage. It might not be easier to be hold by person who has smaller hands, in case, you need to hold it with two hands. Emotion UI maybe new to you, it be turned out ugly or can be at your advantage. On overall performances I could rate Huawei Ascend Mate: 7/10 within midrange Phablet.
How to Root and Unroot Huawei Ascend Mate (MT1-U06) click here
(Disclosure: Huawei Ascend Mate, Emotion UI, Android, Apps Info/Logo/Images/Pictures has a respective copyright. We used it for demonstration purpose only.)
If something in your mind to comment or suggest, please let us know. In our efforts to provide detailed information, there is possibility of inaccurate contents. If you see any mistake or incomplete in our information, please don’t hesitate to tell us. We will fix it immediately as soon as possible.
Related Links / Articles / Entries / References / Sources:
Huawei Ascend Mate 6.1 inch HD Screen on Globe Postpaid Plan
Huawei Ascend Mate – Official Site
sir nice info about the huawei mate phablet, i’m also interested to buy that, since the battery really last longer… thanks for this review.
huge smartphone? biggest smartphone-phablet is samsung note 8.0 but if going to choose which one i like. i would stick to huawei ascend mate.
how much if i planned to get this on CC per month for 1 year or 2 years?
i think around 1.6+K for 1 year at memoxpress… im not really sure just check their stores for availability and price.
perfectly phablet with a low price, thanks for the this website that give info on huawei mate. ill sure buy one.
im still choosing bet. myphone iceberg and this one. which is better?
of course in overall specs its huawei ascend mate. 🙂
before i used tablet, but now i prefer to switch into phablet, and within this size and battery capacity, its a sure buy for huawei ascend mate.
i thought it was lte hindi pala, anyway its still a good phablet and more functional than tablet.
i have this phone and its really worth it, matagal kung matagal ang battery. huawei ascend mate perfect talaga for those who doesn’t want to have tablet (7 or to 10 inches) but much preferred to 6-inch and yet smartphone na rin.
i would like to know if you can do a review on modern combat 4 using huawei ascend mate…thanks
hey maverick… its all works on huawei ascend mate… 🙂