Huawei Mate 7: Stepping into the premium phablet segment.

Overview

Huawei released several phablets in the past two years with the Ascend Mate being one of the more notable ones. However for consumers, its offerings were never really considered flagship worthy as they lacked finesse, high-end specs and a compelling suite of features.

Things started to change in 2014 when Huawei began improving the design, build quality and features of its mobile devices. The Chinese company demonstrated its design chops on the MediaPad X1 at Mobile World Congress 2014 with the 7-inch tablet measuring a mere 7.18mm thin and sporting an aluminum alloy chassis. Huawei later replicated the same formula on its Ascend P7 flagship smartphone.

What was missing in its portfolio then was a strong phablet offering, which Huawei eventually addressed at IFA 2014 with the Mate 7. The 6-inch phablet brought with it a series of new features such as a 6-inch 1080p display, a new Emotion UI 3.0 and a fingerprint sensor. More importantly, we were quite impressed with its premium design which could put pressure on its competitors. 

We tested the Mate 7 for a few weeks and here are our findings. To kick things off, here's an overview of its specs:

Design & handling

There is a difference between "blatant copying" and adding your own touch to existing ideas. The Mate 7 is a good example of the latter stance. To squeeze a 6-inch display into a form factor that is still comfortable to handle, yet easy to unlock with a fingerprint sensor, Huawei had to incorporate the best design practices in the industry.

Taking a leaf out of LG and HTC's books, Huawei was able to combine a high screen-to-body ratio and a rear fingerprint sensor (which is actually usable and the best we've seen so far on an Android phone, more on this later) into the Mate 7.

Unlike the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, the Mate 7 minimizes the presence of bezels around the 6-inch display. If this sounds familiar, LG has been touting ultra-slim bezels as a key differentiator of its flagship phones and we certainly welcome Huawei in following a similar path for the Mate 7 on a larger device. In fact, Huawei beats LG in its own game by having a higher screen ratio of 83% compared to the latter's 76.4 percent on the G3. What this figure means is that there is more real estate on the front face of the device which is devoted to the screen and less for other aspects like the bezel and frame of the device.

The end result is that this allowed Huawei to fit a 6-inch display in a slightly smaller form factor than the iPhone 6 Plus; so in addition of a 0.5-inch increase of screen estate, the Huawei Mate 7's chassis is 1.1mm shorter and 3.2mm wider. To put it in another perspective, the Mate 7 is shorter, narrower and thinner than the 5.9-inch G Pro 2.

In terms of build quality, we have nothing but praises for Huawei. We dare say that the Mate 7 is the most well-designed and sturdy device that they've ever produced. In fact, this writer showed the Mate 7 to several friends and none of them expected it to be built by Huawei. The metallic chassis and premium feel are simply among the best in its class.

The front panel of the device has no physical keys; Huawei has opted to use on-screen navigation keys which are in line with Google's guidelines for Android partners. Instead of forcing users to a preset arrangement of keys, Huawei allows users to customize the keys via Settings > Navigation bar. This will certainly appeal to left-hand users who are typically shortchanged for variety to accommodate their usage style. You have four layouts to choose from, and there is also an option for you to decide whether to include a toggle to hide the keys during certain usage scenarios such as viewing photos in full screen.

Turning over to the back, you will see a fingerprint sensor located just below the raised camera bulge. Though it does not bulge as much as the camera module on the iPhone 6 Plus, we still have concerns over the possibility of scratches or wear and tear appearing overtime. If you are wondering about the small slip of plastic connecting the camera module to the top of the device, it is deliberately designed this way so that NFC functionality is enabled through the metallic chassis (and it's also a necessity for the built-in antennas to facilitate mobile and wireless functionality).

Despite the more compact built for its category and class, when it comes to handling the 6-inch phablet, it still proves to be too wide and tall to even try using it in one hand. The one-hand UI, slim bezels and rear fingerprint sensor help to some extent, but we find ourselves using the phone in two hands most of the time. We also find its metallic rear to be a tad slippery, so we recommend you hold the Mate 7 firmly if you do not want it to slip out of your hands by accident.

Compared to the iPhone 6 Plus, which also has very slim and curved sides that's prone to slipping without adding a case, the wider nature of the Mate 7 makes it a tad more difficult to grip unless you've large hands. Given the phone's screen-to-body ratio, it's difficult to actually manufacture a smaller 6-inch device and it's probably not something within Huawei's control. As such, just know that a 6-inch phone requires more handling care, but if you can pull it off and own this device, you probably don't require a tablet device.

 

Fingerprint sensor

According to AnandTech, Huawei is the first Android vendor to implement a full-touch fingerprint sensor similar to Apple's Touch ID. HTC and Samsung may have implemented fingerprint sensors earlier, but their implementation requires the user to execute a swipe gesture which in our opinion, is not as intuitive. In addition, Huawei also has a RF sensing ring around the fingerprint sensor that makes it possible to unlock the Mate 7 even when the screen is off. In this aspect, the Mate 7 is one step ahead of Apple's Touch ID; the latter requires you to turn on the display and then place your finger on the home button.

When it comes to daily usage, the Mate 7 comes really close to matching that of Apple's Touch ID. There are still a couple of misses and slight noticeable lags, but Huawei's implementation is by far the best we have seen from any Android maker. It's worth mentioning that the 360-degree accuracy of the fingerprint sensor - where you can unlock the phone with the same finger from any direction - works perfectly as claimed.

We also like that there are a few software goodies developed specifically for the fingerprint sensor; not only does it allows you to enroll up to five fingerprints on the Mate 7, you also can use the sensor to enable locked apps and access Safe in File Manager.