HUAWEI MATE X HANDS-ON
We go on a short bender with Huawei’s ground-breaking phone to find out whether it’s worth all the hype
The first thing you notice when you pick up the Mate X is the vertical bar that runs down its side. This bar not only holds the device’s Leica-branded triple camera system, but also houses the power button/fingerprint scanner and internal hardware, including its 5G modem and Kirin processor.
The mix of these powerful internal components translates into a very rapid and slick experience on the device. Apps loaded immediately, there’s no delay at all in animations and, most impressively, multitasking on the phone’s huge screen real estate seemed to have zero effect on its performance.
Of course, lots of phones are that slick, so it’s the bendy bit we’re really interested in. Our early impression is that Huawei has won the first-gen folding phone war over Samsung. The design really allows each of its three screen options to be shown off and used to their full extent. When you compare the 4.5-inch Cover Display on the Galaxy Fold to the 6.6-inch phone-mode screen on the Mate X, the latter feels much more like using a current phone when closed.
All three of the screens are crisp and bright – they look brilliant, and it’s a bit magical to open the phone and see a pristine screen as good as anything else out there. However, there’s an irritating iota of sponginess when pressing on the opened display – we’ll have to see how we feel about it when can use one day-to-day. We were impressed with how the Mate X transitions between modes and orientation, both in terms of the how the software and content seamlessly shifts, and in how it feels.
The Falcon Wing hinge is, without doubt, one of the most neat pieces of small-scale mechanical engineering we’ve
The Mate X feels premium, and the folding display tech is state of the art
seen recently at T3, and it makes bending and contorting the Mate X’s screens a very reassuring experience. One of our biggest fears with this first generation of folding phones was that the necessary hinge and fold would end up betraying the rest of the hardware package, so we’re happy to see that Huawei has made this a non-issue right off the bat.
In terms of the actual fold area of the screen (where the screen bends), we could see no obvious crumpling, warping or discolouration. Huawei says the folding screen and hinge mechanism have been tested up to 100,000 bend transitions and it’s pretty unlikely anyone would exceed that in a device’s lifetime.
When fully unfolded in tablet mode, it measures just 5.4mm thick, feeling really thin and light in the hand. When folded, despite being noticeably thicker than a normal smartphone at 11mm, it did not feel unportable or compromised. The screen locks in place with a clip when in phone mode, keeping it flush to the back of the phone. When you want to switch into tablet mode, you need to press the clip’s button.
Naturally, everything looks best when displayed on the might of the eight-inch tablet FullView display. Thanks to the adaptability and versatility of Android these days, apps, videos and the operating system move smoothly to an iPad Mini-style experience all of a sudden.
We didn’t get a chance to test out the camera system, which Huawei promises will be on-par with the excellent snapper in the Huawei Mate 20 Pro. While we still think it’s pretty bad form to take photos via a tablet, that large screen will make a hell of a viewfinder for getting your shots perfect before you hit the button.
In terms of battery, the Mate X packs a hefty 4,500mAh unit, which is technically split over two cell banks in either side of the phone. That’s more juice than the Samsung Galaxy Fold on paper, but with so much variance between the two devices, it’s hard to estimate which will last longer. It’s also hard to guess just how long the Mate X will run for on a single charge – it has a bigger battery than most regular phones, but obviously a much bigger screen to power.
It’s good then, that the Mate X will support Huawei’s 55W SuperCharge tech, which it says enables it to be recharged from empty to 85 % capacity in just 30 minutes, so running low won’t be much of an issue as long as there’s a power socket nearby.
In comparison with the very hands-off reveal of the Samsung Galaxy Fold – which impressed in its videos, but left a sense of distance between the promised device and it being something we’ll get to play with in reality – going hands-on with the Mate X was a genuinely enthusing experience, and one that well and truly proves that folding screen technology in our mobile devices is something we should be very, very excited about. That’s partly the potential of the type of device, and partly how intuitive and natural Huawei has made it – it felt like a regular smartphone experience, with a suite of neatly integrated hardware and features that can be called on when needed.
The Mate X feels premium and high-end, the multi-screen folding display technology is state of the art, and the user experience seems incredibly slick and well thought out. We haven’t been this excited to review a phone fully in a long time.