Now its Huawei’s turn to fold
SECOND GENERATION: INTRODUCING MATE XS JUST AFTER SAMSUNG’S GALAXY Z FLIP
A hinge and a crease will define the new foldable phones in the coming years.
‘H inge” and “crease” will be two of the new defining words for discussing the merits of smartphones in the coming years.
Samsung and Huawei have made sure of that, as they unveil handsets with folding screens, and stake their claims to having the best hinge technology and the least visible creases in their smartphone displays.
It was Huawei’s turn to fold this week, just days after Samsung unveiled its second generation foldable, the Galaxy Z Flip.
The Huawei Mate Xs is also a second generation product, following last year’s Mate X.
It features the same “Falcon Wing Design”, with more than 100 interlocking parts, but says it has improved it significantly.
It is made with a zirconium-based liquid metal, resulting in a hinge that is both more durable and provides a more satisfying 180º fold.
The flexible display uses a two-layer polymer structure, manufactured by adhering two layers of aerospace-grade polyimide with an optically clear adhesive.
This, says Huawei, allows the display to produce great image quality, colour saturation and brightness while retaining a high degree of durability.
In folded mode, the Mate Xs is a dual-screen smartphone, with a 6.6inch main screen on the front and a 6.38-inch secondary screen on the back. The secondary screen folds into an edge which serves as a grip when the device unfolds into an eight-inch tablet.
Unfolded, the Xs comes into its own. It offers Multi-screen Collaboration, which Huawei says “breaks down the boundaries between Windows and Android devices”.
This means it allows content to be moved easily between supported devices, and can allow two systems to be controlled from one device.
The phone also provides seamless Multi-window support, allowing two apps to be opened side by side, with a third one “floating” on top, and allowing content to be dragged between the apps, including text, images and documents.
The Floating Window can be used to respond to instant messaging, for example, without closing the other apps.
Talking of apps, the Mate Xs debuts a revamped AppGallery, which Huawei intends to develop as a replacement for the Google Play Store.
Unlike its predecessor, the Mate X, which ran on Google’s Android operating system with Google Mobile Services (GMS), the Xs runs on EMUI10.0.1, an operating system based on Android Open Source Project.
The software therefore uses Google’s mobile operating system, but is not affected by the United States government ban on Huawei using American technology.
That means the phone operates on Android 10, but does not run GMS, which includes the Play Store and its automatically updated apps.
Instead, it uses Huawei Mobile Services (HMS), which replaces the likes of Google Assistant with Huawei Assistant, and allows services like Gmail to run on top of a built-in email service.
It allows browser-based versions of any Google service, like YouTube, to be accessed via an on-board browser, and includes
Breaks down the boundaries between Windows and Android devices.
workarounds for various other commonly used Google apps.
Pushing camera boundaries
The Mate Xs maintain’s Huawei’s legacy of pushing the boundaries of mobile phone photography. A SuperSensing Leica Quad Camera system is fitted into a vertical array along the sidebar of the handset bar.
It features a 40MP main camera (wide-angle, f/1.8), 16MP ultra-wide angle lens (f/2.2), 8MP telephoto lens (f/2.4, OIS) and a 3D Depth Sensing Camera.
It incorporates OIS and AI Image Stabilisation and up to 30X hybrid zoom, supporting up to ISO 204800 for low light photography.
The Xs reinvents the selfie, allowing the user to draw on the quad-camera system by simply reversing the handset, and using the secondary screen for selfie shots.
The subject and photographer can both see what is in focus, and thus collaborate on carefully set up shots.
The Mate Xs will be the first true opportunity for Huawei to demonstrate its independence from American technology, as it