The fashion for “shovels” discovered not Huawei — it all started with the Samsung experiment which in pursuit of Apple’s smartphone checked in the “excesses” of various kinds. After the unexpected success of the Note (2012) fashion for large smartphones began to gain momentum, so a year later there appeared “square” LG Vu and of 5.55-inch Note II.
And in 2013, over Koreans pulled all the other manufacturers — Nokia Lumia 1320, ASUS FonePad Note 6, HTC One Max, and of course, crazy on the dimensions of Sony Xperia Z Ultra (three years have passed, crazy!). In the same year was born the 6.1-inch Huawei then still Ascend Mate, and only this series of smartphones has lived with the same idea to the present day.
Diagonal phablet settled on 6 inches exactly, and filling the Mate shared with the flagship “simply smartphones” Huawei. In 2014 netted him best iron (overclocked his options and then traveled to Honor 7 and P8) and thin metal body. This year the Chinese engineers had done to the old building “facelift” and reduced battery capacity 100 mAh. But, rumor has it, everything else is done at the highest level. Let’s see if Huawei was able to convincingly outdo himself, and whether a new Mate of their money.
Huawei Mate 8
Features
Huawei Mate 8
Operating system
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
The screen
6”, 1920×1080, IPS, 368 ppi
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 950 with 8 cores (4x Cortex-A53, 1.38 GHz + 4x Cortex-A72 2.3 GHz)
Graphics
The Mali-T880 MP4
Operational memory
3 GB
Permanent memory
32 GB, microSD slot
Communication
4G (LTE Cat.6), 3G, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, NFC
Camera
primary: 16 MP, with auto focus, video recording 1920×1080,
the front is 8 MP
Battery
non-removable 4000 mAh
Dimensions
157,1×80,6×7,9 mm
Weight
185 g
The price at the time of publication
gray supplies — 33 000 rubles
official retail — 55 000 rubles
Where to buy
Design and management
“Nothing has changed, it’s the same smartphone” — says the owner of Mate 7 and without interest gives new back. I want to stand up for a mobile phone and fend off, say, the iPhone is also all on one person, and in the new generation is bound to be a new case… Or not?
Huawei Mate 8 (left) and Mate 7 – front panel
Mate Huawei Mate 7 and 8 – rear panel
Changes really was not enough — in the automotive industry such procedures are called the word “restyling”. The size and shell thickness remained the same, but over the corps worked in the details. Notice how much more tidy the steel joints of metal panels on the side faces. And kruglyashi in the design of the rear camera (which is still sticking out a 6-inch shell) and a fingerprint scanner, oddly enough, more suited to the design of the smartphone. Hands-free speakerphone, too, is now “singing” from the bottom edge and not in the opposite from the owner side. Fingerprint scanner very good, although the new Nexus or Galaxy S7 for a clear comparison with competitors we didn’t have.
Before the memory card is not replaced for second SIM slot
Huawei Mate 8 (above) and Mate 7 – right side
The body is almost not changed since the Mate 7, but still looks modern
The build is excellent and the dimensions, praise slim framework and the lack of ridiculous padding, moderate. For example, Nexus 6P with a smaller display size, longer, Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is thicker, and 6-inch models (Sony Xperia C5, ASUS ZenFone 2 Laser ZE601KL) is larger for all parameters. However, to use a Mate 8 with one hand still unrealistic — to information and controls on the other side” without auxiliary modes can’t reach it.
Used to the 5.5-inch tableta (also iPhone 6S Plus) citizens Mate 8 doesn’t seem as cumbersome to use — it is not the tablet width and the hand in the normal grip does not “tear”, the pocket is also not a burden more typical of Lopatina”. However, squatting with such a model in the trousers will not come — remember our warning, when will be to explain to the boys for life harvest of strawberries in the country or to tie shoelaces.
Huawei Mate 8 (above) and Mate 7 – top face
Huawei Mate 8 (above) and Mate 7 is the bottom face
Screen and sound
Do You dislike the exorbitant clearly displays how to not love them Huawei? After rants “Full HD for everyone” stopped singing the Sony and the unspoken rule has become the flagship Quad HD, Huawei has remained one of the last manufacturers that are fundamentally (and not because I can’t) don’t use a resolution greater than 1080p in their flagships.
Again, in defiance of fashion, Huawei used to my phablet is not AMOLED-matrix, and the latest revision of IPS. Like, short-sighted step in terms of power consumption (OLED displays are much more energy efficient), but more about autonomy, we’ll talk later.
The display features the Huawei Mate 8
The maximum brightness level
450 CD/m2
Contrast
1400:1
Color gamut (sRGB)
>100%
DeltaE
3,6
Gamma
2,1
Color temperature
7700K
The screen is good all but oversaturated for the sake of fashion colors
And while we will talk about the image quality: brightness and contrast is excellent, color temperature is a little high, but can be adjusted in the settings, the viewing angles are very good, but the saturation bullied beyond measure. For Samsung chase — colorimeter disappoint. Moreover, Samsung has prepared in the profile settings color reproduction with natural colors and Huawei lush colors in the spirit of “expensive-rich” adjustment is not subject.
Handsfree speaker, sorry for the tautology, and gives a very loud surround sound — even at the hearing it is clear that it is set in a solid the size of the gadget. The slow songs sound downright “soul”, and even trembles slightly at maximum volume. But to play fancy music speaker parts 8 Mate loves — the output is “porridge” of percussion instruments, vocals and whatnot, with an average for smartphones volume.
Headphones draws attention to solid volume reserve (Galaxy Note 4, for example, like, 25% quieter at its maximum level) and good sound “in General”, that is, in applications, the browser, etc. — approximately +/- level Nexus 5X/6P. In a standard audio player, however, completely absent of bass, but from the transcendent definition is ringing in the ears. With the function of DTS is slightly better, but EQ is desperately lacking. The sound was definitely cleaner and better than it was at 930-x Kirin, but adapt it to your liking have this Huawei still different from Samsung/LG, in which “villages and went”.
Iron
The filling Mate 8 — kind of an ode to independence the Chinese protsessorostroeniya. Because Huawei alone has made the chip, which surpassed in speed all the competitors at the beginning of 2016. Still no Kirin was not so serious a threat to Qualcomm and Exynos chips.
The power of the processor (Geekbench 3 test)
However, in the ultra-modern flagship Kirin — only the 16 nm FinFET process technology, whereby the processor is turned “cold” and economical. And structurally, “950” ready made patterns: four Cortex-A53 and A57 in its original form, and not less than trivial Mali-T880, and it is not the fastest in its configuration. However, for Full HD it is enough with the stock.
Gaming performance (3DMark Sling Shot OpenGL ES 3.1)
Kirin in his repertoire — between new and old flagships
It seems to be okay — Samsung, out, also not able to create his own graphic chips for their Galaxy S. But for S7 series, the Koreans have developed a quick Mongoose kernel and Qualcomm in its Snapdragon 820 and the processor, and the graphic part is “sawed” on their own recipes. So Mate 8 overtakes all “supermodels” 2015 model year, but lags behind the current flagships. Except, of course, “lame” smartphones with MediaTek decategory unsuccessful.
But if no tediousness — power enough for the eyes, EMUI in our smartphone works pretty darn fast, satellites are caught “at four” (12-15 active satellites GPS/GLONASS/Beidou visible at 20-23), the level of reception of 4G and Wi-Fi no complaints.
The performance of the entire system (test Antutu Benchmark 6)
Soft
Proprietary shell EMUI now hangs on Android 6.0, but it changed not that radical — the standard application icons finally “smoothed” in favor of flat design, the list of gestures the gestures added knuckles (windowing, the launch of software for drawing the letters), the standard set of applications added Yandex, Opera, Facebook, Classmates, and even mail and news Mail.ru. Immediately after binding the smartphone to Wi-Fi “bombard” the notification bar with titles in the style of “SHOCK! POROSHENKO SAID THAT…”. Adaptation to the Russian market, you say?
Shell EMUI 4 has changed slightly, but was slightly closer to the reference design of Android 6.0
Interface Android 6.0 Huawei Mate 8
However, Huawei established by the partners of things you may wish to remove and more the system does not irritate — even 1.3 GB of RAM eaten immediately after the launch of the smartphone.
Camera
Compared to the Mate 7 camera, Huawei’s new phablet — a breakthrough. Sony sensor IMX298 focuses quickly and produces quality photos in the afternoon, and optical stabilization (for once) is there. Colors on the images are not distorted, for gourmets there is a manual mode with adjustable ISO, focus, exposure, color balance, etc.
Round the camera module is surprisingly angular Mate 8
But to the level of the flagships of 2016 camera Mate 8 still does not hold the detail in LG G5 or Samsung Galaxy S7 is a little higher, in addition, shooting video to 4K resolution from settings for some reason, “amputated”. And even our not so good smartphone see in the dark, where other flagships transmit the image more or less reliably, phablet Huawei sees all that through the “tinted glass” of the car. It is clear that the 6-inch “shovel” should not compete with the flagship P9, but last year’s Nexus 6P shoots more efficiently!
“It is not good that phablet was removed at the level of compact flagships,” decided in Huawei and did not bring the camera Mate 8 to perfection
Example photos taken with rear camera Huawei Mate 8
But front camera pleases — even on the flagship standard, it is very good, and certainly better than in expensive Alcatel or the infamous Galaxy S7.
Example photos taken with the front camera of the Huawei Mate 8
Autonomy
Mate 8 is not just cool in terms of autonomy — it is amazingly cool! Even with his voracious 6-inch IPS display smartphone inexplicably lasted the whole 5.5 hours in 3D games when the brightness level of 200 CD/m2 (about 60% of the maximum). While working in other disciplines do not look less impressive.
Use mode (brightness 200 CD/m2)
The duration of work hours
Videos from memory card
11 hours 30 minutes
Game
5.5 hours
Reading
14 hours
Yes, the 4000 mAh is a serious value, but the screen area from 8 very solid Mate! In any case, the results are.
Mate 8 amazingly hardy — among the 6-inch models, it is simply unbeatable
Duration of work in a mixed load (PCMark test, 200 CD/m2, min)
Power saving modes in 8 Mate also remained in place — the user is free to choose between limiting background data and radical saver mode “only calls and messages”.
Competitors
Huawei Mate 8
Samsung Galaxy A9
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
Operating system
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
Android 5.1 Lollipop
Android 6.0 Marshmallow
The screen
6”, 1920×1080, IPS, 368 ppi
6”, 1920 x 1080, AMOLED, 368 ppi
A 5.7”, 2560×1440, AMOLED, 515 ppi
Processor
HiSilicon Kirin 950 with 8 cores (4x Cortex-A53, 1.38 GHz + 4x Cortex-A72 2.3 GHz)
Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 MSM8976 (4x Cortex-A53 1.2 GHz + 4x Cortex-A72 At 1.8 GHz)
Samsung Exynos 7420 8 cores cores (4x Cortex-A53 1.5 GHz + 4x Cortex-A57 2.1 GHz)
Graphics
The Mali-T880 MP4
Adreno 510
The Mali-T760 MP8
Operational memory
3 4 GB
3 GB
4 GB
Permanent memory
32/64 GB, microSD slot
32 GB, microSD slot
32/64 GB, microSD slot
Communication
4G (LTE Cat.6), 3G, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.2, GPS, GLONASS, NFC
4G (LTE Cat.6) , 3G, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.1, GPS, GLONASS, NFC
4G (LTE Cat.9), 3G, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac), Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, GLONASS, NFC
Camera
primary: 16 MP, with auto focus, video recording 1920×1080,
the front is 8 MP
main: 13 MP, with autofocus, video recording 1920 x 1080, front-facing 8 MP
primary: 16 MP, with auto focus, video recording 3840×2160, front — 5 MP
Battery
non-removable 4000 mAh
non-removable 4000 mAh
non-removable, 3000 mAh
Dimensions
157,1×80,6×7,9 mm
161,7×80,9×7,4 mm
154,4×75,8×6.9 mm
Weight
185 g
200 g
153 g
The price at the time of publication
gray supplies — 33 000 rubles
official retail — 55 000 rubles
32 000 rubles
46 000 rubles
Where to buy
Call vertelki:Huawei Mate 83inline
Call vertelki:Samsung Galaxy A93inline
Call vertelki:Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+3inline
Samsung Galaxy A9
The comparison table we have today on the Samsung Samsung and Samsung chases. And all because to compare our hero with 6-inch Sony Xperia Ultra C5 is meaningless — Japanese smartphone is almost 2 times cheaper and is much weaker in all respects. One Max fancy LeTV — model for everybody, and not everyone is a fan of Huawei look in her direction. Remains very much one of the best games that we can recommend is that “gray” Galaxy A9.
Huge phablet made by Samsung looks gorgeous, but structurally simpler than Mate 8 — more voracious CPU with weak graphics, lower-quality rear camera, and considerable weight will be felt. But the display in “a ninth” good endurance, at the expense of the same economical AMOLED, is at a decent level, and performance missing. And prestige don’t forget, ladies and gentlemen, the prestige. Hefty glass-metal Galaxy catches the eye even more than the iPhone 6S Plus, not to mention the strict angular Mate 8, which is easy to take for last year’s “mass consumption” model already.
Samsung Galaxy A9
Call vertelki:Samsung Galaxy A93inline
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
And this model we have included in the table to draw attention to the obscenely high price for Mate 8 in the official retail. Yeah, edge came out last fall, and admittedly, Huawei is noticeably stronger and tougher than last year’s flagship. But “concrete” advantages over Mate — Samsung has a better display, brighter design, better rear camera, better audio, higher liquidity (when selling used) in the end! And with all this Samsung is cheaper by 9 thousand rubles. You do not mind this situation, comrades?
Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
Call vertelki:Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+3inline
Insights
When it comes to smartphones, Huawei decided to put the blame on the Chinese manufacturer’s loyalty to the Russian retail. Say, fellows, hold the prices on the Russian market on par with China, or even lower. In the case of Mate 8 we, unfortunately, see the opposite situation.
Huawei appreciated your phablet 55 thousand rubles was expensive! And fitness bracelet (see owners 6-inch “shovels” on the run in the morning), useless for most buyers, will not save the situation. Because a 5.7-inch device at the same level are at least 10 thousand less a “Chinese” such as Meizu Pro 5, are two times cheaper!
Official and “grey” prices Mate 8 significantly differ among themselves
And the “Makoto” is that in China (and in the “grey” Russian retail) Mate 8 is 33 thousand rubles. For the same amount just a smartphone apart from the competition — record-breaking fast with a good display and high-quality housing. At the same time over 48 thousand on Aliexpress you can buy a variant with 4 GB RAM and 128 GB on the internal storage. In comparison with the official retail you’ll still have 7 thousand rubles, to celebrate the purchase.
But for 55 thousand model will diverge meager circulation. Because with that price tag Mate 8 has no right to be “a little worse than the current flagships” — he must surpass them in all respects, and this is not happening.
So today we will limit ourselves to the verdict in the spirit of “the unknowable: Mate 8 model, which has much more advantages than disadvantages, and, assuming sane prices, we recommend her to purchase to fans of large smartphones. The official retail price of the smartphone too high, and with 55 Grand in your pocket we recommend to switch the attention to other phablets (at least the same Nexus 6P) or wait for the “work on mistakes” in the next Mate.
Huawei Mate 8
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
- Excellent autonomy
- High performance
- High-quality photos on the rear camera during the day
- The lack of sensitivity of the sensor for shooting video at night
- Limited functionality of the rear camera (not supported on 4K video)
- The high price (official retail)