The design and the display:
Huawei Mate 7(or what
Huawei calls MT7-L09 for the 16 GB Version, and MT7-TL10 for the 32 GB) has a
6-inch screen which has required the body to balloon out to 157mm (6.2 inches)
long and 81mm (3.2 inches) wide. It's nigh on impossible to use with only one
hand,.
By using an extremely
narrow bezel around the display, the all-metal body, while being big, is all
being put to use -- there's no wasted space by simply having chunky bezels
around the screen. Indeed, Huawei boasts that 83 percent of the face of the
phone is screen.
As well as silver, the
phone will be available in a dark grey color for the 16 GB model as well as a
light gold for the 32 G model -- thanks partly to its size, but also the matte
metal, the curved back, the lines crossing the back at the top and bottom, the
camera and flash placement and of course the fingerprint scanner sitting
directly below the camera. So not that similar really.
It feels pretty good to
hold -- certainly much nicer than Huawei's slew of plastic budget phones -- and
the metal and narrow bezel help it look like a reasonably high end device. It's
not the most interesting of designs though. You'll find a micro SD card slot on
the side (you'll need a SIM removal tool to access it) which you'll want to use
to expand the 16GB of built-in storage.
Fingerprint sensor:
The fingerprint sensor
on the back of the phone is positioned precisely where your index finger will
naturally rest when you pick the phone up. It's certainly comfortable to use,
although it does mean you need to pick your phone up to unlock it, rather than
jab at the screen when it's lying on your desk.
The sensor is very
accurate and work in 360 Degree which mean that you can unlock the Device from
any angel, and It rarely failed to recognize my own finger – and even if it
does, it might be because of that the sensor might need to be cleaned -so just
wipe the sensor- or (make sure that your hand’s is Clean) --.and it is Very
nimble as will and snappy
Holding your finger over
the sensor will wake your phone from standby and you can even use it to take
photos- but due to the size of that phone --157mm (6.2 inches) long and 81mm
(3.2 inches) wide -- you might face some
problems to use that fingerprint sensor for taking photos – even if you have
Big hands like what I have - while other might feel that that position makes it
very helpful for taking selfies.
Display:
When Huawei initially released
the phone specs I was told that the phone would have a 2560x1600-pixel
resolution, which would make it higher-than-full HD display. Huawei's had a
change of heart since then in the favor for the Battery, as the Mate 7 you'll
find in the shops will have a lesser 1920x1080-pixel display.
While the Mate users
might be happy with the 2560x1600-pixel resolution, but Huawei realized that they
will be much happier with the big battery , as a screen that size would potentially
benefit from the extra pixels. Still, the Mate has a pixel density of 367
pixels per inch, which is higher than that of the IPhone 6 and it does seem
very crisp indeed. Icons have well-defined edges, high-resolution images look
good and text is easy to read. I definitely don't think it's lacking in
definition.
It's bright, almost
painfully so at times and it has strong, vibrant colors that stop just short of
looking unnatural. Viewing angles are excellent, too. Its overall high quality,
coupled with its vast size makes it a great choice for the Netflix addicts
among you.
CAMERA:
The Huawei Ascend Mate has a 13-megapixel camera
main camera with a chunky LED flash.
It’s a pretty good setup that’ll do the job for
day-to-day photography out on the street. You get pretty good levels of detail
in sunlight and even in darker conditions – despite lacking HDR, the Mate 7
manages to hold onto detail fairly well in lower-light conditions.
While there’s clear processing/sharpening going on at pixel level and the edges of the frame get a bit scrappy-looking, you can get great levels of fine detail in the right conditions.
However,
it’s not perfect. We did notice that in tricky higher-light conditions, the
Huawei Ascend Mate 7’s photos can end up looking quite desiderated – almost
monochrome in the worst cases.
While
things like this are common in phone cameras, we’ve come to rely on HDR modes a
bit to patch them up. The Huawei Ascend Mate 7’s is far from the most effective
we’ve seen, though. It’s not the go-to fix-all it is in the best examples.
This phone is a middleweight contender in the phone camera world,
but when the Huawei Ascend Mate 7’s camera is far from its star feature, that’s
not a bad result.
Huawei
has kept the modes on offer fairly simple too. You get Panorama, Beauty mode
(which de-wrinkles your crows’ feet), HDR, burst mode and Watermark. There
aren’t too many crazy processing filters, as you get in Sony’s phones.
It has
a go at the post-focus modes attempted by other phones at present too, and this
gets a spot as one of the main camera modes – right on the front page. However,
as is generally the case with this kind of shooting, you’re much better off
just taking normal photos in the vast majority of cases.
On
the front is a much better-than-average 5-megapixel camera. With good light
you'll get loads of detail in your selfies. However, for low-light indoors shots,
that the camera uses a pretty tiny sensor are very evident – the noise is much
clearer than in a high-grade 2-megapixel selfie cam.
BATTERY LIFE:
The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 has a gigantic 4,100mAh
battery. For some extra context, the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 ‘only’ has a
3,220mAh unit.
As you’d hope from a unit of this size, the Mate
7’s stamina is very good. You don’t need to be terribly careful to get two
days’ use out of the phone, and for a spot of purely anecdotal evidence, the
battery was at around 50 per cent at 11:30pm on one night, which got me through
to about 5:30pm the next day before needing a charge – with some web browsing
in-between too.
It does seem as though Huawei has taken a rather
‘brute force’ approach to the Mate 7’s battery efficiency, probably because the
HiSilicon Kirin 925 isn’t all that power-efficient by itself compared to the
best from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon range
For example, you actually have to specify apps that can run when the screen’s turned off. Everything else will be blocked. This may become a problem for those not intending to take a diploma course in how to use the phone’s settings menu, as it’ll limit what apps will be able to ping you push notifications.
Our standard video test supports this too.
You'll get 12 hours of 720p MP4 video playback off a charge, with the backlight
set to mid-level.
Android software and Huawei interface:
The Mate 7 arrives with
Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat onboard, which is disappointing as that's a couple of
versions out of date (version 4.4.4 is the most up to date version of Android
around). I'm happy to forgive older software on budget mobiles, but on pricier,
higher-end kit, it's far less excusable.
Huawei has changed the
Android interface so much, however, that you probably won't immediately notice
that you're on old software. It's visually very different from regular Android,
mainly due to the fact that there's no app tray. Instead, all your apps and
widgets are held across the multiple home screens.
I'm not keen on this
personally as it's extremely difficult to keep any kind of order --
particularly if you enjoy using a lot of widgets, which will leave you having
to swipe through many screens before finding that one app you need.
You can apply various
themes to the phone, which change everything from the color scheme and
background images to the app icons themselves. It's nice being able to put your
own stamp on things, but there's only six themes installed.
By The Tec Wizard
