Smartphones have gotten definitely better in the past few years, and we’ve seen a bunch of particularly impressive devices this 2017—from the return of the once mighty Nokia and Motorola (now Moto); and Samsung, which is seeking some retribution; to Oppo, which has asserted its dominance in the midrange and selfie market (not to mention having the most searched phones on Google Philippines); and Vivo proving to be a notable challenger. Android users now have a lot of excellent choices.
On the iOS end, Apple’s offerings this year might have received a lot of criticism for its incremental upgrades (and update issues) but there is no denying that the iPhone X remains the most desired phone of the holiday season.
The benefits of having all these great phones available are obvious—there’s never been a better time to be in the market for new phones. Of course, that also means that making a decision on which device to get also becomes harder than ever.
But I must say that the brand that’s really made an impact this year has to be Huawei. They’ve outdone themselves again with this year’s releases—from the entry level G3, GR5 2017, their midrange powerhouse Nova 2i (the Pinoys’ most-searched Android phone on Google), to their flagship P10/P10 Plus and, most recently, the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro.
From having a flagship contender in the Mate 8, to becoming a flagship alternative in the Mate 9, the Huawei Mate 10 has now become the flagship of choice for a lot of Android users who truly know what they want.
Combining an utterly gorgeous design, one of the best smartphone cameras and solid battery life, the Mate 10 is a fantastic phone—at a price tag that will make you smile from ear to ear.
The Mate 10’s design language is consistent with its predecessor but with quite a lot of improvements that make it look and feel even more premium. The front features a FullView almost bezel-less display; the 8-megapixel (MP) f/2.0 front camera and the call speaker, and the fingerprint scanner, which can also double as the navigation bar.
Like with the P10 plus and Mate 9, you can configure that fingerprint scanner to function as the navigation dock so you just need to tap to go back, hold to return to the home screen and swipe to switch between apps. The left side houses a hybrid SIM tray (two nanoSIMs with the second SIM doubling as a microSD card tray), while the right side has the volume and power/lock buttons.
On top you can find the 3.5mm audio port on the Mate 10, and an IR blaster, which has become a rare but still welcome feature in many phones these days. At the bottom of the device, there’s the main microphone, loudspeaker grille and a USB Type-C charging and data port. Turn it over, and it looks even better.
I must admit I wasn’t much of a fan of the band or stripe when I first saw the initial photos, but when you see the Mate 10 physically, it actually looks really nice and that’s why I’m looking for a case that doesn’t cover it. I prefer the TPU case that comes with the phone now, unlike the one that came with the P10. Also at the back are the 12-MP + 20-MP dual Leica optic rear cameras and their accompanying Dual Tone LED flash.
As far as looks go, let’s just say that if last year’s Mate 9 was a headturner, this year’s Mate 10 is a beauty queen and the stripe is its sash. Powering the Mate 10 is Huawei’s proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 970, which is composed of a quad ARM Cortex A53 1.8GHz and another quad ARM Cortex A73 running at a top speed of 2.36GHz. This is coupled with a Mali G72MP12 GPU and an i7 coprocessor. The Kirin 970 performs as promised, UI is buttery smooth and very responsive, apps and games load very fast and there is barely any noticeable slowdown during the past few weeks that I’ve been using it.
DISPLAY AND CAMERA
THE Huawei Mate 10 has a 5.9-inch IPS LCD panel with a 2K resolution, or 2560×1440 pixels and a pixel density of 499ppi, so photos and videos look really sharp and crisp. The resolution is initially set to FHD (1920×1080 pixels) by default, so you have to go to the display settings to set it to QHD (2560×1440 pixels) manually. You can even lower it down to HD (720p) to help conserve battery life though I prefer to leave it on “Smart Resolution.”
The Mate 10 retains the older 16:9 aspect ratio as compared to the 18:9 of the Mate 10 Pro. Its not much of a big deal because of its 81.6-percent screen-to-body ratio, which qualifies it as a FullView Display.
As far as sound quality, the Mate 10 receives praise for producing top-notch audio quality that is quite loud and doesn’t distort even when you set it to maximum volume.
Now, for my favorite feature of the Mate 10—the camera.
Okay, the P10 Plus was already good, but the Mate 10 is even better. Using fourth-generation Leica optics, the dual camera setup features a 12-MP RGB sensor with a f/1.6 aperture and optical image stabilization, and a 20-MP monochrome sensor the same f/1.6 aperture and image stabilization. Both are Summilux-class lenses and if you are familiar with Leica, you know that its one of their best ones. The two cameras work together to produce one single, high-quality image of the subject, while the f/1.6 aperture opening allows it to produce great photos even in low-light situations.
I’ve seen several camera comparisons with the Note 8 and I also have an iPhone X, but I honestly prefer the photos of the Mate 10, especially when taking portraits or selfies.
True story: Whenever I ask someone for a selfie (even celebrities), they all have the same question—“Wow! What camera are you using?”
Videos are also much improved and the Mate 10 can record up to 4K at 30fps or Full HD in either 30fps or 60fps. You can also shoot FHD (16:9 120fps) slowmo videos and HD time-lapse.
Selfie cameras may have reached double-digit megapixels, but the Mate 10’s 8-MP (f/2.0 aperture) easily beats them in the selfie battle. It even has a perfect selfie option that guarantees that you’d look good in every shot.
One tip though: If you are taking a “wefie’ or “groufie,” its best to disable “artistic bokeh” so as not to blur other people’s faces. But what truly makes the Mate 10 camera stand out is how it incorporates Huawei’s Mobile AI in the native camera app that makes it truly an “intelligent machine.”
With its AI Real Time Scene and Object Recognition feature, the Mate 10 can instantly recognize the subject and automatically adjusts the settings to make your photos look even better. This is due to the Mate 10’s Kirin 970 CPU, which carries a dedicated neural processing unit to manage these AI-based tasks.
The Mate 10 can recognize up to 13 scenes now, including portrait, landscape, low-light, flower/plant, sunset, snow, cat, dog and text.
What the AI does is it determines and sets the right ISO, exposure compensation and white balance depending on your subject.
Huawei says the AI-powered model will even evolve over time so that it recognizes more scenes and learns to identify more objects.
In one presentation I saw, Huawei said it could soon show you how much calories a fruit or dish has just by pointing the camera at it.
Another use of the AI is in translating different languages. All you have to do is take a photo of the text and the Mate 10 will translate it to your desired language. It also works for voice and you can even start a conversation with several people at the same time. Download your desired language pack and you won’t even need an Internet connection. Perfect if you are traveling abroad or are meeting people who speak a different language.
The Mate 10 is one of the first to get the latest Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box—giving it an advantage over most other flagships this year. Huawei’s latest EMUI 8.0 likewise debuts on the Mate 10 and I actually prefer it over stock Android. Unlike other overlays, EMUI remains almost bloatware-free except for a few native apps like Compass, Huawei Health, HiCare (after-sales support), Smart Controller (that turns your Mate 10 into a remote control) and a Phone Clone app that can help when transferring your personal information and files from an old phone.
As I mentioned earlier, the Mate 10 uses a hybrid dual nanoSIM setup with the second SIM able to support a microSD card, as well. Both SIM slots are 4G LTE capable.
Call quality on a Huawei phone has always been excellent and the Mate 10 further utilizes an AI-advanced ambient noise cancellation, plus two primary mics to pick up better audio along with a third mic up top for noise-canceling, resulting in better audio quality during voice recordings.
As for SMS, one of my favorite features of a Huawei phone is “Cancel Send,” this allows you to double touch the message bubble within a few seconds to cancel sending. So unless you are really, really careless, at least you can stop the message from being sent to the wrong recipient.
Lastly, the Mate series has always been known for its battery life and the Mate 10 has a huge, 4,000 mAh Li-Ion battery with SuperCharge capability. It can easily last you an entire day on heavy usage and because of SuperCharge, it only takes an hour and a half to fully charge it again.
Final word: When Samsung fumbled with the Note 7, it left a phablet-sized hole. Unfortunately, the Mate 9 wasn’t quite the replacement everybody was looking for. This year it’s the turn of the Huawei Mate 10 to challenge the Note 8, and it’s a totally different game. The Mate 10 is more than a capable flagship device that packs just about everything you are looking for. With one of the best cameras in the market, much-improved screen, long-lasting battery, a sleek elegant look, and a price tag that is almost P10k less than the Note 8, you really can’t go wrong with the Mate 10. And if you are looking for dust- and water-resistant protection, there’s always the Mate 10 Pro (which also has a higher RAM and bigger storage).