Huawei has unveiled two new tablets sporting the company’s PaperMatte anti-glare display technology, which the company says can offer a more comfortable viewing experience.
The new Huawei MatePad 11 PaperMatte Edition and Huawei 11.5 PaperMatte Edition tablets both have full-color LCD displays, so we’re not talking about ePaper here. But the screens use Huawei’s “nano-level anti-glare etching technology” to reduce glare.
Most other tablets with color displays can be difficult to view in direct sunlight without cranking the screen brightness all the way up, which can take a toll on battery life. But Huawei says the PaperMatte anti-glare screen reduces reflectivity in direct sunlight or under bright lights without turning up the brightness.
All of which is to say that these screens don’t get as bright as some others, so if you really want a super-bright display, Huawei suggests you look into a different tablet.
Another way the company tries to make these tablets more paper-like is inclusion of support for a 2nd-gen Huawei M-Pencil with support for up to 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. You can use the stylus to write or draw on the screen, and the tablets offer haptic effects that Huawei describes as “unique micro-vibration and damping” that are supposed to make writing on the MatePad PaperMatte Edition tablets feel a little more like putting pen to paper.
In case the names didn’t give it away, there are some differences between the two tablets, starting with the screen sizes alluded to in the Huawei MatePad 11 PaperMatte Edition and MatePad 11.5 PaperMatte Edition names. But there are also some other significant differences:
| MatePad 11 PaperMatte | MatePad 11.5 PaperMatte | |
| Display | 11 inches 2560 x 1600 pixels 275 ppi 120 Hz IPS LCD PaperMatte anti-glare 16.7 million colors P3 color gamut | 11.5 inches 2200 x 1440 pixels 229 ppi 120 Hz IPS LCD PaperMatte anti-glare 16.7 million colors 100% sRGB color gamut |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 1 x Cortex-A77 @ 3.2 GHz 3 x Cortex-A77 @ 2.42 GHz 4 x Cortex-A55 @ 1.8 GHz Adreno 650 graphics | Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 1 x Cortex-A710 @ 2.4 GHz 3 x Cortex-A710 @ 2.36 Ghz 4 x Cortex-A510 @ 1.8 GHz Adreno 644 graphics |
| RAM | 8GB | |
| Storage | 128GB | 256GB |
| OS | HarmonyOS 3.1 | |
| Rear camera | 13MP (4K video) f/1.8 aperture Auto-focus | |
| Front camera | 8MP (1080p video) f/2.0 aperture Fixed-focus | 8MP (1080p video) f/2.2 aperture Fixed-focus |
| Battery | 7,250 mAh | 7,700 mAh |
| Charging | 10V/2.25A | |
| Wireless | WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.1 | WiFi 6 Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Ports | USB 2.0 Type-C | |
| Audio | 4 x speakers 2 x microphones | |
| Accessories | M-Pencil (2nd-gen) included Charger Detachable keyboard (sold separately) | Charger M-Pencil (sold separately) Detachable keyboard (sold separately) |
| Dimensions | 253.7 x 165.3 x 7.2mm | 260.9 x 176.8 x 6.9mm |
| Weight | 480 grams | 499 grams |
I haven’t seen any official word on global pricing or availability yet, but Huawei launched a similar model in China earlier this year. It has an 11 inch “paper-like” display and a Snapdragon 865 processor and sells for about $320 in that country.
These new tablets will likely cost a little more if and when they go on sale in Europe and other markets. I wouldn’t expect them to become widely available in the US anytime soon.
USB 2.0 Type-C? WTF..
Who will buy a tablet without a system?
Simple solution is mainline Linux
I did. Linux isn’t for the masses. And based from my experience in Huawei communities, normies are too helpless without the handholding that Apple and Google does to them. How do you expect those easily angered at the thought of installing Gbox or Gspace, so they can keep using their GMs-dependent applications, to even use Linux?
Gmail, google maps, play store, YouTube, are just a few apps that don’t run on this alien operating system. Do you really want that? Count me out!
No one’s forcing you to buy it. I got the non Matte edition and I can also run those NSA-approved apps you’re complaining about thru gbox or gspace or lighthouse or gms sideload. I prefer them to make an alien os than be forever at the mercy of sanction loving Americans.
Harmony os operating system is the deal killer here.
Huawei claims they were able to make this Operating System from the ground up, without copying anyone, and in record-time. They also say it is superior to iOS and AndroidOS.
Huawei is backed by the Chinese government and military, they would NEVER lie or exaggerate.
Well, if you dig deep enough you’ll realise it’s just AndroidOS (AOSP) with their usual EMUI Skin on top. They’ve even got Android v12 on there, despite the fact that they were supposed to stop at Android v9. So much for that trust factor there.
I personally think they should have thrown USD $2 Billion dollars at the problem. Then gathered as much code from Linux Distributions (Debian, SUSE, Arch, etc etc) and make something of a Mainstream Linux OS, like we saw JingLing tried to accomplish a while ago with JingOS and the JingTab. They did remarkable in my honest opinion, so imagine if you cranked that upto 11 with the resources that Huawei has/had at its disposal.
Maybe they were referring to Harmony OS Next, the one that doesn’t have apk support. I’d rather see them push thru it than be forever indebted to americans.
what kind of battery life does it get again?
Just a personal preference of mine, but I prefer a glossy screen surface for anything with a pixel density of 200ppi or higher (that’s 2560×1600 @ 15″).
Matte screen surfaces result in high resolutions looking more blurry.
@Grant Russell said: “Matte screen surfaces result in high resolutions looking more blurry.”
You must live in an unlit cave. Shiny screens are glare magnets in any reasonably well-lit environment – and forget ever using them outdoors!
I use tablets at least 95% indoors. I’d rather suffer the glare in that small use, than give up the sharpness of the screen in majority of my use.
Matte anti-reflective coatings for displays have existed long before tablets appeared on the market. If there wasn’t a big compromise, we would have seen these on the market long ago.
Huawei Matepad, brought to you by the fine folks at the People’s Liberation Army.