While it often seems like tablet makers are in a race to the bottom these days, Huawei isn’t willing to cede the high-end Android tablet space to Samsung.
The Chinese device maker has unveiled three new Android tablets at Mobile World Congress: the Huawei MediaPad M5 (8.4), the Huawei MediaPad M5 (10.8), and the Huawei MediaPad M5 10 Pro.
All three tablets feature 2560 x 1600 pixel IPS displays, Kirin 960 processors, and 4GB of RAM.
As the names suggest, the tablets come in two different sizes. There’s a version with an 8.4 inch display that weighs about 11 ounces, and there are larger models with 10.8 inch displays that weigh about 1.1 pounds. They all measure about 7.3mm (0.3 inches) thick).
The only real differences between the M5 (10.8) and the M5 10 Pro are that the Pro model comes with a pen, supports an optional keyboard cover accessory, and features at least 64GB of storage. Entry-level non-Pro models come with 32GB of storage.
Huawei says each model can support up to 128GB of built-in storage and each also has a microSD card slot for up to 256GB of removable storage.
The larger tablets have 7,5000 mAh for up to 10 hours of estimated battery life, while the 8.4 inch model has a 5,100 mAh battery for up to 11 hours of run time.
Other features common across all models include USB Type-C ports, 3.5mm audio jacks, 13MP rear and 8MP front cameras, quad speakers with Harman Kardon tuned audio, and Android Oreo software with Huawei’s EMUI 8.0 user interface.
The Huawei MediaPad M5 Pro will be available soon for 499 Euros and up, while the MediaPad M5 (8.4) model will sell for 349 Euros and up and the MediaPad M5 (10.8) will sell for 399 Euros and up.
via @HuweiMobile, AnandTech, and xda-developers
Huawei is for many slaps. The 8” still does not have a flash at the camera, it does not have a earpiece, and is not dual sim. Then they wonder why sales are falling. At the time of the X2 huawei was fantastic. Ofcourse they are doing it in purpose not to cannibalize their smart phone market. We are many that need at a 8” tablet all those features.
What is an earpiece on a tablet, or probably more precisely, what would you use it for?
To bring peace to the middle ear
I think he’s talking about the fact that there’s no headphone jack, only a usb~c audio cable provided with it. Still, don’t get why he would really need a camera flash on a tablet. Most people hardly use the camera on any tablet and if they need one, that’s what their smartphone is for.
He’s talking about ear speaker for sure. I understand, i was using a galaxy tab s2 8 as a phone until i replaced it by a 2 screen phone axon M. i would love to have a media pad 8,4 as my phone but i don’t think there is a lot of people like me and him.
It is not to canibalize their market, there is no market.
I keep wanting to like these, but then i see the price and no LTE and I am like nope..
There are LTE versions and judging from the history of Huawei pricing, the US price will be even less than simply replacing the Euro sign with a Dollar sign.
I think the reason for the race to the bottom is that for many users the bottom is all they need. I have a 10″ Amazon tablet which I use pretty much exclusively for reading digital magazines (the larger screen is needed for that) and for streaming from my Tivo. I don’t even use it to read digital books, because I prefer a smaller device for that. The 10″ is more than adequate for those tasks, and I suspect the same is true for many home users. Business users may be another story, but that’s probably a fairly limited market.
The article’s wording doesn’t make it clear whether the 8″ doesn’t support pen input at all, or just doesn’t pack in a pen. Frustrating…