Huawei Mate S: Good as gold

Chinese droid: The Mate S runs on Huaweis EMUI Android skin which offers customisable themes, motion and gesture controls as well as additional apps which could not be found on stock Android.

It doesn’t take the best hardware to make a great phone.

Huawei’s latest flagship smartphone, the Mate S, doesn’t have the flashiest hardware but a lot of thought has been put into its design.

The 5.5in phone, which weighs only 156g, is perfectly balanced and feels just right in the hand. Our review unit is the Prestige Gold version which looks stunning. The phone is also available in Rose Gold.

Unlike other flagship models on the ­market, it doesn’t boast a QHD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) screen as Huawei has gone for a full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) display.

It’s not really a bad thing as most users won’t be able to tell the difference, and the lower resolution screen isn’t as power hungry.

When it comes to flagship smartphones, just about every company seems to be stuck on making faster fingerprint sensors.

Huawei's rear fingerprint sensor is well-positioned under the camera lens as one can swiftly unlock the phone with just one finger touch.

The one on the Mate S is very fast, taking only mere moments to unlock the device. In fact, the phone will wake up from standby mode as soon as you place your finger on the Homescreen, saving you from actually ­having to press the button.

The location is also ideal – as the ­fingerprint sensor is under the lens, you can easily unlock the phone without ­having to change your grip.

Huawei claims the self-learning sensor will become more accurate over time but it wasn’t possible for us to test.

There are also handy gesture controls that require the use of your knuckle. For instance, a double knuckle knock on the screen captures a screenshot while drawing a square or rectangular shape on the screen will crop the image.

Sharp shooter

The Mate S has a 13-megapixel rear camera which may not sound as grand as other flagship smartphones which feature cameras with 16 or higher megapixels.

But this didn’t hold back the Mate S in terms of performance, as it delivered sharp photos with good detail and accurate colour.

Taking screenshots and cropping photos can easily be done by using your knuckle.

As expected there are plenty of modes such as HDR, Panorama, Best Photo and All-focus for users to tweak their shots.

The optical image stabilisation was good as most of the time we managed to get shake-free photos even when we were ­moving.

The 8-megapixel front-facing camera ­features a beauty mode – sadly, there is only one but you can adjust the strength of the effect.

Mighty Mate

The smartphone runs on Huawei’s in-house chip, the HiSilicon Kirin 935 ­octa-core processor, which had no problems handling apps or games.

We didn’t encounter any performance issues with games such as Asphalt 8: Airborne, This War Of Mine, Hearthstone and Kingdom Rush: Origins.

However, the phone heated up after ­gaming for about 10 to 15 minutes but not to the point that it’s unbearable.

The Mate S comes with 64GB storage, with about 51.5GB available to the user. The ­spacious storage should satisfy most users and anyone looking to install large games and snap lots of photos.

Sadly, the model with 128GB of storage has yet to make it here. This model is very ­special as it’s the only Mate S to feature a pressure-sensitive display called Force Touch.

Huawei says Force Touch will allow users to easily access more functions as it is able to distinguish long and short presses (just like the iPhone 6S).

The Mate S runs on Huawei’s custom EMUI user interface and, sadly, it lacks an App Drawer. This means any app that you install on the phone will appear on the Homescreen. It’s not a biggie but does make organising your apps a little bit harder.

There are themes to spice up the look of the UI but we found them to be a little dated and lacking in variety.

As the Mate S is expected to get the Android 6.0 (Marshmallow) update, we are hoping that the themes will also get a big facelift.

When used mainly for social media and occasional gaming sessions, the battery charge lasted about nine to 10 hours easily.

The thin frame and light weight make the Mate S one of the nicest phones to hold.

 

Conclusion

The Huawei Mate S may not have the best hardware but that hasn’t stopped it from being one of the best smartphones.

We like the design, camera, the responsive ­fingerprint sensor and long battery life. If you are looking for a sleek and functional smartphone, don’t give the Mate S a miss.

Pros: Excellent design; responsive fingerprint sensor; long battery life; good camera; handy motion gestures.
Cons: Pricey; heats up. 

Mate S (Huawei)
Android smartphone
Operating system: Android 5.1.1 Lollipop
with EMUI 3.1
Processor: HiSilicon Kirin 935 (quad core 2.2GHz + quad core 1.5GHz)
Network: 4G LTE
Camera: 13-megapixel rear camera with OIS, 8-megapixel front-facing camera
Display: 5.5in Amoled full HD (1,920 x 1,080 pixels), 401ppi
Memory: 3GB RAM, 64GB internal storage (expandable up to 128GB)
Connectivity: Bluetooth 4.0, USB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Size (W x D x H): 149.8 x 75.3 x 7.2mm
Battery: 2,700mAh (non-removable)
Weight: 156g
Price: RM2,698 (inclusive of GST)
Rating: Four stars
Review unit courtesy of Huawei Technologies Malaysia, 1800-22-3366