The Huawei Ascend Mate is a giant amongst phones with its 6.1” screen. But are things getting out of hand or is this the perfect phablet? Agent Lee gives it a test drive.
Firstly, we should really clear something up once and for all. I’ve been reliably informed by the lovely people at Huawei that it’s pronounced 'wha-way'. We should really get used to saying it properly as this up-and-coming manufacturer is making some serious waves in the UK phone market. In fact, Huawei are currently the third largest manufacturer of smartphones worldwide, with only the mighty Apple and Samsung ahead of them.
This impressive performance is likely to continue with the Ascend Mate, Huawei’s entry into the 'phablet' sector spawned by the original Samsung Galaxy Note. These oversized devices that straddle the line between a phone and a tablet may not be everyone’s cup of tea but they’re growing in popularity with media fans and productivity fanatics alike.
HUAWEI ASCEND MATE SUMMARY
RRP: £329.99.
It may not pack the productivity punch of the Galaxy Note 3 with its SPen, but the Ascend Mate offers the best value of all the plus-sized handsets by some margin.
Pros
- It’s huge – the screen is massive
- Easily customisable
- Excellent value
Cons
- No 4G
- Feels a little underpowered at times
- Emotion UI may not be to everyone’s taste.
See also: Samsung Galaxy Mega, LG G2, Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
design and first impressions
There’s no getting away from it: the first thing you notice about the Ascend Mate is its size. It’s downright massive! It’s not the biggest phone out there but it’s an imposing piece of kit and will no doubt strike terror into the processors of lesser phones. Once you’ve got over the initial shock, it’s a neat-looking device, with a gunmetal frame and no-nonsense matt black finish on the rear. It doesn’t quite have the wow factor of Huawei’s flagship phone the Ascend P6, but the metal frame is stylish and it feels sturdy and well built. The Ascend Mate is also a sealed unit which means the plastic casing doesn’t feel too cheap.
The unibody construction also means that the SIM and memory cards fit in external slots, and what’s refreshing is that the covers for these are relatively chunky and easy to get at. They still sit flush with the side of the phone, but given the size of the Mate, space isn’t such a problem so they’ve sensibly scaled things up a bit. This also means no fiddly pinholes or little pointy things to go missing which makes a nice change.
Obviously the large size does make it a little awkward at times, and you do perhaps look a little silly holding one up to your ear. However, I think this is one of those situations where it’s socially acceptable to use a Bluetooth headset as it really is a more practical way to use a phone this size.
hardware
Spec sheet
- CPU : Cortex A9 dual Core 1.5 GHz
- RAM: 2 GB
- Internal Storage: 8 GB
- microSD: yes
- Battery: 4050 mAh
Connectivity
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- GPS
- 3G.
processor & memory
The Ascend Mate is a big phone with a big screen, and has a suitably substantial processor to power everything. Admittedly, the 1.5GHz Cortex A9 quad-core processor at the heart of things doesn’t quite match up to the lightning-fast Snapdragon 800 found in some of the Mate’s competitors, but they also cost a lot more. Realistically it’s about the best you could expect considering the Mate comes in around the £300 mark. To put it into perspective, it’s over £100 cheaper than both the Samsung Galaxy Mega and Note II. In general use it can be a bit slow switching between home screens, but it's generally well behaved when using a single app such as playing a game or watching a video.
The 8GB on-board storage may seem a little on the stingy side but memory cards aren’t particularly expensive these days and you’d most likely want to invest in one. The Ascend Mate could actually be your best mate on a long flight or train journey and the last thing you want to do is run out of stuff to watch!
The competitive pricing does mean we miss out on a few of the more up-to-date features, so there’s no NFC and notably no 4G either. This is a bit of a pity as large-screen phones like the Mate are ideally suited to making the most of a high-speed connection. However, all things considered it’s an acceptable compromise, and as long as you don’t mind relying on a Wi-Fi connection for streaming it’s not really a dealbreaker. Failing that, there’s always a good old-fashioned USB cable!
screen
Resolution: 720 x 1280 Size:6.1 inches Display type: IPS+ LCD ppi 241.
The Ascend Mate is, naturally, all about the screen and you do get plenty of it for your money! Admittedly, it’s not the best screen out there, as that honour still firmly belongs to the LG G2 in my opinion, but it’s still good. The pixel count may seem a little low if you’re a fan of those kinds of numbers, but in reality all it means is that you may see a bit of pixellation when scrutinising fine text. Its probably couldn’t have gone much lower but it’s still as good as it needs to be, which makes it plenty good enough. You also have the option to adjust the colour temperature which is extremely useful. Awarm setting works best for movie playback but a colder setting might be better if you want to optimise the contrast levels for reading.
In fairness, that wouldn’t be my primary concern with the Ascend Mate. I’m more interested in how that big screen handles video and thankfully it doesn’t disappoint. Again there’s no 'wow' factor, but video playback is smooth and detailed and I’d happily watch a movie on the handset. It’s also great for gaming as on smaller screens you find your thumbs covering up a large portion of the screen, which certainly isn't a problem with the Ascend Mate!
camera
Rear: 8 MP, 1080p@30fps
Front: 1 MP, 720p@30fps
Camera performance is a mixed bag. This is partly down to the size of the phone, as it’s a bit too awkward to use effectively as a camera. It gives acceptable results provided the lighting is adequate and there are some features to play around with, but whilst Panorama and Group Mode will definitely come in handy, there are some odd options for distorting faces which seem a little bit dated. There’s also the intriguing 'Beauty' mode which applies a soft focus filter, although this seemed to have little effect on the majority of the Geek Squad agents! Video recording is of a similar standard: OK but nothing spectacular. You’ll still get full HD recording at 30fps though, which is perfectly acceptable. It is, however, difficult to keep things steady given the unwieldy size of the Mate.
The front camera is a respectable 1 MP which will capture video at 720p, so it’s great for video calls. However, it's worth investing in a stand of some kind if you’re planning on using this function a lot.
battery life
The Ascend Mate has a suitably hefty battery to power that big screen. At 4050 mAh, it’s significantly larger than you’d find in both the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and the Sony Xperia Z Ultra. This should translate into excellent battery life, especially given that the Ascend Mate has fewer pixels to power than its main rivals. I left it running an HD video for 1 hour which knocked it down to 92% from a full charge, so I’d estimate you could get about 12 hours' video playback, which is excellent for such a large screen.
There’s also some handy power management settings tucked away in the Settings. You can choose pre-set power plans and there’s a very useful 'Save Power' button which will instantly shut down any apps running in the background. There’s also a Startup Manager that allows you to choose which apps open when you turn the phone on.
software
I’m personally a fan of Huawei’s Emotion UI but it does admittedly divide opinion, especially amongst Android purists. Instead of having a separate apps drawer you’ll find everything on your home screens, apps and widgets alike. I personally see this as a welcome halfway house between the simplicity of iOS and the customisability of traditional Android. I definitely think it simplifies matters as there’s one less screen to worry about, but if you have a lot of apps it might take a bit more managing. On the whole it’s a very friendly version of Android, and this is enhanced by the customisation options the Ascend Mate offers.
The Ascend Mate has a variety of pre-set themes to choose from ranging from fluffy and flowery to sensible and business-like, and you can select some fancy transition effects when switching between screens. This does have a bit of a downside as some themes were noticeably laggier than others, however this all comes down to your priorities. Now I’ll confess to being a bit of a nit-picker, as are most of the Agents here at Geek Squad. That means we’ll invariably pick up on these little things like the screen responding a tad slower. However, the important thing is that it doesn’t really impact the performance of individual apps, and if you like the ability to personalise your phone then arguably a couple of milliseconds of lag isn’t really a huge issue. If performance is your top priority then I found the Grayscale Space theme to give the snappiest response, and as an added bonus it also looks rather stylish.
There are plenty of pre-loaded apps, but thankfully most of them are utilities that offer additional functionality rather than Huawei replicating things that Android already does. The Backup app, for example, does little more than allow you to instantly backup your phone to your SD card, but that’s an incredibly useful feature to have.
huawei ascend mate: agent verdict
I have to admit I’m personally a little puzzled by the 'phablet' phenomenon, but for those that use them they have become an indispensable part of everyday life. If you're looking to move up to a bigger screen, the Ascend Mate is a very attractive option. It’s keenly priced and scores favourably in the usability stakes too. It’s a little unfair to compare it to the Galaxy Note family as the SPen really does set them apart. If productivity is your main priority then it’s hard to ignore the additional functionality that the SPen offers.
Out-and-out productivity isn’t the only reason you’d want a large screen though. They’re also great if you work with a lot of images or watch a lot of movies on the move. What the Huawei Ascend Mate offers is an excellent value big-screen phone with some incredibly thoughtful features. It may not be quite as slick as the Sony or HTC equivalents but there is a certain charm and quirkiness about the Mate that’s incredibly appealing. Yes, a 4G option would have been nice but you can’t really grumble about that too much. When you factor in the cost differences, the Mate is a very desirable phone. It may not do everything, but it does many things extremely well and at a budget-friendly price.
Personally, I think the Mate is just too big, but then I feel the same way about all 'phablets'. And whilst they’re perhaps not my thing, the success of the original Galaxy Note proved that there’s a demand for these devices. I am, however, a big fan of Huawei. I really like the phones its making and I applaud it for offering something a little different on the user interface front. The Emotion UI may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s nice to see a warmer, fuzzier take on Android. So, although you may not be too familiar with the name Huawei, it’s definitely time to take notice. More importantly, if the Huawei Ascend Mate has taken your fancy then you now know how to pronounce it!
ALTERNATIVES TO THE ASCEND MATE
Samsung Galaxy Mega– more expensive but better specs and a bigger screen. I really don’t think it looks as nice though....
LG G2– has arguably the best screen of any phone currently available, probably as big as you can go and still call it a phone.
Samsung Galaxy Note 3– the SPen really does add a whole new dimension in functionality.
So what do you think about the Huawei Ascend Mate? You can leave us a comment below.