Huawei Mate 10 Pro
Huawei has established a trend of releasing standard and 'pro' versions of its flagship Mate handsets, and the latest models continue that trend. In fact, there are three versions of the Huawei Mate 10. In addition to the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, there's an even more expensive Porsche Design version too.
The Mate 10 Pro Is bursting with top-end features, including Android 8 (Oreo), the Kirin 970 processor with integrated AI (which affects many aspects of the phone, including photography and energy efficiency), a Leica-branded dual-lens rear camera and dual 4G LTE SIM support.
Its Mate series has always had practically zero side bezels so although some will think that Huawei is just copying the big boys with the Mate 10, it’s actually the other way around.
The last few Mates have all looked pretty much the same, but Huawei has shaken things up for 2017 and it's no overstatement to say this is one of the best-looking phones around. It's also one of the most powerful and longest-lasting, attributes which should ensure its place on your upgrade shortlist alongside the Galaxy S8, Note 8 and - maybe - iPhone 8 Plus.
Huawei has, for the last few years anyway, designed nice phones. None of them have been anything particularly original, normally just a typical slab of aluminium, but they’re well built and functional.
The Mate 10 Pro is the first Huawei phone that actually makes me think the company’s really started to care about design. A lot of that stems from the overall shift in how phones look this year, but it could just have easily done what Sony is doing and kept everything the same regardless.
Like the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG V30 and iPhone X, the Huawei Mate 10 is going for that ‘bezel-less’ look, slimming down the area around the display and stretching the screen out to the corners. It not only makes the phone instantly look a whole lot more modern, but it gives you more screen in a smaller body.
we do wish, though, that Huawei had ditched the front logo. I’d also rather it’d stuck with a plain black front, rather than colour-matching the front and rear. Due to the new 18:9 aspect ratio that comes with these longer screens, you’ll get black-bars around video when it’s not properly optimised. This is fine if the rest of the front is black, but it looks weird when they’re brown (like the unit I’m using) or white.
Huawei has also switched from a metal body to glass, using aluminium just for the rim and to add a bit of extra durability. I do think that glass generally looks better, but it’s almost guaranteed to smash if you drop it, and boy does this thing pick up fingerprints. It also seems odd that Huawei hasn’t added in a Qi coil to enable wireless charging, which is something I’ve come to expect from high-end metal-backed phones.
A fingerprint sensor sits in the middle on the back, and there’s a new stripe that runs across the dual cameras. This stripe has a contrasting colour to the rest of the phone and is similar to the shade on the Pixel 2.
The Mate 10 Pro is the first in the series to be water-resistant, packing the same IP67 rating as the iPhone 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL. A side effect of this, though, is that the headphone jack has been ditched. Huawei says you’ll get a pair of USB-C headphone in the box, and it tried to pass the removal as a boon for those who adore proper audio. But, I still love the jack and would prefer it was here.
The front of the phone is seriously screen-heavy, offering a 6-inch display experience while maintaining a smaller footprint than the 5.5-inch iPhone 8 Plus.
Its 80.9% screen-to-bezel ratio also impresses compared to the classical iPhone 8 and 8 Plus design, though isn’t quite as light on bezels as the iPhone X. Like the iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30 though, the screen’s aspect ratio is ultra-wide with an 18:9 aspect ratio. OLED technology with some added HDR10 support combine to gives the Mate 10 Pro’s display ample punch and pop - more than the comparatively muted Google Pixel 2 XL.
At full HD resolution though, it doesn’t have the clarity to compete with the likes of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Galaxy Note 8 and S8 series, nor is it quite as breathtaking with regards to color reproduction as the latter two.
Despite this though, it still fares better than the Google Pixel 2 and LG V30 when it comes to color integrity and viewing angles, positioning it firmly in the middle of the premium smartphone screen hierarchy. Loaded up with a screen-protector pre-fitted, as well as a soft plastic case in the box, it’s also reassuring that you won’t have to make any additional investments to keep your pricey new smartphone protected from all sides.
Even without a case and screen protector though, the Mate 10 Pro is a sturdy contender thanks to Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides and IP67 water and dust resistance. The glass back has a slight curve across both axis, softening the feel somewhat. It also seamlessly transitions into the high-gloss metal sides and produces a sufficiently easy to grip shape and texture combination.
The lenses may have f/1.6 apertures, but the cameras are not the Mate 10 Pro’s strong suit. At least, certainly not when compared to the amazing snappers on the Pixel 2 XL.
Put simply, the Mate 10 Pro cannot resolve the same level of detail. When you look close up, photos don’t look sharp and there’s evidence of noise reduction, even in good light. This makes textures looks a bit smeary, and it’s worse in low light.
The camera benefits from AI too. The main rear camera system comprises Leica-branded 20-megapixel monochrome and 12-megapixel RGB sensors, both with f/1.6 lenses. The front camera is an 8MP f/2.0 unit.
The rear cameras can identify some objects, and make automated adjustments to setting for better-quality shots. This 'scenario identification' worked well, spotting food, text, plants and my cat with ease. If you don't like what the AI does, a sweep up from the 'shoot' button invokes Pro mode, where manual settings can be made. There are plenty of shooting modes accessible by sweeping left.
The big upgrade for the Mate 10 Pro is the aperture, which has been widened to f/1.6 on both cameras. This again is great for letting in more light to the sensor, hopefully improving low-light shots. There’s an 8-megapixel camera on the front too, which also benefits from portrait modes.
The Kirin 970 is an eight-core CPU with a 12-core GPU, plus a dedicated ‘Neural processing unit’ that’s there to power the AI.
There’s no doubt this will be a powerful chip, but I think Huawei might struggle to get across just what this AI does. Instead of having an outward personality or a visual key to what it’s doing, it basically just alters how certain things work.
In the camera, for example, it can read your surroundings before you take a picture and switch modes. If you’re taking a photo of a flower or plant, it’ll know the difference and switch to the right settings. It worked fine during my short time with the phone, but I’ll need to try it in more testing conditions to know for sure.
Paired with the Kirin 970 is 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, but no microSD slot. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is one of the first phones to be Cat 18 enabled, meaning it’ll work with 1.2Gbps networks whenever those might start to arrive. This is the sort of future-proof tech I expect to see on the Mate line. Even though it’ll be of no use to 99% of people.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro OS
EMUI is one of the most iOS-like Android interfaces out there and this makes it ideal if you're jumping ship from an iPhone. The default layout is to show all apps in a grid, but you can change this for the traditional app drawer in the settings. From the home screen you can drag down to get a search bar to find apps, music or other media. The previous version was EMUI 6, but in order to match Android, this has now been bumped up to EMUI 8.0 for the Mate 10. You won’t notice too many major changes, since these are generally lurking behind the scenes.
EMUI 8 is great to use, although it does take a bit of adjusting if you’re used to plain Android. What’s nice is that you have a choice of whether to use the usual Android soft navigation keys or EMUI’s floating button.
You’ll have to learn the gestures for the button, but because you can position it anywhere on the screen, it could be a quicker way to operate the phone with one hand. Disabled by default is the always-on display. This shows the time, date and notifications just like the Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy S8. You can schedule this, too, so it doesn't use power at night.
Like Motorola, Huawei adds quite a few handy features to Android, such as double-pressing the power button to launch the camera when the phone is off, and letting you quickly call someone by holding the volume down button and speaking their name. Thanks to the wider screen, the Mate 10 Pro has a feature called Smart Split-screen. This automatically displays some apps in two columns in landscape mode and means you can keep watching a video while replying to an email, for example.
And as with previous versions, you can use your knuckle to knock on the screen to achieve certain things. For example, a double knock takes a screenshot and you can draw letters with your knuckle to launch certain apps. You can also draw a line across the screen to enter split-screen mode - getting the knack just takes a little practice.
A potentially useful feature for some is the ability to connect a big screen using just a USB-C to HDMI adapter cable. When you do this, you get a Windows-style desktop for running apps and the phone screen becomes a virtual touchpad for the on-screen cursor. A keyboard also pops up when relevant for text entry.
The desktop environment is fairly rudimentary, but if Huawei develops it, this could be a reason to get the Mate 10 over one of your other shortlisted phones.
Unlike the Pixel 2 XL which has two front-firing stereo speakers, Huawei opts for an Apple-like approach with the top one facing the front and the bottom-firing speaker used as the second.
They're loud enough, but not particularly well balanced with the front speaker noticeably quieter.
Now, a lot impacts battery longevity aside from milliamp hours. These influencers range from the chipset through to software optimization and even rogue third-party background applications. Early reports on the Mate 10 Pro battery were pretty damning in fact, stating that it struggled to make it through a day.
A quick to respond Huawei however issued a software update a mere 24 hours after the device was launched, resulting in what can only be described as a night and day difference, endowing the Mate 10 Pro with nothing short of class-leading battery life. Screen on-time is excellent here. Even with occasional gaming, film watching, hotspotting and Tinder swiping, the phone lasts a very comfortable day.
Meanwhile, if you’re a light to moderate user more focused on occasional emails and news updates, turning your phone off while you sleep, there’s every chance you will be able to stretch the Mate 10 Pro through a full second day - and that’s without exploring the power saving modes made available by Huawei.
This is unheard of in the current flagship climate, with the iPhone 8 Plus, Note 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL all capping out at a full day, making battery life one of the Mate 10 Pro’s biggest strengths. This excellent battery life is also paired with fast charging capabilities, thanks to Huawei’s proprietary Super Charge technology. This means half an hour of charge will get you over 50% powered up, once again, keeping the Mate 10 Pro nice and competitive.
Thus far, the Huawei Mate series has always felt like the more niche, phablet series in the shadows of the Huawei P10 and Huawei P10 Plus, but the Mate 10 Pro looks set to change that.
It isn’t the biggest mainstream phone on the block at the moment and Huawei is playing hardball on price, charging slightly less than its key competitors at €799 (roughly £715, $945, AU$1200).
Huawei's flagship Mate 10 Pro is bursting with features. A great screen, very good battery life and widespread use of AI make it a pleasure to use, while IP67 protection is welcome. It's not without drawbacks though.
The Mate 10 Pro is the best phone from Huawei yet and although the cameras aren't as good as the Pixel 2 XL's, it has a better screen, better battery life and just as much processing power. In fact, with the AI processor there's arguably more on board, but there's no guarantee that apps will appear to make use of it. Even if they don't, this is still an outstanding phone.
Chinese Phone Maker’s Most Ambitious Phone
Huawei has established a trend of releasing standard and 'pro' versions of its flagship Mate handsets, and the latest models continue that trend. In fact, there are three versions of the Huawei Mate 10. In addition to the Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro, there's an even more expensive Porsche Design version too.
The Mate 10 Pro Is bursting with top-end features, including Android 8 (Oreo), the Kirin 970 processor with integrated AI (which affects many aspects of the phone, including photography and energy efficiency), a Leica-branded dual-lens rear camera and dual 4G LTE SIM support.
The last few Mates have all looked pretty much the same, but Huawei has shaken things up for 2017 and it's no overstatement to say this is one of the best-looking phones around. It's also one of the most powerful and longest-lasting, attributes which should ensure its place on your upgrade shortlist alongside the Galaxy S8, Note 8 and - maybe - iPhone 8 Plus.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Design
Huawei has, for the last few years anyway, designed nice phones. None of them have been anything particularly original, normally just a typical slab of aluminium, but they’re well built and functional.
The Mate 10 Pro is the first Huawei phone that actually makes me think the company’s really started to care about design. A lot of that stems from the overall shift in how phones look this year, but it could just have easily done what Sony is doing and kept everything the same regardless.
Like the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG V30 and iPhone X, the Huawei Mate 10 is going for that ‘bezel-less’ look, slimming down the area around the display and stretching the screen out to the corners. It not only makes the phone instantly look a whole lot more modern, but it gives you more screen in a smaller body.
we do wish, though, that Huawei had ditched the front logo. I’d also rather it’d stuck with a plain black front, rather than colour-matching the front and rear. Due to the new 18:9 aspect ratio that comes with these longer screens, you’ll get black-bars around video when it’s not properly optimised. This is fine if the rest of the front is black, but it looks weird when they’re brown (like the unit I’m using) or white.
A fingerprint sensor sits in the middle on the back, and there’s a new stripe that runs across the dual cameras. This stripe has a contrasting colour to the rest of the phone and is similar to the shade on the Pixel 2.
The Mate 10 Pro is the first in the series to be water-resistant, packing the same IP67 rating as the iPhone 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL. A side effect of this, though, is that the headphone jack has been ditched. Huawei says you’ll get a pair of USB-C headphone in the box, and it tried to pass the removal as a boon for those who adore proper audio. But, I still love the jack and would prefer it was here.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Display
Its 80.9% screen-to-bezel ratio also impresses compared to the classical iPhone 8 and 8 Plus design, though isn’t quite as light on bezels as the iPhone X. Like the iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy Note 8 and LG V30 though, the screen’s aspect ratio is ultra-wide with an 18:9 aspect ratio. OLED technology with some added HDR10 support combine to gives the Mate 10 Pro’s display ample punch and pop - more than the comparatively muted Google Pixel 2 XL.
At full HD resolution though, it doesn’t have the clarity to compete with the likes of the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, Galaxy Note 8 and S8 series, nor is it quite as breathtaking with regards to color reproduction as the latter two.
Despite this though, it still fares better than the Google Pixel 2 and LG V30 when it comes to color integrity and viewing angles, positioning it firmly in the middle of the premium smartphone screen hierarchy. Loaded up with a screen-protector pre-fitted, as well as a soft plastic case in the box, it’s also reassuring that you won’t have to make any additional investments to keep your pricey new smartphone protected from all sides.
Even without a case and screen protector though, the Mate 10 Pro is a sturdy contender thanks to Gorilla Glass 5 on both sides and IP67 water and dust resistance. The glass back has a slight curve across both axis, softening the feel somewhat. It also seamlessly transitions into the high-gloss metal sides and produces a sufficiently easy to grip shape and texture combination.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Camera
The lenses may have f/1.6 apertures, but the cameras are not the Mate 10 Pro’s strong suit. At least, certainly not when compared to the amazing snappers on the Pixel 2 XL.
Put simply, the Mate 10 Pro cannot resolve the same level of detail. When you look close up, photos don’t look sharp and there’s evidence of noise reduction, even in good light. This makes textures looks a bit smeary, and it’s worse in low light.
The camera benefits from AI too. The main rear camera system comprises Leica-branded 20-megapixel monochrome and 12-megapixel RGB sensors, both with f/1.6 lenses. The front camera is an 8MP f/2.0 unit.
The rear cameras can identify some objects, and make automated adjustments to setting for better-quality shots. This 'scenario identification' worked well, spotting food, text, plants and my cat with ease. If you don't like what the AI does, a sweep up from the 'shoot' button invokes Pro mode, where manual settings can be made. There are plenty of shooting modes accessible by sweeping left.
The big upgrade for the Mate 10 Pro is the aperture, which has been widened to f/1.6 on both cameras. This again is great for letting in more light to the sensor, hopefully improving low-light shots. There’s an 8-megapixel camera on the front too, which also benefits from portrait modes.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Performance
Powering the Mate 10 Pro is a new AI-infused Kirin 970 processor. Every aspect of this phone has an artificial intelligence twist, from the way apps open to how the camera jumps modes depending on what you’re taking a picture of.
The Kirin 970 is an eight-core CPU with a 12-core GPU, plus a dedicated ‘Neural processing unit’ that’s there to power the AI.
There’s no doubt this will be a powerful chip, but I think Huawei might struggle to get across just what this AI does. Instead of having an outward personality or a visual key to what it’s doing, it basically just alters how certain things work.
Paired with the Kirin 970 is 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, but no microSD slot. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is one of the first phones to be Cat 18 enabled, meaning it’ll work with 1.2Gbps networks whenever those might start to arrive. This is the sort of future-proof tech I expect to see on the Mate line. Even though it’ll be of no use to 99% of people.
As you’d hope from a brand new Android phone, the Mate 10 Pro comes with Android 8.0 Oreo and this is overlaid with Huawei’s EMUI interface.
EMUI is one of the most iOS-like Android interfaces out there and this makes it ideal if you're jumping ship from an iPhone. The default layout is to show all apps in a grid, but you can change this for the traditional app drawer in the settings. From the home screen you can drag down to get a search bar to find apps, music or other media. The previous version was EMUI 6, but in order to match Android, this has now been bumped up to EMUI 8.0 for the Mate 10. You won’t notice too many major changes, since these are generally lurking behind the scenes.
EMUI 8 is great to use, although it does take a bit of adjusting if you’re used to plain Android. What’s nice is that you have a choice of whether to use the usual Android soft navigation keys or EMUI’s floating button.
You’ll have to learn the gestures for the button, but because you can position it anywhere on the screen, it could be a quicker way to operate the phone with one hand. Disabled by default is the always-on display. This shows the time, date and notifications just like the Pixel 2 XL and Galaxy S8. You can schedule this, too, so it doesn't use power at night.
Like Motorola, Huawei adds quite a few handy features to Android, such as double-pressing the power button to launch the camera when the phone is off, and letting you quickly call someone by holding the volume down button and speaking their name. Thanks to the wider screen, the Mate 10 Pro has a feature called Smart Split-screen. This automatically displays some apps in two columns in landscape mode and means you can keep watching a video while replying to an email, for example.
And as with previous versions, you can use your knuckle to knock on the screen to achieve certain things. For example, a double knock takes a screenshot and you can draw letters with your knuckle to launch certain apps. You can also draw a line across the screen to enter split-screen mode - getting the knack just takes a little practice.
A potentially useful feature for some is the ability to connect a big screen using just a USB-C to HDMI adapter cable. When you do this, you get a Windows-style desktop for running apps and the phone screen becomes a virtual touchpad for the on-screen cursor. A keyboard also pops up when relevant for text entry.
The desktop environment is fairly rudimentary, but if Huawei develops it, this could be a reason to get the Mate 10 over one of your other shortlisted phones.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Speakers
They're loud enough, but not particularly well balanced with the front speaker noticeably quieter.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Battery
A quick to respond Huawei however issued a software update a mere 24 hours after the device was launched, resulting in what can only be described as a night and day difference, endowing the Mate 10 Pro with nothing short of class-leading battery life. Screen on-time is excellent here. Even with occasional gaming, film watching, hotspotting and Tinder swiping, the phone lasts a very comfortable day.
Meanwhile, if you’re a light to moderate user more focused on occasional emails and news updates, turning your phone off while you sleep, there’s every chance you will be able to stretch the Mate 10 Pro through a full second day - and that’s without exploring the power saving modes made available by Huawei.
This is unheard of in the current flagship climate, with the iPhone 8 Plus, Note 8 and Google Pixel 2 XL all capping out at a full day, making battery life one of the Mate 10 Pro’s biggest strengths. This excellent battery life is also paired with fast charging capabilities, thanks to Huawei’s proprietary Super Charge technology. This means half an hour of charge will get you over 50% powered up, once again, keeping the Mate 10 Pro nice and competitive.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro Price
It isn’t the biggest mainstream phone on the block at the moment and Huawei is playing hardball on price, charging slightly less than its key competitors at €799 (roughly £715, $945, AU$1200).
Verdict
Internal storage capacity of 128GB sounds like plenty, but I'd still appreciate a MicroSD slot. The slippery glass backplate reduces confidence in one-handed operation, and the lack of a dedicated headset jack will irritate some, even though Huawei provides a USB-C headset and an adapter.
The Mate 10 Pro is the best phone from Huawei yet and although the cameras aren't as good as the Pixel 2 XL's, it has a better screen, better battery life and just as much processing power. In fact, with the AI processor there's arguably more on board, but there's no guarantee that apps will appear to make use of it. Even if they don't, this is still an outstanding phone.
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