Sunday, February 21, 2016

Huawei Launch The MateBook Hybrid Tablet

Huawei has launched The MateBook at MWC this morning. The hybrid tablet is Huawei’s first venture into the field, and is running Windows 10 Home or Professional depending on the model and comes with a stylus, case and dock (all sold separately). Also included is a cleverly hidden finger print sensor between the volume keys and USB type C.

Model	Huawei MateBook
Processor	Core M3 / Core m7
Ram	4GB / 8GB
Storage	128GB / 512GB
Display	12-inch, 2,160 x 1,440
Camera	5MP
Battery	Approx. 10 hours
Price	$699 / $ 1,599

The MateBook like the surface is a 12-inch tablet with detachable keyboard, with an emphasis on being lightweight and easy to handle. A feat achieved with an impressive thickness of just 6.9mm, a weight of just 640g, 10mm bezels and a screen to body ratio surpassing that of the iPad Pro and Surface Pro.

The keyboard is connected by strong magnets sufficient to keep it attached to the tablet even when holding the device in the air. Huawei stressed that the keys are “ergonomically curved” for maximum productivity, regardless the keyboard is nicely spaced out and appears comfortable enough to use.

The stylus is slightly larger than the Surface’s and the Apple Pencil but Huawei has stated that it has 2,048 points of pressure and a laser pointer at the eraser end. The charge here should last up to a month.

Price-wise the Huawei MateBook starts at $699 for the basic model but this does include the keyboard cover, from there the price makes frequent jumps for minor increases in processor, RAM and storage right up to the most expensive model which has and Intel Core M7, 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD but will set you back an staggering $1599.

Then there is the hub, the MateBook ships with a single USB-C port so in order to increase capabilities you can purchase an external hub (see below) which includes VGA, HDMI, USB 3.0 and Ethernet ports. The latter is something you don’t see to much on tablets and it’s nice to have included in the package for those times you want to plug in.