Huawei’s flagship phone has landed internationally with 2 models with an all-new curved glass body. Sporting a large 6-inch OLED display, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro is the pricier and more premium model of the two. We’ve been playing with the Mate 10 Pro for a few weeks now. Here are 10 things we really like about the Huawei Mate 10 Pro.
Leica Optics
The dual lens camera on the Mate 10 Pro was co-engineered with Leica, and the results are really, really good. As a matter of fact, the camera is so good that it surpasses the more expensive iPhone X in many types of scenes – particularly in challenging low light and night shots, the Mate 10 Pro outshines the iPhone X.
It’s AI Powered
The Huawei Mate 10 and Mate 10 Pro are the first smartphones to come running on an AI-powered NPU (neural processing unit). The AI learns from a user’s behavior and adapts to it. So for example, the Mate 10 Pro is able to learn your about how you use your phone and adjust the phone’s settings for the best possible battery life. This is just one of the ways that the AI comes into play on the Mate 10 Pro.
But perhaps the coolest example of the AI implementation in everyday use is how the camera is able to automatically recognize objects in a scene and it will then automatically optimize the scene for its best settings. Currently, the camera is able to recognize cats, flowers, food, stages/concerts, outdoor landscapes, snow, water, low-light, sunsets, plants, portraits, dogs, and Huawei says that future updates will bring additional scenes. We tested this on scenes like cats, food, and concerts and the AI-powered camera automatically recognized the scene correctly nearly every time. The camera also did produce beautiful photos for that scene.
Great Battery life
It’s pretty rare to find a powerful phone with 2 days of battery life. Thanks to the large 4,000 mAh battery and EMUI 8’s smart battery management, the battery life on the Huawei Mate 10 Pro is excellent! We got nearly 2 full days out of it with regular use.
It’s got a nice large nearly borderless display
With a 1080 x 2160 resolution and an 18:9 aspect ratio, the 6-inch HD+ HDR 10 OLED display on the Mate 10 Pro is beautiful and large. To that effect, the display is vibrant with accurate colors, pretty deep blacks and excellent brightness levels, all without being oversaturated like Samsung’s flagship phones.
Beautiful design with all new glass body
The Mate 10 Pro is beautifully crafted with a metal-and-glass design that rocks a slightly curved glass back and a nearly borderless display. The build quality is excellent, but beware because it’s also a fingerprint magnet. Fortunately, a transparent silicon case is included in the box which offers a nice amount of protection for the device and helps curb fingerprints. Yet despite packing in such a large display, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro doesn’t feel unwieldy to hold and use.
It’s Water-Resistant
The Mate 10 Pro doesn’t just look pretty, it’s actually waterproof and meets IP67 water and dust resistant specifications.
Fast Charging
The Mate 10 Pro lacks wireless charging, which is a bummer, but the phone makes up for it with SuperCharge which provides a full day’s charge in just 20 minutes.
EMUI 8
The Mate 10 Pro comes running Android 8 Oreo and Huawei’s EMUI 8. There’s a lot we like about Huawei’s EMUI, such as the AI features that take advantage of the NPU, and all the neat uses it adds to the fingerprint sensor. We also appreciate that Huawei says with EMUI 8, your phone won’t slow down over time, which is a problem with most other phones running Android. The downside of EMUI 8 is that it also comes with lots of unnecessary bloatware, such as redundant apps for calendar and messaging.
Excellent Performance
The Mate 10 Pro is powered by Huawei’s latest Kirin 970 Octa-core processor and 6GB of RAM. We tested the Mate 10 Pro with AnTuTu and it earned a score of 176672, and a 6656 Multi-Score from Geekbench 4. Overall, the phone offers excellent performance, and according to the benchmarks, it’s just a smidge slower than the Galaxy Note 8. And in general, day-to-day performance is top-notch.
Docking is Easy
Using a feature Huawei calls Projection, the Huawei Mate 10 Pro can be docked with a monitor and peripherals to be used like a PC. This initially may not sound like a very unique feature for a smartphone, but the way it docks is. To that effect, you can use just about any USB-C to HDMI cable to connect it to a monitor – so there’s no need to purchase a pricey proprietary dock.
Verdict
Really the Mate 10 Pro is more than just a flagship for Huawei – it’s also a vision of the future of smartphones, and the AI features on the Mate 10 Pro are just the tip of the iceberg. We’re confident that developers and Huawei will continue to bring out more features that take advantage of the NPU. Either way, with its great camera, battery life, and performance, the Mate 10 Pro is a top-notch phone.
The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is available in pink gold, mocha brown, titanium gray, midnight blue and there will also be a Porsche Design edition in diamond black. The Mate 10 Pro is unfortunately not yet available for sale in the U.S., but overseas it retails for about $946.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit
What I Like: Beautiful design with large 6” display, Leica camera is very good and beats out competitors like the iPhone X in certain scenes, fast fingerprint sensor is located on the back side, AI-powered camera is neat and just the beginning, EMUI 8.0 is designed to make sure your phone doesn’t slow down over time, excellent battery life, fast charging, excellent performance, 128GB of storage, can be docked with a simple USB-C to HDMI cable, two-day battery life
What Needs Improvement: There’s no headphone jack (but does anyone really care about that anymore?), no expandable storage (but the 128GB of onboard storage really helps compensate), no wireless charging, comes with unnecessary bloatware