Huawei MatePad 11 Review; Before the outbreak of the Corona virus, many people believed that the Android tablet market was over, but with the closure of businesses and the in-house work schedule, sales of these products flourished again. Huawei is also aware of this issue and has injected new products into this market.
Huawei is one of the few companies that continues to make Android tablets. The company now faces two major challenges. Huawei must not only respond to the high level of user demand for Android tablets, but also prove that the new Harmony OS is a viable alternative to the Android operating system of other tablets. In this article, we will review the Huawei MatePad 11 tablet.
Huawei MatePad 11 Review
Unboxing
The Huawei Matepad 11 comes with a standard 22.5 watt charger and a USB-A to USB-C cable. Since the tablet does not support a 3.5mm headphone jack, Huawei has included a dongle with it. Unfortunately, the Huawei Magnetic Smart Keyboard does not come with the Matepad 11 tablet and you have to buy it for free. Of course, some of the more expensive versions of this tablet are available with this smart keyboard.
Designing
The body of the MatePad 11 tablet is made entirely of plastic and only the edges of the screen are made of glass. Unfortunately, this screen does not use Gorilla Glass, and in fact, it seems that Huawei has not used any screen protector in this tablet. The material of the back panel and the side cover of the tablet is designed in a way that is very similar to anodized aluminum. Fortunately, in the matte gray version of this device, fingerprints are hardly visible on it.
Overall, the MatePad 11 has an acceptable design and suffers from only a few minor issues in this area. One of these problems is the large size of the tablet’s camera compartment, which makes it impossible to place it firmly on flat surfaces.
Also, the side edges of the screen are a bit narrow, and in many cases, the fingers are placed on the screen. This type of design is more commonly used in smartphones, and companies usually design the side edges of tablets in such a way as to prevent unwanted touch of the screen.
The MicroSD card slot of the tablet is located at the bottom. There’s also a power button on the left, a volume rocker on the top, and a USB-C port on the right. There are also two speaker grills on either side of the tablet. A noteworthy thing about the Matepad 11 is that it does not use a face recognition sensor or fingerprint sensor.
This is one of the main weaknesses of the Matepad 11. Unfortunately, Huawei has not used a biometric security system in any of the new MatePad tablets, and this is most likely due to the weakness of the OS Harmony OS.
Accessories
The MatePad 11 tablet supports the M-Pencil, and it is possible to connect a Huawei smart magnetic keyboard to it. Fortunately, both devices provide the user with a smooth and enjoyable experience.
It is very easy to connect the Huawei Magnetic Keyboard to the Tilt, and you can connect the tablet to this keyboard from two different parts. It also supports all standard keys, except the letterpad. In general, Huawei’s magnetic keyboard is very fast and accurate, and the same goes for the M-Pencil.
Screen
The Huawei MatePad 11 uses a 10.95-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1600 x 2560 pixels and a 16:10 aspect ratio. This screen has a contrast ratio of 1200: 1 and a maximum brightness of 497 nits and has an extraordinary quality. Or else, the color accuracy of this screen is a bit low, and both its “bright” and “natural” modes show white and gray as blue. Fortunately, Huawei offers users the ability to manually adjust colors, and you can use this feature to adjust the color to your liking.
One of the good features of the Matepad 11’s screen is its “Eye Comfort” mode. This feature greatly reduces the color temperature of the screen in outdoor environments to neutralize the effect of blue sunlight. The “eBook” mode also turns the screen black and white to create an environment similar to electronic ink displays.
The refresh rate of this tablet is 120 Hz, but you can reduce this rate to 60 Hz by activating the standard mode from the settings section. Dynamic refresh rate mode also allows the tablet to change the refresh rate based on the content being played and save battery power. For example, by activating the dynamic refresh rate while watching video, this rate increases to 120 Hz and decreases to 60 Hz when using the keyboard.
Battery
The MatePad 11 uses a 7,250 mAh battery, which largely responds to the Snapdragon 865 processor. This battery performs better than the MatePad 12.6 tablet when searching the Internet, but it plays less video due to the LCD screen. However, in some respects, the battery performs better than the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Tab + S7 tablet, and generally exceeds expectations.
The battery life of the MatePad 11 is slower than other tablets on the market. Many smartphones that use a 22.5-watt charger charge much faster than the MatePad 11, and the main reason for this is Huawei’s new tablet using a 7,250 mAh battery. It takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes to fully charge this tablet, and after 30 minutes, only 36% of its battery is charged.
Speakers
Huawei has equipped the MatePad 11 tablet with four stereo speakers. These speakers are tuned by Harman Kardon and provide unparalleled sound. The bass sound is perfect on the speakers of the MatePad 11 tablet and the amount of noise is very small. Also, the volume of these speakers is very good and in general, there is no particular problem in this area.
Operating System
The MatePad 11 is one of the first Huawei products to be equipped with a new version of the company’s Harmony OS. Currently, some Huawei smartphones also use a trial version of this operating system. While Huawei is trying to deny the use of the Android operating system in the harmonious design of OS, a closer look reveals that the operating system is actually based on Android 10.
Huawei has tried to add several features to this operating system and in addition to redesigning its user interface, it has also added its services to it to create a consistent and rich ecosystem. This operating system does not allow you to install and run applications that rely on Google services. For example, you can install Google Chrome browser on your tablet, but you will not be able to synchronize your account with other devices.
Also, App Store is the only way to download applications for OS Harmony OS. However, if the app you are looking for is not found in this store, the Petal search engine will take you to other stores such as APKPure and Aptoide. The main problem with the App Store is that it displays ads that are displayed after each opening. Applications such as Petal Maps and Petal Search have also been made available to users as an alternative to similar Google applications.
After turning on the tablet, several different folders are displayed in the main page section, each of which indicates the different categories of the proposed applications. These applications are not installed on the system and you must enter the App Store to download them. Matepad 11 suggested applications based on your country of residence. Also, the fastest way to access apps is to search for their names in Huawei’s proprietary browser.
The user interface of this tablet is very similar to EMUI, and this is quite natural. You can also find many similarities between the iPadOS and iOS operating systems. For example, the notification bar and shortcuts in this operating system are separated. Imagine that the top bar is divided into two parts. Swipe left to open the notification bar, and swipe right to open the shortcut bar. Xiaomi has taken a similar approach in the MIUI user interface.
MatePad 11 smart keyboard shortcuts bring similar experiences to the Windows operating system, and this is one of its other strengths. The combination of keys like Alt + Tab and Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V on this tablet has exactly the same function as Windows, making it very easy for users. The keyboard is also equipped with shortcut buttons that allow you to control the volume and brightness of the image.
All tablet apps are located on the main page, but you can also use the app drawer option. At the bottom of the main page is a bar that lists your favorite apps, and to the right of this bar are three apps you have recently used.
In the main page, swipe left to enter the “Today Assistant” section, which is actually the entertainment and customizable information section of the tablet. For example, you can put your widgets in this section and stay up to date with the latest news related to your activities.
The MatePad 11 can run multiple apps at the same time, but only shows two apps in the image. Other open applications are placed as small windows on the left side of the image to make them easier to access. Searching in different menus of this tablet is the same as before.
You can swipe up from the bottom edge to enter the home screen, and swipe and hold on the screen to see the latest open apps. You will also return to the previous section by swiping left or right.
Huawei has introduced a feature called “Super Device” to provide a complete experience of its ecosystem. By activating this feature, your tablet will be able to connect to other Huawei smart devices such as TVs, speakers and smartwatches. For example, you can easily change the source of your freebies from phone to TV. It is also possible to play images of the MatePad 11 on Huawei smartphones.
Function
The MatePad 11 uses Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 865 processor last year. The interesting thing about this tablet is that it does not use Snapdragon 865 5G connections.
Based on the TSMC 7-nanometer architecture, the processor uses an Adreno 650 graphics core and an octa-core CPU. The CPU consists of a single-core Cryo 585 (based on Cortex-A77) clocked at 2.84 GHz, three cores of Cryo 585 (based on Cortex-A77) clocked at 2.42 GHz and four low-powered cores of Cryo 585 Silver (based on Cortex-A55) It uses a speed of 1.80 GHz.
Huawei has offered the tablet in two versions with a combination of RAM and internal memory of 6.64 GB and 256.6 GB, but users can upgrade its internal memory via a microSD card. It seems that the Snapdragon 865 processor is successful in its tasks and there is no particular problem in this area. Of course, in graphics tests, the MatePad 11 performed slightly weaker than the Galaxy Tab S7+, which was due to the difference in resolution between the two tablets and was not a problem with the Snapdragon 865 processor.
Camera
Not surprisingly, the MatePad 11 has a simple camera combination. The back of the tablet uses a 13-megapixel camera with f / 1.8 aperture, PDAF autofocus and LED flash.
The tablet’s 8-megapixel selfie camera also supports 1080p video recording. The camera menu also lacks the usual features of a smartphone and does not support features such as portrait mode due to the lack of a depth sensor. Hence, the Matepad 11 tablet performed slightly weaker in terms of camera than the Matepad 12.6.
The main camera of this tablet captures high quality images in bright and outdoor environments, and the details of these images are even better than some smartphones. These images are very clear and have good contrast and dynamic range. Some people think that the colors of the main camera images look a bit dull, and in general the color temperature in the main camera images is a little too warm. Fortunately, the images in this camera do not suffer from noise problems, and the same is true for indoor images.
As expected, images recorded in dark environments have dynamic range and low contrast, and the noise problem is clearly visible in them. Also, Huawei has not provided night mode capability for this camera. However, this problem is also seen in many smartphones and can not be considered one of the major weaknesses of the MatePad 11 tablet.
Selfie camera images also provide good detail and sharpness in bright environments, but will not perform brilliantly indoors due to poor exposure. This 13-megapixel camera is also capable of shooting 4K video at 30 frames, but the overall quality of these videos is low. The resolution of these videos is largely acceptable, but their color accuracy is very low.
Alternatives
Currently, the Huawei MatePad 11 tablet does not have many competitors due to its large size and low price. The only available options are the MatePad 10.8 tablet and iPad 10.2 (2020). The MatePad 10.8 uses a more powerful Snapdragon 870 processor and 5G connectivity. The body of this tablet is made of aluminum and supports charging with 40 watt wire and 27 watt wireless.
This tablet can also charge other Huawei devices thanks to its reverse charging capability. This feature is very useful due to the 7,250 mAh battery of this tablet. Huawei sells the tablet for more than $ 600.
On the other side is the iPad 10.2 tablet. Apple currently dominates the tablet market because of its strong ecosystem and diverse products. This does not mean that the new OS Harmony ecosystem is weak, and only shows Apple’s better performance in this area.
In fact, competing with iPadOS, iOS, and MacOS and the AppStore app list now seems impossible for OS Harmony. Many users use non-Huawei smartphones, and the incompatibility of these phones with the MatePad 11 is one of the problems that Huawei is facing. However, most people who use iPad tablets are more likely to have purchased an Apple smartphone.
The iPad 10.2 uses an IPS LCD panel and the less expensive Bionic A12 processor, as well as a smart stylus and keyboard. Lack of support for microSD card slot and 32 GB of memory The basic version of this tablet is one of its main weaknesses. However, the price of this product is slightly lower than the MatePad 11 tablet.
Conclusion
The Huawei Matepad 11 is a versatile and relatively powerful tablet that offers many of the features of high-end tablets. The price of this tablet is between 400 and 500 euros, depending on the amount of internal memory.
Important features of this tablet include a bright screen with a high refresh rate, excellent battery life, convenient support for peripherals, a powerful processor and four amazing speakers. However, the main problem with this tablet, like other Huawei products, is the lack of support for Google mobile services.
Other problems with this tablet include the lack of support for biometric security systems such as fingerprint sensor or face recognition sensor. The low price of this product may hide these problems to some extent, but with the increasing competition in the tablet market, it is difficult to offer the Huawei MatePad 11 tablet to users.
The Review
Huawei Matepad 11
PROS
- Good body material
- Bright display with high refresh rate
- Excellent battery life
- Good support for accessories
- Extraordinary sound quality
- Some of the good features of OS Harmony
- MicroSD card slot support
CONS
- Lack of variety in OS Harmony applications
- Lack of fingerprint sensor and face recognition sensor
- Do not use the 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Annoying ads in the App Gallery
- Lack of ability to delete suggested apps on the home screen
- Lack of support for 5G connections
