Huawei Mate 8 Review: Big and bold
Huawei’s positioning in the mobile phone space is pretty well established, with the vast majority of its phones fitting in the budget and mid-range spaces. The Mate line is Huawei’s stab at a "premium" phone, but like its siblings it keeps a focus on affordability relative to the rest of the premium pack.
| Huawei Mate 8 | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 6.0 ("Marshmallow") |
| Screen size | 6in |
| Resolution | 1080x1920 |
| Display density | 368ppi |
| Storage | 32/64GB |
| Weight | 185g |
| Processor | Octa-core Kirin 950 |
| Rear camera | 16MP |
| Front camera | 8MP |
| Battery | 4000mAh |
Upsides: Why you’d want the Huawei Mate 8
- Nearly bezel-free: The Huawei Mate 8’s design doesn’t rely on having a thick bezel around its 6 inch screen. Instead, the display wraps to just about the edge of the phone itself. This is visually pleasing, but also means it’s easier to grip the Mate 8 in one hand while in use, which isn’t always the case for 6-inch screen phones.
- Good application performance: The Huawei Mate 8 uses Huawei’s own Kirin 950 processor rather than a more stock processor from MediaTek or Qualcomm. Running on Android 6.0, the Mate 8 is generally highly responsive, and this is also reflected in benchmarks. Using Geekbench’s cross-platform benchmark suite, the Mate 8 shows solid performance against a range of premium handsets:
Handset Geekbench 3 Single Core (higher is better) Geekbench 3 Multi Core (higher is better) Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 2169 6446 Samsung Galaxy S7 2156 6240 Huawei Mate 8 1738 6092 LG G5 2305 5243 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ 1492 4893 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge 1324 4626 Google Nexus 6P 1251 4597 Samsung Galaxy S6 1347 4569 Apple iPhone SE 2538 4455 Apple iPhone 6S 2540 4410 Apple iPhone 6S Plus 2491 4391 HTC 10 1942 4191 Sony Xperia Z5 1358 4134 Samsung Galaxy Note 5 1111 3686 BlackBerry PRIV 1196 3396 - Great battery life: One of the advantages of larger phone bodies is that you can cram more batteries in the body of the phone. Like other unibody phones like the HTC 10 or iPhone 6S, the Mate 8’s battery is non-removable. However, it’s a hefty 4,000mAh unit, so testing using Geekbench’s battery test with screen dimming enabled, the Mate 8 showed itself as a very capable performer:
Handset Geekbench 3 Battery Test Duration Geekbench 3 Battery Score Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 11:55:00 7150 Huawei Mate 8 11:14:40 6659 Samsung Galaxy S7 10:01:20 6013 Samsung Galaxy Note 5 9:18:00 5580 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+ 8:24:10 5041 LG Stylus DAB+ 8:11:40 3278 Apple iPhone 6S Plus 7:48:10 4681 LG G5 7:36:10 4561 Alcatel Go Play 7:21:10 2941 iPhone 6s Smart Battery Case 7:21:10 4407 Google Nexus 5X 7:14:20 4062 Oppo R7s 7:00 2800 HTC 10 6:54:30 4145 Only the exceptional Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge outperformed the Huawei Mate 8 in battery life, and that’s a phone with a specific asking price much higher than that of the Mate 8.
- Fast fingerprint sensor: The days when the good fingerprint sensors were only found on Apple products are well and truly over. The Mate 8’s circular fingerprint sensor resides on the rear of the phone, and it responds very quickly indeed.
- Decent camera: The Huawei Mate 8’s 16MP camera performs well for most photographic situations. Predictably it does suffer in low light, and it’s not quite the best camera we’ve tested on a smartphone this year, but for most purposes it will respond quickly and with generally pleasing results.
Downsides: Why you might not want the Huawei Mate 8
- Display is mid-range at best: 2016’s premium phones all tend towards QHD display screens, but the Huawei Mate 8 sticks with a plain old 1080p display instead. That probably saves it some battery power, but put it side by side with a richer display and the differences are quite noticeable.
- Ordinary gaming performance: For general processing tasks the Kirin 950 performs well, but where it stumbles somewhat is when you throw games its way. We noticed some stuttering in gameplay compared to other premium handsets, and this was borne out by the Mate 8’s anaemic 3DMark scores. Here’s how it compares against a range of handsets:
Handset 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited Result LG G5 29597 Apple iPhone SE 29276 Samsung Galaxy S7 28903 Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge 28402 Apple iPhone 6s 28171 HTC 10 27392 Google Nexus 6P 24703 Sony Xperia Z5 19197 Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus 17981 Huawei Mate 8 17947 - Emotion UI is an acquired taste: Most Android phone makers have been shifting towards very light makeovers of recent Android OS releases, but that’s not Huawei’s way. It’s not quite the full rework of Android that Oppo applies to its phones, but it’s pretty close, with no app drawer and a range of shiny effects overlaid on common UI elements. Some may find these cute, but heavier Android users will most likely find them annoying.
Who is it best suited for? What are my other options?
The Huawei Mate 8 isn’t without its drawbacks in the fiercely contested premium space, but the essential core of what Huawei’s offering here is essentially solid. If you’re interested in a premium experience without the $1,000+ price point that other premium handsets attract, it’s well worth considering.
In the larger screen phone arena you do have quite a lot of choice. Currently we’d say that Samsung’s Galaxy S7 Edge sits on top of the pack, although if you’re more budget constrained its large screen Galaxy Note 5 is also worth consideration. If you’re in a more constrained budget space, consider LG’s Stylus DAB+ or Oppo’s R9 Plus.
Where can I get it?
Local retailers no longer stock the Huawei Mate 8, but you can still import the handset from overseas retailers like eBay and Amazon.
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