Meet HUAWEI MatePad 11.5 2023 - Affordable productivity tablet?
After weeks of intensive use, we share our thoughts and experience with the recently announced HUAWEI MatePad 11.5-inch 2023.
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| HUAWEI MatePad 11.5 with M Pen 2nd generation |
Meet MatePad 11.5 2023
To recap, the tablet was introduced in late July 2023. It starts at PHP 15,999 and it comes with an 11.5-inch LCD screen, a 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, 6GB/8GB RAM, 128GB storage, a 13MP rear camera, an 8MP selfie camera, and a 7,700mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging.
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Let's unbox it first.
It comes in a new White box with minimal branding, specs, features, and regulatory information.
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Inside the box are the tablet, USB-A to USB-C cable, 22.5W wall charger, and documentation.
Made with high quality materials!
The tablet is made of a combination of glass and high-quality polycarbonate. In fact, if you see the tablet from afar, you would think it was made of metal. It was only upon looking at and touching the tablet up close did we truly found out it was polycarbonate.
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| HUAWEI MatePad 11.5-inch display |
As mentioned above, the 11.5-inch TFT LCD touchscreen has a 2200 x 1440 resolution.
Around the panel is are uniformly sized bezel that gives enough surface area for our fingers to touch to be able to hand-hold the tablet without triggering the touch screen.
Images produced by the panel are what we expect from an affordable LCD Panel. The text and details are crisp while the colors are decently vibrant. The contrast is okay but could be better.
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| Top side |
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| Bottom side |
On top of the tablet are the polycarbonate volume rocker and two microphone ports while at the bottom are the three CPU contacts so the tablet can communicate with the keyboard cover.
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| Left and Right sides |
On the left side of the tablet is the polycarbonate power button and the first pair of speakers while on the right side are the second pair of speakers and a USB-C port.
It has a total of four speakers and two microphone ports.
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| Rear 13MP camera |
At the back is the 13MP f/1.8 single rear camera with autofocus and LED flash.
The stock camera app includes the following modes: Photo, Video, Beauty, Pano, Time-lapse, Documents, and stickers.
Rear Camera Samples
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| Rear camera daylight |
In daylight, the rear camera produced images that had good color and contrast. Its sharpness and clarity are decent but could be better.
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| Rear camera close-up |
When taking pictures close-ups, the rear camera produced decently sharp images with good contrast, color, and clarity.
Overall, the rear camera takes decent enough pictures for most tablet users.
While on the bezel of the tablet is the 8MP f/2.2 selfie camera. It has the same modes as the rear camera.
Selfie Camera Samples
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| Selfie camera |
In daylight conditions, the front-facing cameras produced selfies with decent sharpness and detail but were easily overexposed and had noticeable distortion.
The selfie camera's performance is just enough to pass for its price range.
Performance
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| AnTuTu and GeekBench |
Inside are the 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 octa-core processor, Adreno GPU, 6GB/8GB RAM, and 128GB of storage.
In real-life use, the tablet runs smoothly!
We ran some benchmarks including Antutu where we got a score of 658,127. While on Geekbench we got 1,042 points on the single core and 2,956 on the multi-core tests.
In real-life use, the tablet runs smoothly. We have yet to experience stuttering or slowdowns in the several weeks we've used the tablet.
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| Diablo Immortal graphics settings |
In Diablo Immortal, the tablet was able to unlock the high resolution and high graphics quality settings.
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| Genshin Impact graphics settings |
While in Genshin Impact, the tablet managed to unlock the low graphic settings as the default.
The tablet runs the game smoothly but slows down when the screen fills up with animations. It warmed up slowly over time. It never got uncomfortably hot to hold even after playing for 3 hours straight but we recommend playing in a cool environment if you can help it. The massive screen is immersive but the controls may have to be adjusted to accommodate the size of the user's hand and fingers.
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| Battery charging and usage |
The 7,700mAh battery managed to last for 11 hours and 5 minutes in our usual YouTube 4K video loop test. In daily usage, the tablet would last around 9 to 10 hours of use with a constant connection to WiFi where we use it for productivity, media consumption, and media streaming.
The 22.5W SuperCharge wall charger charges the tablet from 0 to 100 percent in around 100 minutes while maintaining low temperatures.
The four side-firing speakers produce some of the fullest sound we've heard yet on a tablet in its price range. It does not have the loudest maximum volume, but it does have impressive clarity especially when at 80 percent volume where there is minimal distortion.
The Face Unlock is easy and quick to set up. Once set up, it detects our face and it immediately unlocks the tablet. The camera struggles when the environment is dark or when we are wearing a mask. The screen brightens up to compensate for dark situations.
For connectivity, WiFi and Bluetooth 5.1 connect and work consistently and as expected.
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| HUAWEI MatePad 11.5 2023's multi-tasking capabilities |
Running the show is HarmonyOS 3.1 with EMUI on top. It features the latest version of GBox which allows the tablet nearly 95 percent functionality of Google Play services and Google Play apps.
What we love about HarmonyOS 3.1 is the new multi-window where we can have multiple windows. This includes floating windows on top of the rest.
It can be paired with a keyboard cover that connects at the bottom of the keyboard. It can also be paired with an M pencil but would need a dongle that is sold separately. Both accessories pair with the tablet as soon as it is plugged in or attached directly to the tablet. They maintain a consistent and reliable connection to the tablet. We have never experienced any perceivable lag or stutter when typing with the keyboard cover or when writing or drawing with the M-Pencil.
HUAWEI MatePad 11.5 2023 Specs
Display: 11.5-inch LCD (TFT) screen w/ 2K 2200 x 1440 resolution at 229 ppi
CPU: 2.36GHz 4nm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 octa-core processor
GPU: Adreno
RAM: 6GB/8GB
ROM: 128GB
Back Camera: 13MP f/1.8 w/ AF + LED flash
Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.2
Battery: 7,700mAh w/ 22.5W fast charging
OS: HarmonyOS 3.1
Connectivity: WiFi (2.4GHz/5GHz), Bluetooth 5.1, OTG, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou
Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic
Others: 4x speakers, 2x microphones, M-Pencil stylus support, Colors: Space Grey
Dimensions: 260.9 mm x 176.8 mm x 6.9 mm
Weight: 499 g
Price: PHP 15,999 (6GB/128GB), PHP 19,999 (8GB/128GB)
Quick thoughts
The MatePad 11.5 2023 offers an eye-catching design, powerful productivity features, good battery life, and class-leading quad-speakers.
We have nothing but praise for the tablet as it can do most of what we would need a productivity-focused tablet especially when paired with the M Pencil second generation. However, our one concern is that we would need a special dongle to connect, pair, and charge the M pencil as the tablet doesn't support it in the body alone.
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| HUAWEI MatePad 11.5 2023's note-taking and calculator apps |
But do not get us wrong, the MatePad 11.5 2023 with the latest version of GBox makes it one of the best contenders for productivity tablets for under PHP 20K.
Do you agree with us?
What do you guys think?
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