HUAWEI MediaPad X2 hands-on and first impressions

HUAWEI has been stepping up their game recently, especially with regards to design and build quality, as well as providing an overall great experience. HUAWEI may not have brought any flagship devices to MWC 2015, but that doesn’t mean that they are empty-handed. Apart from the beautifully-designed HUAWEI Watch, also launched the successor to their 7-inch phablet that debuted at last year’s MWC, the MediaPad X1. We go to spend some time with this device, and here’s a quick look at the HUAWEI Mediapad X2!

The Mediapad X2 maintains the form factor of the original, with its 7-inch display, but in a more compact iteration. Borrowing from the design cues of the Ascend Mate 7, the Mediapad X2 also comes with an 80% screen to body ratio, making it a lot smaller than you would expect. The aluminum design gives this device an elegant, premium look and great feel in the hand. It is also surprisingly thin for a device of this size, at just 7.3 mm thick, contributing to the handling experience. Going around the device, the power button and volume rocker are placed on the right, below the dual SIM card and MicroSD card slots, with the headphone jack and microUSB port found at the top and bottom respectively.

HUAWEI describes the Mediapad X2 as a phablet, courtesy of its voice calling capabilities, but it is definitely too large to fall even into that category. You can hold on to the device with one hand though, but its not going to be very comfortable, or possibly even fit, in your jean pocket. That said, Huawei’s focus on great design and build quality shines through once again with the Mediapad X2, and it is a wonderful device, regardless of whether you choose to use this as a phone or tablet, or both.

The Mediapad X2 comes with a laminated IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920 x 1200, resulting in a pixel density of 323 ppi, which promises fantastic viewing angles up to 178 degrees. In the short time we got to spend with it, the color reproduction looks accurate and brightness isn’t an issue, helped by CABC technology (content adaptive LCD brightness control) that automatically adjusts the brightness for a better viewing experience, as well as more efficient battery management.

HUAWEI is certainly not skimping out on the hardware side of things, with the Mediapad X2 packing a A 64-Bit, 2.0GHz Kirin 930 Octa-Core CPU, backed by a 64-bit GPU Mali-T628, as well as 2 GB or 3 GB of RAM depending on which version you choose. Internal storage of 16 GB or 32 GB is available, that also determines how much RAM you get, which is further expandable up to 128 GB via microSD card.

The Kirin 930 chipset supports LTE Cat6 connectivity with a theoretical download speed of up to 300Mbps, aside from the full suite of general connectivity options that are available. The X2 also comes with Dual-SIM support. On the audio front, there is just a single speaker at the bottom right, but it comes with DTS surround sound technology for an immersive sound experience.

And finally, we come to another highlight of any HUAWEI device in recent times, and that is the battery. The large size of the X2 allowed HUAWEI to pack the device with a 5,000 mAh battery, which should provide great longevity in any circumstance, but there are built-in power saving features available as well to get a little extra battery life.

The MediaPad X2 comes with a 13 MP rear camera that HUAWEI claims to be very good in low-light shooting. The camera features a post-shooting focus adjustment metering mode, focus and exposure metering, and off-screen snapping functionality as well. The 5 MP front-facing camera has an aperture of f 2.4 and a wide angle of 22 mm, which is ideal for selfie lovers. Standard features like beauty and panorama can be found, but more unique features like timelapse will allow for an even more enjoyable smartphone camera experience.

The software has been updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop, with HUAWEI’s Emotion UI on top. The interface is largely identical to what was found on the Ascend Mate 7, and there isn’t a lot of Lollipop influence in this particular software package. What you will find though is a very bright and colorful interface that provides just enough features and customizations to keep it interesting.

So there you have it – a quick look at the HUAWEI Mediapad X2! This is shaping up to be another solid device offering from HUAWEI, and while its large size may be a turn off for some, it is ideal for those in the market for a single device solution to address both their smartphone and tablet needs.

Stay tuned with Android Authority as we continue to bring you more from HUAWEI, along with all the other great coverage from MWC 2015!