Huawei Mate XS Review
Folding phones are the future… and Huawei have jumped on that future dream and taken more risks than even Samsung with the Mate XS.
Last year when the first folding phones from massive players in the tech world were announced by Samsung and Huawei it was clear they had very different approaches.
The irony with both the Galaxy Fold (review coming soon) and the Mate XS is that they both have their weaknesses and strengths.
Google Not in Play
Let’s get it out of the way quickly – there are NO Google services on the Mate XS and for that reason alone no one should buy this phone. It is a stunning piece of hardware.
A vision of a Star Trek future that in the hand makes your gasp with delight. It has a larger screen both folded and unfolded than the Galaxy Fold and it has better cameras as well.
But it misses the mark without Google as its first problem. Try as Huawei might we need Google in the western world. The alternatives provided by the Huawei app store just isn’t the same and is missing many options.
If your a careful observer you will notice Google Apps on my phone in the photos. That is because if your patient and of the inclination to fiddle with your phone there are methods to get Google onto the Mate XS.
It isn’t a great experience even with them. I was unable to get Netflix to work; although some have had more luck with it and notifications don’t work either from Google. The feeling that any moment your Google world could stop working plays on your mind specially when using this phone in this way.
Tech in the car? Forget Android Auto. It doesn’t work. If you have a car with the ability to use Android Auto then connecting the Mate XS is just a reminder of what it could be and how it just isn’t quite good enough.
And anyway the general consumer isn’t ever going to even attempt to hack Google onto the Mate XS. They will just get more and more frustrated with it.
That is a truly massive miss by Huawei as with Google on board it would have possibly had the legs on the Galaxy Fold. Possibly.
The Future is Now
This phone is very dense to hold which means you can feel the quality. In the box it comes with a plastic bumper style case to protect the edges and it also has a screen protector applied to the entire display almost all the way to the edges but not quite.
The right hand side of the Mate XS has the cameras and fingerprint scanner housed in a grip shape which makes it easy to hold and once opened out it feels very well balanced in the hand. This feels much more natural than the Galaxy Fold to hold when opened out.
Of course the biggest difference in looks between this phone and the Fold comes down to the fact that the screen is significantly larger when closed. It gives you all the full functionality of a normal phone without compromises due to design.
This makes the Mate XS much more usable in that folded close state but also much more fragile. I didn’t have any scratches on my display but between use I kept the phone in its bundled leather pouch for protection.
I worried about it ringing in that leather pouch as I would be much more likely to fumble the phone having to remove it to answer a call or a message; and I wouldn’t trust it without the pouch in my pocket. Had this unit been a review unit I may have tried to use it without the pouch but as I purchased it that wasn’t something I was prepared to attempt.
Which gets to the problem with the Mate XS – it is simply too fragile to use without extreme care and the inconvenience of taking that care. The Fold when closed is very robust and simply keeping it away from lose change or keys is enough to protect it totally. With the Mate XS I was concerned that the slightest dirt or dust particle would damage the display. However let me be clear I didn’t test this and I welcome feedback from Mate XS owners who have used it without the pouch on its durability.
Cameras
Where the Mate XS does improve on the Samsung Galaxy Fold is the cameras – there isn’t that much in it but to my eye the images look better in terms of detail. Huawei have been leaders in the camera technology in their phones that they have branded Leica since the Mate 20 a couple of years ago and it continues here.
What impressed me most was the software for the cameras; particularly the selfie functionality.
The Mate XS uses the main camera array for selfies and that means not only is the quality fantastic but what most impressed me was the way that the folded back side of the display would allow you to see the image you are taking and that will also work if someone is taking a photo for you so you can see what they are seeing and instruct them on making it a better photo.
The way that the camera and software works together here is simply delightful and makes me love the Mate XS simply for its attention to detail.
This phone has battery that lasts all day as well as fast charging at 55W via USB-C which meant I never had to think about battery life while using this phone even when it was unfolded and used in tablet mode.
If Google was not missing from this phone then it would be a must have but in its current form with concerns about durability and missing the final piece of software it is a phone of the future in the present a bit too early.
Specifications:
Size:
Unfolded: 8 inches
Folded:
Main screen: 6.6 inches
Secondary screen: 6.38 inches Unfolded: 2480 x 2200
Folded:
Main screen: 2480 x 1148
Secondary screen: 2480 x 892
CPU:
HUAWEI Kirin 990 5G
Octa-core Processor
2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.86 GHz + 2 x Cortex-A76 Based 2.36 GHz + 4 x Cortex-A55 1.95 GHz
GPU
16-Core Mali-G76
RAM/ Storage
8 GB RAM + 512 GB ROM
Expandable Memory
NM SD Card, up to 256 GB
Rear Camera:
Leica Quad Camera:
40 MP (Wide Angle Lens, f/1.8 aperture) + 16 MP (Ultra Wide Angle Lens, f/2.2 aperture) + 8 MP (Telephoto, f/2.4 aperture, OIS), HUAWEI Time-of-Flight (TOF) Camera
Supports autofocus (phase focus, contrast focus), supports AIS (HUAWEI AI Image Stabilization).
Battery
4500 mAh (Typical Value)
The capacity is 2250 mAh (Typical Value) x 2
Dual SIM
5G/LTE/3G/2G
