Up to 2015, pundits were sure that the pocket friendly point-and-shoot camera segment will still thrive over the smartphone in the world of photography. This is until they see the Leica co-developed HUAWEI P9 smartphone. Since then, smartphone photography did not really grow. It exploded, and now every single manufacturer is pushing for more powerful camera sensors. Samsung has already gone ahead in terms of Megapixel count in a tiny camera sensor with their mind-boggling 108-Megapixel sensors. Sony pushes the threshold at 64-Megapixels at this time.
If you know photography though, Megapixel count is only half the story when it comes to image quality, clarity, and detail. You need bigger sensors too, and that is also the reason why enthusiast grade cameras and even modern point-and-shoot cameras still have their place in the world of photography today. Bigger sensors also mean more light, and therefore better low-light sensitivity; it is simple physics. The race for bigger sensors in smartphones is now on, and births the idea of the HUIAWEI P50.
Technically, we would not know if the HUAWEI P50 comes with a bigger sensor or not. So far, the rumours that the HUAWEI P50 will come with a 1-inch camera sensor is just that; rumours. HUAWEI’s Richard Yu confirms that the HUAWEI P50 will come with a “new mobile imaging technology” though.
Leaked renders show that the HUAWEI P50 might come with two rings of cameras for a quad camera set-up. One of the rings, in the renders and leaks at least, shows three lenses while the other shows a single larger lens accompanied by the LED flash module. Larger lens could mean larger sensors, or it could mean better glass material for the sensor.
We are pretty sure that HUAWEI’s RYYB (Red Yellow Yellow Blue) sensor will still find its way to the upcoming HUAWEI P50. The RYYB sensor, after all, is a HUAWEI technology and they have been boasting the sensor in their smartphones for years now. Whether or not they will be increasing the size of the RYYB sensor is yet to be seen. For all we know, HUAWEI could be using the same 1-inch sensor that the Sharp Aquos R6 launched in Japan packs. Keep in mind that the sensor is also co-developed with Leica, HUAWEI’s camera partner.
For now, we can only speculate. It seems that we do not have to wait for long to find out if the rumours are true or we completely missed the mark. HUAWEI’s Richard Yu just confirmed in his Weibo page that the HUAWEI P50 series will launch on the 29th of July 2021, which is about 10 days away.
Richard did not confirm on whether or not this would be a global launch event though. There are no mentions on livestream links just yet too. While HUAWEI has been banned from using Google’s platform, their flagship launches has been a global affair. In that case, we do expect to hear more from HUAWEI soon.
The HUAWEI MateView is HUAWEI’s first attempt in capturing the premium desktop display market. At MYR 2,988, the HUAWEIMateView is nowhere near cheap. It does come with a few features that would make other displays look a little lacking though.
It comes with two 5W speakers that is embedded within the stand of the display. That also means that HUAWEI can keep the body of the display itself thin and svelte. Multiple I/O makes it simple to work with, and flexible enough that you can work with multiple devices with just a single display.
You are viewing all your contents at 4K+ UHD resolution. While the display factor is a little odd at 3:2, you are technically getting a little more for your buck. The IPS panel also projects colours at 98% DCI-P3 for the best-in-class colour reproduction. The HUAWEI MateView is really something else.
The HUAWEI MateView is now available for pre-order form HUAWEI’s Online Store and their retail partners including Shopee and Lazada. The pre-order period lasts until 21st July 2021. Every pre-order in this period is entitled to a free HUAWEI WIFI AX3 Dual Core router. More information on the HUAWEI MateView can be found on HUAWEI’s website.
Wireless earbuds are all the rage these days. The clean, cable-free feature of Truly Wireless (TWS) headphones really give a new meaning to the word “freedom” and redefined portability in the audio market. Of course, if you are a purist and audiophile, your response to all this will always be “but wired sound better”. We agree, but wireless audio products have come a long way since its introduction ages ago. Since Samsung introduced the world to their IconX TWS earphones too, TWS headphones have made huge strides and improvements especially in recent years.
With increased demands for TWS earphones too, more manufacturers are going to get involved to compete for market share. After all, it is not about who sells the best smartphones now, it is about who has the best and most seamless ecosystem. That also means that smartphone manufacturers like HUAWEI are sure to get into the game of creating accessories that accompanies the smartphones.
HUAWEI introduced their FreeBuds TWS headphones in 2018. They recently introduced the 4th generation of the FreeBuds in Malaysia. The new HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 comes with a slew of improvements that might make it one of the most compelling TWS headphones in the market.
Source: HUAWEI
The HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 still features Active Noise Cancelling (ANC) 2.0 which is quite unique. That is because the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 is an open-fit earphone. Open-fit earphones typically do not completely seal your ears obviously, and that adds a layer of complexity for the job that is noise cancelling. Still, with Adaptive Ear Matching technology, the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 will manage. The technology will automatically detect the 3D shape of your ear and determine the optimal noise cancellation for individual users.
For the first time ever, the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 boasts dual microphone. Dual mics of course is used for noise cancellation in phone calls. With 32KHz in frequency range in voice calls too, you get crisp and clear phone calls.
The FreeBuds 4 packs an unusually large driver too for its headphones of its type. It has 14.3mm, slightly larger than the one you get on the older HUAWEI FreeBuds 3. At 40kHz as well, it has double the frequency range compared to most earphones in its category. That also means that it should sound quite stellar especially with Hi-Fi quality audio formats. Of course, with larger drivers, you get better low-end frequencies projected too, which means great thumping bass lines.
Of course, the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 is not just for listening and making short work of phone calls. The TWS earbuds has a mic that can record at up to 48kHz audio, which also means you can technically use it to record vlogs or use it to record audio from the surroundings for an immersive video from your HUAWEI smartphone.
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
All of these sounds like you would need a larger package of an earbud to work with. Strangely though, it is no larger than a regular Apple Airpods earbud. The pair of earbuds comes packed in a portable case that can gives the HUAWEI FreePods 4 extra full charges for up to 22 hours of music playback (without ANC). All the great stuff is shoehorned in earbuds that weighs only 4.1g on each end.
The HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 is now available for pre-order from HUAWEI Online Store, and partner stores such as Shopee, Lazada and Sen Heng until 21st July 2021. It is available in Ceramic White and Silver Frost colour options too. It will set you back MYR 599, which is a lot less than a lot of higher-end ANC enabled TWS headphones. More information on the HUAWEI FreeBuds 4 can be found on HUAWEI’s website.
HUAWEI has grown from a little-known smartphone maker from China to become one of the tech giants of the world. Of course, the fact that they make great smartphones helped their rise to become one of the most recognisable electronics brands in the world. In the recent years, HUAWEI has also expanded its product range to just more than mobile devices. This is including smartphone peripherals like headsets and wireless speakers. They branched out into home appliances. They also branched out into making Windows laptops, which worked great if you own a HUAWEI device already. They even made smart TVs in the past two years.
It only makes sense then, when HUAWEI started making PCs and even smart TVs, that they start making PC displays. They started with the brand new MateView and MateView GT. As per the title, it really is like Beauty and the Beast. We are not really referring to how the monitors look though; we are referring to what they are made for.
HUAWEI MateView – The Beauty … of 4K+ resolution
Source: HUAWEI
The HUAWEI MateView is made for creators in mind and it shows in the colour accuracy rating of the display. It boasts ΔE<2 with 98% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. On the sRGB scale, it covers 100% of the colour gamut. That also means unparalleled colour accuracy, very important when you are colour correcting photos or even videos. At HDR 400 also, contents shine when displayed on the HUAWEI MateView. We have not even gone to its resolution.
The HUAWEI MateView displays all these colours at an extremely high resolution 4K+. You get 3,840 x 2,560 pixels from the 28.2-inch IPS panel. While that means that you get a very odd 3:2 display ratio, it also means you get more display real estate to work with, important when you only have one monitor to rely on when you work with videos. At 1.07 billion colours as well, colour gradients look natural even when you push the brightness to the maximum 500 nits the HUAWEI MateView is capable of.
It even boasts two 5W speakers on its integrated stand. While it may not be the most powerful speakers you can find in the market, the speakers should produce an acceptable audio, if you do not have an external speaker to work with. At the same time, with wireless projection, you can hook your HUAWEI devices up wirelessly and play your favourite music through the MateView’s speakers instead. For video conferencing, the HUAWEI MateView even packs four built in mics. You can even fire up Cortana on Windows 10 with the mics.
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
The HUAWEI MateView is also your friendly USB Hub. While it packs HDMI 2.0 (capable of 3,840 x 2,560 @50Hz) and a MiniDP port, you can hook your PC to the display via USB Type-C cable too. If you hook your PC up to the Display via the HDMI or the MiniDP port, you have an extra USB Type-C port to go alongside two more UBS Type-A ports on the integrated stand. The USB Type-C port also charges at 65W too, which also means your thin and light PC might not need to be plugged into a power source of its own.
HUAWEI MateView GT – The Beast … For Your Gaming Fix
Source: HUAWEI
To be fair, we could never have imagined a world where HUAWEI champions PC gaming five years ago. 2021 is a vastly different time compared to the world of 2015/2016 though. The world is in massive lockdown, and everyone is forced to work from home most of their days. One of the ways people spend their remaining time after work then is to game with friends, or publicly in competitive esports titles. Gaming peripherals has a newfound popularity in 2021, through 2020.
The HUAWEI MateView GT is a product of inevitability, at least in our humble opinions. If you can make an excellent 4K display, why not make a gaming display? That is how the HUAWEI MateView GT came about, we think.
It boasts 1440p (3,440 x 1,440) in resolution and the ultra-wide 21:9 display ratio is preferred here. Of course, all that is an influence of the most popular set-up a gaming PC has today. It refreshes at 165Hz as well, which is on par with some of the most advanced gaming displays of the modern world. At 34-inch, the ultra-wide display will also pretty much take up your whole desk space. It is a curved display though, so you do not need to strain to see from edge to edge.
At a glance, you know it is made for gaming with a light strip along the base of the monitor. The slick and slim bars that holds the entire weight of the monitor is painted black too, just so you are not distracted from gaming. But there is more than meets the eyes with this monitor though.
Firstly, to make it fully immersive, HUAWEI ensures that it does not just pack a lot of pixels. The pixels has to display accurate colour information and must look great as well. The display covers 90% of DCI-P3 colour gamut. Its 1 billion colours is also displayed in HDR10 glory at 4000:1 contrast ratio for the best visual experience you can get in a display.
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
OIn top of all of that, the light bar that stretches the width of the base of the monitor is not just for show. It is a touch sensitive volume control bar for the sound bar that is the base of the monitor. It packs two 5W speakers, which may not sound like much, but it does provide with you with immersive stereo experience to go with your gaming. That also means that you do not need to get a separate headphone or speaker set-up to get going. There are even two built-in speakers on the MateView GT itself, for you to communicate with your team mates or rivals in heated gaming sessions.
If you have multiple gaming devices, you can hook up to four devices at the same time. You get two HDMI 2.0 ports, for you PlayStation, or Xbox, or Nintendo Switch. You have one DisplayPort for your gaming PC, and another USB Type-C port for your productivity machine. The USB port can also be used to charge your devices too.
Pricing and Availability
The HUAWEI MateView and MateView GT is now available for pre-order (7th – 21st July). You can pre-order yours now via HUAWEI’s Online Store. Of course, you can also head down to HUAWEI’s official store on Shopee and Lazada to pre order both the MateView and MateView GT. The HUAWEI MateView retails at MYR 2,988 while the MateView GT retails at 2,488 with MYR 100 rebate for each pre-order. Each pre-order also entitles you to a complementary HUAWEI WiFi AX3 Dual Core router capable of WiFi 6 networking.
HUAWEI launched their MatePad Pro series last year, to be fair. It had a 10.8-inch display, and it comes with a clever magnetic keyboard case and an M-Pencil that really adds up to your productivity. 10.8-inch, while quite large in a lot of cases, could be bigger. For 2021, HUAWEI launches the HUAWEI MatePad Pro 12.6-inch.
What is the difference? Internally, not much.
The HUAWEI MatePad Pro 12.6 comes with a very powerful Kirin 9000E 5G (up to) System on a Chip (SoC) still. At this point, the HiSilicon Kirin 9000E 5G processor with 5nm architecture is still HUAWEI’s most powerful and advanced processor to date. That processor is paired to an ample 8GB of RAM to ensure that you can easily and smoothly multitask like a champ. There is also 1256GB is memory, which is ample for mobile devices today.
Out the back is a 13-Megapixel main shooter supported by an 8-Megapixel ultra-wide sensor and a Time-of-Flight 3D sensor for great looking photos. The MatePad Pro 10.8-inch only comes with a single 13-Megapixel camera out the back. Both devices come with an 8-Megapixel front facing camera that hides in a punch hole at one corner of the device’s display though. The rear camera is also capable of shooting videos at 4K resolution.
Source: HUAWEI
The new 2021 MatePad Pro comes with a 12.6-inch display though, compared to a 10.8-inch display of the older MatePad Pro. The 12.6-inch display shows you 2,560 x 1,600 resolution. It is an OLED display too, which also means even better colours. To be specific, the 12.6-inch OLED display boasts DCI-P3 colour gamut for good measure.
Of course, a larger screen comes with a bigger battery at 10,050 mAh compared to the 7,250 mAh on the MatePad Pro 10.8-inch. It still features 40W super charging (via USB Type-C) and fast wireless charging too in case you need more battery life out of your HUAWEI MatePad Pro 12.6-inch.
Source: HUAWEI
There is another difference between the HUAWEI MatePad Pro 10.8-inch and 12.6-inch is more than skin deep though. The older HUAWEI MatePad Pro 10.8-inch runs on EMUI 11. The new MatePad Pro 12.6-inch runs on HUAWEI’s new Harmony OS 2. That said, the HUAWEI MatePad Pro 10.8-inch that ships out now onward will run on Harmony OS 2 as well.
Harmony OS 2 is built to be a productivity beast though. With the HUAWEI MateBook series notebook PCs, the HUAWEI MatePad 12.6-inch can work as a secondary display and an external storage as well. You can work on your notebook and share items between the tablet and notebook when you need to and very seamlessly at that.
On top of all of these, the HUAWEI MatePad Pro 12.6-inch is available with an updated HUAWEI M-Pencil. The 2nd Generation M-Pencil is built for a better and more natural feel of a regular pencil when you use it with HUAWEI’s MatePad series devices. At the same time the HUAWEI MatePad can be paired to the bigger magnetic keyboard too, in case the 10.8-inch variant feels a little cramped.
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
The HUAWEI MatePad Pro 12.6-inch is immediately available in Matte Grey colour option. It will set you back MYR 3,999. You can get your’s from HUAWEI’s official online store, and partnering online retailers including Shopee, Lazada, and Senheng. The HUAWEI MatePad Pro in Olive Green will be available for pre-order from the 7th July 2021 onward. The pre-order of the Olive Green variant of the HUAWEI MatePad Pro entitles you to a HUAWEI Classic Backpack, one month VIP access to HUAWEI Video, six TVOD passes, and free three months access to 50GB of HUAWEI Cloud Storage. More information on the HUAWEI MatePad Pro 12.6-inch on HUAWEI’s website.
Huawei recently announced their new MatePad Pro series internationally. The new tablet is Huawei’s latest take on a productivity centered tablet and it’s making its way to Malaysia. The new tablet goes up for pre-orders starting today, June 10 2021.
Enhance Your Productivity
The Huawei MatePad Pro comes with a relatively large 12.6-inch OLED display which comes with a WQHD+ resolution of 2560×1600 pixels. The tablet’s high-resolution display comes in a slim body measuring only 6.7mm thick. The slim body and large display allow users to get more done; especially with Huawei’s implementation of multiwindow which allows users to use more than one app at a time. Enhance your productivity further by pairing the tablet with the new magnetic keyboard or M-Pencil.
Huawei has built the MatePad Pro with the thinnest bezels for the best viewing experience. The 90.1% screen to body ratio allows for an uninterrupted viewing experience. The MatePad Pro is also one of the first tablets to come with a professionally calibrated display. The OLED display has an ∆E lower than 0.5. This allows users to use the tablet for colour sensitive work without lugging around a heavy professional, purpose-built laptop. Using the tablet for long hours shouldn’t be an issue either as it comes with Eye Comfort mode. The lowered blue light emissions help reduce eye strain and fatigue.
You can even use the MatePad Pro as an extension of your PC with the many features that Huawei has built into it. The tablet can now bridge the gap between your devices. The Tablet-PC multiscreen collaboration capabilities allow you to use the tablet as an extension of your PC or even a collaborative surface. The Mirror, Extend and Collaborate Modes allows you to decide what works for your workflow. Files can even be transferred wirelessly between devices by simply dragging and dropping.
Power-packed to Relax & Unwind
That said, the Huawei MatePad Pro isn’t just a workhorse. The tablet can also be your companion even when you relax and unwind. The display and built-in Harman/Kardon tuned speakers allows users to lose themselves in their content. The screen will also adapt and optimise according to the content displayed thanks to Huawei’s ClariVu technology. Gaming on the tablet will take advantage of the vibrant colours of the OLED panel while the speakers will produce immersive sounds to complete the experience.
The MatePad Pro comes with the new Kirin 9000E processor which is power efficient and packs a punch! It will be able to handle almost anything thanks to the enhanced efficiency of the Neural Processor and the synergistic tuning of the overall SoC. Paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of onboard memory, the tablet is built for both work and play. The new tablet also supports WiFi 6 for better connectivity and with the large, 10,050mAh battery with 40W SuperCharge, you’ll be ready for all-day performance.
Pricing & Availability
The 12.6-inch Huawei MatePad Pro will be available in Matte Grey in only the 8GB and 256GB configuration. It will retail for MYR3,999 (USD$971.05).
The MatePad Pro will be available for pre-order starting today, 10 June 2021, from the Huawei Store Online, Huawei Experience Stores, Lazada and Shopee. Pre-orders will come with freebies worth up to MYR1,747 which include the 2nd Generation M-Pencil, the Huawei Magnetic Keyboard and more.
Pre-order & Win
Users who pre-order the tablet can also stand a chance to win another MatePad Pro with the 2nd Generation M-Pencil. Simply head to the Huawei Store Online and answer the questions correctly, submit your order number and submit the required information. Winners will be announced on Huawei Mobile Malaysia’s Facebook page on 21 June 2021 at 2pm. Submissions close at 11:59pm on 17 June 2021.
Smartphone cameras have been on a roll in the past two years. OnePlus launches their OnePlus 9 flagship series in partnership with Hasselblad, OPPO’s Find X3 Pro comes with a microscopic lens, Samsung pushing technology with 108-Megapixel sensors, Sony even pushing the limits of their 12-Megapixel sensors with their Alpha camera knowhow. These are nothing new, to be fair. Co-branding smartphone cameras with big camera brand names started with Nokia and Zeiss. The phenomenon hit the main stage with HUAWEI and Leica’s big partnership since the HUAWEI P9.
With the advancement in camera technology on smartphones though, has these brands made proper cameras obsolete? While nothing bigger sensor still has its own advantages in terms of low-light performance and detail, smartphone cameras have progressed so much with the software that they are paired with that even low-light photography is a breeze with a smartphone. The advancement of smartphone technology also made it easier for you to get the shots you want in less time and less work than a DSLR or mirrorless.
What does this mean for dedicated cameras though? Does this mean we can replace these kinds of stuff with the small slate in our pockets? Or, should you still spend your hard-earned money on a proper camera that could set you back anywhere between half the price of a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to multiple flagship smartphones? We discuss this in this episode of Tech & Tonic.
Pre-order your Acer Nitro 5 gaming notebook with AMD’s Ryzen 7 5800H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPU from Acer from the 27th to 29th April 2021!
Show Notes:
Apple’s iPad Pro launched last week and to everyone’s surprise, comes with Apple’s highly acclaimed M1 chip. The Apple M1 processor is the same M1 processor you can find on the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. This also makes Apple’s iPad Pro one of the most powerful tablets in the world sporting iPadOS. The true potential of a computing class processor in a mobile device is still yet unknown. We are suspecting that Apple will reveal the benefits and unlock the iPad Pro’s ultimate potential in the times to come.
This brings us to the issue that is the current state of Android tablets though. There were only two tablets that could technically compete alongside the iPad Pro in its previous form. The two tablets are from Samsung, in the form of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+, and HUAWEI in the form of the HUAWEI MatePad Pro. With the new generation iPad Pro with M1 chip though, those two tablets now look like regular tablets that compete with the regular iPad. So what is the problem with Android tablets? We discuss this on the new episode of Tech & Tonic.
The HUAWEI MateBook Series, if we are being honest, is some of the best ways to spend your money if you are looking for a reasonably priced notebook PCs with premium build and functions. If you own a HUAWEI device, the MateBook series are the devices that you want to work with, especially when it comes to transferring and sharing files across your devices. Sadly, that OneHop feature only works across HUAWEI devices for now.
2021 has rolled in full and of course, it is that time to start updating your devices. HUAWEI releases their 2021 line-up of MateBook devices so that you have options to upgrade your devices to. They released the new MateBook D 14, MateBook D 15 (two variants), MateBook 14, and MateBook X Pro.
Source: HUAWEI
11th Generation Intel Power
The HUAWEI MateBook D 14, MateBook D 15, MateBook 14, and MoateBook X Pro will be powered by Intel’s 11th Generation Core processor for maximum power. The 11th Generation Intel processors are an improvement over the older generation chip with Intel’s latest and most advanced 10nm SuperFin process to make it even more powerful and efficient than before. Of course, you can opt up to an Intel Core i7 for the flagship level HUAWEI MateBook X Pro. You also can opt for up to 16GB of RAM to support the powerful processor.
FullView Display
While the design will remain mostly the same from previous generation MateBooks, all the MateBook series for 2021 will retain the immersive and iconinc FullView display with a unique screen ratio ranging from 13-inch (MateBook X Pro) to 15-inch (MateBook D 15). The FullView displays are meant to be immersive and displays with narrow bezels at the top and sides of the notebook. Of course, they are TÜV Rheinland certified in reducing blue light exposure to protect your eyes.
WiFi 6 Capabilities
Source: HUAWEI
What is a 2021 notebook when it cannot support WiFi 6? A Notebook stuck in the 2019s of course. WiFi 6, while not technically a new technology has changed the way we work outside and with our notebooks today. The HUAWEI MateBook series for 2021 will come with WiFi 6 as standard. That also means you get faster networking speeds with more stability to get more things done outside of your office. Of course, your router has to support WiFi 6 as well.
HUAWEI Share
Of course, one of the biggest appeals when it comes to HUAWEI Notebooks is the HUAWEI Share ability. HUAWEI Share allows you to place your smartphone display and even tablet display on top of Windows on the HUAWEI MateBook series. That also means that you do not have to reach out to your smartphones to make a call, text a friend, or even read through messages and notifications. You can do that from the comfort of your desktop display on the HUAWEI MateBook series for 2021.
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Source: HUAWEI
Price and Availability
The HUAWEI MateBook 2021 series will be available 24th April 2021 onward. The notebooks are available for pre-order from the 20th to 23rd April 2021 on HUAWEI’s very own Online Store. If you happen to be one of the first 1,500 customers to pre-order any HUAWEI MateBook 2021 series products, you can enjoy some exclusive free gifts worth up to MYR 800.
The HUAWEI MateBook D 14 will be available in Mystic Silver at MYR 3,499 onward. The HUAWEI MateBook D 15 comes in either an 11th Generation Intel Core processor trim or a 10th Generation Intel Core processor trim at MYR 3,299 and MYR MYR 3,899 onward respectively in Mystic Silver. The HUAWEI MateBook 14 will come in Space Grey colour option at MYR 4,899 onward. Lastly, the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro will come in a unique Emerald Green colour option for MYR 6,899 onward. For more information on the 2021 series of HUAWEI MateBook notebooks, you can visit HUAWEI’s website.
HUAWEI is now more than just smartphones. They are an ecosystem of products that forms a bigger picture of Internet of Things (IoT). HUAWEI has been making products other than smartphones for a while now though. The only issue is that you do not know about it because they do not make those things available in Malaysia.
One of their most successful products from China is their televisions. Yes, you read that right, televisions. Now, you can experience that too, in the HUAWEI Vision S, touted to be available in Malaysia now.
Here is the thing though; why should you buy a television from HUAWEI? There are other smart TVs around that you probably have been eyeing for a while now. You get really good options from the likes of Sony, LG, and Samsung. If you need something that fits a smaller budget, and still want 4K with smart TV functions, there are manufacturers like HAIER, TLC, and even HiSense.
The HUAWEI Vision S 65 is and interesting and compelling product on its own though. It has its own smart TV functions, and its packs quite powerful speakers. All of that costs less than MYR 5,000 too. That said, should you actually consider buying this hardware? We find out.
Design
Right out of the bat though, we have a problem with the 65-incher HUAWEI Vision S. It barely fits our TV surface. Then again, our TV surface is made for TVs at up to 55-inch. The good news is that its legs still fit on the surface and we can work with the TV at a comfortable angle. That is more of an us problem than HUAWEI problem though.
They say that the simply straight and somewhat plain legs that comes with the TV is inspired by ice skates. But its design and angle help make the TV look like it is somewhat floating when you place it on any surface. It hides itself well is what we are saying. Its minimalist design cues help the projecting surface stand out a little bit more and does not leave too much dead space below the TV. In that sense, we like that very much.
The rest of the front silhouette of the TV is pretty much an expected thing. It has thin bezels, like any modern smart TV you can buy today, even the super cheap ones. Really, the thing that should stand out on a modern TV should be its projecting panel, in this case the LCD panel on this large glass thing in front of you.
Once you move to the side of the TV though, there is a small difference between this HUAWEI Vision S and a lot of the modern Smart TVs. The I/O panel is on the right side of the TV instead of the left. While it is not that big of an issue in most cases, if you are used to something that came out of Sony, or LG, or even Samsung, you might want to reconsider rearranging some of your things to fit that layout. Either that, or make sure that you extend your HDMI or AUX cables a little bit.
Other than those though, nothing really makes the HUAWEI Vision S stands out compared to other TVs with its projection panel turned off. Just like any other modern Smart TV, it is just a slab of glass you can either rest on a shelf or hang on the wall. You can turn it into a digital photo frame if you really want too.
Features
What differentiates a TV from one another is usually their features. What separates this HUAWEI Smart TV and other Smart TVs in the market is the Operating System (OS) on it. That OS is also unique to this TV only and will come in the other HUAWEI TV that will come later. They call it HarmonyOS, and it is unlike any other TV OS we have come across, which may not be entirely a good thing.
Keep in mind that the unit we are reviewing is a China unit and there may be some differences between it and the official Malaysian unit. For one, the Malaysian unit will not have VMall pre-installed, and there will not be any exercise guide app. The Malaysian unit also will not have as much content within the App Gallery.
Webcam – MeeTime and Family Photo Time
While we are going to go into HarmonyOS, we first have to talk about the thing that is sticking out of the TV, or the optional item that could stick out of the top of the TV, its camera. When we say optional, it comes with the TV when you buy it. You can choose to keep it detached, however.
If you choose to attach it to the TV, the procedure is pretty simple. Just line up the gold pins to the port on the back of the top of the TV and the webcam will snap in place. HUAWEI also includes a cap to protect the gold pins on the TV just in case you do not want the webcam in place. For a TV, the webcam sticking out looks quite odd to us. If you are buying this for a meeting room though, you might be glad to know that it comes with a webcam, and you do not need to buy one
There is a caveat however, it is a HUAWEI device after all. That also means that it does not work like an Android TV and it has limited apps available to it. That means, you cannot just pick up the TV remote and start a video call on it on any app.
There is only one app you can use for video calls on the HUAWEI Vision S currently and that is MeeTime. MeeTime, as you may have found, can only be used with other HUAWEI devices. So, if your entire office uses HUAWEI’s most current devices, you are good. If not, you are out of luck, because you cannot use it to make calls to anyone else.
If you do have friends with a current HUAWEI device that supports MeeTime though, you are going to get a very cool Full HD video calling capability That also means that you get very crisp, very clear videos transmissions. Audio is not half bad too. Sadly, we do not have enough people using MeeTime in the office to test it out.
Of course, you can also use the webcam to take a family photo of sorts. It is a 13-Megapixel camera, good enough for most social media use and even sharing it with your friends or family. Of course, you need to make sure to share the photo to your smartphone first before sharing it out. That, or you can just use it as a wallpaper for the TV. Make sure you have the Home Vision app for that though.
HarmonyOS on top of Honghu 818– Mirror, Control, and Mirror Control
This brings us to HarmonyOS, a sort of peculiar TV OS that is, on its own, quite brilliant. Once you compare it to other TV Systems though, it starts to show a lot of cracks. We do not know how to feel about the HUAWEI Vision S mostly because of HarmonyOS.
HarmonyOS looks great on the 65-inch panel. We are guessing that it will translate nicely on the smaller 55-inch display too. We like it because it looks pretty, it is smooth, it looks light.
Navigating through the interface is a breeze as well. Everything is laid out clearly and all of them are labelled properly. The settings make plenty of sense and is very intuitive as well.
We like how minimal and simple the remote is though. It is a far fetch from TV remotes of old. The minimalist approach is also remarkably similar to Samsung’s approach with TV remotes these days. The extra space below the buttons are not wasted too, because it is an NFC detection panel, for One Hop sharing features from your smartphone to the TV and vice versa.
That feature itself makes the Vision S a compelling purchase. Only thing is that it only works with HUAWEI devices. Then again, the unit we have is China unit. The HUAWEI Home Vision app will be available the Google Play Store when the official Malaysian units launches, so we do not know if HUAWEI will bring the One Hop feature for the Vision S TV available to other Android devices.
Home Vision App
The Home Vision app will allow you to do a few things with the TV via your smartphone. You can use your smartphone as a regular remote control. You can also control the TV via mirroring the TV on the smartphone screen itself.
You can fire up MeeTime directly from the app itself too. You do not need to go into the TV to even pick your contacts. All you have to do is go into the Home Vision app itself and fire up MeeTime from the home page.
Limited Screen Mirroring
Of course, all Smart TVs should be able to do simple screen mirroring from your smartphone today. The HUAWEI Vision S can do that too, of course. But take it with a pinch of salt though, it does not scale all the way to 4K. Most of the time, you get up to Full HD resolution when you mirror your smartphone to the display.
We use a HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra to mirror its contents to the display. This is also the only way you are going to get Netflix contents to project on the TV, if you are using the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro. If you are on other Android devices, you may not be able to get Netflix on the TV. You most likely will not get Amazon Prime Video on the TV panel, we tried on both the HUAWEI Mate 40 Pro and Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
If you have a HUAWEI device though, you do not have to dig through your smartphone settings to mirror your display. All you need to do is to tap your device to the remote’s OneHop NFC receiver area, and you get your TV to display what your smartphone displays. Keep in mind that for you to get a full screen experience though, you want to make sure that you are displaying in HUAWEI Desktop Mode instead. Again, not all apps can be mirrored from the smartphone.
Hey Celia!
This is one feature we did not try extensively on the HUAWEI Vision S because the unit we have is a China unit. We got a quick hands-on the official Malaysian unit before its launch though. We have to say that the AI assistant is responsive and sensitive enough to voice inputs even though you may be sitting four feet away from the TV. That is a good thing, you can sort of lose your remote in this case. The only issue is that it is no Google Assistant, so there could only be so much you can do if you do not own other HUAWEI devices at home.
HUAWEI Video and Music
Despite the lack of Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video, or even YouTube, there are still things you can watch on the TV though. HUAWEI’s Video and Music platform still has a selection of movies and TV series to work with. Although, you will have to live with less contents than the likes of Netflix and Prime Video. Even HUAWEI Music’s library will not be as extensive as Spotify or even Tidal.
Performance
Yes, there are shortcoming on the HUAWEI Vision S. The shortcomings are mostly with the HarmonyOS. In that sense, its hardware does shine through.
65-inch of 120Hz 4K Goodness
HUAWEI did not specify the sort of projection panel they use on the HUAWEI Vision S. We suspect that they are probably working with an IPS panel. There is a reason for our suspicion, more on that later.
HUAWEI claims a DCI-P3 colour gamut of up to 92%, and TUV Rheinland certified Low Blue Light and Flicker Free certification. They also claim that the panel produces vivid, vibrant colours very close to what you might see in real life. We believe them.
We say that the display could very well be an IPS display because of the colour reproduction of the TV panel. Videos and images looks amazing on the HUAWEI Vision S. While HUAWEI did not mention anything about local dimming features, there is very little colour bleeding on bring images with black background. The blacks are really deep as well when it needs to be.
Colours, as per HUAWEI, are super vivid and vibrant. Vibrant films like ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ shines on the Vision S. While it is a shame we could not test Netflix or Prime Video films natively on the Vision S, we were able to test the TV with our contents at 4K as well. Yes, they look really good too.
The Honghu 818 processor is also not just to keep the TV trundling along at a respectable pace. It can also upscale Full HD contents to 4K when it recognises it. Since it is also a 120Hz panel, the processor also scales to 120 frames a second when it can. That also means that you get very smooth viewing experience too at 4K.
The thing is though, when you upscale contents, you tend to get some screen tears and even weird shadow flickers. You tend to not notice too much of that on the HUAWEI Vision S though. What we are trying to say is that even Full HD movies that plays at 30fps tend to look really good on the HUAWEI Vision S. Of course, you would get the full benefit of 4K and 120Hz when you game on it.
HUAWEI Sound – Do You Really Need a Soundbar
This is another thing we really liked about the HUAWEI Vision S. We usually would recommend our friends to get a good piece of sound bar to really elevate their entertainment experience. There are just a few TV out in the market that may not need a sound bar to work with, if you are on a budget.
The HUAWEI Vision S is one of those TVs that we think may not need a soundbar to work with. That is because HUAWEI bothered to fit this TV with four speakers within the TV. The result of the four speakers really changes what we know about modern Smart TVs with the kind of dimensions modern TVs boasts.
There is a lot of detail coming from the quad speaker array on the HUAWEI Vision S. We expected the speakers to sound a little on the weak side. That is the total opposite of what you will get on the HUAWEI Vision S though. The audio profile is pretty much powerful in all ranges of frequencies.
Of course, there will be some benefits to a soundbar. You get dedicated woofers that would really enhances the lower frequencies for bigger booms. But they have not forgotten on the higher frequencies too.
This also means that you can even enjoy music on the TV itself. To save some power the HUAWEI Vision S still can play audio without the display being on. Again though, the HUAWEI Music App is a little limited currently. You can connect your smartphones to the TV via screen mirroring and play music via Spotify or Tidal though.
Gaming on the HUAWEI Vision S
With 4K 120Hz, the HUAWEI Vision S is really made for the new next-gen gaming consoles. The Sony PlayStation 5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X are made to handle games at 4K at up to 120fps to fully take advantage of high refresh-rate displays like the HUAWEI Vision S. Unfortunately, we do not posses any of the next-gen console just yet.
We have a PlayStation 4 Pro and Nintendo Switch though. We also tried plugging our gaming PCs to the TV, for the native high refresh-rate support. We must say that we are impressed here too.
While Nintendo Switch does not scale up to 4K, most of the games on Nintendo Switch are made with more vibrant colours and softer textures in mind compared to detailed, sharp graphics. Vibrant colours shine on the HUAWEI Vision S. Animal Crossing: New Horizons look gorgeous on the 65-inch panel because the colours look so vivid and sweet. God of War on PlayStation 4 Pro looks amazing too. Of course, there is no 120Hz here. Thing is HUAWEI’s Vision S will try to scale it up a little to 120Hz. It is barely noticeable though because you are just blown away by the colours and details you get on games like God of War. You technically can play CS:GO and push the fps boundaries to 120Hz if you connect your PC. But you would have to sit a little further away too. Thankfully though, the blacks are so black and detailed that you still can see the darker spots when you play games like PUBG.
HUAWEI’s website markets its gaming capabilities via your smartphone though. Obviously, we gave that a go. But then again, you are just mirroring your smartphone’s content on the display, so there is nothing too special there. There are also games within the HUAWEI Vision S’s HarmonyOS AppGallery. We did not try any of them though.
HUAWEI Vision S – Yes, But No
HUAWEI’s Vision S (65-inch as tested) commands MYR 3,999 in asking price. If you go for the one smaller, at 55-inch, it will set you back MYR 2,999. While you might want to say that the commanding price is what we call expensive, you might want to hold back your horses though. HUAWEI mentions that the Vision S is meant to go up against models like Samsung’s latest AU9000 series TV. That also means the HUAWEI is also in the league of Sony’s X80H TV and LG’s UN74 series TV. Against the competition, the HUAWEI suddenly looks like a bargain at MYR 3,999. The difference in price is up to MYR 1,000 compared to its competition.
Where the HUAWEI Vision S falls apart though is the contents itself. It is the only Smart TV to feature the HarmonyOS and Honghu 818 CPU. In all fairness, HarmonyOS and Honghu 818 works like a charm, they work great; we like them.
While it does look like a bargain, I would still suggest you consider getting the Sony or the LG TV hard. While there can be a significant price difference between the TVs, we would say contents and compatibility matter. In the case of the HUAWEI Vision S, you might want to consider getting and Android TV box, or Apple TV box, or plug in a PC, and even a gaming console to get to contents you want and love. We resorted to relying on our Sony PlayStation 4 Pro to get Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, and even Spotify working.
The HUAWEI Vision S is an enticing product, with its excellent colour reproduction that rivals even other higher end TVs. It even has sound system we can stand behind, because the four speakers are that good. But to us, its content matters. We really wanted to like it, but we could not.
