News & Reviews:   Huawei Mate S

Huawei Consumer Business Group has reported a steady growth of 33% in smartphone shipments, up from 7% from the previous quarter for mid-to-high-end devices. In numbers, that's 27.4 million units for three months that ended on the end of September 2015 and representing a year-on-year increase of 63 percent. 

“This quarter’s results clearly showcase the continued success of our growth strategy. We are especially proud of the stellar growth we’ve seen outside of China and the increased demand for our mid-to-high end devices. At this rate, we are confident in our ability to reach our smartphone shipment target of 100 million units by year’s end.” Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG

Asides from launching their premium Huawei Mate S smartphone for Malaysia's masses, Huawei Malaysia also launched the Huawei G8 smartphone and Huawei M2 tablet. The Huawei G8 looks to be the value offer here while offering a full metal body with fast Fingerprint 2.0 fingerprint sensor. The Huawei M2 tablet on the other hand is the successor of the Huawei MediaPad M1, featuring an 8-inch full HD display with dual front Harmon Kardon speakers. Both will be priced at RM1499 and are available starting from today.

The Huawei Mate S was officially launched in Malaysia for RM2698 today and is available at all major distributors and resellers. While at first we felt like it was just another smartphone launch, you really have to take a closer look at the phone firsthand for the excitement to build. Featuring a gold and coral pink coloured metal body that is both curvy and light, we felt that the Mate S feels thinner and more premium than even the Huawei P8. The full tech specs and features for the Huawei Mate S include the following: 

• 64-bit 2.2GHz octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 935 processor
• 3GB RAM
• 64GB storage
• 5.5-inch AMOLED display (FHD 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution, 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 4)
• 13MP rear camera (OIS, RGBW, dual-tone flash) + 8MP front camera (soft light)
• supports 4G LTE, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 
• 149.8 x 75.3 x 7.2mm | 156g
• Android 5.1 + EMUI 3.12700 mAh battery (quick charge)

The Huawei Mate S made a splash at the IFA 2015 as the world's first smartphone to implement a pressure sensitive Force Touch like feature alongside various other high-end functions as well. While we did say that it was expected in September, the invites have already been sent out confirming that the Huawei Mate S will be coming to Malaysia on 27 October 2015.

Huawei recently announced that they got an improved listing on Interbrand's 2015 Best Global Brands report. Previously, Huawei was listed on the 2014 Best Global Brands report at #94 but this year's listing of #88 is mainly due to robust growth in all business segments. For 2014, they recorded US$46.5 billion in annual revenue, a year-over-year increase of 20.6%. Net profits reached US$4.5 billion which is a year-over-year increase of 32.7%.

According to some leaked roadmaps, certain Huawei and Honor smartphones should be getting their Android 6.0 Marshmallow updates. Of course, they'll all be using EMUI so we expect the current EMUI 3.1 to get an upgrade as well. No Malaysia release dates just yet but rumours indicate that the builds will start being made in November, so you can probably expect updates to appear either the end of the year or in 2016. For now, you can check out the lists below to find out if your Huawei or Honor device will be getting an Android 6.0 Marshmallow update.

• Huawei P8
• Huawei Mate 7
• Huawei Mate S
• Huawei P8 Youth Edition
• Huawei P8 Max
• Maimang 4 (Huawei G8 in China)
• Huawei G7 Plus
• Huawei G7
• Honor 7
• Honor 7i
• Honor 6 Plus
• Honor 6
• Honor X2
• Honor 4X
• Honor Play 4C

Apart from their Huawei Mate S and Huawei G8 smartphones, Huawei also announced that their very premium looking Huawei Watch will soon be shipping globally. Granted, Malaysia may not see it this month in September 2015 but we should be getting it in the next couple of months. Featuring a round watch face and 1.4-inch AMOLED display with 400 x 400 pixel resolution the Huawei Watch looks like a traditional watch with a physical crown. The diplay also has two layers of scratch resistant sapphire crystal glass while the body is made from 316L stainless steel. Tech specs will include a a Snapdragon 400 processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, a heart rate monitor and a 300 mAh battery which can last about 2 days on normal use. Bands include black leather, steel link, stainless steel mesh and stainless steel and black link bracelet, alligator pressed brown leather and rose gold plated link bracelet. The body also comes in Black DLC coated stainless steel or Rose Gold-plated stainless steel with pricing starting from $349 (RM1473) to $799 (RM3384). No specific Malaysia release dates but it will begin shipment on 17 September 2015. Stay tuned and we'll keep you updated.

Apart from the Huawei Mate S, Huawei also officially announced the Huawei G8. Featuring a 5.5-inch FHD display with 2.5D curved gorilla glass, 13MP camera with a sapphire crystal layer and OIS the smartphone also packs in a fingerprint sensor with 3000 mAh battery, Dual SIM, Dual Access and Dual 4G LTE. Featuring a premium metal body the G8 obviously takes its design cues from the Huawei P8. Going for 399 british pounds (RM2580) the Huawei G8 is also expected to arrive in Malaysia in September 2015 with an appropriate price drop as well.

Huawei have finally and officially announced their Huawei Mate S smartphone featuring a 2.65 thin (at its thinnest point) all high-grade aluminum chassis with a fingerprint sensor and a force touch equipped 5.5-inch display with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and FHD resolution. According to Huawei, they've included a Fingerprint Sense 2.0 with the fingerprint sensor for faster recognition speed and control in a single touch on top of the Knuckle Sense Technology 2.0 for screen capturing introduced earlier. Explaining the Force Touch for the Mate S, one example is if you press harder on an image it will zoom closer, along with tapping the corners to launch an app. The Force Touch sensor is even sensitive enough to be used as a weighing scale so you can place an object on the screen and get its weight. Other tech specs and features include the 13MP 4-colour RGBW rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization introduced with the Huawei P8 but this time it has a sapphire glass layer for the lens. An 8MP front camera with soft lighting rounds things up along with a more sensitive microphone and a nano coating for water resistance. Unlike the Huawei P8 there is quick charging for the Mate S as 10 minutes will give 2 hours worth of talk time. No Malaysia release dates or pricing details but it is expected to come in September 2015 and is priced from 649 British Pounds (RM4197) but we expect this price to drop accordingly.