The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 was released to the Nigerian market late in 2014 (last year). I was present at the launch and was impressed. The design of the phone and the way the Dual SIM was implemented was one of the few things that moved me. People who do not like using Dual SIM phones will love it, I bet you.
The Huawei Ascend Mate has a single SIM and a Dual SIM version. But only the Dual SIM version that has the gold colour is being sold in the Nigerian market. The phone really does look gorgeous from the packaging to the phone itself.
Meet the Huawei Ascend Mate 7
At 6 inches, Huawei brought their A game in designing the phone. I have used a 6 inches phone (Nokia Lumia 1520) before. The Lumia 1520 is huge and the screen to body ratio is 71.4%, which is the reason the Lumia 1520 feels larger than the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 when holding the two phones in one hand. The screen to body ratio of the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is 83%; this is the reason the phone is 6 inches, but feels like a Note 4 at 5.5 inches.
Full Specification of the Huawei Ascend Mate 7
| Size | 6.0 inches (83% screen-to-body ratio) |
| Resolution | 1080 x 1920 pixels (368 ppi pixel density) |
| DIsplay type and protection | IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16 M colours; Corning Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Operating System | Android OS, 4.4.2 (KitKat) Emotion UI 3.0 |
| Chipset | HiSilicon Kirin 925 |
| CPU | Quad-core 1.8 Ghz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex A7 |
| Memory | External — MicroSD, up to 128 GB (uses SIM 2 slot)Internal — 32 GB, 3 GB of RAM (there’s a 16 GB version with 2 GB of RAm, but not available in the Nigerian market) |
| Camera | Front – 13 MP, 4128 x3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flashBack – 5 MP, 720p |
| Video | 1080p @ 30fps |
| NFC | Yes |
| Radio | FM radio |
| USB | microUSB v2.0, USB Host |
| Sensor | Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Battery | Non-removable Li-Po 4100 mAh battery |
| Release date | October 2014 |
Huawei has been a top player in telecommunication equipments and softwares for long. In recent times, they ventured into smartphones. They are no 2 globally, but are just beginning to focus on the Nigerian market. The Chipset used for this phone was made in house by Huawei as well as many of the other designs of the phone. This is a Huawei phone. How does the phone perform in design, software, photography, apps and services and audio?
Design
The screen-to-body ratio ensures that the phone at 6 inches isn’t too large. The phone is slim and fits perfectly in my hand. The function buttons are on-screen. You can easily hold the phone is landscape mode without fear of hitting the function keys when playing games or doing some other things on the phone is landscape mode.
To the left of the phone is one micro SIM tray and a second tray that acts as the spot for a microSD card or a nano SIM card. There is a pin that shipped with the phone that can be used to open the trays with ease. To the right is the volume rocker and power button. In front of the phone is the earpiece (to the top of the phone). Beside the earpiece is the front facing camera and a sensor.
At the back of the phone is the 13 MP camera, the LED flash and the fingerprint sensor. Then there’s a Huawei logo at the bottom of the phone. Besides the SIM tray, there is no other part of the phone that can be taken apart without you possessing some kind of superpower and special tools. Aha! The phones unibody design means there is limit to moving parts and the phone end up being more durable.
Software
The Mate 7 is powered by Android 4.4.2 KitKat laced with a Huawei Skin called the Emotion UI 3.0. Android allows third party skins (usually called launchers) to be installed. This means that if you are not happy with the Emotion UI 3.0, you can always install the one of your choice from the Play Store.
The Emotion UI means that there are no app trays–all the apps are on the homescreen like it is on iPhones. But it is possible for one to add apps to folders on these homescreens. Huawei must have excellent software designers in house. There is a battery activity monitor that ships with all Android phones, but Huawei built an extra one with the Mate 7, it is called Consumption Reminder (it appears in the notification bar any time an app is draining too much power and gives you an option to shut it down right there. You do not have to navigate deep into settings to shut this culprit up. In settings, this feature can be found under Power Saving.
Huawei bundled a very huge 4100 mAh battery with the phone, but never stopped at that, they added another layer of intelligence that allows the phone monitor the apps that are draining too much power and gives the user the option to shut those apps up. I find this feature pretty and nifty. Most apps (like Google Contacts, Google Account Manager) that sync with the cloud drais so much battery power.
Other nifty software features
Motion control. This feature allows one to place a ringing phone (or an alarm) face down and the phone stops ringing or blaring if you are in a meeting.
Another aspect of the motion control is Pick Up; reduce the ringtone of incoming calls automatically and also reduce the volume of timers and alarm. I found this useful in an open office where I work. It only shows consideration when you do not allow your ringing or balring phone to cause menace to other people.
Rise to ear; when a call comes in, just raise it to your ear to answer, you do not have to manually pick up the call, aha! Also, from the call contact app, you can raise the phone to your ear and call the corresponding number.
Battery Performance
The 4100 mAh battery is enough to carry me for a whole day and never died at the end of the day. This is possible because the battery is big, there are power management functions that were built into the phone (mentioned above already under software).
You can also use the Mate 7 to charge another device using the special charging wire that came in the box. You do not have to buy a separate wire to enjoy this feature.
The Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is a strong contender with the iPhone 6/6 Plus, Samsung GALAXY Note 4 and HTC One M8. This gold, 3 GB RAM and 32 GB storage version that is being sold in Nigeria is going for N108,000 on SLOT.
Time will fail me if I keep going on and on about the Huawei Ascend Mate 7.
