What They Say
GSMArena had a look at the Huawei Mate Pad which is a 10.3″ device using a bluetooth pen-supporting Carta HD E Ink display with 1872 x 1404 resolution (227ppi). It is based on HarmonyOS 2.0, optimised for the device. Battery life is long and there is 22.5W fast charger that can give two hours of reading in five minutes. Storage is 64GB and RAM is 4GB and device uses the Kirin 820E chipset which is the same platform as used in the Huawei nova 8 smartphone. Pricing is around €500 but availability is limited and it’s not sold in the US.
The site quite liked the look of the display, but found the pen response to be a problem. Writing works, but is frustrating.
We also found a review on the Good eReader site that didn’t like the pen (and that it is exclusive to Huawei) but thought it was “hands down the most gorgeous e note of all time”. There is a video review here.
What We Think
Latency with the pen would be a big frustration. Recently I had a call from a family member that has been looking at getting a reMarkable or something like this. I said, “Why not get a tablet so that you can see colour and video”. The family member admitted that part of the attraction was that there’s no likely distraction with video! I hadn’t thought of that. Still, I think the weak response to the pen could be a disadvantage if I was recommending this device. (BR)
