Huawei Mate 10 Pro Hands On
Two weeks ago, we took a look at Huawei's Mate 10, their latest flagship device. But the Mate 10 is not the only phone that Huawei announced at their launch event. Huawei also launched the Mate 10 Pro, a costlier variant of the Mate 10.
Which should you get? The answer isn't as obvious as it sounds.
Design - Same Same But Different
The Mate 10 Pro and Mate 10 share a very similar design, but there are some major differences. The most obvious of them all is the 6" 18:9 display on the front of the Mate 10 Pro, versus the 5.9" 16:9 display found on the regular Mate 10.
From my hands on, the size of both displays isn't very different: The Mate 10 Pro's is taller, but not as wide. Which is better? There is no straightforward answer. For me, I am not a fan of 18:9 displays and would prefer the Mate 10's fatter display.
Due to the difference in display size, the Mate 10 Pro is slightly taller than the regular Mate 10, but slightly smaller in width. Both devices are similar in thickness and the Mate 10 Pro is ever so slightly lighter. Both are too big for one-handed use.
The taller 18:9 display meant that Huawei had to shift the fingerprint scanner to the back of the phone. Reaching for the fingerprint scanner on such a big device isn't very easy, especially if you have small hand. Other than that, the back of both devices look identical.
On the Mate 10 Pro, we lose a headphone jack, but in exchange we get IP67 water and dust resistance, which was absent on the regular Mate 10. The IR blaster found on the Mate 10 also makes an appearance on the Mate 10 Pro, allowing to use it as a remote controller.
Display - Not Just a Difference in Size
I mentioned about the difference in aspect ratio above, but the differences does not stop there. The Mate 10 Pro uses an OLED panel while the regular Mate 10 uses IPS LCD. From what I observed, the Mate 10 Pro's display is more vibrant, but whites turned out a little blueish.
Camera - Looking Good
The Mate 10 Pro is equipped with the same rear cameras found on the Mate 10. I was unable to get any sample shots in my Mate 10 hands on, but I managed to get it on the Mate 10 Pro. Below is a comparison between the Mate 10 Pro's camera (L) and the iPhone SE's camera (R).
(Untouched: L - Mate 10 Pro, R - iPhone SE)
Both photos have really natural colors, but due to the higher resolution of the Mate 10 Pro's rear camera, photo taken by the Mate 10 Pro had more details. Zooming in on the headphone boxes, you can see that the words are sharper on the Mate 10.
(Cropped: L - Mate 10 Pro, R - iPhone SE)
One of the features enabled by the dual rear camera is 2x hybrid zoom. Zooming in on the images taken with and without hybrid zoom, we can see that the image with hybrid zoom is slightly sharper. Not as good as 2x optical zoom, but still pretty useful.
(Cropped: L - without hybrid zoom, R - with hybrid zoom)
Software - Latest & Greatest
Like the Mate 10, the Mate 10 Pro runs on EMUI 8.0.0, built on Android 8.0 Oreo. This version of EMUI, together with the Mate 10 Pro's powerful Kirin 970 processor, allows you to project it to a monitor and get a desktop experience with a USB Type-C to HDMI cable.
EMUI has a ton of features, which sounds amazing, but that can be a problem. The settings app and camera app are not what I would call user friendly, from my experience with the P10 Plus. If you are not tech savvy, there is a high chance you will get frustrated using it.
Conclusion - Is It Really Better Than the Mate 10?
While the Mate 10 Pro brings a cool looking 18:9 OLED display and water and dust resistance, it loses the headphone jack and the fingerprint scanner gets shifted to the back. Is it S$200 better than the regular Mate 10? For most people, including me, the answer is no.
Unless you need more storage and RAM (128/6GB on Mate 10 Pro vs 64/4GB on Mate 10) or the IP67 water resistance, there is really no reason to get the Mate 10 Pro over the Mate 10.
The Mate 10 Pro is now available for preorder on Lazada for S$1098 and if you do so during the preorder period, you will get a free Logitech wireless keyboard and a HDMI display adapter. Delivery for preorders will begin tomorrow, 10th November 2017.
