Source: Huawei Mate X hands-on review
introduction
“Foldable” is clearly the buzzword of 2019. Well, that and 5G – quite a confusing situation that has caused some apparent confusion among manufacturers. Huawei has clearly opted for a Pokemon approach with the Mate X, “Gotta Catch ‘EM All” – a really head-turning device that both rocks a foldable display and, according to Huawei, is faster 5G connectivity.
However, “rocks” is a bit of a misnomer as the Mate X is far from a finished device ready for the consumer market. In fact, it falls squarely into the prototype category for a number of reasons. Not only did it come by MWC with no hardware details, but it was presented very sparsely, mostly from a distance and often even in a glass box.
This seems to be a common theme when it comes to this first batch of foldable-display phones. The Samsung Galaxy Fold has had very limited exposure. Obviously, the tech isn’t quite ready for prime time – a slightly annoying fact we just had to grapple with at MWC 2019.
All in all, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Mate X in its current form mostly teases from a design standpoint, with almost no hardware details. Still, a first look is better than nothing, so read on for a deeper look into the near future of mobile.
design
We still have a very limited pool of foldable displays to use as reference points from a design perspective. The Samsung Galaxy Fold and a few scattered concept devices are hard to beat. Especially seeing how getting hands-on time with either of them is almost impossible at this point.
That being said, we’re confident enough to say that Huawei’s initial approach to the foldable trend is radically different from Samsung’s. Last but not least, Huawei has its panel on the outside of the device.
It remains to be seen whether this is a better approach overall, but there are a few details that stand out. First of all, a panel on the outside is significantly more exposed. With this particular design, there probably won’t be any way to handle the Mate X without you, or a potentially harder surface, coming into contact with part of the screen.
No big deal, right? Just let Gorilla Glass or another flexible alternative do it for you. Well, there is still little information or real-world practical experience when it comes to the durability of this new breed of foldable displays. From our brief exposure to a select few, our first impression is that the finish lacks most of the hard glass feel we’ve grown accustomed to from Corning’s Gorilla Glass offerings. Instead, it feels a little more “silky” if that makes sense. However, we hesitate to call it plastic directly. But even so, the sentiment it exudes isn’t immediately confidence-inspiring.
We’ll leave it at that for now, but it’s worth noting that Huawei will be offering a so-called “full cover case” for the Mate X. Whatever one may look like.
Before we move on to the rest of the Mate X’s body and construction, we have to make a note about its display and more specifically its personal looks. Ever since we saw the first foldable OLED concepts, we’ve been concerned about image fidelity, panel quality, and especially distortion. From what we’ve seen of the Samsung Galaxy Fold on stage, there was definitely a noticeable seam on the display, even when fully unfolded.
Well, this could be a problem with an early prototype. We really hope so. Still, when fully unfolded, the Mate X looks almost perfectly flat and nearly distortion-free. Unfortunately, without a more comprehensive look at one of the two devices, we cannot perform this preliminary comparison.
Bring in any fold angle and distortion becomes the main thing displayed on the Mate X’s seam. Hardly surprising. Huawei is clearly aware of this, as the area of the screen just above the crease is disabled when the Mate X is closed. Of course, foldable phones present challenges that go beyond the display itself. Purely mechanical at that – something the mobile industry had largely abandoned in the past during the era of “slab” design of smartphones. Well the hinge found its way back to blueprints and it’s going to be a very important part of this new breed of devices. Huawei names its design hawk wings.
It has five joints that provide fairly fluid movement. There appears to be a built-in lock when fully open, and while the hinge never appears truly straight, the display appears to lay almost perfectly flat. As we have already mentioned. When fully folded, the Mate X is held in its compact state by a couple of small pins on the inside of a groove on the so-called back of the device?
It’s all pretty relative, of course, but the Mate X has a slightly thicker segment on one end that houses the camera setup and a Type-C connector. Probably less obvious hardware too. Said segment dimensions 11mm and represents exactly the total or maximum thickness of the Mate X. When opened, the displays are just about round 5.4mm viscous.
There could only be one Power button, plus combination of fingerprint reader somewhere on that segment of the phone, as Huawei mentioned it as one of the few Mate X spec details it shared. The side of the phone appears to have a volume rocker and a fingerprint reader underneath. There’s clearly a button under the camera array too, albeit in an admittedly odd spot. Join us on the next page for a rundown of the other hardware details we know about the Mate X.
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