It's been a while since I got the Mate 7 at IFA in Berlin and I have been using it on an off since then. As a new member of the AnandTech crew I still had to get the proper equipment to be able to go through our test bench on my own. After lots of delays for which I apologize, we finally take a thorough look at the Huawei's new flagship.

Huawei's been launching new devices at great speed this year. The Ascend Mate 2, which is the Mate 7's literal predecessor was only released earlier in the year, but came only as a more mid-range specced device with corresponding price-tag. Huawei has been gearing up and is now targeting the high-end to try to gain marketshare from other established manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC and Apple. 

Huawei Ascend Mate 7 Specifications
SoC HiSilicon "Kirin 925" Hi3630
(4x A7 @ 1.3GHz & 4x A15 @ 1.8GHz,
Mali T628MP4 @ 600MHz)
RAM/NAND 2/3 GB LPDDR3-1600, 16/32GB NAND
+ microSD
Display 6” 1920x1080 JDI in-cell LTPS 373PPI
Network HiSilicon Balong LTE Cat. 6 300Mbps CA modem (SoC integrated)

Network frequencies (MT7-L09, MT7-TL10, European models):
FDD B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/28, TDD B40
Dimensions (H) 157 x (W) 81 x (D) 7.9mm, 185 grams
Camera 13MP Sony BSI sensor, F2.0 aperture, ISP 5-piece lens
5MP front camera
Battery

4100mAh (15.79 Wh) rated
3.85V battery chemistry

OS Android 4.4.2 "EmotionUI 3.0"
3.10.33 Linux Kernel
Connectivity 802.11a/b/g/n Wifi + BT 4.0, USB2.0, GPS/GLONASS, 
FM radio
SIM Size MicroSIM + NanoSIM
Price

(MT7-L09) 2GB RAM/16GB ROM : 499€
(MT7-TL10) 3GB RAM/32GB ROM : 599€

The Mate 7's most differentiating factor here is the use of Huawei's subsidiary HiSilicon Kirin 925 in-house SoC. If you've been closely following this SoC you will know that I took an in-depth look into this chip in the review of the Huawei Honor 6. I recommend re-reading the SoC page to freshen up yourself on the more intricate details of the silicon, as the Mate 7 employs the same chip with only a slight speed bump on the CPU. In fact, the HiSilicon Kirin 925 seems to be a re-named Kirin 920, as both chips sport the same Hi3630 model number internally. As such, it offers the same fundamental capabilities as the 920: an ARM big.LITTLE design with a quadcore A7 at 1.3GHz and a quadcore A15 at a slightly raised 1.8GHz. Graphics capabilities is delivered by an ARM Mali T628MP4 GPU running at 600MHz, so no change over the Kirin 920.

Again, connectivity is provided by HiSilicon's own integrated Balong LTE Cat. 6 modem. I've mentioned in my review of the Honor 6 that I couldn't test the modem at all due to receiving a Chinese variant only compatible with TDD LTE and TCDMA frequencies and was limited to 2G only. Luckily, the Mate 7 supports a very wide range of frequencies which should make it compatible with all European networks, supporting bands B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/28.

The 16GB model priced at 499€ comes with 2GB of LPDDR3-1600 RAM, while the more expensive 599€ priced model offers 32GB of eMMC storage with 3GB of RAM. Power is provided by a large 4100mAh / 15.79Wh embedded non-replaceable battery. 

In terms of design and build quality, this is Huawei's best attempt to date. The Mate 7 comes in a mostly aluminium frame which covers its sides and most of the back. We find plastic covers at the top and bottom on the device, undoubtedly the RF windows used for the antennas of the various networking components. There is a single large speaker on the lower of the phone, which performs surprisingly well, as it offers a deeper and louder output than the Note 4 which employs a similar design.

The front glass panel is surrounded by a plastic coasted metal rim on the very edges. On my white model, this made for an odd contrast with the metallic look of the sides and back of the device, the black model that I took some photos of back at the announcement which you can see here is definitely a more attractive variant. I'm not too sure why Huawei opted for this plastic coating, as it can be easily damaged during a fall and expose the underlying metal, as a full sturdy plastic rim would have been more sturdy.

With a 6" 1080p display the Mate 7 is well into the phablet category of devices. The dimensions figure at 157 x 81 x 7.9mm, making this one of the biggest phones out there and easily matching the Nexus 6 in terms of footprint. The 185g weight is also something to consider - in my subjective opinion this is an aspect of phablets that gets overlooked easily, and can easily be a negative point for everyday usage.

On the top back of the phone we have a raised camera bulge, encasing the Sony IMX214 module. A strong LED flash accompanies the camera. There is a thin slip of plastic coming from the top of the phone towards the camera module separating the aluminium back, this is done as to enable NFC to work through the metal design.

Finally, under the the camera we find the fingerprint sensor. This is a touch-sensor manufactured by Swedish company FPC, which may be the FPC1020 that was announced late last year. As such, Huawei is the first manufacturer following Apple's TouchID to offer a full touch sensor as opposed to a swipe implementation as found on Samsung's devices. It offers full 360° print rotation readout support, no matter if you have wet fingers or not. Huawei implements a RF sensing ring around the sensor that makes it possible to detect your finger even when the device is sleeping (as it will wake the device up). This allows for turning on of the device and unlocking in a single action. I've found the success-rate of the sensor to be extremely high, but only as long as you center your finger well on the sensor area, as I have the impression the sensor itself is much smaller than what the design makes you believe.

One thing I found very odd and unsatisfying is that the USB 2.0 port on the bottom isn't actually symmetrically in the middle of the device, but slightly to the left. A strange design decision that may have been result of technical limitations in internal layout of the phone.

On the right side of the phone we have the volume and power buttons in a comfortable and reachable height, the buttons are made out metal and offer good tactility. On the left side, we find two ejectable trays which hold, for one, a microSIM, and in the other, both a microSD and a nanoSIM. The design of the second (bottom) tray is quite innovative in that regard. A SIM eject tool comes packaged with the phone.

Overall, the Mate 7 is an attractive device with good build quality. Due to the thinness of the device it's not as uncomfortable as you might expect it given the size. I definitely prefer the black model as it gives it a more sleek look than the white plasticky front of the white one.

Next, let's view Huawei's new take on Emotion UI, introducing version 3.0 of the Chinese manufacturer's Android interface...

User Interface - Emotion UI 3.0
Comments Locked

72 Comments

View All Comments

  • Lwazis - Monday, September 21, 2015 - link

    Awesome phone, awesome battery life, fast processor especially in gaming. great screen, a bit low on brightness but not too bad. 6" feels good on one hand use that you actually forget it's that big. Fingerprint scanner is great, works very well. The camera is really good, surprisingly so.

    While software is eye candy (which i personally am a fan of) and offers more functionality than standard Android (A lot of functionality, the little things that make it a joy to use), it is a bit buggy. EMUI 3.0 looks good, like a cross breed between iOS and Android and i love that, however, it tends to reset to default settings on some applications kinda like forcing you to stick with EMUI's default apps, like the launcher, Messaging app, phone app, music app, etc. (this can be really annoying at times, but it is controllable).

    Another thing is, and this is really strange, EMUI doesn't allow other 3rd party apps to gain access to the phone's "notification access", e.g. lockscreen apps. the functionality simply doesn't work, so you end up being forced to use only EMUI's native lockcreen, which by the way is the only lockscreen that works with the fingerprint scanner, meaning if other 3rd party lockscreen apps could actually work, they’d still not work with the fingerprint scanner. make sense?

    So to sum it all up... phone hardware is superb and the internals are beastly too, especially battery life, in fact best in class. It also feels and looks expensive and premium. software is a joy to look at, really eye-candy, the little things like installing apk's, checking for software updates, the shutdown screen, all look visually pleasing, even uninstalling a app looks and feels like a beautiful process. However, if you like to customise Android, then the software experience could prove to be a little bit frustrating but nothing over the edge. And since it’s software, Huawei can fix it with an update. This is a good phone.
  • Jay Park - Sunday, December 20, 2015 - link

    I'm a big advocate of Samsung Note series. However I have been using Mate 7 since the first launch...because the price was much cheaper, and I found the specs to be better (160GB, sensors, larger screen, brighter screen and a more intuitive UI) and have been using it to test games. So far I am impressed by the solid build, as I have dropped the phone many times and the screen barely has a scratch. Small dents in the frame but none too noticeable. It's been a year, and I find the phone to have been quite stable. I look forward to the next series.

Log in

Don't have an account? Sign up now