Huawei Mate XS

[Ralfi]

So the successor to a failed(?) first attempt is in the hands of Youtubers.

I’m about to tune in, but am not getting hopes up about the more ‘robust’ screen apparently applied here.

After seeing the fragility of the inner-screen Foldables, this design can’t fare well, can it?...

Let’s see...

Edit...
Oh it’s so gorgeous. & credit to Huawei for taking care of the crease, making it near invisible. Folded, it looks so neat too.

(Lack of) software will kill it though - Not being able to use this with Google Apps is a crying shame & perhaps the greatest ‘miss‘ in the smartphone world.

Jerry Rig Everything’s torture test can’t come soon enough...

 

[cuzo]

Beautiful

google seen the future coming and banned them in advance.

 

[DaPhox]

What a joke.

 

[Ralfi]

What a joke.

In what way/s??

 

[DaPhox]

Its right there. Folding a bit of plastic. On the outside on top of that. It will break in 1 week.

 

[ian87w]

Great alternate take for a folding phone/tablet. But lack of GMS will surely kill this outside China.

I mean look at the Mate 30, the first Huawei flagship without GMS. Nobody talks about it anymore nowadays.

 

[Tsepz]

I have one to use for a little while and I am loving it
I am busy using it to type this and cannot get over how incredible it is to Web browse on this thing, it's truly a mini tablet, I am loading Web pages in desktop view and not needing to pan and zoom at all like on a tablet or laptop.

What I love the most though is how I can use this beast Folded 99% of the time as when folded it truly feels like a large Android smartphone with a normal screen aspect ratio.

 

[Tsepz]

Have to say I am absolutely loving this device, due to the more "normal" 19.5:9 screen aspect ratio 6.6inch screen when folded it feels like the perfect thin bezel Android Phablet Flagship, it is kind of like looking at a Galaxy Note 20 Ultra without the Pin Hole camera, just a clean screen. Love it!

The device is pretty heavy though, but that seems par for the course in all of these large foldables.

I am now used to the screen being at the back when folded, the phone came with a skeletal frame type case as can be seen in the images above and image below, this case gives some clearance from the screen when you put the down so the screen does not actually touch the surface you put the phone on.

 

[Ralfi]

Yeah you want a case like that for sure with this form factor.

But after seeing the Fold 2 flex mode, it makes the design of the Mate XS seem less diverse in screen usage functions.

This phone’s width, but with a shorter height, with the Fold 2 form factor may be the sweet spot.

 

[Tsepz]

Yeah you want a case like that for sure with this form factor.

But after seeing the Fold 2 flex mode, it makes the design of the Mate XS seem less diverse in screen usage functions.

This phone’s width, but with a shorter height, with the Fold 2 form factor may be the sweet spot.

Yeah very true, with the Mate Xs design you are either using it fully unfolded or completely folded, no in-between.

This then also begs question, are the Z Fold 2 and Mate Xs essentially aimed at different people?

The Mate Xs seems to appeal to someone who wants a Phablet that they can unfold only if they really want to while the Z Fold 2 appeals more to someone who will predominantly want to use the device unfolded.

Right now I am splitting my time 70/30 - Folded/Unfolded, I am simply loving using this device while it's folded as it is the closest I have seen to the prefect Phablet with minimal bezels and no screen intrusion. When I am on the couch wanting to read some news articles or watch some longer videos only then do I unfold it.

One issue I am hating is the typical Android issue of Android apps not being optimized, so apps like Instagram and Twitter are simply blown up, and not taking proper advantage of the screen real estate when unfolded, I saw this on the Galaxy Fold to, I hope Google gets developers to fix this. Some apps like CNN news app work great and really adjust to being "tablet like".

 

[Tsepz]

Nice little surprise in the box for the Mate Xs, this came with a 65W charging brick in the box

 

[Ralfi]

Nice little surprise in the box for the Mate Xs, this came with a 65W charging brick in the box

That is otherworldly.

I’d hate to see the battery condition after six months...

 

[Tsepz]

That is otherworldly.

I’d hate to see the battery condition after six months...

Would be interesting to see indeed, however, a lot of people said the same thing when Huawei brought 40W charging in the Mate 20 Pro and that did just fine, we have now see some bring 45W and 55W.

I think this Mate Xs probably manages 65W due to it having 2 batteries and them being charged simultaneously much like how the new One Plus 8T does.

 

[Ralfi]

Would be interesting to see indeed, however, a lot of people said the same thing when Huawei brought 40W charging in the Mate 20 Pro and that did just fine, we have now see some bring 45W and 55W.

I think this Mate Xs probably manages 65W due to it having 2 batteries and them being charged simultaneously much like how the new One Plus 8T does.

Battery charge management is key for sure.

 

[Tsepz]

Got Google Play installed on this beast and loving it!