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Whether for work or for entertainment, Huawei's MatePad 11 is a very interesting tablet, which we put to the test during a very original presentation that took place in Milan, which we will discuss in detail later. A fast, high-performance tablet with an attractive price and on which we were finally able to try out the new Harmony OS operating system from the Chinese company. Below is the report of our test.
Main features
MatePad 11 weighs just under 500 grams and is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor. The 11-inch screen has a 120Hz refresh rate: it presents very responsive and with very smooth and bright images and is designed to minimize users' exposure to blue light and flicker. We also liked the sound quality, thanks to a Harman/Kardon-designed quad-speaker system. The 7,250 mAh battery is very good: it is fully recharged in an hour and 50 minutes (in our test it reaches 35% in half an hour and 64% in an hour) with the charger included in the package and gives energy to the tablet - with moderate use - for several days, while with intense use we easily reached two days. During our test we also combined the MatePad 11 with Huawei's Smart Magnetic Keyboard (to be purchased separately for 99 euros): in addition to covering and protecting the tablet, it offers a natural writing experience.
Experience with Harmony OS 2
On MatePad 11 we had the opportunity to try Harmony Os 2, Huawei's proprietary operating system that replaced Android: let's say right away that the experience is almost identical to the one offered by smartphones and tablets with Google's operating system: the first setup is simple and intuitive and the menus are practically the same as we are used to. Among the features of Harmony Os 2 a "Bottom Dock" that collects frequently used apps and new widgets with which to view information in real time and access certain functions without opening the related apps. Furthermore - and this is a topic on which Huawei insists a lot - the tablet works very well with other products in the ecosystem including smartphones and PCs: it is possible to work in mirror mode (looking at the tablet display even on a larger screen) or in extended mode (two screens) or, again, exchange text, images, documents on the fly between connected devices, even with Windows. The multitasking experience is also good for using multiple apps on the MatePad 11 at the same time.
Harmony OS 2: what's there and what's missing
On Harmony OS 2 we don't have all the apps we're used to using on Android or iOS; in any case, the store is growing day by day and today has 120,000 apps, 12,000 of which are released in Italy alone. During our weeks of testing before publishing this review we did a lot of tests with the most used apps. We found the biggest problem with Google Drive: through the browser we can read our documents but we were unable to edit them. For the rest, it is possible to use Gmail in web mode or associate the account with the Huawei email app, Microsoft Office is downloadable and works well, the same thing for Netflix which has its app, Teams works well with the web version , Zoom is fine as well as Spotify, Dropbox is fully accessible from the web, same thing for YouTube or TuneIn. There are also many apps included, from Petal Maps to the calendar to Health, to keep your health under control. In general, after an initial moment of "disorientation" in front of the lack of some apps thanks to the very intuitive AppGallery interface, the average user can find a solution for most of their favorite services.
The pen and the TOILETPAPER experience
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The tablet can be associated with the HUAWEI M -Second generation Pencil (to be purchased separately at the price of 99 euros): it is a platinum-coated stylus that allows you to write, draw, sketch, take notes, color and it performs very well, with an experience natural and a very low latency time (the difference between the moment we write and the moment the stroke appears on the screen). The pen offers a whopping 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and attaches magnetically, charging at the same time, to the side of the tablet. The HUAWEI Freescript function, already seen on the iPad, is interesting, which transforms handwritten text into digital text instantly. To fully show the potential of the pen, Huawei has organized a guided tour to discover TOILETPAPER Home with a workshop by illustrators Ale Giorgini and Antonio Colomboni. TOILETPAPER Home is the home-studio of Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari's image magazine, an eclectic building in the heart of the Città Studi district in Milan which is characterized by its eccentric rooms full of relics and provocative and irreverent objects and colorful furnishings.
Verdict, availability and prices
We found the MatePad 11 to be a very interesting, performing and reliable tablet. As always for Huawei products, it is necessary to come to terms with the lack of some apps and Google services installed but for those who do not need specific apps and want a reliable tablet for work, study or entertainment, from excellent screen and long-lasting battery certainly Huawei MatePad 11 is a very valid product. MatePad 11 is available in the 6 gigabyte of Ram and 128 storage version at a price of 449.99 euros (the keyboard is currently free on the site); the cheapest version, with 6 gigabytes of Ram and 64 of storage space, is available on the official website together with the keyboard and the M-Pencil on offer for 399.90 euros. Three colors available: Matte Grey, Isle Blue and Olive Green.
Huawei MatePad 11
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