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Huawei MediaPad M3 Tablet: A true mid-level Android option (review)

AndroidGuys
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Introduction

Today’s tablet world lacks a lot of parity. On one hand you have the premium devices like the iPad lineup, or the Samsung Galaxy Tab line. While these devices are extremely durable, high-performing, and very pretty, their respective prices can make them prohibitive for a lot of potential buyers.
But the problem is that the alternatives to these high-end devices (and I’m talking specifically of the Android space here) drop off rather quickly, into a sea of B-brand (and sometimes “what brand?”) tablets that can go from merely adequate to god-awful to use. To find a truly good but not super-high-end Android tablet has become somewhat of a unicorn hunt.

Enter the Huawei MediaPad M3 8.0 tablet. For about $300 (buy here from Amazon), you get a pretty nice set of specifications:

  • 2560 x 1600 IPS display
  • 4 GB RAM
  • Ultra-thin bezels
  • Fingerprint sensor
  • Dual Harmon/Kardon speakers
  • MicroSD slot for cards up to 128 GB
  • 5100 mAh battery

[graphiq id=”iwpHfv1Q60Z” title=”Huawei MediaPad M3 Overview” width=”600″ height=”800″ url=”https://w.graphiq.com/w/iwpHfv1Q60Z” ]

While the Huawei makes no claims at being an iPad slayer, it also in no uncertain terms has to, either. I believe there’s a lot of folks in the tablet market who are looking for a device that isn’t bottom-dollar cheap (and works like it), nor is very nice but happens to cost as much as a very decent laptop. Let’s take a tour of the M3 and see how it stands up, shall we?

Unboxing

The MediaPad M3 arrives in a stylish white, square box. Opening you find the tablet itself front and center, with access panels for the charging plug & cord, and the SD slot access tool & lithe manual. Hidden within the cover is a complimentary screen protector.
In all it’s a very modern, clean presentation, giving you just what you need without any extraneous distractions. Sadly no earbuds come with the 32 GB model; though the 64 GB version arrives with a very nice set of AKG earbuds in tow.

Feel & Finish

The tablet itself is a great combination of density and thinness; it has a great iPad-like heft to it without feeling bulky (Sorry, I know this is an Android-based website, but Apple has always gotten it right with tablet design in my book.).
I tend to have bigger hands than most, so consider the source when I say that the Huawei is darn near a one-hand device, just beyond phablet. Now that I write that and look back at the tablet, it has a definite smartphone look to it.

The shell is uni-body CNC-machined aluminum, and is quite nice to look at as well as feel in your hands. the back is a very, very light etch; but nothing that provides any real added grip. The front side bezels are tiny; so small that I’m not sure it remains a feature. What I mean is that holding the tablet in portrait mode, it becomes all-too-easy to touch the screen, creating a likely not-wanted action on the device.
While the left side is devoid of any features, the right side has both the power/sleep and volume buttons (again, like a lot of phones out there). The top has a traditional 3.5 mm headphone jack and one speaker. The bottom has a mic port, micro-USB (no USB-C here) port, the 2nd speaker, and the SD card slot.

On the front you have a single multi-function home button, as well as an 8-megapixel selfie camera….a similar 8-megapixel shooter resides at the rear, sans flash. There is no special “Camera” section to this review: It’s a tablet. It has cameras. They work. They’re OK but not great. And they’re on a tablet. Let’s move on.

Display

Here is one of the tablet’s prime features; a very nice 2560 x 1600 IPS display that is pretty impressive. Colors are well-saturated right out of the box. Huawei also includes the option to manually adjust the temperature of the device, which can have quite a visual impact. Also built in is an “eye comfort” setting, which takes a lot of blue hues out of the display for late-night viewing (the idea that the reduction in blues reduce the potential interruption in sleep patterns). The one caveat with this display is glare: there is tons of it, and unless you have the brightness cranked up and angle it right, viewing this beauty in the sunshine is likely a no-go.

If there is one complaint to lodge against this display, it’s the glossiness of it, which can cause a crazy amount of glare. Also, combined with the fact that Huawei feels obliged to throw in a screen protector gives me the feeling that this screen could be a scratch magnet. Please note I have not experienced any scratches, but I’m borderline obsessive with protecting my devices.

Audio

Prime feature #2 is the audio system built into the MediaPad M3. The highlight are the Harmon/Kardon-branded dual speakers on this device, coupled with some fancy hardware and audio software in the inside. This is probably the loudest non-computer I’ve ever heard; and it’s not just loud for loudness-sake. The audio is quite good all the way up, relatively speaking….but please don’t mistake this for a pair of real speakers. As the volume goes up, the depth thins out. While never getting “tinny”, a small amount of vibration appears on the shell, which I guess would be expected. It won’t fill a room for a party, but for personal listening it’s more than enough.
On the 64 GB version a pair of very nice AKG earbuds come with, but alas our review model is only 32. Sigh.

Performance

Here’s where the ‘mid-level’ of this review title hits home. Looking at the specs, you may believe that this tablet could be a higher-end performance machine. But in real life it didn’t quite get there…..though it’s in no way a slouch.

Playing higher frame-rate games will cause occasional graphic stutter, though only occasionally. It’s just enough to be noticeable while reviewing the unit. And definitely sits on the higher end of the extreme-heavy tablet market. This is certainly no Black Friday discount tablet, but it also shouldn’t guarantee perfect performance, either.

The interface is what Huawei calls EMUI, an Apple-like skin (my take) on stock Android. The review tablet runs EMUI 4.1 but EMUI 5.0 is out there and imminent.
Again, it’s OK. I have such a hard time rendering judgement on stuff like this. It works, it’s kinda pretty. But I do and probably always will prefer stock Android, so there. If you do want to read up more about EMUI, here’s a link.

One interesting nugget I found on this tablet is that there isn’t the traditional 3-button layout (back, home, recent apps) along the bottom of the device. There is just a single physical home button bottom-center. It’s not mechanical, just a capacitive/touch button, along with a fingerprint sensor.
Touching the button also acts as a ‘back’ button, if you’re several clicks into something. Swiping up or down takes you directly to a Google search page, while a left or right swipe will bring you to a EMUI-esque recent apps screen to peruse.

The fingerprint sensor works, but it can take up to a full second or more for recognition and action once scanned.

Overall

Overall I really liked the MediaPad M3. I consider myself “techie-frugal”, in that I like nice stuff that works consistently, but I’ll be darned if I’m paying what the likes of Apple is demanding.

The MediaPad M3 falls in what I consider my “just-right” slot of performance, quality, and price. What you get is a super-nice display and audio, a smooth interface, and almost top-end gaming performance. And you could buy almost two of these for the price of one iPad Pro (and 25% less than a Galaxy Tab S2).

If you’re looking to get out of the discount tablet jungle, but not comfortable with shelling over top-end dollars for a new tablet, I highly, highly recommend the Huawei MediaPad M3 8.0.

You can pick one up via this link on Amazon.

 

 

Adobe Comp CC makes mobile design simple and easy (Review)

AndroidGuys
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1

Overview:

Adobe Comp CC is an editing and drafting program for exporting into other Adobe suite programs for easy, on the go project managing.

Developer: Adobe

Cost: Free

Impressions:

Adobe software is often used by professionals for graphic design and other media creation professions to great effect. Adobe has added most of their most popular software to the Play Store as mobile-optimized applications for on-the-go productivity. The newest member of the Adobe mobile suite is Comp CC, an all new app that eases the editing load on the go.

Comp CC is, essentially, a wire-frame and concept creation tool for exporting into other Adobe software for refinement. It has preconfigured templates for web, paper, and mobile layouts that you can edit and export to InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator as well as Adobe’s cloud where you can pull it down to any machine you wish.

Compared to the offerings of other Adobe software, Comp CC is rather limited. You can choose a template or create your own, import images, add text and graphics, and do some minor manipulation of color and such. From there, you can export it or share it to your email or social media. That is pretty much all it does.

The idea behind Comp appears to be that it’s something to get you started on a project, lay out a plan while on the go without having to use draft paper or lose progress by starting over on your main editing machine. It’s almost like a draft program but lets you get real progress on what would eventually become a more complex design for a web page, magazine, business card or what have you.

In terms of the app itself, it works really well but I would recommend using a larger screen device like a tablet, I used it primarily on my Samsung Chromebook Plus which has a touch screen and stylus making it a dream to use. The experience on the phone felt rather cramped and it’s not the most ideal place unless you don’t have another choice. The user interface is clean and minimal, with only a few options available. It’s easy to use and straightforward, without being confusing at all which is a big plus.

Some negative points now, but they’re minor. The app seems rather pointless without at least one or two other adobe apps to compliment it, so it’ll be a hard sell for the average user who doesn’t do any graphic design or use Adobe at all. Also, the templates for Comp CC aren’t all that helpful, as they’re just blank pages sized and oriented to the selected format. I would have liked to see some more helpful guidelines or page layout tools to help you make your own pages faster, especially if you’re a novice like me.

Conclusion:

I really like Comp CC more than I thought I would. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and is a handy tool to draft projects on the go for the busy graphic designer or other professional. It’s clean and simple and even novices can get some use out of it. I’d recommend it for anyone who uses Adobe software regularly, or someone looking for a simple editing app for basic manipulation.

Download Adobe Comp CC on the Google Play Store

U.S. Cellular is now offering unlimited lines with cheap, easy pricing

Matt Adams
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U.S. Cellular might not be the first name you think of when you’re looking for a new carrier but they’re certainly trying hard to entice customers to switch. The nation’s fifth largest carrier today announced that it’s making its pricing structure more simple to understand, doing away with a lot of fees, and will now offer truly unlimited lines– pretty cheaply, we might add.

So here’s the deal, starting today U.S. Cellular is doing away with activation fees, monthly device connection charges, phone upgrade fees and data overage fees. In addition to doing away with those fees, U.S. Cellular is also giving customers the option to pick up unlimited data.

The wireless provider will now offer data buckets of 2GB, 6GB, and unlimited with the price decreasing if you’re on a family plan. According to U.S. Cellular, the most you’ll pay for a line of service with unlimited data right now is $60 and that could drop as low as $40 a month depending on how many family lines you have.

In addition to unlimited data, the plans will also include unlimited calling and texting, video streaming, hot-spot capability, and free calling to Canada and Mexico. All of the new plans will be offered to not only new customers but current customers too. If you’re in need of a new device, U.S. Cellular offers 20, 24, and 30-month financing plans.

Your Moto Z might soon get a QWERTY keyboard slider

Alexandra Arici
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BlackBerry made the QWERTY keyboard famous, but other phones have offered such keyboards in the past. Remember the Motorola DROID 4 slider?

The phone was released back in 2012, but after that the QWERTY slider disappeared from the Motorola portfolio. Well it seems the QWERTY keyboard will make a comeback soon enough.

You’re probably aware that Motorola has partnered up with Indiegogo to attract more developers to create new Moto Mods for the Moto Z family. Motorola promised to release 12 new Moto Mods this year, all which will be compatible with the next 3 years of phones.

Current Moto Mods

Motorola has already announced the winners of its “Transform the smartphone challenge” and some have already launched crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo for their projects. Well another Moto Mods campaign has appeared recently on Indiegogo.

The new Moto Mod should add a slider QWERTY keyboard to the Moto Z. Besides the keyboard functionality, the accessory should add an extra battery which should offer additional 2,100 mAh. And if enough funding is raised the developer will add Qi wireless charging to the Moto Mod.

At the moment, the crowdfunding campaign is sort of minimalist. You’ll need to provide your email address in order to register to get more information about the upcoming Moto Mod project. The product generated quite a bit of hype on Reddit, so we expect this Indiegogo campaign to be successfully funded.

There are other Moto Mods Indiegogo campaigns which you can fund right now. You can read more about it in our in-depth article here.

Want a free flagship phone? AT&T is having a buy one, get one sale right now

Matt Adams
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1

We recently told you about T-Mobile’s new sale offering some flagships at half-price. AT&T is now coming out with its own amazing deal and is currently offering some select flagships for free when you purchase a flagship from the same manufacturer.

Here are the nuts and bolts. You can head over to an AT&T store or its website and purchase an Apple iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, LG G5, or Samsung Galaxy S7 on AT&T Next or Next Every Year, add a line, and select another phone from the same manufacturer. You’ll receive bill credits for to pay for the second device if you cancel before it’s paid off you’ll owe the balance of the phone.

In the fine print, you find out that you need to select a qualifying plan which is minimum $70 a month. Your sales tax is due at the time of purchase and it may take up to three billing cycles for your credits to kick in.

Where this deal gets really interesting is if you decide to port in a line. Porting in a line gets you up to $650 in credits which you can put toward the first phone you’re buying. Let’s say you pick up two Samsung Galaxy S7’s which run $694 at full price. If you’re switching to AT&T you’ll get $650 in credits to cover your first S7 and the second phone will be free under this deal. Two flagship phones for $44 isn’t bad at all.

Get your dual camera phone for less than $150 this summer

Alexandra Arici
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0

Dual cameras are becoming the standard for most smartphones released today, regardless of whether they are premium affairs or middle-to-upper rangers. And Chinese manufacturers have brought prices of dual camera phones way down, so almost everybody can afford one.

The Honor 6X currently sells for $249.99, but what if we told you will soon be able to grab a dual camera phone for even less.

French low-cost phone and tablet maker, Archos has unveiled two new affordable mobile phones a few days before the Mobile World Congress kick starts.

The new comers are called the Archos 50 Graphite and 55 Graphite. They will be available for purchase staring in June for approximately $137 and will first launch in Europe, but they will eventually make their way to the United States.

Out of the two, the Archos 55 Graphite is the most advanced. It features a 5.5-inch IPS display with a 2.5D contoured edge with 720 x 1280 resolution. It features a MediaTek MT6737 quad-core chipset clocked at 1.5GHz, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB via microSD cardslot).

While the specs are not blowing, the phone does offer some features that are usually reserved for more expensive phones. The Archos 55 Graphite takes advantage of a 13MP (autofocus and LED flash) + 2MP dual setup, while on the back there’s a 5MP selfie snapper.

On top of that the phone boasts a fingerprint scanner on the back which is are said to be able to unlock the phones in less than 0.3 seconds.

Last but not least, the Archos 55 Graphite features a 3,000 mAh battery and Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.

As for the lighter version, the Archos 50 Graphite comes with a 5-inch display with 720 x 1280-pixel resolution, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (expandable up to 128GB via microSD slot). The phone will take advantage of the same dual-camera setup and fingerprint scanner.

Would you be interested in an Archos dual-camera phone?

Check out the Huawei Watch 2 in all of its glory

Alexandra Arici
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0

Huawei is coming to Barcelona at MWC 2017 with a basket overflowing with goodies. The Chinese company will pull the wraps off the P10 and P10 Plus – two gorgeous flagships that will most likely make your eyes water.

But Huawei is also coming to Barcelona to unveil a successor to its gorgeous Huawei Watch. We previously told you that Huawei is gearing up to launch the Huawei Watch 2 at Barcelona and now we can show you the device in all of its glory.

Unlike the original Huawei Watch catered to the more stylish, fashion conscious crowd, the new comer with feature a sportier look – as you can very well see from the leaked press renders.

The images show us the smartwatch will feature a SIM card slot, so we can confirm the device will indeed boast cellular connectivity.

The watch will be offered in three colors including black, orange and gray. We also know the device will come pre-installed with the latest Android Wear 2.0 software. For the time being, we can’t offer you any more information about the specs, but we can hypothesize the watch will be a competitor to the LG Watch Sport.

And since Huawei plans to put the Google Assistant on some of its future products, the Watch 2 could also come equipped with it, as well as Android Pay. It remains to be seen how much Huawei will ask for it.

LG X power2 will get you through the weekend on a single charge

Alexandra Arici
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0

LG launched the LG X Power back in 2016 – a mid-ranger with a powerful battery nestled under its hood.

Well LG is not coming at MWC 2017 only to launch the highly anticipated LG G6, but also to introduce a mid-range phone. It’s the successor of the LG X Power, which the company calls the LG X power2.

The phone will make a debut with a 5.5-inch display with unimpressive 720 x 1280-pixel resolution and relies on a 1.5GHz octa-core chipset to keep the lights on. The Korean company will offer the LG X power2 with either 1.5GB or 2GB of RAM onboard and 16GB of internal storage (microSD cardslot available for memory expansion up to 2TB).

Like standard middle-range phones, the LG X power2 comes equipped with a 13MP main camera plus 5MP selfie camera. It arrives with Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box, which is very good news.

The LG X power2’s biggest selling point it’s the large 4,500 mAh battery. LG says that fully charged, the phone can play video for up to 15 hours uninterrupted. It can also provide navigational directions for about 14 hours or allow owners to surf the web for around 18 hours.

Thanks to the embedded high-speed charging technology, the LG X power2 can be re-charged super-fast. A one-hour charge delivers 50% battery power, while two hours will give you a full charge.

The phone will become available in March in Latin America, followed by the US, Asia and Europe. Pricing has yet to be disclosed.

The soon to be previous generation LG X Power feature a smaller 4,100 mAh battery and a 5.3-inch display.

Original LG X Power

It took advantage of a quad-core processor clocked at 1.3GHz which has now been upgraded to an octa-core 1.5GHz chipset in the current model.

The LG X power2 sounds like a decent mid-ranger especially for those who love weekend getaways and tend to forget their charges at home.

WhatsApp’s Snapchat-like Status feature is now available for all

Alexandra Arici
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0

A few days ago we told you that WhatsApp started rolling out a very Snapchat-like feature which enabled users to share photos, videos and GIFs via their Status.

The updated Status feat was initially made available for users located in France and Netherlands. Well now WhatsApp has announced the feature is available for all users across the globe, regardless of whether they are on iOS, Android or Windows Phone.

Until now, the Status feature only displayed a short next. However, the new Status allows you to share more with (certain) people in your contact list.

Conveniently, you’ll also be able to control who sees your Status update and who doesn’t. By accessing the app’s privacy settings, you can choose which people receive your update. You can choose from one of the 3 options: My contacts, Contacts except…, Only Share with…

Curious if friends and family viewed your update? You can now tap the eye icon at the bottom at any Status update and see who has viewed your post.

Chatters can use the reply button to comment on any photo, video or GIF you find to be interesting. Once you tap reply, the message will appear as a WhatsApp chat with a thumbnail of the Status update.

Don’t forget that all updates expire after 24 hours, so if you want to say something you best do it immediately after you’ve notice the new Status update.

Google 4K wireless TV box for Fiber subscribers is on its way

Alexandra Arici
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0

It seems that Google is gearing up to release a new 4K set-top box with Wi-Fi support, even as the company has drastically reduced its Google Fiber operations.

Now Business Insider spotted a FCC filing which points out that Google is preparing to launch a new 4K wireless set-top box for the next-gen of ultra-HD 4K TVs. Back in November, 9to5Google reported Google was preparing a new 4K Fiber TV box (possible Nexus Player successor), but at that time we weren’t given too many details about it.

Nexus Player successor incoming?

For those who aren’t familiar with Google Fiber, it’s a service that provides fiber-optic internet and television in select cities, that delivers up to 1Gbps internet speeds.

The FCC documents now reveal Google is seeking authorization for a set-top box that contains a 4×4 5GHz 802.11a/n/ac and a Bluetooth 4.1 radio.

Previous reports related to Google’s upcoming 4K wireless set-top box mentioned the ability to stream from YouTube in High Dynamic Range (HDR). This isn’t apparent in the current FCC filling, but given that Google’s Chromecast Ultra comes with support HDR, it makes sense to assume that Google will include this function too.

Google Fiber subscribers are finally getting some attention

Despite the initial hype, Google Fiber has failed to attract many subscribers. According to some estimates, the services has under a million users. The thing is, competitors aren’t rushing to help Google and building broadband infrastructure is naturally very expensive.

The filing does not reveal when the new Google TV box will be launched, but certain documents pertaining to the filing including photos and the user manual are going to be kept under wraps until August 8,2017. Which suggests Google will launch the device before that date.

We expect the new device to run Android and offer Google Home integration and the Google Assistant’s services.

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