Review of Huawei MatePad 10.4 - a powerful tablet for 22 thousand rubles

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 01:29

The novelty offers great performance for gaming, but is full of trade-offs.

The Android tablet market is overflowing with low-cost models, so the release of the MatePad 10.4 is a major challenge for Huawei. The company has not yet resolved the issue with Google services: will the new product be able to offer something in return to withstand the onslaught of competition?

Table of contents

• Specifications
• Design and ergonomics
• Screen
• Software and performance
• Sound
• Camera
• Autonomy
• Outcomes

Specifications

CPU	HiSilicon Kirin 810
Operating system	Android 10, EMUI 10.1
Display	10.4-inch (2000 x 1200 pixels) IPS
Memory	4 GB RAM, 64 GB internal storage, microSD card slot up to 512 GB
Battery	7 250 mAh; up to 12 hours of video playback
Audio system	Four stereo speakers
Camera	Main - 8 MP with autofocus, front - 8 MP
Dimensions (edit)	245, 2 × 154, 96 × 7, 35 mm
The weight	450 g
Communication means	Wi-Fi 802.11 a / b / g / n / ac, 2, 4/5 GHz; Bluetooth 5.1; LTE (in a separate version)
Ports and connectors	USB Type ‑ C 2.0

Design and ergonomics

Huawei MatePad 10.4 received a metal back and a side frame made of plastic. The corners and edges of the case are rounded for convenience. The indents around the screen are small, due to which the device came out very compact. At the same time, they are wide enough to hold the tablet comfortably. The 450 g weight does not strain your hands during prolonged use.

The build quality and materials are excellent: the gaps between the glass, plastic frame and aluminum are minimal and invisible to the touch. There are no logos on the front side, the only element on it besides the screen is the front camera.

At the ends there are four speakers, a power button and USB Type-C. A headphone jack is not provided. Also, the novelty is devoid of a fingerprint scanner - unlocking is carried out by the face. But the model was not deprived of microphones: there are four of them. A logo and a camera with a flash were taken out on the back side.

The tablet received a hybrid slot for SIM cards and microSD. There is also a version without an LTE modem.

Screen

The novelty is equipped with a 10.4-inch display made using IPS technology. The matrix has a resolution of 2,000 × 1,200 pixels, which provides a pixel density of 224 ppi, which is quite an acceptable result by tablet standards. The picture is clear, the small print is well read.

The contrast level is sufficient to keep blacks from looking washed out. When viewed from an angle, the image fades a little, but this does not interfere with using the device.

Color reproduction is calm, and some users may not like it. Unfortunately, in the settings there is no choice of ready-made color profiles, but you can correct the picture using the RGB wheel.

The brightness margin for IPS is excellent; readability in the sun does not drop much. There is also a "Natural Tone" mode, which adapts the color rendition to light conditions, and a blue filter, which reduces eye strain.

Software and performance

Huawei MatePad 10.4 runs Android 10 with a proprietary EMUI shell. The latter is well known from the company's smartphones and differs only in support for landscape orientation. There are no Google services here either.

The hardware platform of the novelty is the HiSilicon Kirin 810 chipset with the big. LITTLE architecture: two high-performance Cortex-A76 cores operate at up to 2.27 GHz, and six energy-efficient Cortex-A55 - up to 1.88 GHz.

The Mali-G52 MP6 video accelerator is responsible for the graphics, and a coprocessor for working with Huawei DaVinci neural networks has also entered the SoC. RAM is 4 GB, and the amount of internal storage is 64 GB and is expandable due to microSD memory cards.

In World of Tanks: Blitz on medium settings, the tablet produces a stable 60 FPS. It is noteworthy that the novelty bypasses the more expensive Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, which is equipped with a less efficient Mali-G72 MP3 video accelerator.

The system also works flawlessly, although the lack of Google services in some places causes inconvenience. For example, there is no separate YouTube client - you have to go to the video hosting through a browser.

The AppGallery store still lacks many of the familiar apps like Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. Fortunately, you can install them through your browser by downloading the APK file.

Sound

Huawei MatePad 10.4 is equipped with four speakers that work in stereo mode. The sound is just excellent: the voice range is well developed, the volume margin is high, while there is no distortion at maximum values, there is even a good bass.

To connect headphones, you will have to use an adapter or Bluetooth. In both cases, the sound quality depends on the audio codec in the dongle or directly in the headphones. The tablet itself supports Bluetooth 5.1 and keeps the connection well with any devices.

Camera

The novelty has received an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus. There is no need to talk about quality: the frames are dull, the detail is low. A similar result can be obtained with a cheap smartphone up to 10 thousand rubles.

But the front camera of 8 megapixels is excellent for video calls, and satisfactory selfies are obtained on it.

Main camera

Main camera

Main camera

Selfie

Autonomy

A 7,250 mAh battery is installed inside the tablet. According to the manufacturer, this is enough for 12 hours of video playback. During testing, the new product withstood a day and a half of active use with games, music and YouTube - a decent result.

The kit comes with a 10W adapter, which is a little frustrating: I would like to see fast charging. It takes 3.5 hours to fully recharge the battery.

Outcomes

The basic Huawei MatePad 10.4 will cost 22 thousand rubles, and the version with LTE support is 2 thousand more expensive. Of course, there are a lot of compromises in the new product: the case materials are inexpensive, the screen could be more saturated, the main camera was put as a show, and the charging adapter is not powerful enough to quickly replenish the capacious battery. The absence of Google services cannot be ignored, although the company is trying to make life easier for users.

Despite a number of problems, the model deserves attention: it boasts gaming performance, excellent speakers and long battery life. Considering the price, the offer is more than fair.

The author would like to thank Huawei for providing the device for testing. The company had no way of influencing its outcome.