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Introduction
You are going to hear that it's a new dawn for Huawei thanks to the first public release of HarmonyOS. And the new MatePad tablets are supposed to usher Huawei's products into a Harmony era and drop Android for good. But underneath all this PR talk everything boils down to one thing - can Harmony-operated devices rival Android's and Apple's? We have the MediaPad Pro 12.6 for a review today, and that's what we are going to try and find out.
Just because Apple is dominating the tablet market with its iPads, it doesn't mean the competition should disappear. On the contrary, we'd love to see more slates like the Galaxy Tab S7 trio and the newly announced MatePad series. The tablet market might appear as a niche one, but it leads to some incredible UI advancements and some of those inevitably make their way onto phones, too. And today we are thrilled to meet a new large tablet with stylus support and a (supposedly) brand new mobile operating system - the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6.
First, let's look at the specs. The larger MatePad Pro is a premium device for sure starting with an attractive body with a thin profile. It has a high-res 12.6" OLED screen with thin bezels, a powerful Kirin 9000E 5G chipset, a trio of snappers on the back, and an adequately large 10,050 mAh battery with 40W fast charging.
There are also eight incredibly powerful speakers, a 5G option, and you can buy an M-Pencil stylus for drawing, note-taking and whatnot. The said pencil is wirelessly recharged via an integrated magnetic wireless charger on one of the sides.
The MatePad Pro 12.6 runs on HarmonyOS 2.0, which is based on a forked version Android 10, and you can install and run most of the available Android apps, excluding the ones relying on Google Services. There are lots of Huawei default apps to get you started, while AppGallery and third-party stores should cover the rest. Using third-party app repositories is unavoidable for the foreseeable future.
Here is the complete specs sheet:
Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 (2021) specs at a glance:
- Body: 286.5x184.7x6.7mm, 609g; glass front, aluminum frame; Stylus support (magnetic).
- Display: 12.60" OLED, 2560x1600px resolution, 5.63:9 aspect ratio, 240ppi.
- Chipset: Kirin 9000E 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x3.13 GHz Cortex-A77 & 3x2.54 GHz Cortex-A77 & 4x2.05 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G78 MP22.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1; NM (Nano Memory), up to 256GB (dedicated slot).
- OS/Software: HarmonyOS 2.0.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 13 MP, f/1.8, PDAF; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.4; Depth: TOF 3D.
- Front camera: 8 MP, f/2.0.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 10050mAh; Fast charging 40W, Reverse charging 5W, Wireless charging 27W, Wireless reverse charging 10W.
- Misc: Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass.
The MatePad Pro 12.6 has two glaring omissions - there is no high refresh rate support for the screen, and there is no fingerprint or 3D face scanning biometric security. The tablet does offer face recognition, but it's of the least secure type, and we won't feel safe leaving our bank card info stored on this thing. Splash resistance would have been nice, too, but hey, this is a tablet after all.
Unboxing the MatePad Pro 12.6
The MatePad Pro 12.6 arrives packed in a white paper box. Our bundle includes a 40W charger, a USB cable, and a USB-C-to-3.5mm adapter.
Huawei says the bundle may vary across different markets, so if you are interested - you may want to check your local Huawei website. It would have been nice to see the M-Pencil bundled with this Pro model.
Optional accessories
There are two accessories you can buy for your MatePad Pro 12.6. The first one is probably a must-have - the M-Pencil. It's like the Galaxy Tab S7's S-Pen - a rechargeable stylus, which can be magnetically attached and recharged on the tablet itself. It is packed with two extra tips - a transparent one and a dark gray one.
And second is the Smart Magnetic Keyboard. It's exactly what the name suggests - a magnetically attachable keyboard cover/stand.
There is also a Folio Cover, but we didn't get this one for review.
Design, build, handling
Well, the MatePad Pro 12.6 a tablet alright, and it isn't the one to break the mold. The one thing that will probably differentiate this large slab from the recent Galaxy and iPad slates is the curved metal frame, which combined with the rounded corners, makes for a nicely elegant look.
The MatePad Pro 12.6 has a flat, glass-covered front. The rear panel is either glass or plastic, we couldn't really tell. But what we know is that it has a cool matte finish, making it pleasant to touch and provides enough grip to feel safe in your hands.
The frame is aluminum, with a matte finish, too. It's a bit curved, but this doesn't affect the grip negatively. The flat sides have become a thing once again, thanks to Apple, but it's nice to see Huawei not following this trend. We do like flat, sure, but it has become a bit, well, too common.
Let's circle back to the front. The bezels surrounding the 12.6" OLED screen have matching rounded corners. The bezels are reasonably thin and even across all sides. The OLED panel supports HDR10 and is of high resolution - 2,560 x 1,600 px - but it offers just the standard 60Hz refresh rate.
There are two things of interest here besides the screen. The first one is the 8MP front camera. Its hole is centered within the top bezels (landscape view), and it is one of the tiniest front shooters we've seen. Next to it is hidden a tiny notification LED light - it flashes green for notifications and for a fully charged device, or red while charging or when the battery is low. You can turn it off if you don't like it.
Oddly, the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 doesn't offer any type of biometric security - there is no fingerprint scanner, nor is there a 3D face scanning sensor. You can use a PIN, of course, or the much less secure 2D face recognition. A side-mounted fingerprint scanner would have been much appreciated, but it is what it is.
The rear panel is also flat and with a matte finish. Once again - we are not sure whether it's glass or plastic, but we are leaning towards the latter. The tri-camera setup is here, jutting out a bit around the top right corner. It contains the 13MP primary shooter, there is an 8MP snapper for ultrawide photos, and a 3D ToF camera for portraits and some more advanced AR features (if or when such become available). There is also a LED flash around, as well as a mic.
The sides of the MatePad Pro 12.6 are quite interesting. First, there are a total of eight speakers hidden behind four grilles. Huawei has used one large speaker for low and mid-tones and one smaller for high-tones - and this combo is repeated four times - two on each short side.
The setup has been tuned by harman/kardon, and as per our first impressions, the sound output is outstanding. Spoiler alert, this has to be one of the best speaker configurations we've heard from a portable device.
So, there are two speaker grilles on the right. The Power/Lock keys is also here.
The left side accommodates the USB-C port plus the other two speaker grilles.
The bottom has the Nano Memory card tray. If you get the 5G-enabled model, you'll also find a nano-SIM slot here.
Finally, let's take a closer look at the top side as it has more to it than meets the eye. The volume rocker is here, and, honestly, it took us two days to get used to the fact that this is not the power key. Three microphone pinholes follow - they are part of the 4-mic setup for focused AI sound with noise canceling. But wait, there is more.
The space next to the microphones is not wasted. If you own the M-Pencil, this is where it attaches to the tablet. The magnet is really strong, and the pencil clicks nicely into place. You can attach it both ways, unlike the S-Pen on the Galaxy Tab S7+. The space contains a wireless charger, too, so your M-Pen is automatically recharged when resting (30 seconds are enough for 10 minutes of writing).
The pencil is great - solid and comfortable - it's metal with silver paste paint and a transparent tip with a platinum-coated nib (maybe that's why it costs €99). It is an active stylus and has a touch-sensitive area for tapping gestures.
The screen supports up to 4,096 pressure sensitive levels and offers 9ms latency, but just like it was with the Galaxy Tab S7+, the MatePad Pro 12.6 offers the ultra-fast responsiveness and high tip precision only within a handful of optimized apps.
The other available accessory is the Smart Magnetic Keyboard. It's a full-blown keyboard cover with two magnetic positions for the tablet. It snaps firmly in either of those and, in fact, we had some hard time moving it out of there without taking apart the whole cover.
The Smart Magnetic Keyboard imitates leather on the outside, while its keys are plastic and have enough movement and excellent tactile feedback to feel like a real keyboard and not some gimmick case. It's thin and not that heavy and works as advertised. Obviously, there is no touchpad, not that it needed one. There is no integrated battery.
Both the pencil and the keyboard are quite easy to pair - just snap them to their respective places, and the tablet will do it for you.
Whether you enrich your experience with either or both accessories or use the MatePad Pro 12.6 on its own - it will be a proper tablet experience. There is more than enough grip, the tablet is reasonably thin, and 609g is in the ballpark of all large slates. The MatePad Pro 12.6 is a very well-built tablet, and whatever its back is made of - it does feel and look premium. And the olive color version looks magnificent (we have the gray one) and really stands out.
A vast OLED screen
The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 tablet is its 12.6" highlight feature has to be its large OLED screen. It's a high-res panel with 2,560 x 1,600 pixels (240ppi) and 16:10 aspect ratio.
The panel supports HDR10 video, though how easy it would be to get hold of such content on this device is debatable.
The screen refresh rate is fixed at 60Hz, and while we can live without HDR multimedia, we are not sure the lack of HRR is something we can swallow easily. And such big bites, unfortunately, are going to be piling up.
First, let's talk about the resolution. There is only one option in Settings, and it's called Smart Resolution. You either turn it on or off. You don't have control over the resolution is used, when, or where. This could have been handled better.
There is an ambient light sensor next to the front camera, so you can enjoy automatic brightness adjustments. True Tone is available, too, meaning there is probably a color sensor somewhere, too. We did like that the brightness levels are spread evenly across the scrubber.
There is also an eBook mode, which slowly desaturates all screen colors to mimic an eInk reader.
We measured a very good maximum brightness of 382 nits (for a tablet OLED panel). There is no light bleed in the black level, and that's how we get the Infinite contrast ratio, on in other words - a spectacular contrast.
Unfortunately, 382 nits are the maximum the screen can offer outside of HDR content. There is no sunlight boost when the tablet is exposed to bright light.
The minimum brightness at point white is 2.1 nits - a great setting for reading in a dark room!
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 382 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 388 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 484 | ∞ | |
| 0.37 | 610 | 1649:1 | |
| 0.47 | 625 | 1330:1 | |
| 0 | 485 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 807 | ∞ | |
The color rendition is handled familiarly - you Choose between Normal (sRGB) and Vivid (DCI-P3) colors. Normal aims to reproduce sRGB content truthfully, and we can confirm the screen is perfectly accurate to the sRGB color space.
The Vivid option corresponds to the DCI-P3 color space and yields slightly bluish whites and grays. You can opt for a different color temperature (Default, Warm, Cool, Custom). Choosing Warm when using Vivid will fix the white and gray colors and offers a very good accuracy to the DCI-P3 space.
Finally, let's go back to the HDR10 support. The screen is indeed certified as such according to all hardware-reading apps we tried, while HarmonyOS 2.0 supports Google's Widevine L1 DRM (imagine our surprise). But having L1 support isn't the only requirement to enjoy high-res HDR content.
See, AppGallery doesn't offer apps like Netflix or Prime Video. You can install those from APKPure, or the Amazon Appstore, and they would run fine. But since they don't have the MediaPad Pro as a supported device, they serve SD content only for streaming. We tried the web versions (where available), same thing. And while it's not impossible for Netflix and Amazon to add the MediaPad Pro to its supported device, we don't believe it will happen given that both are US-based companies and things are not looking good for Huawei over there.
There is some good news, though. You can run YouTube just fine in your browser, and you do get 4K video playback, and it looks gorgeous on the screen.
Battery life
The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 may be just 6.7mm thin, but it has a massive 10,090 mAh battery with support for 40W wired charging and up to 27W wireless charging.
The MatePad Pro 12.6 clocked 10 hours and 43 minutes on our web browsing script, beating the Galaxy Tab S7+ by good three hours!
When it comes to video playback, the MatePad Pro 12.6 once again turned out to be an excellent performer with north of 15 hours endurance before its battery dropped to 10% - once again beating the Tab S7+ by three hours.
Charging speed
The massive 10,050mAh battery inside the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 incredibly fast to charge, too. The tablet supports Huawei 40W SuperCharge, and it ships with that charger and 5A-certified USB cable.
The tablet also supports wireless charging up to 27W, achieved by using Huawei's own 27W wireless charger, sold separately. The MatePad Pro also supports reverse wireless charging - you can recharge your phone, watch, or headphones on its back (you need to enable it from Battery Settings).
The bundled 40W power adapter replenishes 33% of the tablet's depleted battery in 30 minutes. Not bad.
30min charging test (from 0%)
- Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6
33% - Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2018)
20% - Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+
18%
One hour on that charger takes you to 64%, while a full charge requires 2 hours and 10 minutes.
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6
2:10h - Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2018)
3:30h - Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+
3:35h
Speakers
The Huawei MediaPad Pro 12.6 has four speaker grilles placed symmetrically on its left and right sides. Underneath each grille are placed two speakers - a bigger and a smaller one, covering everything - from low (bass), mid- and high- frequency. This high-quality setup has been tuned by harman/kardon for even better experience and immersion.
And hands down, this is one of the best audio experiences we've had on a portable device, smartphones, tablets, and laptops included. The speakers sound incredible, the audio is deep and rich, and you can hear everything, pretty loud at that. The tablet may have scored a Very Good loudness, but these eight speakers together make it sound loud, really loud. So, as far as audio on the go is concerned, this is the one, guys.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
HarmonyOS 2.0 replaces Android, but Android is not gone
The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.8 is the first device we meet running on Huawei's own HarmonyOS out of the box - replacing Android OS. Its first public release, v.2.0, premieres on the new MatePad series, but we are going to see it on plenty of upcoming Huawei smartphones. A HarmonyOS update will be seeded to many compatible devices this year, too. For now, only phones in China are getting updated to Harmony.
The international HarmonyOS was unveiled in 2019 as a microkernel-based operating system for Internet of Things devices. It was based on LiteOS microkernel - the OS behind Huawei's smart wearables. The Chinese version of Harmony is called Hóngméng - its literal meaning is Vast Mist, while the metaphorical one is described as 'the primordial chaos before the world's creation'.
Fast-forward to 2021 and Huawei decided to break free from Android as we know it and create a version of its own.
We are now witnessing the release of HarmonyOS 2.0 for devices with more than 128MB RAM - read smartphones and tablets. Huawei's description of Harmony 2.0 core is rather vague, but some poking and prodding revealed that it's a forked version of Android 10 - one with deep-running EMUI layers, new features, UI advancements and services. Android is dead, long live Android?
A Huawei spokesperson said that indeed there is a Linux kernel inside HarmonyOS, among others. We suspect Huawei used Android 10 AOSP version, but because it cannot officially license it for obvious reasons, it has no right to use the word "Android" in any capacity (as per the AOSP terms). If you dig through the licenses in the About section, you can see a ton of hints about that.
Long story short - HarmonyOS 2.0 is based on Android 10, and you can install and run Android apps (APKs) that are not dependent on Google services. AppGallery is your default app store, but whatever is not in there, its Petal-powered search engine will redirect you to other APK repositories such as APKPure, Aptoide, among others. You can even install these app stores and make things even easier.
Speaking of Petal, HarmonyOS relies heavily on Huawei's own HMS services. These include now include Huawei location services with Petal Maps (powered by TomTom), Petal Search and Celia virtual assistant.
And now that we cleared that HarmonyOS is still Android-based with EMUI, we can move to explore its features. Those familiar with the latest EMUI developments should feel right at home, of course.
HarmonyOS for tablets looks familiar - it has a dock at the bottom, homescreens you can populate with shortcuts and widgets, there is an optional app drawer, too. Separate Notification and Control centers are available as well. Huawei offers plenty of new services like Cross-OS Multi-Device collaboration, Super Device hub, Snippets, pop-up previews, intuitive multi-tasking, among many other things.
The MediaPad Pro 12.6 does not offer Always-on screen or lockscreen widgets. There is no biometric security either. You can use PIN, password or pattern for best protection. There is also 2D face recognition via the selfie camera, but that's not as secure as it can be fooled in multiple ways. Unlocking by a nearby Bluetooth device is also an option.
Security
The interface is fairly familiar and looks a lot like the latest EMUI on Huawei smartphones. You populate homescreen pages with apps, folders, and widgets.
HarmonyOS 2.0
There is an app dock at the bottom that's shared between all homescreens. Next to this dock, in a separate space displaying up to three shortcuts (depending on the tablet's orientation) for the apps you've closed last.
The leftmost homescreen page, if enabled, is Assistant Today - the usual infotainment place. It houses a newsfeed tailored for you, weather reports, smart suggestions for apps, health info, battery info, AppGallery suggestions, among other things. You can customize this page - there are a lot of information services available by Huawei partners, you can also add game info, scores, and whatnot. This page looks like it's filled with ads at first, we admit that, but you can really make it yours and fill it with interesting stuff.
Today page
The tablet supports gesture navigation and virtual shortcuts, whichever you prefer.
The Notification Center and Control Center are handled the Apple way - you swipe from the top for both. Imagine that there is an invisible top bar divided into three parts - swiping from the first two invokes the Notification Center, while swiping from the last third brings down the Control Center and its quick toggles.
Meanwhile, swiping down anywhere on the homescreen takes you to the system-wide Search page, just like on iOS and iPadOS.
Notification Center • Control Center • Search
There is also a Theme Store, so you can completely change the look of HarmonyOS whenever you feel it.
Theme Store
Tap and hold on any of the system apps will pop up a menu with quick shortcuts. If you pair a mouse with the tablet, you can use it to hover to get various previews - photos, links, text, documents.
App shortcuts
Huawei came up with something cool, expanding on these shortcuts and previews, though. If you see an underlined app icon, you can swipe on it, and a snippet with the most popular shortcuts/functions will appear. You can either use one of the shortcuts or choose to pin this widget on your homescreen. Clever!
A tap and hold on the newly pinned widget gives you Edit and More Snippets options. In More Snippets you can choose different versions of the same widgets - larger size and/or more shortcuts.
Snippets
These Snippets are not available in the regular Widget menu, which is a bit weird and not very user-friendly.
Multi-tasking on the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 and its HarmonyOS is one of the aspects we loved. The Task Switcher is nothing out of the ordinary - it shows app cards, and there is a Close All button. Apps that support Pop-up Window have such shortcuts above their card.
Task Switcher • Pop-up app
The MatePad Pro 12.6 supports Multi-Window (Split Screen) multi-tasking and Pop-up Window multi-tasking. You need to swipe and hold from either left or right side to reveal the Multi-Window sidebar. Here you can see all apps that support multi-tasking. Tap in an icon to open the app in pop-up (floating) window, or drag and drop for split-screen view.
Multi-Window sidebar • Apps in floating windows • Minimized apps go on the side • Split screen
You can have two active apps, no matter which multi-tasking view you are using. If you've chosen to work with pop-up windows, the ones that are minimized when you open a new pop-up go on your left side as small floating icons. Neat.
HarmonyOS offers a peculiar feature known as App Multiplier. It can run two different instances of a single app in two separate windows. Currently, only Health and Petal Search support this (and it needs to be enabled from Settings), but support for more apps will be added later on.
App Multiplier
Huawei offers a lot of default apps to get you started. There is Huawei's Gallery, Music, Video, and Health apps. A File manager is available, as well.
Gallery • Music • Video • Health • File manager
You also get WPS Office, Petal Maps, Petal Search and Huawei Browser.
Petal Maps • Petal Maps • Petal Search
Huawei ships the MatePad Pro 12.6 with three apps made to be used with the M-Pencil - the default Notepad (now optimized for the M-Pencil, too), Nebu for Huawei, and My Script Calculator 2. These apps fully utilize the stylus, and 9ms low-latency is available here, and you can feel it.
The Notepad is pretty self-explanatory; you take notes. In Nebu, you can take better notes on simulated paper, or draw beautiful pictures, or, well, both?
Notepad • Notepad • Nebu • Nebu • Nebu
The My Script Calculator 2 is pretty cool - you write different math tasks with the Pencil, and the app returns the answer.
My Script Calculator 2
Huawei's AppGallery handles the default app installations, but we hate that it shows a 3s ad almost every time you open it. We don't find thsi solution user-friendly - but we guess the focus with this feature has been to help developers promote their apps.
AppGallery
Anyway, you can install more app stores like APKPure and Aptoide, or even Amazon's Appstore. This way, you can download apps like Facebook and Google Chrome (no sync though), and plenty of other games and office apps. You can install pretty much any APK file, but those relying on Google Services won't run.
APKPure • APKPure • APKPure • Aptoide • Aptoide
The MatePad Pro 12.6 supports Multi-Screen Collaboration. It's a mode you activate from the Control Center. Here you have three choices - Mirror Mode, Extend Mode, and Collaborate Mode.
Mirror Mode mirrors your Huawei laptop screen on your tablet, and you can use the M-Pencil and the touchscreen for drawing, writing and sketches. Basically, you upgrade your laptop screen with touch and pen support.
Extend Mode makes your tablet screen an extension to your Windows desktop on your Huawei laptop. Like having a second monitor.
Finally, the most interesting one is the Collaborate Mode. It is a cross-platform collaboration - you can drag and drop content (files, texts, links) between both devices in both directions with your mouse.
Or you can connect a Huawei phone and have its screen appear on your tablet display. Drag and drop file exchange works flawlessly; you can also use the tablet to make calls or write texts, no need to unlock and use your smartphone. It's a handy feature, but you'd need a Huawei smartphone running EMUI 10 or later for that feature to work.
Multi-Screen Collaboration with Mate 20 Pro
HarmonyOS has one more interesting feature known as Super Device - it aims to strengthen Huawei's new ecosystem further. Super Device turns your Huawei MatePad into the ultimate controller for your other Huawei smart devices - TVs, Smart Speakers, FreeBuds, Watch. Super Device offers a unified control panel to manage all connections and send audio and/or pictures to any connected devices.
Say you are wearing your Freebuds, currently connected to your P40 Pro smartphone. With the Super Device's control panel, you can immediately shift your Huawei TV audio to your Freebuds - no pairing, no additional tweaking - something that's usually a Bluetooth/Wi-Fi nightmare is done by tapping on a single button. HarmonyOS handles everything.
Some final bits we want to share with you - first, HarmonyOS 2.0 supports Dark Mode. And second, the tablet works flawlessly in landscape mode - we shot most of the screenshots in portrait orientation to save some space on this page.
Dark Mode • Landscape orientation
Performance
Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 runs on the Kirin 9000E 5G chipset, which has 2 GPU cores less than the Kirin 9000 5G chip we've met on the Mate 40 Pro. We don't know why Huawei chose to use this E version instead of the more powerful one, but this won't make much of a difference to end users anyway.
The Kirin 9000E 5G has an octa-core processor with a familiar 1+3+4 set of Cortex CPUs. There is one A77 core clocked at 3.13GHz, three more A77s @2.54GHz, and four A55s @2.04GHz. There are more powerful Cortex CPUs right now as the A78 and X1, but Huawei is yet to introduce a successor to the Kirin 9000 this Fall.
The GPU is a 22-core Mali-G78, and these should be plenty enough for gaming. The non-E version of the chip has 24 cores.
You can choose between 5G and Wi-Fi only version of the MatePad Pro 12.6. Naturally, the 5G one will include a 5G modem and a nano-SIM slot next to the Nano Memory one.
The tablet will come in two memory configurations 128GB and 256GB UFS3.1 storage. Both models offer 8GB of RAM.
The MatePad Pro has a Performance mode in the battery settings, which unlocks the chipset's full potential - otherwise, it's a more modest performer.
Unfortunately, our Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 review unit came with a ROM version that has all benchmark apps banned, and we couldn't run even a single performance test. Still, we've seen pretty much the same chip on the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, working behind a high-resolution OLED screen, and we know what to expect from this particular piece of hardware - flagship-grade performance with pretty good sustained performance.
Triple-camera on the back
The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 has three cameras on its back - there is a primary shooter accompanied by an ultrawide snapper and a ToF sensor. A single LED flash is around, but you will probably use it more as a torch and less as an actual flash.
The primary camera uses a 13MP sensor with 1.12µm pixels behind a 26mm f/1.8 lens. Autofocus is supported. Night Mode is available, too.
The ultrawide camera uses an 8MP sensor with 1.4µm pixels behind 16mm f/2.4 lens. The focus is fixed. There is no Night Mode on this camera.
The third camera is a 0.1MP ToF sensor utilized by the Portrait mode.
The front camera has an 8MP sensor with 1.12µm pixels and a 26mm f/2.0 lens. The focus is also fixed.
The camera app UI looks a lot like the one we've seen on the Huawei Mate X2. There is a shutter key on the right, a switch to enable selfie mode, gallery shortcut, and Mode selector (Aperture, Portrait, Night, Photo, Video). The selector's More entry houses a few additional modes. Things like Slow-Mo, Panorama, Monochrome, Documents, AR Lens, Light painting, Time lapse, Stickers etc.
Camera app
Pro Mode is supported on the main camera - it offers a maximum ISO of 1600, and the slowest shutter speed is 8s.
Photo quality
The 13MP photos from the MatePad pro 12.6 primary rear camera are sharp enough and detailed. The noise is kept reasonably low.
з>The photos show accurate colors, the contrast is pretty good, too, and the dynamic range was always great.There were some areas of high complexity, such as intricate foliage and the building blinds, which were not as nicely presented either due to the aggressive noise reduction or as a result of not so competent image stacking. There are noticeable oil-painting-like areas here and there, too.
Main camera, 13MP
The 8MP ultrawide photos are detailed, with good sharpness and low noise for such type of camera. The dynamic range is once again great.
The colors are okay, though a bit cooler than they should be, and the contrast isn't as impressive as on the main camera. Still, those are more than good for social networks.
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
Portraits are shot with the primary snapper with the help of the ToF camera, and you can choose between many different blur effects. Thanks to the ToF hardware, the subject separation is proficient, and then the blur is looking really good.
The portrait photos show balanced skin tones, good sharpness, and pleasant transition between person and background.
Portraits, 13MP
Aperture mode is also available. It defaults at F/4.0 simulated aperture, but you can choose between F/0.95 and F/16. The Aperture photos of objects are superb.
F/4.0 • F/2.4 • F/0.95
The low-light photos from the main camera offer good color saturation and balanced exposure. They are lacking in detail big time, though. The photos are soft, hurt by an overly aggressive noise reduction.
Main camera, 13MP
Huawei's signature Night Mode is available, and shots usually take about 10 seconds, meaning you need to keep your hands steady - with a 13" tablet - for quite some time. It does improve the overall exposure and exposes more detail in the background and the sky. But the images turned out soft and have this oil painting look. But for a non-flagship device, the Night Mode does a good enough job.
Night Mode, 13MP
You can use the ultra-wide camera at nighttime, but the photos are smudgy, noisy, desaturated and lacking in detail.
Ultrawide camera, 8MP
The 8MP selfies are great across the board - they are detailed, with excellent colors and accurate colors. The dynamic range is good, and the exposure is appropriate for selfies.
You may have noticed the focus seems to be fixed somewhere behind the subject. It's not that the person is blurry or unpleasantly soft, it's just that the background is sharper.
Front camera, 8MP
And here are a few samples from afar.
Front camera, 8MP
Video quality
The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 records video up to 4K at 30fps with its main and ultrawide cameras. The front shooter is limited to 1080p at 30fps. Thanks to the ToF sensor, the main camera can do Aperture videos with blurred background.
Electronic stabilization is available on all cameras and for all resolutions. It's always-on, you cannot opt out of it.
You get a choice of the h.264 and h.265 codecs, and we stuck with the h.264. The 4K footage is treated to a generous 50Mbps bitrate. Audio is always captured stereo with about 192Kbps bitrate.
The main camera captures very good 4K footage with excellent contrast. There is enough detail, and the noise is rather low. Dynamic range is nice and wide, the colors are mostly accurate. Intricate detail such as foliage is once again a bit of a challenge, but for a tablet, the 4K clips are pretty great.
The ultrawide 4K videos are okay with commendable dynamic range. The footage is a bit soft, the color saturation is colder than it should be, and the contrast took a minor hit. Still, those are good for this type of camera and device.
Thanks to the ToF camera, the MatePad Pro can do aperture video - it can blur your background in real-time. The videos are capped at 1080p at 30fps and look convincing, but your subject better stay still, or the focus hunting and exposure shift may ruin the footage.
Alternatives
The Huawei MediaPad Pro 12.6 is shaping like a great launch platform for the global version of HarmonyOS. It has the hardware needed to demonstrate its full potential, but it's also a great multi-purpose tablet.
We can't miss mentioning the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ as the closest competitor and alternative. It is also the smarter choice - the Tab S7+ is €100 cheaper (€700 vs. €800), the S-Pen is included, and it runs on Android with One UI with DeX capabilities.
MatePad Pro 12.6 next to the Galaxy Tab S7+
The Galaxy Tab S7+ has a 120Hz AMOLED screen with HDR10+, and it can stream in maximum quality from any popular video service. The S-Pen is more powerful, too, and there are plenty of apps utilizing its low-latency and high-precision mode. And the four AKG speakers are equally impressive.
But what's more important is the future-proofed software. The Galaxy runs on Android with OneUI, and Samsung promises at least three years of major updates. Then there is the DeX mode, which converts the tablet into a PC with a desktop and windows-based multi-tasking. Huawei cannot offer this just yet, though we've liked its Collaboration features.
MatePad Pro 12.6 next to the Galaxy Tab S7+
The Galaxy Tab S7+ is not perfect, of course. The S-Pen magnet dock is absurdly uncomfortable, the battery life is uninspiring, and if you want faster charging, then you'll need to ditch the 15W bundled charger and buy yourself a 45W separately. But even with these flaws, it's still the better tablet with more functions, has a fingerprint scanner, and it's the smarter choice due to its more clear software upgrade path.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+
Apple is the tablet king, so you should consider its iPad Pro models, too. The large 12.9" iPad Pro is more powerful than either slate here, it has a 4:3 120Hz LCD screen and supports Apple Pen, though this one is sold separately like the Huawei's M-Pencil.
The iPad OS has seen major improvements the last couple of years, and it's already offering a macOS-like experience. The file management is not intuitive, and it may trouble hardcore Android and Windows users, though.
If you are going to use the tablet more for multimedia and infotainment purposes and less for work, we'd suggest the iPad Pro. If work will be the top use for your tablet and you are not an Apple user (iPhone, Mac), then the MatePad or the Galaxy Tab would be better for you.
Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2020) • Apple iPad Pro 12.9 (2018)
The verdict
The Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 is one easily likable tablet for its attractive design, great OLED screen, fast performance, powerful speakers, incredible battery life and capable HarmonyOS. Huawei is definitely on the right track with the Android-based operating system and has spruced it up with enough features to make it tablet-worthy. M-Pencil works great, too, and if you like drawing, you'll like it how it's done on the MatePad Pro.
We've gathered mostly positive impressions from our week spent with the MatePad Pro 12.6. Sure, it can't play Netflix in HD, and the AppGallery has the nagging habit of showing ads, but we had no problems using the full tablet power and installing and updating apps from the third-party app repositories.
The issue with Huawei's future still stands, though, and it's not for the lack of trying. Huawei has been fighting the US ban in every way possible, but things are getting worse instead of better. And this uncertainty, no matter how good HarmonyOS turns out, will be a massive 'no buy' reason for many.
Yet, if you put down the second-guessing for a while, you'll enjoy one great tablet and user experience, almost as good as the best in class. And we like that Huawei is pushing heavily its own ecosystem - TVs, smart speakers, smartphones and headphones - connecting all these together is probably what will save the day for Huawei. It's happened before, and we can't see why it can't happen again.
Pros
- Large OLED screen, high resolution, HDR10.
- Beautiful design with matte finish, olive color is great.
- Excellent battery life, fast to charge.
- Outstanding speaker setup.
- Dependable cameras on both sides.
- HarmonyOS is better than expected, Android based, and runs most apps.
- Huawei Collaboration feature is very promising.
- M-Pencil works great, clicks lovely, and is S-Pen-competitive.
- Optional 5G modem, Nano Memory slot, Wi-Fi 6+
Cons
- Screen lacks a high-refresh rate.
- No fingerprint scanner.
- M-Pencil sold separately.
- No Desktop mode like on past EMUI devices.
- No 3.5mm jack (adapter provided).
- HarmonyOS has uncertain future.
- AppGallery has full-screen ads!
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