My Review of the Mate 10 Pro

[Alex_Hong]

For those who can't watch the video...

I only really started to give their phones a try starting with the Mate 9 (other than the Nexus 6P if course). Was pretty impressed with it and went on to get the P10 too. So naturally, interested to try the Mate 10 pro too.

For me no SD card and 3.5mm isn't a deal breaker since i'm on mostly cloud and wireless earphones. Then it has Ip67 too. Which is why I chose the pro instead.

The screen is really good as expected from Huawei. The resolution is a bit lower compare to mate 10 or like the S8+, V30, but it's good enough looking. nice colours, contrast, outdoor visibility. The tradeoff is probably worth it since I value battery life more.

Performance is really good. But not sure if it's just Oreo being too new, the software doesn't seem as polished and smooth as the Mate 9. So might take a few updates to get up to speed. But of course still hard to match Pixel 2's fluidity. Huawei's chipset has been impressive in my time with it, with great gaming performance from the Mali GPU. Last year's Mate 9 had one of the best gaming performance on an Android phone. It doesn't feel any better, but it's still great.

Battery life is great too as you would expect from 4000mAh and FHD screen. Easily last me through a day of heavy use, and maybe a bit more the next day. Definitely no complaints here. And impressive how they squeezed in a much larger battery in a phone smaller than the Pixel 2XL.

Before you say the stereos speakers, yes, the Pixel 2 XL is probably louder, but the Mate 10 Pro is no slouch too. it uses the call speaker to supplement bottom speaker too and sounds great still.

Camera wise is going to be really subjective. The image processing is more contrast-y, more textures, going for a more artistic flair? Kinda like Leica's cameras? It's certainly different from what we typically considered good like the higher dynamic range, sharpened images from Samsung, Google, or Apple. I think it looks artsy and nice, and the monochrome mode is definitely fun to shoot with. Overall I like the camera experience here. But I definitely wouldn't blame you for not liking it.

Sounds great so far? here comes the not so great stuff. EMUI. It's not just because i like stock android, but it's because I think the design is all over the place. Samsung on the other hand has cleaned up their act and placed a lot of effort at making their design work, and on the S8 it looks nice actually.

So yeah. Great hardware, maybe less great software. So while this phone isn't at the top of my recommendations list, I wouldn't stop anyone from buying one either if they really like how it looks. And the midnight blue version that I have, really looks darn good.

 

[jeepentj]

Good review. So what phone is at the top of your list then?

 

[Alex_Hong]

Good review. So what phone is at the top of your list then?

Thanks!


If we're talking about just Android phones...

Despite its shortcomings, i'll pick the Pixel 2 or 2 XL. Camera, software experience, updates, battery life are amazing on the phone. I like stock android, and the long and consistent software software is a huge bonus for me, and i use google photos a lot, so the original resolution upload is great too.

But for the general consumers, Samsung is probably still the safer bet here, so Note8 is still an easy recommend for me.

 

[B. Diddy]

Nice review!

 

[Aljean Thein]

Great review! I've heard the Mate 9 wasn't as polished to some people when it first came out either, but it got well optimized after some updates. I'm sure that'll happened to the Mate 10 as well.

 

[FutureMech]

Nice review!

2017 phones are really not impressive to my opinion, the Mate 9 is just that good, i have no need for another phone.

Mate 10 pro seems like the best option to be honest, just wish it had sd card and headphone jack, if sammy can do it, they can do it too.

 

[Derek W1]

What about the regular Mate 10? It has SD card, headphone jack, and comes with a 2k screen.

 

[FutureMech]

I wanna try the OLED, as it has Lower resolution and more efficient screen, plus 6gb is not present on regular Mate 10 in my area

 

[dpham00]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbzyKLOGGJk

For those who can't watch the video...

I only really started to give their phones a try starting with the Mate 9 (other than the Nexus 6P if course). Was pretty impressed with it and went on to get the P10 too. So naturally, interested to try the Mate 10 pro too.

For me no SD card and 3.5mm isn't a deal breaker since i'm on mostly cloud and wireless earphones. Then it has Ip67 too. Which is why I chose the pro instead.

The screen is really good as expected from Huawei. The resolution is a bit lower compare to mate 10 or like the S8+, V30, but it's good enough looking. nice colours, contrast, outdoor visibility. The tradeoff is probably worth it since I value battery life more.

Performance is really good. But not sure if it's just Oreo being too new, the software doesn't seem as polished and smooth as the Mate 9. So might take a few updates to get up to speed. But of course still hard to match Pixel 2's fluidity. Huawei's chipset has been impressive in my time with it, with great gaming performance from the Mali GPU. Last year's Mate 9 had one of the best gaming performance on an Android phone. It doesn't feel any better, but it's still great.

Battery life is great too as you would expect from 4000mAh and FHD screen. Easily last me through a day of heavy use, and maybe a bit more the next day. Definitely no complaints here. And impressive how they squeezed in a much larger battery in a phone smaller than the Pixel 2XL.

Before you say the stereos speakers, yes, the Pixel 2 XL is probably louder, but the Mate 10 Pro is no slouch too. it uses the call speaker to supplement bottom speaker too and sounds great still.

Camera wise is going to be really subjective. The image processing is more contrast-y, more textures, going for a more artistic flair? Kinda like Leica's cameras? It's certainly different from what we typically considered good like the higher dynamic range, sharpened images from Samsung, Google, or Apple. I think it looks artsy and nice, and the monochrome mode is definitely fun to shoot with. Overall I like the camera experience here. But I definitely wouldn't blame you for not liking it.

Sounds great so far? here comes the not so great stuff. EMUI. It's not just because i like stock android, but it's because I think the design is all over the place. Samsung on the other hand has cleaned up their act and placed a lot of effort at making their design work, and on the S8 it looks nice actually.

So yeah. Great hardware, maybe less great software. So while this phone isn't at the top of my recommendations list, I wouldn't stop anyone from buying one either if they really like how it looks. And the midnight blue version that I have, really looks darn good.

Nice review, a bit sad to hear that emui still isn't streamlined though

 

[dpham00]

Good review. So what phone is at the top of your list then?

The problem is the price. It's really high this year compared to last year

 

[dpham00]

Thanks!


If we're talking about just Android phones...

Despite its shortcomings, i'll pick the Pixel 2 or 2 XL. Camera, software experience, updates, battery life are amazing on the phone. I like stock android, and the long and consistent software software is a huge bonus for me, and i use google photos a lot, so the original resolution upload is great too.

But for the general consumers, Samsung is probably still the safer bet here, so Note8 is still an easy recommend for me.

Yeah I was worried it wouldn't live up to the note 8 or pixel 2 xl

 

[dpham00]

Great review! I've heard the Mate 9 wasn't as polished to some people when it first came out either, but it got well optimized after some updates. I'm sure that'll happened to the Mate 10 as well.

Last year it was more forgivable because the mate 9 was $600. At $900+,it's a tougher pill to swallow

 

[dpham00]

Nice review!

2017 phones are really not impressive to my opinion, the Mate 9 is just that good, i have no need for another phone.

Mate 10 pro seems like the best option to be honest, just wish it had sd card and headphone jack, if sammy can do it, they can do it too.

The changes from last year to this are definitely incremental. The mate 9 is still a great performer as are the other last year flagships

 

[dpham00]

What about the regular Mate 10? It has SD card, headphone jack, and comes with a 2k screen.

Well the mate 10 pro has a 1.92k display

 

[dpham00]

I wanna try the OLED, as it has Lower resolution and more efficient screen, plus 6gb is not present on regular Mate 10 in my area

Resolution doesn't really matter... I tried my note 8 at full and at fhd+, the difference was negligible

 

[Aljean Thein]

Last year it was more forgivable because the mate 9 was $600. At $900+,it's a tougher pill to swallow

Yah I can see that. Heard they release a couple of updates since it came out already. Hopefully that helped it

 

[Aljean Thein]

Resolution doesn't really matter... I tried my note 8 at full and at fhd+, the difference was negligible

How long did you test the battery out for each resolution though

 

[Aljean Thein]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbzyKLOGGJk

For those who can't watch the video...

I only really started to give their phones a try starting with the Mate 9 (other than the Nexus 6P if course). Was pretty impressed with it and went on to get the P10 too. So naturally, interested to try the Mate 10 pro too.

For me no SD card and 3.5mm isn't a deal breaker since i'm on mostly cloud and wireless earphones. Then it has Ip67 too. Which is why I chose the pro instead.

The screen is really good as expected from Huawei. The resolution is a bit lower compare to mate 10 or like the S8+, V30, but it's good enough looking. nice colours, contrast, outdoor visibility. The tradeoff is probably worth it since I value battery life more.

Performance is really good. But not sure if it's just Oreo being too new, the software doesn't seem as polished and smooth as the Mate 9. So might take a few updates to get up to speed. But of course still hard to match Pixel 2's fluidity. Huawei's chipset has been impressive in my time with it, with great gaming performance from the Mali GPU. Last year's Mate 9 had one of the best gaming performance on an Android phone. It doesn't feel any better, but it's still great.

Battery life is great too as you would expect from 4000mAh and FHD screen. Easily last me through a day of heavy use, and maybe a bit more the next day. Definitely no complaints here. And impressive how they squeezed in a much larger battery in a phone smaller than the Pixel 2XL.

Before you say the stereos speakers, yes, the Pixel 2 XL is probably louder, but the Mate 10 Pro is no slouch too. it uses the call speaker to supplement bottom speaker too and sounds great still.

Camera wise is going to be really subjective. The image processing is more contrast-y, more textures, going for a more artistic flair? Kinda like Leica's cameras? It's certainly different from what we typically considered good like the higher dynamic range, sharpened images from Samsung, Google, or Apple. I think it looks artsy and nice, and the monochrome mode is definitely fun to shoot with. Overall I like the camera experience here. But I definitely wouldn't blame you for not liking it.

Sounds great so far? here comes the not so great stuff. EMUI. It's not just because i like stock android, but it's because I think the design is all over the place. Samsung on the other hand has cleaned up their act and placed a lot of effort at making their design work, and on the S8 it looks nice actually.

So yeah. Great hardware, maybe less great software. So while this phone isn't at the top of my recommendations list, I wouldn't stop anyone from buying one either if they really like how it looks. And the midnight blue version that I have, really looks darn good.

With regards to the Samsung skin, it does lag over time. Huawei EMUI doesn't lag nearly as faster or much at all. At least for me. Even if Samsung software is more polished, it won't stay fluid after a while.

 

[FutureMech]

The changes from last year to this are definitely incremental. The mate 9 is still a great performer as are the other last year flagships

The mate 9 is better than all flagship released this year, at least to my opinion.

I have it with Oreo Beta.

 

[Aljean Thein]

The mate 9 is better than all flagship released this year, at least to my opinion.

I have it with Oreo Beta.

Yah they are a great phone. Mate 10 isn't a huge upgrade. Just a nicer body