Huawei Ascend Mate7 review: Stargazer

Introduction

The Huawei Ascend Mate7 is the company's first phablet ready for primetime, with two credible midrangers in the Mate series giving Huawei the confidence to stand up to rival flagships. Never mind the digit in the title, the Mate7 is actually a 6" device with premium looks, solid display and a capable chipset. It was built to stand out, outlast and outperform the competition and looks keen to muscle its way to the top instead of sneakily undercutting the competition.
The Ascend Mate7 is trying to impress in pretty much every aspect. Its body is made of aluminum, but the focus is well on the 6" IPS display of 1080p resolution. Huawei's very own Kirin 925 chipset is powering the Mate7, which offers all-round connectivity options and a capable 13MP snapper.

Huawei Ascend Mate7 official pictures
Huawei maybe a novice in fingerprint security, at least on paper, but comes across as a quick learner - to say the least. Huawei's implementation are superior to some of the popular solutions on other handhelds by major manufacturers. The phablet comes with built-in and easy to access scanner, which is fast and secure enough, offering touch&pay via NFC.
And before we proceed with exploring the complete feature set there is no way we miss mentioning the massive 4,100mAh battery hidden inside the Mate7. Huawei promises incredible battery times and you bet we'll test these claims with the dedicated Ultra Power Saving mode off.
Now it's time for the key features list:

Key features

• Cat. 6 LTE connectivity, 300Mbps rated download speed
• Optional dual-SIM model for certain markets and you choose to use the second slot as either a SIM or a microSD slot)
• 6" 16M-color 1080p IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with Gorilla Glass 3, usable with gloves
• Android OS v4.4.2 KitKat with Emotion UI v3.0
• Quad-core 1.8 GHz Cortex-A15 & quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex-A7, Mali-T628 GPU; 2GB or 3GB of RAM; Huawei Kirin 925 chipset
• 13MP autofocus camera with LED flash, 1080p video recording @ 30fps
• 5MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording, selfie panorama mode
• Fingerprint sensor
• 16GB or 32GB of built-in storage, side-mounted microSD card slot, hot-swap
• FM radio
• Standard 3.5mm audio jack
• Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
• 4,100mAh battery

Main disadvantages

• Non-exchangeable battery
• No 4K or 1080p video recording @ 60fps
• Will compete against QHD screens in this price range
• Below average loudspeaker performance

What's up with companies and storage/RAM options? Just like the LG G3, the Huawei Ascend Mate7 comes with 2GB of RAM on its 16GB version and 3GB RAM with the 32GB model. One possible explanation is Huawei is trying to be competitive in two different price brackets. Fair enough, as long as users don't have to chase after the right box. And it is beyond us why Huawei decided not to implement more advanced video recording modes, having upgraded the camera sensor and the chipset.

Huawei Ascend Mate7 live pictures (two color versions)
Still, the aluminum unibody with a smaller footprint than the iPhone 6 Plus and the huge battery behind the massive 6" display are likely to let the Huawei Ascend Mate7 start strong. So let's get right down to it - we'll hopefully have our questions answered as the review unfolds.

Huawei Ascend Mate7 retail package

The Huawei Ascend Mate7 comes in a flat box with a 2A compact charger, a microUSB cable and a one-piece headset. There's nothing more than the absolute must-haves, just like the cheaper Mates before it, the Mate7 isn't overly generous with the accessories.

Huawei Ascend Mate7 360-degree view

The Huawei Ascend Mate7 is big, there is no denying that. It measures 157 x 81 x 7.9mm and weighs 185g, about the size of an Apple iPhone 6 Plus - which however comes with a smaller, 5.5" screen. Samsung's Note 4 isn't any more compact either - and thicker - featuring a 5.7" screen. The Ascend Mate7 offers a bigger screen and battery than two very prominent rivals. Well done!

Design and build quality

95% metal on the outer body, the Huawei Ascend Mate7 has premium looks and build quality unseen before in the Mate series. The aesthetic influences are easy to spot - a potential red flag for a certain kind of users - but the execution is tasteful. And the build quality is top notch.

Huawei Ascend Mate 7 in two distinct color versions
The sides remind of the iPhone 5's tapered edges, while the back looks a lot like the HTC One Max, the fingerprint scanner placement and all. There's a dash of HTC at the front as well, but the Mate7 has better reasons to be looked at: the massive 6" is almost bezel free, for an impressive screen to surface ratio of 83%.

Handling the Ascend Mate7
The Huawei Ascend Mate7 is probably the best device the company has built to date. The ultra-slim Ascend P6 looks gorgeous but the build quality of the Mate7 is even superior. And when you realize the phablet is as big as the 5.5" Apple iPhone 6 Plus, your respect for the Mate7 and Huawei's engineering chops will grow.

Controls

Almost the entire front of the Huawei Ascend Mate7 is taken up by the 6" IPS display of 1080p resolution. The side bezels are super thin and, when the screen is off, you can't even tell there are any. The Huawei logo is printed below, while the earpiece, the front 5MP camera and a couple of sensors are above the 6" display. Pity the Mate7 borrowed the HTC One Max's design sans the stereo speakers. There is only a single speaker on the Huawei's smartphone.

A look at the Mate7's front
The hot-swappable microSD slot and the microSIM compartment are on the left side of the Ascend Mate7. Both require a SIM ejection pin to open.
The Dual SIM version of the Mate7 (pictured below) has a nifty trick. The microSD card tray can alternatively host a nanoSIM card if you need a second SIM card. Unlike the microSD card, the nanoSIM card is placed perpendicular to the direction of insertion. It's an ingenious solution indeed, and a flexible one at that.

The microSIM and microSD compartments
The right side has the volume rocker and power/lock key. Both are made of brushed aluminum and while thin, they still have great press.

The right side of the Huawei Ascend Mate7
The 3.5mm audio jack and the secondary microphone are at the top of the Ascend Mate7, while the primary mic and the microUSB port are at the bottom.

The top and bottom of the Ascend Mate7
Around back is where things get interesting. The decidedly HTC One Max-inspired design is complete with fingerprint identification - but while the layout may have been copied, the sensor itself is quite innovative. The fingerprint sensor offers 8-bit grey level detection, 360-degree readability, and can even be used with a wet finger - a big no-no with other sensors. It only requires a tap with a finger to activate, rather than the tedious drag-your-finger-over-the-sensor routine on Samsung devices.

The 13MP camera lens and the fingerprint sensor are at the back
Despite the upgrade to 13MP for the primary camera, it's only able to record 1080p videos @30fps, while the 5MP front-facer stops at 720p. The 4,100mAh battery is non user-accessible due to the unibody design.