Huawei Mate 8

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#1458784 29-Dec-2015 22:21

Kopkiwi: Sounds like a great phone

How's the camera?

Still getting a feel for the camera, thought I would upload a shot taken in good light as that's what I currently have the most of. This one is a challenging shot for a smartphone - moving target, high dynamic range but unable to utilise HDR given the moving target, lots of detail with the foliage in the background. It has focused more on the leading foliage here, but the detail there is rendered really quite nicely I think (also the bark at the bottom), dynamic range is a bit too much for the phone with some highlights blown out (white hat), noise is fairly nicely in check, although there is a bit of colour noise in the blue sky, colour and exposure very true to life.

All in all pretty good I think, and I don't think my Note 4 would have done any better in the same conditions and with the same subject. In other shots my son was in focus, however I thought this one showed the cameras mettle a little more effectively with the rendition of the background foliage. Full res available at FlickR of course. More examples to come including low light samples, and with direct comparison to Note 4 and S6 Edge+.

IMG_20151227_164905_copy by Murray Winiata, on Flickr

Twitter: @nztechfreak
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NZtechfreak

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#1458787 29-Dec-2015 22:30

Other thoughts...

Battery life continues to impress. The other day it was bedtime late in the night and the battery had just hit 50% (with four hours screen on time [SoT]), so I did the unthinkable and did not charge it overnight. It ended up reaching 36hrs on battery, with 6.5hrs SoT, which compared to my previous Android phones in the same use scenario is pretty mindblowing. I had 7hrs 18mins of SoT two days ago over 18 hours on battery and retired with 17% remaining (probably good for another hour and halfs non-gaming use given it was late and brightness could be dialed back). Yesterday I spent half the day out and about, screen brightness on auto (so often max given it was bright out), on cellular network, half an hour or so of GPS and usual general use and had 4hrs 26mins SoT with 28% remaining. Worth mentioning that this is with system performance set to max, rather than 'optimised', and without engaging ultrapower saving mode, so you could potentially eek even more battery life out of this thing.

Tried Dolphin Emulator and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance running fullspeed at 2x IR (internal resolution, so twice native Gamecube resolution ~720p), which is something of a shock for a mobile device and more a testimony to the CPU and Dolphin devs here. GPU performance is slightly less than this years other flagship SoCs, but then at native resolution workloads performance is actually better given here we are 1080p vs 1440p on most of the devices sporting 810s (which will throttle down of course too) and Exynos CPUs.

Overall I'm still VERY happy indeed with this phone.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

Dairyxox

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#1462554 6-Jan-2016 18:36

After reading the review on Anandtech, I'm impressed. The way it can sustain performance better than other high end chips practically nullifies the advantage of chips with "faster" graphics.

networkn

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#1462581 6-Jan-2016 19:19

Interesting, I had the 6P and I was really disappointed with performance in gaming at least. Clash of Clans and Hay Day (ESP HD) were terrible compared to either my S6 Edge or Note 5 (Which I really really like).

The Killer thing for me was the fingerprint reader which I LOVED, though to be fair the Note5 has a really good one, much better than that of the S6 Edge.

I'd probably have kept the Nexus if it weren't for the IR Blaster missing, though the Note5 doesn't have one either which annoyed the snot outta me.

The S7 will have to be hella impressive to get me away from the Note now. More Gaming performance would be my main issue now. Note 5 battery performance was good as was the Nexus 6, but it didn't have to try hard to thrash the S6 Edge which has the worst battery life of a phone I've ever owned.

Kopkiwi

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#1464817 7-Jan-2016 07:46

That's a good photo, good detail, especially in the trees.

Sounds like a beast of a phone. If I hadn't just grabbed a Note 5 I'd be seriously considering it.

Knowing me though, I'll be board in a month in looking for a new phone so can look again then. Hopefully some our parallel importers have grabbed it then

Krishant007

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#1464886 7-Jan-2016 09:21

Just had a look at the hands on of this device. It seems very nice indeed. They were saying that it is almost the same size as the Nexus 6P but with a bigger screen. How is the Huawei software experience? Is it anywhere near bloated as Samsung? Its usually the software that makes it or breaks it with the android devices.

How is the 1080p screen on the phone? I dont know how a 1080p would look on a 6inch phone. So would be good to know what you think of it.

wasabi2k

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#1464909 7-Jan-2016 09:48

Every site and review I have seen states how awful the skinning is.

Why don't they just stick with stock Android - or at least offer it as an option.

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Trade NZ and US shares and funds with Sharesies (affiliate link).

NZtechfreak

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#1466276 8-Jan-2016 23:10

1080p is just fine, I had no issues with 1080p on my P8max at 6.8 inches. Much rather have 1080p in all honesty.

Regards the skin - I'm on Nova which ameliorates most UI issues, and like most skins it does have some nice additional features over stock Android.

The Anandtech review mirrors my experience, which impresses me, as most reviews online do not.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

NZtechfreak

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#1466277 8-Jan-2016 23:12

Should also add that battery life still superb on cellular data, despite not being as efficient as WiFi as Anandtech point out.

Twitter: @nztechfreak
Blogs: HeadphoNZ.org

Quinny

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#1505941 4-Mar-2016 13:10

Keep looking out for info on the NZ release but not seen anything since the post on their FB page saying its due out soon.

HuaweiNZ

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#1509991 9-Mar-2016 16:34

Hi Quinny,

We're expecting an early April release for the Mate 8 here in New Zealand. I'm sure the FB page will update once we have the precise day locked in.

-Nick

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#1510002 9-Mar-2016 16:50

Hi NZTechFreak, how is the camera in low light. And, in addition, the camera quality on the front camera? Keen to see more samples!

Kopkiwi

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#1530200 11-Apr-2016 20:07

I see 2degrees is now offering this phone. Pretty cool, old man is due an upgrade might look at this for him.

Quinny

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#1530857 12-Apr-2016 14:59

Pb tech have the Mocha 64gb one. Had a play and very much in love. Just waiting on a nice interest free option to pop up.

Quinny

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#1543651 28-Apr-2016 21:51

Had 2 weeks now and I am in love. Brought the PB Tech mocha one (64g base plus 64g sd). Love the apps built in cos I could delete so many had to have on the samsung, emui no issues and themes very nice (just shake if done like colour - love it). Everything is wonderful but .... omg the predictive text is just plain horrible. Installed Flexky and way better. Only issue so far. Even used camera at a graduation ceremony at Horncastle Arena which was dark as and zoomed in. Photos were nice enough to use on facebook and tell easily who it was. Fast and great battery. I am very happy with the phone.

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