Huawei has officially announced what will be its newest and most advanced flagship smartphone, the Mate 8.
The Mate 8 will have a 6-inch LCD screen with a 1080p HD resolution and a 4000mAh battery, similar to its predecessor the Mate 7. Other than that, the similarities end there.
Tech website Anandtech, which was among the first to get a hands-on of the Mate 8, notes the design of the upcoming smartphone as a departure from that of the Mate 7, with the former now sporting a larger curve on the back resulting in thinner edges to make the device easier to hold. The front diamond cut glass now also has 2.5D edges, giving the Mate 8 a better feel than the plastic bezels around the Mate 7's screen.
In addition, the Mate 8 sports a new processor, Huawei's own Kirin 950 SoC quad-core processor and a Mali T880MP4 as its graphics processor. With regards to its connectivity, not only does it have LTE capability but also an 802.11ac wi-fi capability.
CNET also reports that the unit is made of aerospace-grade aluminum with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. It also sports dual cameras as with most smartphones, bearing a 16MP sensor with image stabilization at the back and an 8MP shooter on the front.
The Mate 8 will also have the latest Android version, the 6.0 Marshmallow, customized with Huawei's own EmotionUI 4.0 which offers features like voice controls, a power-saving firewall, a defragmenter, and eRecovery.
The Huawei Mate 8 will be competing directly against Samsung's Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+. Despite Samsung being a more recognized brand and has wider availability, Forbes notes that the Mate 8 may have an edge against the offerings of its bigger rival, thanks in part to Samsung's recent missteps especially in the phablet market.
The phone will be initially available in the China within the 1st quarter of 2016 while it is expected that the phone will be introduced to the western markets during the CES, the annual technology trade show that would be held in Las Vegas in January 2016.
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