Huawei MatePad 11 Papermatte Edition Review

Tablets have always been positioned as a replacement, if not an alternative, to a laptop. Through the years, it has managed to eke out a significant market share, but its position between powerful smartphones and equally high-performing laptops is a constant challenge.

What tablets need is a unique proposition that neither smartphones nor laptops could not offer separately. The typical case use is divided into two primary purposes:

First, as a content consumption device — whether it be browsing the web, watching movies, or playing games, the benefit of having a large display and longer battery life is what most people would want a tablet over a smartphone.

Second, as a productivity device — may it be using MS Office tools, editing videos, or even writing this entire review using this tablet. One added benefit of the “paper matte edition” is that it is also great for handwritten notes, sketches and drawings.

The MatePad 11-inch 2023 came out in May with a retail price of Php24,999USD 426INR 36,114EUR 406CNY 3,102. It has almost the same hardware configuration as the Papermatte Edition (except for a better Snapdragon 870 chip and bigger 8GB RAM). Another Huawei tablet that’s quite similar is the MatePad 11.5-inch, which came out just this August 2023.

Yep, Huawei is certainly doubling down on tablets this year. They all looked the same with a few differentiating features but distinct price points.

Design and Construction

Just like the other Huawei MatePad tablets before it, the MatePad 11 Papermatte Edition does look very familiar. The design and construction are almost identical.

It’s very thin at 7.2mm and relatively light at 480 grams (just a hair over 1 lb.) It has an all-metal body with a matte polished finish.

The power button is at the top left corner while the volume controls on the upper left side along with the secondary microphone. These placements are also comfortable whether you hold the tablet in landscape or portrait positions.

The USB Type-C charging port is at the bottom end along with two of four speaker grills while the other two were placed on the opposite end along the side of the power button.

The back panel has this soft finish they called “starlight sand” that somewhat glitter against the light at a certain angle. The finish also minimizes fingerprints stains and smudges.

An 11-inch display seems like the right size for a portable device like a tablet. Large enough to comfortably use as a productivity tool that works like a laptop yet small enough to carry around in one hand or tuck into a bag without adding too much carrying weight.

However, you will need to also bring the protective case which acts as a storage for the M-Pencil and the detachable keyboard to really maximize it. With that configuration, you’re looking at a form factor very similar to the Microsoft 62 Surface Go 3.

Display

The tablet has an 11-inch IPS LCD display with a sizable 2560 × 1600 pixel resolution (275ppi) at a 16:20 aspect ratio that’s similar to most laptops. It also features a fast 120Hz refresh rate which is good for gaming.

The matte effect is achieved using nano-level etching on the glass itself. It looks and feels like the screen used in ebooks (the Amazon Kindle comes to mind). Very smooth to the touch, does not attract fingerprints except for the more noticeable smudges if you have oily palms.

The bezels all around are thin enough, giving it a compact footprint. The rounded edges also allow for a more comfortable grip.

Early this year, I started using reading glasses on a regular basis as my eyes would squint whenever I use a smartphone or laptop. Reducing the brightness does not help and only when I use glasses with UV protection that I can clearly see.

With the PaperMatte Edition, I was able to use the tablet without the aide of my reading glasses. It was a pleasant surprise, indeed!

Camera and Multimedia

The MatePad 11 is not big on cameras. It comes with a single 13MP f/1.8 rear camera and an 8MP f/2.0 wide front camera. The main camera has a narrow field of view and works best for taking portrait shots.

Check out some sample shots taken with the rear camera below:

Where it placed its focus on is with the dual microphone and quad speakers on the top and bottom ends of the tablet. The collection of microphoens and speakers peppered all around the sides of the tablet allows for a more immersive experience — whether you’re simply watching a movie, playing games or even doing some video calls for work.

OS, Apps and UI

The MatePad 11 runs on HarmonyOS 3.1 which is Huawei’s own operating system. Long-time Huawei smartphone users will see similarities between HarmonyOS and the old Android-based EMUI along with a few enhancements in the user-interface.

Instead of the Google Play Store, you get the Huawei App Gallery. Natives apps like Petal Search and Petal Maps replace the native Google apps.

You can still install Google-related apps and 3rd-party apps using GBox which is pre-installed in the tablet. So far, we have had not any problems with installing and using apps on the tablet. In hindsight, since most of the productivity work that we did using the tablet involves using the Chrome browser and other web apps, the MatePad feels like it’s just any other laptop. Well, at least 90% of the time.

Performance and Benchmarks

Powering the MatePad 11 Papermatte Edition is a Snapdragon 870 chipset. This is composed of a powerful prime core ARM Cortex-A77 @ 2.84GHz and supported by 3 more ARM Cortex-A77 @ 2.42GHz. For low-consumption usage, its got a quad-core ARM Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz. The Snapdragon 870 was released in 2021 but is still a very capable chipset and comparable to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

Huawei included 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB of internal storage, which should be enough, but if you’re going to be a heavy productivity user, you may soon find the 128GB storage a bit lacking. There’s no expandable storage here via microSD or NM card, so you better get a USB OTG drive or an SSD drive for added external storage.

Antutu Benchmark scores showed decent or above-average scores (681,969) and even the internal storage speeds were promising (1,344MB/s read speed).

GeekBench v6 scores were also as expected with scores for GPU benchmark doing well for even heavy games.

Connectivity and Battery Life

The tablet comes with 7,250mAh Li-Po battery with a measly 10W wired charging. The device wasn’t able to complete our synthetic battery benchmark but in our video loop test, it managed to last 19 hours and 40 minutes on a full charge at 50% brightness, zero volume and in airplane mode playing a full HD movie. Not bad at all!

The table comes with a durable case with a built-in kickstand and you also get a detachable keyboard. They small keys on the keyboard are a bit clumsy but you can still type on it with ease.

For comparison, I took a typing speed test using the detachable keyboard on the MatePad 11 and got a 51WPM result with a 92% accuracy. I repeated the same test using the Macbook Air M2 keyboard and got a 62WMP result with 96% accuracy. It’s slower with the MatePad 11, but the accuracy isn’t that bad, so I would give the keyboard a passing mark for usability.

Using the M-Pencil is also a treat. It feels like you’re really writing on paper. I’m not very good at drawing or sketching so I rarely use it but for it’s perfect taking notes. I also find it useful to make digital signatures that I can attach to documents.

For connectivity, you get WiFi 6, Bluetooth and GPS. No option for an LTE variant though so you’ll have to get other MatePad models for that.

Conclusion

When it comes to tablets, there is no single dominant case use to look at. Others use it for gaming, others for consuming content and a few more might use it for productivity. The latter is where the Huawei MatePad 11 Papermatte Edition excels at.

Bundled with a kickstand case, detachable keyboard, and pressure sensitive M-Pencil, you are looking at complete productivity solution here. It will certainly pass as a laptop replacement and, in some instances, maybe even perform better than a regular laptop.

Those looking for an everyday tablet with productivity as priority, taking notes or drawing will definitely love the MatePad 11 PaperMatte Edition.

And, did I say I was able to write more than half of this review on the tablet itself and without using my reading glasses? I would definitely get this tablet for that sole reason alone.

What we liked:
* Great display
* PaperMatte is awesome for writing, sketching or drawing
* Excellent performance
* Long battery life
* Good sound quality

What we did not like:
* Non-expandable storage
* Slow charging

Check out the Huawei MatePad 11 Papermatte Edition (click here 10) for Php24,999USD 426INR 36,114EUR 406CNY 3,102 over at the Huawei website and in online stores like Shopee and Lazada.

HUAWEI MatePad 11-inch PaperMatte Edition specs:
11-inch IPS LCD PaperMatte Display @ 2560×1600 pixels
120Hz, 275 ppi, 16:10 aspect ratio
Snapdragon 870 octa-core chipset
1 × Cortex-A77 @ 2.84GHz
3 × Cortex-A77 @ 2.42GHz
4 × Cortex-A55 @ 1.8GHz
Adreno 650 GPU
8GB RAM
128GB internal storage
13MP f/1.8 (wide), PDAF rear camera
8MP f/2.0 (wide) front camera
4K@30fps, 1080p@30fps video recording (rear and front)
WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS
Fingerprint (power button)
USB Type-C 2.0 port
HarmonyOS 3.1 OS
Li-Po 7,250 mAh battery, 10W wired charging
Colors: Graphite Black
Dimensions: 253.7 x 165.3 x 7.2 mm
Weight: 480 grams