As the 2021 Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6 is now available in the Philippines, let’s initially check it out. We’re excited to know more as this was unveiled to be Huawei’s first tablet running HarmonyOS 2.0, and it’s also our first encounter with the new OS.
To begin, let’s establish our bearings. As our base point of reference, we’ll be looking at the MatePad Pro 12.6 from its landscape orientation. The most important aspect of any tablet is its screen, and here we get a 12.6-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2560 x 1600, giving us a nice 16:10 aspect ratio which is generally said to be better for productivity.
The 2K resolution is very nice to have, as a big display like this can definitely benefit from the extra sharpness. And being an OLED panel, we can expect nice colors and deep blacks.
The front panel also looks really nice with the bezels kept as minimal as possible. It’s not edge-to-edge, but we really like the uniform size of the bezels. The top bezel, by the way, houses the 8MP front camera.
Now moving to the left side, we get the red-accented power button and a pair of speaker grilles.
On the right, we have the USB Type-C port and another pair of speaker grilles, making for a booming quad-speaker setup, which is, of course, powered by Harman/Kardon.
Up top is the volume rocker and a few holes that we assume are microphones.
At the bottom, we get the card tray for a Huawei NM card, and possibly a nano-SIM card depending on which model you get.
And finally, for the back panel, we get this nice smooth matte aluminum finish with nothing but the protruding rectangular rear camera module which contains a 13MP main sensor, 8MP ultrawide lens, and a 3D TOF sensor.
Our unit is in the Matte Grey colorway, but Olive Green is available if you want something a little more unique.
Quickly checking out these accessories, the Huawei Smart Magnetic Keyboard is pretty much essential if you’re planning to get any work done on the MatePad Pro. The keyboard itself isn’t anything super special, but will definitely be better than typing on the screen.
The whole thing also acts as a protective case for your tablet and attaches with a pretty strong magnet. It also allows the MatePad Pro to be tilted at a variety of angles.
The M-Pencil is also pretty cool and will be a must-have for those who want to do any sort of drawing or note-taking. The shape and weight are somewhat ergonomic and is easy to store as it can magnetically attach to the side of the tablet.
Going back to the tablet, let’s talk about the internals. It’s equipped with a Kirin 9000E 5G CPU and Mali-G78 MP22 GPU. That is then paired with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. And powering everything is a 10,050mAh Li-Po battery that supports 40W fast charging.
For software, we get not Android, but HarmonyOS 2. This is actually our first encounter with Huawei’s newly minted OS, and so far, we’re liking the clean and organized look. Stay tuned for our full review as we’ll dive deeper into the software department.
But that about wraps it up for this quick look at the new Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6. For the price, it’s now available for PHP 55,999. Those who will get the tablet will get bundled freebies: worth PHP 17,387 from June 25-27, PHP 18,035 from June 28 – July 9, and PHP 13,998 from July 10-31.
Now, what do you guys think of the Huawei MatePad Pro 12.6? Let us know in the comments.
With inputs from Justine Basco
Huawei MatePad 12.6 specs:
12.6-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) OLED screen
Huawei Kirin 9000E
22-core Mali-G78
8GB RAM
256GB storage
up to 256GB via NM memory card
Triple camera:
• 13MP F1.8 (main)
• 8MP F2.4 (wide)
• 3D depth
8MP F2.0 front camera
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Bluetooth 5.2
GPS,A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
Octa speakers w/ Histen 7.0
USB Type-C
HarmonyOS 2
10,050mAh battery
184.7 x 286.5 x 6.7mm
609g
Green, Grey
