A Closer Look at What Makes Huawei Mate X2 Unique

Bleeding edge consumer products in a new product category usually take a year or two to find its footing, and that’s looking to be the case with foldable smartphones. Huawei’s third attempt, the Mate X2, is the most polished and impressive foldable smartphone hardware yet, improving on not just Huawei’s previous foldables, but one-up the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 as well. In this article let’s examine what makes the Huawei Mate X2 stand out from the pack.

Official product renders of the Huawei Mate X2. Photo: Huawei

Large, uninterrupted folding display without a crease

Huawei’s Mate X2 can be used either as normal smartphone with a 6.45-inch display or as an 8-inch tablet — the latter screen is revolutionary for being free of the noticeable crease that’s plagued other foldables, such as the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2.

This is thanks in part to a multi-dimensional hinge design’s five years in the making.

A screenshot showing the difference in crease between the Huawei Mate X2 (left) and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 from a video by China-based reviewer Vincent Zhong.

Here’s how it works: the multi-dimensional locking mechanism creates a waterdrop-like cavity when the device is folded, this means the screen is not bent at a harsh angle like the hinge of the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

A render of the Mate X2’s hinge. Photo: Huawei

What’s more, when the Mate X2 is folded, it closes entirely flat, unlike Samsung’s foldable. This is thanks to a state-of-the-art architectural and structural design.

The Mate X2 features a tapered design that subtly shifts the center-of-gravity to the thickest side, which is also where you grip the phone.

A foldable phone no longer has to compromise in photography experience

Up until the Huawei Mate X2, foldable smartphones have had to compromise with camera performance. Whether it was the original Huawei Mate X, the follow-up Mate XS, or any of Samsung’s foldables including the Z Fold 2, they lacked the top tier camera systems used by their slab counterparts at the time.

This is no more: the Huawei Mate X2 is packed with a 50MP main camera, 16MP ultra-wide angle camera (which Huawei calls Cine Camera), a 12MP 3x optical zoom lens, and an 8MP Periscope zoom camera that offers 10x optical zoom. This is virtually the same camera system used in the Huawei Mate 40 Pro+, the company’s current apex slab smartphone offering.

But the most impressive thing about the Mate X2’s camera system has to be the fact that Huawei managed to cram a Periscope zoom lens (which uses a more intricate, larger and thicker sensor) into a foldable device was thought to be impossible — until now.

A render of the Periscope camera design that Huawei manage to fit inside a foldable device. Photo: Huawei

And Huawei managed to do this without compromising device thickness. The Huawei Mate X2 measures 4.4mm at is thinnest point in unfolded form. When folded, its thickness varies from 13.6mm at the thinnest point to 14.7mm — still thinner than the Z Fold 2’s 16.8mm.

Upgrade to HarmonyOS later

The Huawei Mate X2 ships out of the box running an open source version of Android. However, starting April users will have the option to upgrade their phone to HarmonyOS, Huawei’s proprietary software that the company promises will bring the foldable phone experience to a new level. The Huawei Mate X2 will be among one of the earliest batches of Huawei devices to get this game-changing upgrade. HarmonyOS will bring seamless connectivity between the Mate X2 and Huawei’s diverse line of consumer products, including the Huawei FreeBuds 4i.

The longest-lasting TWS earbuds yet

Announced alongside the Huawei Mate X2 is the FreeBuds 4i, Huawei’s newest in-ear true wireless stereo earbuds. Huawei products have always offered superior battery life than others, and the FreeBuds 4i is no different — with the ability to play 10 hours of music continuously on a single charge. A ten minute charge in the carrying case adds four hours of battery life.

The petite earbuds also come with active noise cancellation, intuitive touch controls, and seamless pairing with smart devices.

Optimized UI for larger screen use

With a tablet-sized screen you’re going to want to do more with your device, and Huawei’s optimized its UI to take full advantage of the increased screen real estate. Users can jump into split-screen multi-tasking with just a couple of taps using “Multi-Window,” an intuitive shortcut gesture built into the Mate X2’s software. Drag and dropping media file work across native Huawei apps and select third-party apps.

Users can also open almost any app in a floating window that can be resized or placed anywhere on the screen. “App Multiplier,” as the name suggests, opens multiple instances of the same app.

Photo: Huawei

Little touches like the ability to resize and split they native keyboard should make the tablet experience more enjoyable.

The most advanced foldable phone

The Mate X2 continues Huawei’s trend of making hardware breakthroughs with the mobile space. As the foldable market mature and foldable phones become mainstream, Huawei will continue to lead the way with more breakthroughs in this space. Learn more about the Mate X2!

 

This post is sponsored and written in part by HUAWEI. Our sponsors help us pay for the many costs associated with running XDA, including server costs, full time developers, news writers, and much more. While you might see sponsored content (which will always be labeled as such) alongside Portal content, the Portal team is in no way responsible for these posts. Sponsored content, advertising and XDA Depot are managed by a separate team entirely. XDA will never compromise its journalistic integrity by accepting money to write favorably about a company, or alter our opinions or views in any way. Our opinion cannot be bought.

 

 

 

The post A Closer Look at What Makes Huawei Mate X2 Unique appeared first on xda-developers.

from xda-developers https://ift.tt/2O0eVgL
via IFTTT