#CES2016: Huawei launches Mate 8 phablet with a 16 Megapixel camera and high battery life

Huawei Consumer Business Group has globally launched the Huawei Mate 8 smartphone, at #CES2016 which is significantly enhanced with power, efficiency and battery life. The Mate 8 continues Huawei’s track record of delivering high-end devices that reflect global consumer demand and inspire loyalty in their users.

Speaking during the launch Kevin Ho, President Huawei Consumer BG Handset Business, said “With the Mate 8, we have delivered a device that meets the needs of a new style of business. With this fast, impeccably designed smartphone, users can work more efficiently and free up valuable time to spend with friends, family and on personal pursuits”

He also added that The Mate 8 supports global connectivity and more bands than any other dual-SIM phone, including four 2G bands, nine 3G bands and 18 4G bands in 217 countries and regions with 1,334 operator settings. This makes it the perfect device for the global business traveler.

Featuring the most powerful chipset, a high-capacity battery and stylish design – including a unique mocha brown color option – the Huawei Mate 8 is the ideal smartphone for today’s on-the-go professional. The Mate 8 is designed from the ground-up for productivity and its hardware and software have been fine-tuned to provide an elegant, efficient experience.

“The Mate 8 is the ultimate high-end smartphone. It strikes the perfect balance between high performance and long battery life, enabling people to stay connected and be more productive in every facet of their lives.” Added Mr. Ho.

With new groundbreaking hardware, the Mate 8 is the first smartphone to run the Kirin 950 chipset, with CPU boosting power up 100 percent, GPU performance up 125 percent, and power efficiency up 70 percent compared to the Kirin 925. The device’s architecture balances energy efficiency with high-end performance through 4 x A72 2.3 GHz processors and 4 x A53 1.8 GHz processors.

Equipped with a 4000mAh high-density battery, the Mate 8 delivers industry-leading power efficiency offering over two days of normal usage. And with rapid charging technology, the phone is able to charge a day’s worth of power in just 30 minutes. In fact, the manufacturer says that users can go without charging their phone for 2.36 days, and heavy users can go without charging for 1.65 days.

Running on Huawei’s EMUI 4.0, based on Android Marshmallow 6.0, the Huawei Mate 8 offers hundreds of user experience tweaks and improvements, as compared to its predecessors Additionally, the Mate 8 features a split-screen mode that enables enhanced multitasking between apps.

The Huawei Mate 8 also introduces a new generation of fingerprint security with enhanced protection technology. The circular fingerprint sensor improves the effective identification area by 10 percent. In addition, the fingerprint friction ridge matching has three levels of security, providing a higher level of protection for users. The new sensor design also increases the unlock speed by 100 percent.

The Mate 8 maintains two sets of fingerprint interface standards to improve smartphone payment experiences—the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) and Android M standards. The strong CPU also supports real-time encryption of full storage for better data protection. The Mate 8 provides a microSD card lock, preventing anyone from accessing content in the card without a password. If a phone is stolen, user data cannot be obtained.

Mr. Ho also added that Huawei had invested $98 million over three years to develop the first proprietary image sensor processor for faster focusing, higher clarity, and more accurate color shading. A leading research team was assembled in France to increase the processing speed of the camera, resulting in increasing the process bandwidth by four times with 14-bit precision.

In addition, the Mate 8 adopts the revolutionary, all-new Sony 16MP IMX298, increasing the sensor size by 23 percent for breathtaking images. The Mate 8 also features an 8 MP front camera with a new beauty algorithm for taking the perfect selfie.

The Huawei Mate 8 features “Super Hands-Free 3.0” technology that enables hands-free operations in a variety of environments. With a 120 degree range of audio pick up and directional noise reduction mode, conference calls are clearer than ever before, no matter where they take place.

The Mate 8 features three microphones which automatically detect sound sources and record voices from all directions. During playback, people can choose any direction of the sound source they want to hear. Additionally, the Mate 8 provides document readjustment camera mode, which automatically straightens images that are captured at an angle for better viewing.

It took the Huawei team approximately 500 days for them to research and worlk on the device. If there is one thing the company invests much on, it is on the R&D facility this has seen leading to the elegant style and finishing like The Mate 8 which features a refined, elegant design that highlights its beautiful 6-inch high contrast display.

The Huawei Mate 8 will be initially available in 30 countries including: Spain, Germany, France, United Arab Emirates, Mexico and Australia. In Africa, Mate 8 will only be available in Egypt and South Africa, before it rolls out to other countries.

The device will cost 599 euros for 3GB +32GB and 699 euros for 4GB + 64GB. It is available in four elegant colors: champagne gold, moonlight silver, space gray and mocha brown.