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PROS
- Neat stylus (Premium model only)
- Loud speakers
- Good camera for a tablet
CONS
- Custom software is not a perfect fit
- Relatively low-res screen
- Base model is an uninspired package
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KEY FEATURES
- 10.2-inch 1920 x 1200 pixel IPS LCD screen
- 16/64GB storage
- 2/3GB RAM
- HiSilicon Kirin 930 CPU
- Android 5.1.1 with Emotion UI 3.1
- 13-megapixel rear camera with flash
- 5-megapixel selfie camera
- Manufacturer: Huawei
- Review Price: £249.00
WHAT IS THE HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10?
The Huawei MediaPad M2 10 is a large widescreen tablet. You get no points for guessing this one, but it has a 10-inch screen. 10.1-inch to be exact.
Huawei's standard version of the tablet costs £250, significantly undercutting even the old iPad Air, but to get the most out of the MediaPad M2 you’ll want to consider upgrading to the £330 Premium edition. This version includes more storage, more RAM and a nifty pressure-sensitive stylus.
Hobbyist doodlers should consider the MediaPad M2 10 as a cheap alternative to something like the iPad Pro 9.7. However, there are some better options out there for the average tablet fan.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – DESIGN
There are two different MediaPad M2 designs. One has an 8-inch screen and, as we've mentioned, this one sports a 10-inch display. It's a pretty sizeable tablet, one that's been designed to be held landscape with two hands, rather than on its side with one. If you want something on which to read articles on your commute to work, say, then you'd be better opting for an iPad mini or a smaller Android tablet.
The MediaPad M2 10’s build is similar to that of several phones and the first MediaPad tablets. It has a metal rear, with a strip of plastic at the top that provides room for the antennas to breathe.
With a thickness of 7.3mm, weighing 492g and with fairly trim screen borders, the MediaPad M2 10 looks like a modern, if not all that interesting, tablet. It’s a little too heavy to use one-handed for any length of time, and in general I find widescreen tablets that bit more awkward than 4:3 models.
Having said all that, the standard version of the M2 is fairly affordable, and the £329 Premium version includes a whole bunch of extras. It has 64GB storage rather than 16GB, for example, although both versions have a metal microSD memory card tray much like the SIM slot of an iPhone or other high-end phone.
If you buy the Premium version then you'll also get a folio case and a screen protector as part of the package.
They aren’t exactly "premium" accessories, however – the case is very obviously fake leather and the screen protector is your usual film of plastic. However, each is tailored for this tablet. It seems unlikely too many third-party accessories will be.
Like the majority of cases of this kind, the folio’s cover folds in on itself to make a stand for the MediaPad M2 10.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 — STYLUS AND PREMIUM MODEL
The most interesting difference between the normal and Premium M2 10 model is the latter’s stylus. This is a metal, battery-powered device that can sense 2,048 pressure levels, matching a Wacom graphics tablet.
Like any stylus-equipped phone or tablet, the pen might end up unused if you don't have hobbies to suit, but it’s a decent addition for a budget tablet. The pen can be used to operate the MediaPad M2, replacing your finger, and built-in character recognition lets you hand-write text wherever you might use the keyboard.
While it may not end up being quicker than Swype-style typing, the software does a decent job of recognising most carefree scrawls. The MediaPad M2 also has a pre-installed Bamboo note app, which is the digital equivalent of a Post-it.
I half-expected the stylus not to work properly with the many third-party stylus-optimised apps, but it exceeded expectations. There are a number of excellent digital painting apps for Android currently available, buoyed by all the Note phones and tablets that Samsung has made over the years.
Pressure-sensitive stylus input works just great with apps such as Autodesk SketchBook Pro. The Huawei MediaPad M2 gets you a fairly natural, and fun, sketching experience – but predictably, it isn't quite as good as the iPad Pro’s Pencil.
First, while the nib has a little give to it, it’s made of hard plastic rather than a slightly softer material. Also apparent is a slight input lag, resulting in the sense your pen stroke trails the stylus. However, I’m not sure I’d have noticed this if I wasn’t looking for it, and didn’t have experience with the iPad Pro and numerous Galaxy styluses in the bank for comparison.
Lesser performance is excusable when the MediaPad M2 is around than half the price of the iPad Pro 9.7 with the Pencil too.
Both versions of the MediaPad M2 have a finger scanner that sits in the button below the screen. It’s quick and generally reliable, much like the finger scanners that Huawei builds into its more expensive phones. However, in use it feels nowhere near as convenient in a tablet such as this.
It seems much more like you’re going out of your way to use the scanner (even if it’s just 6in off-route), and since the pad isn't a button but an immovable touch sensor, you don’t get that immediate feedback telling you it’s activated. That will subside as you get used to the MediaPad M2, but if I were to continue using the tablet, I’d likely just switch off lockscreen security.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – SCREEN
Tablets have blazed ahead of other mid-sized screen devices in terms of display quality. A £500 tablet will make a £500 laptop screen look like trash.
The Huawei MediaPad M2 10’s display is pretty conservative, though. It’s 10.1 inches across and uses an industry standard IPS LCD panel. Its viewing angles, colour and brightness are all fairly good.
However, it doesn’t have the ultra-high pixel density that's now almost expected in a non-budget tablet. Resolution is 1,200p, which at 10.1 inches results in a density of 224ppi.
This sort of resolution is perfectly fine, but it means you don’t get the pristine-looking text you’ll see in an iPad Air or an Samsung Galaxy Tab S2. Or even the MediaPad M2 8.0, which has the same resolution in a smaller display. Close-up, the pixels are noticeable here.
It’s a good screen, but you can now get better for similar money.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – SOFTWARE
The Huawei MediaPad M2 10 runs Emotion UI 3.0 and Android 5.1. Neither is up-to-date: Android 6 Marshmallow and Emotion UI 4 are already out. Huawei doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to updating its lower-cost devices, either.
If you hate being out-of-date, stroll on. Aside from this, what you get is serviceable, but it has potential annoyances.
Like almost all Huawei Android devices, the MediaPad M2 10 doesn't have a normal apps menu. It has no space where all your apps are auto-arranged alphabetically, leaving your homescreen as a spot to just keep a few apps and widgets. All apps end up on a homescreen here, and there are no obvious changes or extra features to make more use of the extra screen space it has over a Huawei phone.
The one issue I have with a number of Huawei Android devices returns with this tablet too. It’s that you have to put a a fair amount of effort into curating your tablet to avoid it becoming a mess. Huawei added proper multitasking – where you have two apps on-screen at once – only in EMUI 4. The extra screen size here is wasted a little.
The software is a relatively basic take on Android. It works fine, though, and offers a level of customisation you don’t see in the Nexus 9, for axample.
EMUI uses themes, letting you reskin the MediaPad M2 10 completely with only a few screen taps. This is handy, as to start with there are some odd visual quirks to the tablet. The lockscreen is too busy, for example, but can be replaced.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – PERFORMANCE
The Huawei MediaPad M2 10 has a solid upper-mid-range CPU, one you won’t find in non-Huawei devices. It’s called a Hisilicon 930, made by a Huawei subsidiary.
This is an eight-core chipset whose performance only sits below the top CPUs because its cores are the equivalent of a family saloon car engine, not one of a sports car. All eight are Cortex A53s. These are 64-bit cores, used in some of the very top-end phones and tablets as the everyday, lower-demand cores.
Four of the Cortex A53s are clocked at 2GHz, four at 1.5GHz, splitting the CPU into a familiar pair of teams.
The CPU is matched with a Mali-T628 MP4, an ageing but still-competent GPU that's a decent match for the 1080p screen resolution, even if it can’t touch the Adreno 330 used in top-end mobile devices of 2014, let alone the Adreno 530.
In Geekbench 3, the MediaPad M2 10 scores 3,562 points, which is expected given its mid-range spec and price well. 3D games run fine without obvious slow-down, and while the mid-tier GPU means you won’t always get access to the best graphics in games, you’re unlikely to be left out of the latest games for years. Mobile games tend to be fairly scalable.
General performance of the MediaPad M2 10 is very good. While the base Android Lollipop software is less zippy than Android Marshmallow, the laptop has enough power and RAM to minimise the difference. I’m using the version of the tablet with 3GB RAM; the non-Premium tablets have 2GB of RAM.
SUMMARY
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HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – CAMERA
I'm not one who understands the concept of tablet photography. I can't say that street shooting with a tablet, let alone a large 10-inch one, is something that appeals. However, for those who don’t mind, the Huawei MediaPad M2 10 has an unusually good setup.
Its rear camera has a 13-megapixel sensor and f/2 lens, matching what Huawei used in the 2014 flagship Ascend P7 phone. Image quality is roughly comparable too, which is impressive in a tablet whose price starts at just £249.
Right down at pixel level it is possible to catch some of the graininess visible in most of Huawei’s phones, which is down to the processing style: low on noise reduction. But as soon as you start looking at the M2’s photos it becomes apparent that they’re a cut above normal tablet fare.
Solid dynamic range, decent detail and natural-looking colours make for shots that are worthy of a holiday scrapbook.
The camera is pretty fast to shoot, too, and while I’m not a huge fan of the camera app layout, the Auto mode is unusually smart. It seems to add dynamic range enhancement when needed, meaning most of the time you don’t really need to use other modes. In my opinion, Auto comes up with the goods 99% of the time.
Switching modes is my main (minor) issue with the camera. It's a little awkward. The app is otherwise easy to use.
There are limits to the Huawei MediaPad M2 10's camera, of course. While good for a tablet camera, it isn't stabilised, meaning low-light photos aren’t up to much.
Here are some photos I took with the camera:
This was an Auto mode shot, but there's clear HDR-style optimisation involved (bright grass alongside clear cloud contouring and no overexposure on a bright(ish), overcast day)
Once again, the dynamic range processing is impressive, bringing out dark detail even with an overcast daylight sky to deal with
While the pics aren't always as pretty as those of a high-end phone at pixel level, detail is good
The MediaPad's photos never look 100% clean, but it's only because of the very light-touch noise-reduction style. Check out the grain in the 1:1 crop section
The front camera has a 5-megapixel sensor, which is becoming the standard for selfie cams in mobile devices. Once again, clearly it's a decent-quality sensor, able to render 5-megapixels’ worth of detail in reasonable conditions. The quality of the images is a mite grainy, but it’s much better than them being totally soft.
Typical of a Huawei selfie camera, there’s a Beauty slider that lets you smooth out your slightly crinkly bits if you're feeling a little insecure.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – BATTERY LIFE
To add to a good camera setup, the Huawei MediaPad M2 10 offers solid battery life too. A 6,600mAh cell lasts for 13 hours of video playback (using a 720p MP4 file), while an hour of Minecraft drained exactly 20% off the battery. This suggest that the tablet will last for around five hours of gaming, then.
This is a more than respectable result for a 10-inch tablet.
While I’d like to see a MediaPad M2 10 with a higher-resolution screen, it seems unlikely the tablet would last quite as long as a result. Huawei has picked its battles. It’s up to you to choose whether you like its choices.
HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10 – SPEAKERS
The Huawei MediaPad M2 10’s speakers are the only items clearly stamped with another brand. Harman Kardon units, and there are four in total; two on the top edge and two on the bottom.
Note that they don’t simply pump out either side of the stereo feed. Two of the speakers are tuned for bass, the other two for treble. This is quite a smart idea, and a good way to avoid the distortion that can occur when a small driver is pushed to its limits.
Top volume and sound quality are both solid, although Apple’s iPads still offer slightly more natural sound. The MediaPad M2 is the sort of tablet through which you could happily listen to a podcast or some tunes while cooking. It has enough bulk to compete with some ambient noise, and goes louder than most tablets.
However, Huawei's SWS 2.0 threatens to mess up the overall effect. This digital signal processing modeaims to make the MediaPad M2’s sound much wider. It’s understandable, since the drivers fire up and down rather than out to the side. However, it spoils the tone, making it tonally unnaturally and, at times, harsh.
Keep it switched off, though, and – like the camera – it's a cut above most.
SHOULD YOU BUY THE HUAWEI MEDIAPAD M2 10?
The Huawei MediaPad M2 10 is an odd tablet, whose direction isn't entirely clear. It’s close to being a budget tablet, but even at £249 it’s a little too near in price to the iPad Air; the Premium version has to deal with the ultimately more impressiveSamsung Galaxy Tab S2.
While there isn't anything that's hugely wrong with the M2, unless you're after a doodling tab that’s significantly cheaper than an iPad Pro 9.7, it's unlikely to blow you away.
The MediaPad M2 does excel in some areas. Its camera is unusually good for a tablet, for example, matching the Moto G 3rd gen or a flagship phone of a couple of years ago for pure image quality. But would you appreciate that over a slightly more convenient device with a sharper screen?
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