At 6 inches, the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is playing in the Galaxy Mega 6.3 and the mammoth 6.4 inch Sony Xperia Z Ultra’s elite category. That’s pretty much where the Lumia 1520 and 1320 play as well. Only that thanks to its superb design, the Mate 7 ends up being a direct competitor of Samsung’s metal-clad Galaxy Note 4 which is 0.3 inches smaller but of an almost similar build quality. Actually matched with all the big devices I have already mentioned, only the Lumia 1520 can stand up to the Mate 7 on paper. Only that there’s a key difference in the platforms the two operate on.
Whereas the Ascend G7 is geared at the mid-range category, the Mate 7 is where Huawei pulled all it had. It has its benchmark-topping octa-core Kirin 925 processor (never mind that the chip is tweaked to cheat benchmark apps), a full HD display, a very high capacity battery (remember the demo of the Mate 2 at CES back in January? That device could charge other smartphones as well thanks to its big battery. This one follows suit). However while the G7’s design only scores marks for being of a premium build than many other devices in its class and not overall design as I would rate a device like say the HTC Desire 816, the Mate 7 will win accolades for its almost bezeless front. It’s actually one of the best looking smartphone fronts since LG’s G3 was announced three months ago. The device has a screen to body ratio of 83%. If that’s not impressive then I don’t know what is. Until you drop the phone that is 🙂 .
Here are the specifications of the Huawei Ascend Mate 7
- Size & weight: 157 x 81 x 7.9 mm 185g
- Display: 6 inch Full HD i.e. 1080p (1920 x 1080 pixels… 368 ppi)
- Processor: Octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 925 backed by a Mali T628 GPU
- Memory: 2 GB RAM+16 GB internal storage (expandable) or 3 GB RAM+32 GB internal storage (expandable)
- Camera: 13 MP main camera/ 5 MP front-facing camera
- OS: Android 4.4 KitKat with Emotion UI version 3.0
- Battery: 4100 mAh
- Others: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ with Wi-Fi Direct support, Bluetooth 4.0
The Mate 7 will come in two versions: a standard version that has just 16 GB internal storage and 2 GB RAM and a premium version that will pack 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB internal storage. The standard version will cost EUR 499 while the premium Mate 7 will set buyers back by some EUR 599.