Huawei officially unveiled its premium smartphone, the Mate 8, in Nairobi, Kenya, this morning.
The device was announced in November last year but was only officially showcased in early January this year at the Consumer Electronics Show where it made its global debut. It has since gone on sale in several markets.
In Kenya, Huawei is targeting the business community with the device since its impressive feature set fits in with the demands of day-to-day casual use and enterprise use. The business user is also the target of another device launched in the Kenyan market in October 2015, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
Huawei eschews the “pixel race” by going with its tried and tested full high definition LCD panels instead of the Quad HD displays that are becoming the norm for devices in the Mate 8’s price range. The 6-inch device is available in two variants: one variant has 3GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage while the other has 4GB RAM and 64GB onboard storage. Users of the device will be able to expand its storage using a microSD card which fits in the slot for the second SIM card. The 4GB RAM Mate 8 allows users to slot in 2 LTE SIM cards concurrently.
A 4,000mAh battery unit that the company promises will last for at least 2 days and a 16-megapixel camera with optical image stabilisation round up the list of notable specifications of the device. You can check out the rest of the specs here.
With the Mate 8, Huawei is introducing a new colour option that was not available on previous devices, Mocha Brown. The device will be available in 3 other colour options as well: Moonlight Silver, Space Grey, Champagne Gold.
The 4GB RAM+64GB Mate 8 is pricey than the other variant as it goes for Kshs 70,000. The 3GB RAM+32GB internal storage model retails at Kshs 60,000.
