Huawei has announced a new tablet (in two sizes), at Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona. Introducing the MediaPad M5, which is its latest version of its MediaPad lineup. There are two sizes here, an 8.4-inch model and a larger 10.8-inch model. The 10.8-inch model also comes in a “Pro” version, which provides the user with more productivity options, as well as Huawei’s own stylus. Which can make it easier to get work done.
The smaller, 8.4-inch model is a great size for taking on the go for reading e-books, or even consuming content. It is made to work in portrait mode, but does also work great in landscape mode. Huawei does have a physical button on the front, but that is only as a fingerprint sensor, as the tablet does indeed have on-screen buttons available. Like the larger 10.8-inch version, this is running Android 8.0 Oreo and EMUI 8.0, so it is running the latest version of both Android and EMUI, which is definitely refreshing. Huawei is offering this model in three storage capacities, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB, and there is also a micro SD card slot available for expanding storage.
Onto the larger 10.5-inch model, Huawei is only offering this in two storage capacities, 64GB and 128GB. Which should be fine for most people. There is also a micro SD card slot available on this one. This size is made more for landscape than portrait, and also has that fingerprint sensor beneath the display. Even though it is a bit larger than most other tablets on the market right now, the MediaPad M5 is not that big – due to the smaller bezels. Additionally, it is also very lightweight, which is always a good thing on these larger tablets.
Both tablets do still feature Harman Kardon audio. A bit of a surprise, seeing as most other companies have decided to ditch Harman Kardon audio after Samsung purchased it last year. But, consumers will get great audio out of both these speakers, which there are quad-speakers on both tablets. So no matter which way you are holding the tablet, you’re still going to get plenty of great sound for your ears. Since these are made for multimedia, that is definitely a good thing. Of course, these do charge over USB-C and do have some accessories that will come in the near future, like docks and cases and such – these were not announced today.
Huawei has said that both tablets will be available in WiFi and 4G LTE variants, but has not yet announced formal availability. In the past, Huawei has brought its tablets to the US, but usually only in WiFi form. And it’s likely that Europe will get both sizes in both data variants. Both are great options if you are in the market for a new tablet, and while the tablet market is getting pretty small these days, it’s good to have a couple of good choices for consuming media and such.
Huawei MediaPad M5 8.4
Huawei MediaPad M5 10.8
