Huawei Mate 10 Pro in review: The performance and battery miracle with AI

In October, the Chinese manufacturer Huawei presented its latest flagship. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro is also the first time that the upper-class series has a new design. My test reveals whether the AI, battery life and camera can really score points.

The Huawei Mate 10 was released in October together with the Mate 10 Pro and Mate 10 Lite. It has now been officially on the market for two weeks. Unfortunately, the former is not available to buy here in Europe. I was able to take a closer look at the new top device from Huawei for a week. For the sake of clarity, I have only referred to or compared the Mate 10 Pro and not the Mate 10.

In the packaging there is the Quickcharger, along with a USB-C headphone and a transparent cover. (Image: TechnikNews.NET)

Brand new: the design

This year, the design of the Mate 10 Pro is particularly striking. For the first time, it, along with the other two versions, gives the Mate series a new design. The manufacturer is also using slightly reflective glass on the back for the first time. The double camera and the flash are specially highlighted by a frame.

Somewhat sharp-edged: the camera bump of the Mate 10 Pro. (Image: TechnikNews.NET)

I find it impressive that Huawei was able to incorporate a 10-inch display into such a handy design with the Mate 6 Pro. It fits well in the hand and is relatively easy to use even with small hands. Even if it is a bit slippery without a case and falls out of your hands easily. In my opinion, however, it is easier to use than its predecessors, the Mate 8 and Mate 9.

The back of the Mate 10 Pro: a bit slippery, made of glass, without wireless charging, but waterproof. (Image: TechnikNews.NET)

However, I noticed that the buttons on the side were a bit unclean. They slide back and forth easily and are a bit angular. But what bothered me more personally: the edge of the camera hump on the back is very sharp. But by no means annoying in everyday life.

Despite the glass back, the Mate 10 Pro does not have wireless charging on board. One of my biggest criticisms: Huawei has removed the 3,5mm jack on the bottom for the first time with this smartphone. Why does that have to be? As a consolation, however, each model comes with a USB-C adapter - but it really only works in the Mate 10 Pro. On the other hand, my adapter from another manufacturer doesn't work again. Pure chaos.

Display: 6 inches, 18: 9 and crisp and sharp

There are also some innovations in the display this year. What is less noticeable: an OLED display is now used instead of an LC display. What is more noticeable, however, is the new borderless 6 inch display in 18: 9 format. There are new adjustments in the software to make full use of the space. For example, almost every app asks you whether you want to switch to full-screen view. However, this message only appears if the app has not yet been optimized by the developer.

Apropos crisp and sharp: the Mate 10 Pro's display has a resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels, i.e. Full HD+. Awesome, even if it does put a lot of strain on the battery.

The multiview mode with two apps running in parallel looks really good on such a large display. (Image: TechnikNews.NET)

In order to improve the experience of the giant display even further, you can hide the navigation buttons in the settings. These then only appear by swiping upwards. It's not my taste, but it looked really very good review. On YouTube, however, most of the videos could still be seen in the classic 16: 9 with bars. Features such as multi-view with two apps also allow you to make further use of the display.

6GB RAM and fast processor

With the Mate 10 Pro, the manufacturer has installed a new processor, the Kirin 970, which comes with its own AI chip this year. More on that below. This is accompanied by 6GB of RAM. In the test, multitasking worked very smoothly, and apps also started very quickly. There were no crashes or significant outages. There is also 128GB of internal memory for music, pictures and multimedia. However, this cannot be expanded.

In the Antutu benchmark, I came to a comparably poor value right after unpacking. With its score of 148 it was behind the Pixel 000 XL with 2 points and the HTC U168 together with the Galaxy Note 000 with 11 points. For the iPhone enthusiasts: the iPhone 8 Plus is still in first place with its 178 points.

But thanks to a software update shortly before the end of my test, the Mate 10 Pro managed a score of 176 points, putting it back at the top of the Android smartphones - but its everyday performance did not change.

Kirin 970 works with the AI

After the specs, let's take a closer look at the processor inside the flagship. The special feature this year: The new Kirin 970 is the first to use an NPU, the Neural Processing Unit. For this reason, Huawei made a special mention of the integrated AI during the presentation. The AI ​​does not need an internet connection for a cloud, but calculates and "thinks" directly in the smartphone itself.

For example, the artificial intelligence should be able to automatically regulate battery consumption and be able to easily recognize motifs on the camera. The former really impressed me - almost 2 days of battery life. But an update was necessary for this. There is also a “Microsoft Translator” app, with which the AI ​​can translate sentences into other languages. But this was not really noticeable, so an internet connection was necessary. Then you can also rely on Google Translate.

For the camera, the results looked pretty much the same with and without AI. Huawei also thinks that in the future apps will also be powered by the AI prowill fit and work closely with Google. So far, however, there are no results from this cooperation.

Thus, the current state of the AI ​​is not really advanced and not necessarily worth mentioning. Still an exciting feature - let's see what the future will bring. Also, the AI ​​would not be a special reason to buy for me.

Camera: No longer the best

The camera of the Mate 9 successor still comes from and with Leica in the smartphone. A dual notch, which is typical for Huawei, is also installed here. The monochrome sensor comes with a resolution of 20 megapixels, while the color sensor shoots images with 12 megapixels. Together with the AI, they want to be the first choice for smartphone cameras again. However, I was rather disappointed with the camera this year - once you've seen the iPhone 8's camera, you'll notice that better smartphone cameras are now available.

A 12 megapixel camera is available on the front for selfies. There is also a portrait mode here, which is supposed to blur the background using software - but that didn't work so well in comparison. Otherwise sharp selfies, albeit without autofocus.

In my test, I got comparatively washed-out colors and blurry images. The camera also often had problems distinguishing between foreground and background. Perhaps a simple update could solve these problems. If you compare the images with the results of the Huawei P10, you are rather disappointed by the pictures of the Mate 10 Pro.

Android 8.0 and EMUI 8.0: not mine

In terms of software, Huawei's flagship device uses the latest Android 8.0 Oreo. This makes the Mate 10 Pro one of the first smartphones to be delivered with Android Oreo. There are also regular software updates and security patches, at least for the first three years. Unfortunately, Huawei is still not using pure Android, but the now overloaded EMUI 3.

How do I come to this opinion? After the initial setup, I had to uninstall bloatware consisting of numerous advertising apps. In addition, Huawei's software becomes more overloaded with each version update and the settings in EMUI 8.0 now finally become chaotic. There is a search, but it only works if you know the exact name of the setting you are looking for. In addition, the many menus largely make no sense and are always strangely nested.

As a launcher, I am still convinced of the Nova Launcher with a pixel look - the Huawei Launcher has never impressed me. In addition, the app drawer is not displayed by default. In a guide we have shown using the Mate 9, how to activate the app drawer under EMUI.

4000 mAh battery and 2 days of battery life

As already mentioned in the title, the Mate 10 Pro is a real battery miracle. In my test, the smartphone lasted almost 2 days despite intensive use. Together with a SOT (screen on time) of almost 9 hours, this is a truly amazing performance. The resolution was set to the standard setting of FHD+ during this time.

If the battery does run out, the battery can be recharged to almost 30 percent in 60 minutes using Huawei QuickCharge. Fun fact: during the charging process, the current percentage is displayed with one decimal place. Clever solution - this makes charging look even faster.

Conclusion: good innovations, but not perfect

The Huawei Mate 10 Pro offers a very good overall package for the RRP of 799 euros. It particularly scores in the areas of performance and multitasking. The battery is also top-notch in terms of battery life, thanks to the high resolution and the fast processor, together with the software and AI. The new, elegant design of the Mate series is also very good. Despite the glass back, there is unfortunately no wireless charging, but the casing is waterproof and dustproof according to IP67. I am really impressed - if it weren't for the two criticisms.

The biggest point of criticism for me is the omission of the 3,5mm jack plug. Why Huawei is now following suit with other manufacturers and making them disappear is incomprehensible to me. Probably because of the newly added waterproofness - but I didn't test it. I also don't like the mess with the USB-C to jack adapters.

And it's gone: the 3,5mm jack plug. (Image: TechnikNews.NET)

And the second point is the AI ​​together with the camera. In my test, the processor with NPU was not noticeable and, especially with the camera, delivered worse results than without. Despite this, I am convinced that this idea definitely has potential. Even if Huawei has not yet been able to fully exploit it with the Mate 10 Pro. The AI ​​should therefore not be a reason to buy. But if you are looking for a phone with a good battery life and top performance, you should take a closer look at the Mate 10 Pro.

Thanks to Huawei for providing the test device!

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