Mate S is Huawei’s answer to the iPhone 6 Plus
Today at its IFA 2015 press event, Huawei unveiled the Mate S, a follow-up to last year’s fingerprint sensor-enabled Ascend Mate 7. The device, which has now shrunk in size from 6-inches to a more manageable 5.5-inches, is a refresh that borrows the all-metal looks of its predecessor. But more so than looking back to the Ascend Mate 7, Huawei’s new flagship draws heavy comparison to Apple’s marquee smartphone: the iPhone 6 Plus.
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Huawei CEO Richard Yu walked attendees through the basics of the Mate S: 5.5-inch 1080p screen with 2.5D 4th generation Gorilla Glass display, 2.65mm thickness, 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization, stepped battery rated for over one full day and an improved rear-fixed fingerprint sensor. Where the Mate S’ design is concerned, Yu specifically called out its curved metal build — what he referred to as “diamond cut” — as being more comfortable for most consumers to hold. As for its antenna design, he displayed the Mate S side-by-side with the iPhone 6 Plus to demonstrate how similar the design is, although Huawei’s manged to make it 0.5mm thinner.
The real emphasis of Yu’s presentation was on the gesture improvements made to the Mate S in the form of its fingerprint sensor, “knuckle sense 2.0” functionality and its “Force Touch” screen. For that rear sensor, fingerprint recognition and speed has been increased by 100 percent with directional swipes triggering specific actions. For example, beyond simply unlocking the phone, the sensor can be used to scroll through notification with a vertical swipe; navigate through photos with a horizontal swipe; answer phone calls; and even capture selfies.
Knuckle sense 2.0 is one of the Mate S’ more dubious features as it allows consumers to drag their knuckles down a page to effect a long screen capture; or scrawl letters to trigger certain apps like ‘M’ for music or ‘C’ for camera.
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Cellphones, Mobile
Tags: hands-on, Huawei, IFA2015, MateS, mobilepostcross
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