HUAWEI MatePad 11” PaperMatte Edition Review – Redefining Writing Experience with Elegance and Performance
To bring back the joy of writing and drawing, Huawei made a special tablet called the HUAWEI MatePad 11” Papermatte Edition. As the way of writing is fading, even though many, like students and mobile workers, still rely on it, HUAWEI has made effort to revive the enchantment of handwriting and the expressive experience of writing and drawing. We got a test unit and let us see if this review of the HUAWEI MatePad 11” PaperMatte Edition can help you decide if it’s the tablet you should go for next.
Table of Contents
HUAWEI MatePad 11″ PaperMatte Edition Specifications
| OS: | HarmonyOS 3.1 |
|---|---|
| Processor: | Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 |
| Display: | 11-inch 120Hz IPS Matte |
| Wi-Fi: | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, 2.4G/5G, Bluetooth 5.3, GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO |
| Memory: | 8GB+128GB |
| Connectors: | USB Type-C |
| Cameras: | Rear Camera: 13MP (f/1.8) Camera Front Camera: 8MP (f/2.2) Wide Camera |
| SIM Card Slots: | None |
| Battery: | 7,250mAh Battery W Charge |
| Price: | 8GB+128GB: Php 29,999 |
What’s in the Box?
The HUAWEI MatePad 11” Papermatte Edition comes in a simple minimalistic white box, with its distinctive brand name on its front and side. Upon opening the box, you’ll find the HUAWEI MatePad 11” Papermatte Edition device itself. In addition to the documentation, there’s a handy sim ejector pin for user convenience. Furthermore, the box includes a charging adapter and a USB Type-A to Type-C cable. Our review unit also comes with its distinct HUAWEI M-Pencil and Smart Keyboard. You’ll also find a Polishing Cloth for keeping your device pristine.
Its Design
The HUAWEI MatePad 11″ PaperMatte Edition impresses with its smooth, high-quality feel, featuring a sophisticated matte finish on the back. Its sharp edges create a bold look, and its lightweight design makes it easy to carry around.
Its sleek design is highlighted by its starlight sand rear cover and a cosmic star ring camera layout. This lends the tablet a celestial charm, bringing an elegant touch to your tech collection.
The HUAWEI MatePad 11” has a sturdy metal construction with a sleek metal unibody design. Its slightly curved edges make it comfortable to hold. When used with the HUAWEI smart cover, along with the M Pencil 2 and the HUAWEI smart magnetic keyboard, it minimizes the need for extra accessories. The keyboard is intelligently designed with a slot to securely attach the M Pencil 2, allowing for both charging and safe storage.
Available in Graphite Black, it showcases a refined ultra-thin rear cover with its unique Starlight Sand design. This design involves a matte, wear-resistant UV adhesive layer on the front of an ultra-thin transparent plate. It’s fingerprint-resistant and offers a delightful tactile feel. Using a color Coagulation layer through UV transfer printing and nano-scale optical coating, it enhances light reflection on the transparent plate. The ink coloring on this layer displays the rear cover color, resulting in a sophisticated and captivating appearance.
Its Display and Speakers
The Huawei MatePad 11-inch PaperMatte Edition lives up to its name, featuring an 11-inch 2560 x 1600 120Hz display, having a resolution of 2200 × 1440 pixels, with 229 pixels per inch and an outstanding 86% screen-to-body ratio. Its magic? A captivating 120 Hz high refresh rate that delivers a canvas filled with seamless and vibrant visuals, boasting 275 pixels per inch (PPI). Every glance becomes a delight, whether you’re engrossed in reading, watching videos, or exploring the vibrant world on your screen.
The MatePad 11-inch PaperMatte Edition isn’t just about productivity. Alongside its impressive screen, HUAWEI equips the tablet with quad speakers. These speakers deliver impressive volume and clear voice output, making video calls or movie-watching an immersive experience.
Its Smart Keyboard and M-Pencil
In addition to the PaperMatte tablet, Huawei offers the Smart Keyboard and M-Pencil accessories as part of the package, making it a cost-effective bundle. The keyboard is fairly standard, featuring a protective rubber case that attaches to the tablet, transforming it into a compact, clamshell-style mini-laptop. Above the keyboard, there’s a groove housing the power connectors, allowing the case to draw its charge from the PaperMatte.
The single available angle feels a bit steep, making it less comfortable for extended writing sessions. However, you can detach the tablet from the keyboard thanks to their magnetic connection, creating a slightly greater distance between them, which might suit you better.
On the brighter side, the M-Pencil is a more enjoyable tool to use, especially with the textured display surface on the PaperMatte. Note-taking feels more precise compared to many other styli I’ve used before. Plus, the dedicated Huawei apps excel in recognizing and tracking the M-Pencil, offering excellent palm rejection.
Its Performance
Our review unit of the Huawei MatePad 11 PaperMatte Edition boasts a set of reliable hardware that, while not the latest, is well-suited for Huawei’s heavily optimized HarmonyOS 3.1 firmware. The tablet houses a Snapdragon 870 processor along with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of non-expandable storage, offering about 105GB of usable space after accounting for the operating system’s requirements. Surprisingly, the tablet lacks expandable storage options, necessitating reliance on cloud storage or regular transfers via USB drives when the built-in storage approaches capacity.
The limited onboard storage means being selective about downloads, though this aligns with the tablet’s intended use, which primarily revolves around document work rather than large media files.
Switching between various apps was seamless, and the animations were top-notch. Huawei excels in animation quality, ensuring a smooth experience devoid of any jittery software issues. As for gaming, while this tablet isn’t specifically designed for gaming, it handled most tasks effortlessly. It managed most games I tested without issues, but for graphically demanding games, it might struggle. If you’re a casual gamer, it’ll suffice for your needs without any problems.
Its Enhanced Eye Protection
Wearing eye glasses while working on a laptop screen all day can strain the eyes. Adjusting brightness doesn’t always solve this issue. However, using the MatePad 11″ PaperMatte Edition was a different experience. Its anti-glare display lived up to its promise, making it significantly more comfortable for me to work for extended periods without straining my eyes.
HUAWEI claims that this model is among the initial tablets to receive both the SGS Low Visual Fatigue Premium Performance Certification and the TÜV Rheinland Reflection-Free Certification.
Its TÜV Rheinland certification assesses a device’s ability to minimize light reflections while maintaining a good ambient contrast ratio.
The tablet’s non-reflective display made it suitable for outdoor use. Additionally, I observed that the matte screen didn’t accumulate many fingerprint marks by the end of the day.
The Cameras
The HUAWEI MatePad11” is equipped with 13 megapixels with an f/1.8 aperture, allowing for basic picture and video capture. However, it might not match the quality you’d get from dedicated cameras or high-end phones. The image resolution of the rear camera is 4208 x 3120 pixels. On the other hand, its front camera is equipped with an 8 megapixels camera with f/2.2 aperture in fixed focal length having an image resolution of 3246 x 2448 pixels.
Its Battery Life
Fueled by a 7,250mAh battery, based on the MatePad 11’s performance, you can expect the MatePad 11-inch PaperMatte Edition to last around 10 to 12 hours on a single charge with moderate usage. It can sustain my average usage of surfing the net, working on documents, playing casual games and watching video contents.
Final Thoughts about the HUAWEI MatePad 11″ PaperMatte Edition
The HUAWEI MatePad 11” PaperMatte Edition stands out with its focus on reviving the joy of writing and drawing, offering a comfortable tactile experience. Its sleek design, featuring a starlight sand rear cover and a matte display, adds elegance to its appeal. The tablet arrives with accessories like the Smart Keyboard, M-Pencil, and a polishing cloth, offering a comprehensive package. The tablet’s display impresses with its high resolution and 120Hz refresh rate, complemented by quad speakers for an immersive audio-visual experience.
Despite its mid-range camera and limited storage, it excels in productivity tasks, aided by HarmonyOS 3.1 and smooth performance. Noteworthy are its eye protection features and certifications for reduced visual fatigue and reflection-free display. The tablet’s battery life lasts around 10 to 12 hours on moderate usage. Overall, it’s a compelling option for productivity-focused tasks and writing enthusiasts, albeit with minor limitations in camera performance and storage capacity that you may want to consider.
The HUAWEI MatePad 11” PaperMatte Edition is priced at Php 29,999.00 for its 8GB+128GB You can buy the MatePad 11” PaperMatte Edition on the official store at Lazada and Shopee.
