Huawei MediaPad X2 tablet review: I want it in my pocket! / Tablets

⇡#hardware and performance

The new MediaPad X2 is built on the latest Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 930 platform. Judging by the characteristics, it is much more powerful than the Kirin 910 chip that was used in the X1. “Nine hundred and thirty” Kirin is based on the now popular ARM big architecture. LITTLE. One group of cores is designed to save energy when performing non-resource-intensive tasks — it includes four ARM Cortex-A53 cores operating at 1.5 GHz.

But the technological process by which the Kirin 930 is made is no longer young — 28 nm. Many manufacturers of mobile systems-on-chip have already switched to more energy-efficient technical processes — 20 or even 14 nm.

The X2 has the same amount of memory as the X1: two gigabytes of RAM and sixteen gigabytes of built-in flash memory. True, for some countries the MediaPad X2 will be equipped with three gigabytes of RAM and thirty-two gigabytes of flash memory, but this version will not be officially supplied to Russia. However, two gigabytes of RAM is enough for comfortable work with the device: the gadget allows you to leave a large number of applications open, switching between numerous browser tabs occurs without forcing pages to refresh.

In the general synthetic test AnTuTu Benchmark 5, the Huawei MediaPad X2 tablet scored almost 49 thousand “parrots”. The result, it should be noted, is very decent! A couple of years ago, HiSilicon platforms could not even come close in power to Qualcomm and Samsung chips, but now they are playing in the same league with them — progress is obvious.

In terms of computing power, the Kirin 930 is a good platform. The tablet effortlessly copes with everyday tasks such as viewing multimedia content and web surfing, smoothly displays operating system animations, and quickly switches between open applications. The exceptions are games:

And this is, frankly, quite strange. The graphics controller here is quite fresh and seems to be quite powerful — ARM Mali-T624 MP4, operating at 600 MHz. However, 3D games on the MediaPad X2 mostly slow down, the picture jerks — it’s not very convenient to play. There are no problems with casual 2D and 2.5D arcade games — they run quite smoothly. In general, the Huawei MediaPad X2 is unlikely to be suitable for gamers. This tablet is quite capable of handling all other tasks.

⇡#display

As we said, the tablet has a seven-inch screen. Its resolution has not changed since the X1 — it is still 1920 × 1200 pixels (WUXGA, aspect ratio — 16:10, which is quite rare). This resolution can be considered optimal for this diagonal: the pixel density is very decent — more than 323 dots per inch, making it a pleasure to read electronic documents and books on the tablet.

The screen is made using LTPS (Low Temperature Polysilicon) technology. This is a type of LCD screen made using low-temperature polysilicon, which makes it possible to expand the usable area of ​​thin-film transistors (compared to screens based on amorphous polysilicon). LTPS technology has several advantages, the main ones being reduced power consumption and higher responsiveness. LTPS displays are used quite rarely in mobile devices due to their high cost, although recently they are becoming more common.

The MediaPad X2 display is quite comfortable to work with. Its contrast does not drop, even if you look away from the perpendicular, it is convenient to watch the movie, including together. The gadget quickly responds to touches and supports up to ten simultaneous presses.

Huawei MediaPad X2 – AnTuTu MultiTouch Test results

The screen’s brightness reserve is quite large. The maximum luminosity of the white field is 442 cd/m2. This value is sufficient for comfortable operation of the device, including under direct sunlight. A very effective polarizing filter helps combat glare. By the way, there is no air gap between the protective glass of the front panel and the matrix, which also minimizes the number of unwanted reflections. Finally, the protective glass here has a grease-repellent layer, so the display is easy to clean from fingerprints and other small dirt.

The minimum luminosity of the white field is slightly less than 15 cd/m2, that is, the backlight boundaries are quite wide. Thanks to this, the device is convenient to use both in bright external lighting and in pitch darkness — it does not hurt your eyes. The tablet is equipped with a light sensor, thanks to which it can independently set the brightness level that is comfortable for working in certain conditions. Brightness adjustment occurs quite correctly and smoothly, without annoying jerks.

The luminosity of the black field is moderate by the standards of LCD screens — 0.43 cd/m2. At maximum brightness, the black color loses a little depth, but overall remains quite saturated. The tablet display has a decent contrast ratio of 1028:1.

Huawei MediaPad X2 – grayscale color temperature

But the white balance is not set ideally — on average, the color temperature of shades of gray on the MediaPad X2 screen is 7400 K, which is slightly higher than the reference value of 6500 K. Because of this, the image on the display looks a little “colder” than it should, but not at all critical. However, for perfectionists, there is an option for software adjustment of color temperature — the user can adjust it to his preferences.

Huawei MediaPad X2 – screen settings

The display is well calibrated. All gamma curves – both color components and gray – coincide with the reference curve. This means that all colors on the MediaPad X2’s display look exactly as vibrant as they should, with no bleeds or bleeds.

Huawei MediaPad X2 – gamma curves

The color gamut of the MediaPad X2 display is significantly wider than the reference sRGB color space. This is both good and bad at the same time. On the one hand, the colors on the screen look very saturated — some may like this. On the other hand, these colors do not at all correspond to what the creator of the image intended them to be.

Huawei MediaPad X2 – tablet screen color gamut (white triangle) compared to the sRGB reference space (black triangle)

⇡#technical specifications

Huawei MediaPad X2 – information about the system and hardware according to the CPU-Z application

Design, dimensions, control elements

Both devices have a common body design style: rectangular shape, visual absence of screen frames, a lot of metal, gold color. In general, the gadgets look nice, and it’s clear that this time no one began to copy Apple’s “used” design.

The dimensions of the X2 (183x104x7.18 mm) allow it to be used relatively comfortably even with one hand. The phablet fits well in the hand (or hands) due to the fact that the back side is flat and the corners are sloping. Fits easily into the pockets of a warm jacket or the back pockets of jeans. The phablet weighs 250 grams.

M2 is made similarly. It has 7 grooves along its side edges. Such a number of lines covering the perimeter of the gadget and such a design are not accidental. The M2 is positioned as a musical gadget: 7 grooves indicate the number of horizontal lines of the staff, in addition, as mentioned in the introduction, Harman/Kardon had a hand in the development of two stereo speakers.

This device simply won’t fit in the back pockets of jeans, and there won’t be enough space in the M2 jacket.

Along the perimeter of the front sides there are frames that extend slightly above the body. In both cases it is metal. The X2 has two plastic inserts on the back side at the top and bottom (they even differ in color from the body), while the M2 has an almost entirely metal back side. The manufacturer tells us that the M2’s body is made of 99.5% aluminum. Apparently, the thin strip on the back side and the slot plug on the right side of the case are still plastic. The tablet weighs 330 grams.

The front panel is protected by glass. It doesn’t say which one, but it’s not Corning. In any case, after a month of use, not a single scratch appeared on the glass. There is an oleophobic coating, but fingerprints are still noticeable, but they can be erased quickly and easily (usually at this point in reviews you feel like singing “it’s more fun with Mr. Proper — the house is clean twice as fast” :-)). The finger glides over the surface easily.

The assembly of the phablet and tablet does not raise any questions; there is a complete feeling of all-metal “shells”.

The M2 tablet and X2 phablet are available in two color options — silver and gold. However, for the X2, only gold color is available on the official website.

On the top of the front of the MediaPad X2 there is a speech speaker, a light and proximity sensor, an indicator of missed events, and a “selfie” camera. At the bottom there is a microUSB and a microphone, at the top there is a second microphone and an audio output, there are no elements on the left, and on the right there is a volume rocker key and a power button, as well as metal trays for microSIM and a combined nanoSIM microSD. On the back of the device there is a camera, a flash and a speaker at the bottom.

On the front panel of the MediaPad M2 there is a small indicator of missed events and a camera. There are two stereo speakers located below and above (the lower one is symmetrically in the center, and the upper one is slightly shifted to the left — perfectionists will not like it). Microphone — at the bottom, microUSB and 3.5 mm — at the top. On the top right there is a volume rocker key and a power button, rising slightly above the side edge.

Huawei MediaPad M2 and MediaPad X2

Performance and System

The MediaPad M2 tablet and MediaPad X2 phablet are equipped with the powerful proprietary HiSilicon Kirin 930 chipset, announced in the first quarter of 2020. This chip is found in Huawei P8, Mate 8 and Honor 7 Plus. Brief information: Kirin 930 is made using 28 nm technology (some sources say 16 nm), there is a big architecture.

Depending on the load, clusters operate at different frequencies. For example, when idle, the first cluster sets the frequency to 400 MHz, the second – 1000 MHz. When watching video, the load increases: the first cluster is 400-500 MHz, the second can reach 2000 MHz. In toys, both clusters show maximum frequencies — 1.5 GHz / 2 GHz.

If we are talking about the speed of the interface, then Huawei has never had problems with this even on “dead” chipsets, since the shell is perfectly optimized. With games, things are a little worse: first, the game does not install from Google Play (Dead Trigger 2, NFS No Limit), second, the game is installed and runs with slight brakes (Unkilled), third, the game runs without problems (Real Racing 3).

Huawei M2

Huawei X2

Antutu test

• M2 – 48868 points
• X2 – 49453 points

Quadrant test

• M2 – 12989 points
• X2 – 12989 points

It’s even somehow strange that the result coincided so much.

GeekBench test

• M2 – 867/3576
• X2 – 864/3406

3DMark Open GL 3.1 test

• M2 – 71 points
• X2 – 366 points

Very strange result. If you look at the M2 graph, it becomes clear that in one of the tests the processor frequency dropped sharply from 1500 MHz to 800 MHz. Graph X2 shows that the frequency only increased. The temperature practically did not rise and remained at around 33 degrees.

3DMark Open GL 3.0 test

• M2 – 72 points
• X2 – 496 points

The graphics used here are Mali-T628 MP4.

Both gadgets operate on the Google Android operating system version 5.1.1, proprietary EMUI 3 shell.

⇡#conclusion

In essence, the Huawei MediaPad X2 has remained virtually unchanged compared to its predecessor: the Chinese updated the platform so that the tablet met modern performance standards and added support for LTE Cat.6, which is not very relevant in our latitudes. and that’s all. It would be possible to add a fingerprint scanner, which Huawei did so well in the Mate 7, update the set of cameras, make a bigger battery, build in NFC or an infrared port — but this would inevitably increase the price of the tablet, and in terms of Russian money it already costs a lot.

Advantages of Huawei MediaPad X2:

• compactness, light weight;
• good assembly, metal body;
• high-quality high-resolution display;
• new eight-core system-on-chip;
• ability to install two SIM cards.

Disadvantages of Huawei MediaPad X2:

• is almost identical to its predecessor;
• not suitable for those who like to play;
• still no NFC and infrared;
• high price.

At the start of sales, Huawei MediaPad X2 will cost approximately 25 thousand rubles. For a tablet computer, especially a seven-inch one, this is by no means a small price. Against this background, the shortcomings of the MediaPad X2 — weak performance in 3D games and the lack of an infrared port and NFC — become especially noticeable. And against this same background, the MediaPad X1 looks even more advantageous — it’s a third cheaper and no less functional. And just as beautiful.