Huawei’s MatePad Pro 11 puts productivity front and centre
Work first, but play later
Huawei has expanded its premium tablet line-up with the MatePad Pro 11, a do-everything slate aimed at getting work done – but with a beefy set of speakers and pin-sharp display for entertaining once you clock off.
The firm reckons an magnesium alloy frame has helped keep weight to a minimum, which at 449g makes it one of the lightest 11in tablets doing the rounds right now. It’s a svelte 5.9mm thick, and is finished in a new frosted effect that shines like metal, but resists fingerprints to avoid getting grubby over time.
Up front, the 11in OLED screen has ultra-skinny 4.2mm bezels on all sides, for a 92% screen-to-body ratio. It’s a 10-bit colour panel that promises to deliver “pro-level colour accuracy” with a seriously low colour delta and infinite contrast. You’re also looking at a smooth-as-butter 120Hz refresh rate, and an eyeball-friendly lack of blue light given the Full Care Display 3.0 thumbs up from testing lab TÜV Rheinland. Huawei has also crammed six separate speaker drivers inside, which should deliver better stereo separation and get plenty loud when you want ’em to.
On the back, the camera bump borrows its slick styling from Huawei’s P50 Pro smartphone, with a dome ring containing two lenses: a 13MP, f/1.8 main snapper and an 8MP, f/2.2 ultrawide. There’s also a 16MP, f/2.2 punch-hole selfie cam.
Inside, there’s a choice of Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 or Snapdragon 870 CPUs running things, along with either 128 or 256GB of on-board storage. Those chips are a generation behind what you’ll find in the latest Android smartphones, but should still be zippy enough for productivity tasks. An 8300mAh battery should have plenty of staying power.
The whole thing is among the first devices to run Harmony OS 3, the latest version of Huawei’s home-grown mobile OS. It’s been optimised for multitasking, with drag-and-drop copy and paste between apps and a new bespoke notes app for jotting down whatever springs to mind. Workaholics can also pair the tablet with a second-gen M-Pencil digital stylus and detachable Smart Magnetic Keyboard.
We’ve yet to learn about UK pricing and availability, with Asian regions set to get their hands on the MatePad Pro 11 first. We’re expecting things to start higher than the previous-gen 10.8in model, which launched in Britain at £500.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
