Huawei MediaPad Review, Technology ,

I came across the Huawei’s MediaPad for the firsttime yesterday and the tablet which is owned by a personal and close confidantehas been amazing the whole night and this morning. MediaPad is the firt 7inTablet to be powered by Honeycomb which meaning it  offers same user experience as its largersiblings.The MediaPad looks quite ordinary and some have remarked that it lookslike a big HTC Android phone from the back.In my own evaluation,the resemblanceis due to the anodised aluminium unibody and removable dark plastic cover.

Looks portable from this angle

One of the main difference with bigger models isthat they have distinct advantage because of running on Android 3.2 Honeycombwhich was tailored specifically for Tablet computers.The 7in models are moreportable but run on the older operating Android 2.2 Froyo or Android Gingerbread2.3 which were specifically meant for smartphones.In simpler terms,thisbasically means you get same user experience as using a smartphone but on a 7inscreen tablet.At 190 x 124 x 10.5mm in size, the MediaPad is a lot morecomfortable to hold than a 10in Tablet and it will also easily fit inside mostbags as I realized with my small gadgets bag.

While cropping this image i realized the difference in appearance depending on lighting

The device is also very light  and is about half the weight of most 10inTablets.While comparing it with other tablets,I realized that there are nophysical access buttons on the front and only power and volume adjustment keyson the right are available. At the bottom,I found the micro USB port forsyncing,a charging jack and a mini HDMI out but it doesn't come with a HDMIcable.Having used and tested Honeycomb Tablets that HDMI cables are used as aproprietary data port, a standard micro USB port on the MediaPad is a sigh ofrelief.

One of the still images in MediaPad

I know that the Honeycomb supports the USBOn-the-go protocol which allows users to connect external peripherals like amouse or keyboard directly to the Tablet.On the MediaPad one can hook to anyperipheral that uses a mini USB connector. MediaPad is no dwarf when it comesto firepower. Its 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB RAM makes it at least aspowerful as 10in Tablets using the Tegra 2 chip.I watched 720p movies like Lordof the Rings as picture below shows and the device handled 1080p videos aswell.

Watching Lord of The Rings in dark room darkened the tab but made the images clear

My friend Kelvin revealed to me that he played Asphalt6 on it without any hiccups.The MediaPad utilizes the same In-PlaneSwitching panel technology as the iPad which gives the screen better viewingangles and brightness. The capacitive touchscreen was well responsive. The MediaPadhas two cameras both the front-facing.One is 1.3-megapixel meant for videocalls while the other is the rear 5-megapixel which is for shootingpictures.The camera uses the standard Honeycomb interface and the rear cameracan also shoot 720p videos but I did not have ample time to do so.

The tab behaves differently in a dim light room

Kelvin also showed me the images he has beentaking with the tab and the images quality are nothing to shout about.To makeit even worse,there is no LED flash to help brighten up.Another interesting observation is that MediaPad has no UIcustomizations and Instead,there is a plain vanilla OS with a few standard appsthrown in like Facebook, Twitter, Gameloft's Let's Golf 2and Documents to Go.My review unit allowed for 3G connectivity and hadno problems connecting it to a mobile broadband network.In terms of batterylife, the MediaPad can last up to six hours of continuous use and rechargedonce in my 16 hours heavy usage. I did notice the device can get pretty hotespecially on the back after prolong usage.

The back of MediaPad looks slick

In conclusion, MediaPad's main selling point isportability and the firepower to rival its bigger 10in siblings like MotorolaXoom.The fact that it runs on Honeycomb also makes it an interesting optioncompared to the 7in Tablets running the older operating systems. Unfortunately,MediaPad generates a lot of heat that makes it less comfortable to use for longperiods as was the case with me overnight.Verdict:I cannot buy it because it isusing an outdated OS and portability does not matter to me like userexperience.