The live streamed event has just ended and I am standing in the lobby of a fancy hotel and drinking a green mint and lemon drink. The only place you can find royalty and art royalty is in the tech showcase of HUAWEI in D.C., where a painter shakes my hand and tells me that I need to try the new MatePad Pro 13.2. The message is clear, that the company is serious about its new product, and that artists should take notice. I was impressed with the new tech that I tried in Dubai, but it was not a serious option until now. The lineup includes the MatePad Air PaperMatte Edition, M-Pencil 3rd Gen, and the FreeClip open- ear earbuds, pitched to the generation that is chasing tech and fashion. The real star of the show for me is the MatePad Pro.
Digital artists are what the company wants.
The new MatePad Pro is a large and light device that can compete with the iPad Pro. The excitement of the iPad has been missing for a long time, and now it's finally here; it's been a long time since the excitement of the iPad was missing from a digital artist's device. The venue's slogan is 'Where art meets tech' and the message is clear. I can see why it's not a bad idea after five minutes of holding the new stylus. The iPad Pro 12.9 is larger and heavier than the slim and large tablet, weighing just over 600g and measuring just over 5mm thick. The 3.4mm screen-to-body-ratio means for digital artists that's more space to draw. Once I get my hands on the device, all this tech detail is behind me. The new M-Pencil 3rd Gen makes it easy to hold and draw with; it's feather-light weight makes it easy to draw with. The 2880 x 1920 resolution display is great and brings the displayed art to life, there are examples on the tablets made using the Mojing Paint. As I pick up the tablets, I recall a conversation I had with Jafri, who told me he loved the pen. Jafri creates his digital artwork by laying down paint over the course of months. The M-Pencil 3rd Gen has more pen pressure sensitivity than many drawing tablets. I'm not Jafri, but I love the sense of connection drawing on the MatePad Pro 13.2" offers using the new M-Pencil 3rd Gen. The M-Pencil 3rd Gen has 10,000 levels of pressure sensitivity, which is more than the Apple Pencil 2. The MatePad Pro 13.2" has a stylus that comes in at 8,192 levels of sensitivity. The stand and keyboard are separate, and when I remove the tablets from the keyboard, the stand drops away. It's a little messy compared to Apple's all-in-one Magic Keyboard.
Many could be affected by the fact that the company doesn't support Google on its tablets. You can now install apps like Adobe Illustrator Draw, which is a good Procreate alternative, as well as Mojing Paint, which is a good painting app, which includes a new Go Paint campaign with thousands of dollars in prizes up for grabs. The price of the product is always the most important factor in determining its success. I'm a die hard iPad Pro / Procreate person, but I was impressed with the MatePad Pro 13.2" on my brief time with it; an extended use will show whether this large and lightweight tablet can be a true contender.
There are more newly revealed devices that impress than the MatePad Pro 13.2", which is the clear star of the show. The new HUAWEI D 16 laptop is light and can be held in one hand. The Windows 11 laptop from the Future took me by surprise. All of the builds come with the new 13th Gen Intel Core processors (i5, i7, i9) as well as 8 and 16GB of RAM. This is a powerful laptop with a wonderful 15.6" screen and dual shark fin fan tech for cooling; the impressive thing is that it is light at 17mm and just 1.68 kilograms; making it as light as an Apple MacBook Pro 14" with the size of a MacBook Pro 16" It's light and feels plastic-y to hold, but that's the price for that lightweight approach and large screen build. The Space Grey and Mystic Silver finishes are nice, but the laptop has a 90% screen-to-body ratio. The Intel Core i5 starts at 499 for the 8GB model and goes up to 1,199 for the 16GB model. The MateBook D 16 goes on sale in the UK and Europe in January of next year. I giggled at the look of the buds but when I tried them the joke was on me. The design of these ear buds means you can hear your surroundings and still listen to music, but it's also good for safety when jogging or cycling. The FreeClip is made up of three parts, the Comfort Bean, the C-bridge, and the Acoustic Ball. Eight hours of continuous use isn't to be knocked, neither is either- ear design. Pre-orders for FreeClip are available from the UKHuawei Store and you can get a free Band 8 smart watch. The new HUAWEI MATEPAD Air PaperMatte Edition is small and easy to use and ideal for note-taking. The MatePad Air is light and solid and comes in a white colour. The older M-Pencil (2rd Gen), which has 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, will be good for notes, graphics and browsing, but the MatePad Pro 13.2" is a tablet for digital art. The price for the MatePad Air PaperMatte Edition is 699.