It might not be the brand name that springs to mind when considering your next business device, but Huawei’s flagship phablet, the Mate 8, delivers an impressive list of features at a lower price point that some of the more familiar brands.

Huawei is the world’s largest manufacturer of telecoms equipment, and the third largest handset maker, so they do know a thing or two about what business users want. They know you’re probably looking for a screen big enough to edit documents, a fast processor to run all the apps you need, excellent battery life and a good camera – so that’s what they’ve delivered in the Mate 8.

See and be seen

Huawei has long been known for handsets with a premium look and feel, and the Mate 8, with its metal body, super-slim bezel and bright 6-inch screen, is no different. It’s slim and not too heavy, and feels good in your hand. It has the latest Gorilla Glass, so it should be pretty tough too.

One of the nicest features is the super-fast fingerprint scanner, conveniently placed on the back of the phone where it’s easy to reach.

At six inches, the Mate 8 is bigger than several equivalent phablets. Of course, the screen is full HD, good for displaying video clips, photos or apps. It’s not quite as crisp as the AMOLED displays on some other high-end devices, but the promised payoff is increased battery life and better performance.

The Mate 8 runs on an octa-core chipset, so it’s fast, and has 3GB RAM to go with its 32GB on-board storage. There’s also a 64GB option with 4GB of storage, and you can add a MicroSD for extra storage. It is, of course, an Android phone, and runs on the latest version, Marshmallow.

Huawei insists that the 4000mAh battery will keep you going and going for up to two days, even with heavy use.

Nice to have

While not everyone loves Huawei’s Emotion UI that is overlaid on the Android look and feel, the Mate 8 does have some nifty features that should make up for it, like built-in Magnifier and Mirror apps.

Phone Manager allows you to control several features, such as call and message privacy, Do Not Disturb settings and permissions. The one-touch optimisation feature frees up memory and extends battery life.

Those prone to misplacing their phones will also love that you are able to set a keyword to wake up your phone, and even get it to answer your call of ‘Where are you?’ with music and the response ‘I’m here!’.

Another useful feature is its ability to scan and extract information from business cards, reportedly with 99% accuracy. No more piles of cards lying around!

One very clever hack is the ‘knock-knock’ feature that allows you to take a screenshot with a tap of your knuckle. You can also draw a circle with your knuckle to copy just part of the screen.

Make it snappy

If it’s a decent camera you’re after, the Mate 8 will not let you down. The main 16MP camera is complemented by an 8MP front selfie camera. The camera also has pretty impressive optical image stabilisation to improve crispness.

It has some good features, including All Focus, which allows you to change the focal point after you’ve taken a pic, and a decent Beauty mode to rid you of a few blemishes.

One of the big selling points is, of course, the light painting option that allow you to produce pretty spectacular shots. It might have limited business application, but you know what they say about all work and no play.

In conclusion

A good-looking, great value phablet with plenty of business in the front and a bit of party in the back. What’s not to love? 

Get the Mate 8

Order the Huawei Mate 8 from Vodacom Business online today and benefit from great deals.