Huawei’s MediaPad M5 Pro 10.5 reviewed – in pictures

Huawei’s MediaPad M5 Pro 10.5 reviewed – in pictures

With its big screen and bundled stylus, Huawei’s MediaPad M5 Pro is more than a bit like an iPad Pro – but with prices starting at around £500 it’s way more affordable. If it wasn’t, Huawei would have no chance, and while you’ll pay extra for 4G, it still shakes out significantly cheaper than the 10.5in iPad Pro (which, let’s not forget, doesn’t include the Apple Pencil – that’s another £99 on top). But how does it shape up overall? Let’s find out.

1. Design

At 7.3mm and 498g the M5 Pro is slim and light, with curved edges that remove any obvious seams or sharp edges. However, its 16:9 screen makes it seem more unwieldy than an iPad Pro. The M5 Pro’s fingerprint scanner is fast and reliable, plus it sits right by where your thumb rests when you hold the tablet in landscape. Huawei has also removed the headphone port, which seems a little unnecessary considering the M5 Pro isn’t even waterproof.

2. Screen & Sound

The 10.5in, 2560×1600 display is sharp, with fairly deep-looking colours. It loses some brightness at an angle and even turned up to the max it’s not truly searing, plus there’s some slight patterning if you look very closely. It’s a good screen, but not the best. It does have great speakers, though. There are four of them, two above the screen, two below. There’s actual warmth and bass to them, and the low-end is particularly great for games.

3. Performance & Software

The M5 Pro has Android 8.0 Oreo with Huawei’s EMUI 8.0 interface on top. It’s quick, although not hugely customisable. Its powerful Kirin 960 CPU runs high-end games very well, while a 7500mAh battery means it’s a seriously long-life performer. An hour of YouTube streaming over Wi-Fi takes off just nine percent, so you could waste an entire day on this thing before it dies, plus it holds its charge exceptionally well.

4. Camera

Like most tablets, the M5 Pro 10.5 does not have killer cameras, although with a 13MP one on the back and 8MP on the front, they out-spec most rivals. They’re quick to shoot and can take some quality shots in daylight but indoors and at night detail drops off significantly and the shots can look quite noisy. There’s no flash to help out either. As long as you hold it in landscape, the front camera is perfectly placed for video chats, though.

5. Verdict

While the screen isn’t as impressive as either an iPad Pro’s or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3’s, the M5 Pro is a good deal cheaper and more powerful than both, with very decent battery life and a great speaker array, making it perfect for those YouTube deep dives. Overall it might not bury the iPad Pro, but the M5 Pro gets you similar skills for hundreds of pounds less – and what’s not to like about that? Stuff says: ★★★★