One would think with all the advancements made with our smartphones (not to mention their ever-increasing size) that tablets would be deemed unnecessary and going obsolete. On the contrary, the Chinese developer Huawei has continued to make a name for itself in producing tablets, claiming to be the world’s third-largest tablet maker. And they back this up by launching two new tablets during the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona.
The MediaPad M5 and M5 Pro are the new products under their MediaPad line with a sleek, curved metal unibody on the design, the M5 coming in two different sizes: 8.4 and 10.8 inches nearly the same specs:
- 2,560 x 1,600 display resolution
- 32, 64, or 128GB storage
- 4GB RAM
- Kirin 960 processor
- 8 MP front camera, 13 MP rear camera
- Champagne Gold and Space Grey variants
- Android 8.0 Oreo
- Harman Kardon speakers
- SD card expansion slot
- LTE support
Meanwhile the M5 Pro has around the same stuff as the 10.8 inch M5 model but starting at 64GB, plus a stylus with 4,096 levels of sensitivity, detachable keyboard, and has a PC mode with a desktop view more suited for work use. Units for the press have been released, hence reviews with images have also popped up, including this one from VentureBeat’s Chris O’Brien:
Huawei later announced the tablets will be released this Spring, but we found varying reports on its availability with one source saying it will initially be available in most of Europe and the US and another saying it will ship in China, Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Prices for the M5 8.4 in unit range from €349 to €499, the M5 10.8 in unit from €399 to €549, and the M5 Pro from €499 to €599.
