Huawei Ascend Mate 2 Review: Incredible Battery Life & Value
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Joshua Ho on June 12, 2014 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Huawei
- Mobile
- Ascend Mate 2
CPU Performance
For those that have been following recent reviews, they might notice that the CPU performance section is now mostly similar. In short, the Ascend Mate 2 uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 400. This particular version has four Cortex A7s for CPUs, and an Adreno 305 for the GPU. Because this is the 8x28 variant, rather than 1.2 GHz maximum the CPUs can reach as high as 1.6 GHz. Based upon some testing, it doesn't appear that the GPU has a higher clock, so performance in 3D/2D applications generally remains equivalent to other Snapdragon 400 SoCs. While I'll cover my thoughts in more detail in the software section, this SoC doesn't have any issues with performance in general day to day tasks, and the UI isn't too heavy for the SoC.
GPU Performance
In GPU and this SoC in general, there's very little to talk about by this point that hasn't been said before, so I'd refer to the One mini 2 review or the Moto G review. Across the board, performance results are as expected for this platform, although the older Android version can hurt performance.
NAND Performance
Like much of the rest of the phone, the Mate 2's internal NAND performance is surprisingly competent for its price class. In fact, when it comes to random write performance, the Mate 2 is not far off present generation flagships (and ahead of the Galaxy S5)
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Ketzal - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
Just a heads up, the results of your Nexus 5 web scores are WELL wrong. I ran the tests and received considerably better results than what's reported here in your tables. Obviously, Android and Chrome have moved on since the debut of the Nexus 5 last year. I believe you need to update your tables with some kind of statement to indicate test date as it's misleading and not a fair accurate comparison by date. I'm sure you tested the latest version of Chrome on the Huawei? Doesn't that immediately invalidate the table? I'm running stock 4.4.3 Android and ART. On another note, I'd love to see a performance graph update for each version of Android. I'm sure it would be very popular. Keep up the fantastic work.Impulses - Friday, June 13, 2014 - link
ART isn't enabled by default is it...groundhogdaze - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
Great battery life is a godsend for me. I've got so many gadgets that need charging that I'm almost to the point of needing to do triage on them.Electron? - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
This came as a surprise, but it's great to see a phone that really pushes the boundaries on battery life.Really hoping your next review will be the LG G3. Anandtech is pretty much the only site that goes in-depth on battery life these days.
JoshHo - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
I hope it is too. :)dawp - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
I have a prism2 from t-mobil which is a huawei device which I am generally been happy with, I'll have to look into this phablet when I bet a bit extraa cash.GNUminex_l_cowsay - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
I find it odd that you write a review of a device where in you you compare it e to phones that I would consider consider competing devices. But, then you don't include those phones you mentioned in the benchmark comparisons. I'm wondering why you didn't include say the onemaxx or note3?2 or 1mini or moto g. 3 of the phones l mentioned you mentioned and all seem like better comparison points to me than the phones used in the charts.KillaKilla - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
What happened with the photography? Anandtech has had good, or at the very least not bad, photography throughout for a decade or more, yet here it's mediocre at best, laughable at worst. One shot even has a reflection of the camera in it!rivethead23 - Thursday, June 12, 2014 - link
I currently own a Note 2. Bought it used for around $200. (Swappa!) I'm not bothered by the 5.5 screen (and size) on the Note 2 and actually looked at the Mega but ultimately decided against it. Since reviewer began by speaking about the note series I was disappointed to see no comparisons to the note series. Someone else mentioned the Note 2 would have been a good point of comparison and I think it would be.nrfitchett4 - Friday, March 20, 2015 - link
I bought my wife a note 3, brand new on swappa (not retail) and it was 450 dollars. This new on Amazon with 2 year warranty was 290. Its not really a fair comparison. Yes my wife's note 3 has a prettier screen, but that is about it. This is a solid midrange phablet and should be compared with other phones in the 200-400 new price point.