Huawei unveils MediaPad M2 tablet

Last year, Huawei made quite a splash with its MediaPad M1 tablet: the inexpensive device stood out with decent performance, very long battery life and, perhaps most importantly, slim design that made it noticeably more compact than other 8-inch tablets. Shortcomings included UI lag despite a relatively powerful SoC, an outdated Android version and a mediocre resolution of 1280x800 pixels.

The manufacturer is now aiming to rectify all these faults in the new MediaPad M2, which was unveiled in France today. The tablet's 8-inch IPS display now has a resolution of 1920x1200 pixels, which amounts to ~283 ppi (MediaPad M1: ~189 ppi). Huawei continues to use its own HiSilicon-branded SoCs in its new devices: this time it's the 64-bit octa-core Kirin 930 (also found in Huawei's MediaPad X2), which runs at up to 2 GHz and includes a Mali-T628 GPU. There's 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of onboard storage with a possibility of expansion via microSD (up to 32 GB). An 8 MP camera with an LED flash is installed on the back and a 2 MP camera in the front takes care of selfies and video calling. Android 5.0 with Huawei's Emotion UI 3.0 is installed and a 4800 mAh battery powers the device. Finally, the manufacturer claims support for 4G/LTE networks.

Only 7.8 mm thick and 310 g heavy, the MediaPad M2 retains its predecessor's compact nature. The price, however, has somewhat increased: the tablet will go on sale for 350€ ($390) in France this month. It will be made available in other countries next month.

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