Tablets were once devices that would allow us to do things that smartphones were not really made for, like drafting up a word document or watch videos on them. However, as time passes, smartphones seem to be getting all the rage and tables were things that companies focused less on or totally gave up on them. Huawei on the other hand, still believes that tablets have a place in our lives and released the Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite, a versatile device that reminds us that tablets can still have a place among our daily gadgets. Let’s see how the RM999 Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite fares against today’s usages.
Design
The tablet does not have a design that stands out, but simplicity is what you are looking for, then you are not going to have any issues with how it looks. The tablet features a full aluminium design but does not feel slippery, its curved sides provide a nice grip for great one hand usability. The MediaPad M3 Lite sports an 8-inch display that comes with a 1920×1200 resolution, it is a strikingly attractive display to look at and there are no tablets in the same range that offers such a display, there is also a SIM card slot on the side with 4G connectivity, while you can also surprisingly make calls with it through the tablet’s loudspeaker. RIP privacy.
What also surprises me is the inclusion of a rather high-quality leather case that comes in the box, it isn’t necessarily the best case out there, but it is usable for the average users and saves you some cash and effort to hunt for one.
Performance
When it comes to performance it really depends on what you are doing with the device. There are some obvious lags and jitters when navigating around software, the tablet comes with Huawei’s EMUI 5.1 based on Android 7.0, which technically has machine learning abilities that should technically offer a decent enough experience despite using a Snapdragon 435 processor, hence it isn’t something I expect. However, watching videos in Full HD and 4K is a different story, as I haven’t noticed any signs of lags or breakage in the video quality, the 3GB of RAM is also sufficient for simple app switching while as expected, some apps will not run in the memory.
When it comes to gaming, it would depend on the games you are playing, casual games like Clash Royal and Super Mario Run worked without any issue, however it isn’t the same for games such as Asphalt Extreme, which requires some amount of graphics processing power, at the highest settings, there are noticeable frame drops throughout the game, but bringing the graphics levels down to medium will produce much better frame rates and makes the game more playable.
The media experience is further enhanced with the Harman/Kardon speakers, which you won’t find in any tablets of the same class, sound quality is excellent as Huawei claims, I like that it managed to produce a balanced level of highs and mids, however, the speakers aren’t able to produce sufficient bass if you are listening to gunshots or drums. In addition, Huawei did an excellent job by placing the speaker grills on the top and bottom edge of the device, it is rather immersive when using the tablet in landscape mode while watching a movie or listening to music, the speakers can also get really loud and I haven’t noticed any distortion at max volume.
Camera
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The camera on the MediaPad M3 Lite isn’t impressive and it is understood for a tablet camera, the 8MP camera will work fine for general purposes but it isn’t one that could replace your smartphone’s camera. For instance, the camera shutter is slow and could easily cause blurry photos, while colour and contrast isn’t great, you will also experience high noise levels in low light.
Battery Life
Most of the time, the MediaPad M3 Lite is connected to either my office or home WiFi, and there were just a few moments that I managed to use 4G if there isn’t a reliable public WiFi, the 4800mAh battery is pretty decent as I managed to record a maximum 3 days of usage with some casual gaming, heavy social media and web browsing, and streaming a 2-hour movie on iFlix, one thing I have definitely miss is the absence of fast charging, as it takes a while to get the tablet fully charged if the battery depletes.
