As a tech brand, Huawei brings to mind the ubiquitous Wi-Fi USB dongles and pocket Wi-Fi devices sold and distributed by major telcos in the country for their data services.
But lately, the “Huawei” brand is already stamped on Android run-touchscreen smartphones and tablets. There’s Huawei Ideos phones, which are affordable entry level smartphones targeting the masses. And now there’s also the Huawei MediaPad, a 7-inch slim and light tablet already capable of 3G connectivity but priced for the masses as well.
Huawei is a big Chinese networking and telecommunications equipment and services company, which is currently on expansion mode and wants to be a major player in consumer electronics market. It recently established an office in the country, which will handle the sales and marketing of its consumer products.
One exciting product Huawei has is the MediaPad, which is an improvement on the company’s previous tablet Ideos S7.
For a 3G capable tablet with premium metal looks and feel, it is only priced at P21,990. Apart from having a 3G SIM slot that can accommodate any 3G SIM card of any telco company, the MediaPadis also Wi-Fi capable, allowing the user to enjoy different types of data connectivity.
Specs wise, the MediaPad also boasts of premium features. It is powered by a dual-core mobile CPU (a Qualcomm 1.2 GHz processor) and runs on Android 3.2 Honeycomb operating system. The glass is a 7-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, which translates to clear images or movies at any viewing angle.
The tablet also supports 1080P full HD video playback and features a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 5 megapixel auto focus rear facing camera with HD video recording capabilities. It also features a micro HDMI port to connect it to an HDTV at home—if you want to make it into a video player.
It is also quite slim at only 10.5mm (0.4 inches) deep and weighing approximately 390g (0.86 pounds).
Form factors and winning designs are part of the success of any consumer electronics products. With the MediaPad, Huawei signifies its intent to provide both aesthetics and functionality in its products.
The MediaPad supports HSPA+ data services, Flash 10.3 videos, and comes preinstalled with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let’s Golf and Documents to Go.
Tablets are more becoming a tool for learning and fun for the young people. With the MediaPad, Huawei aims to reach a significant number of the young generation or the so-called Young Social Networkers (YSNs).
According to the International Data Corporation, sales in the tablet market are expected to increase more than fourfold in the next two years.
