Huawei Mediapad T1 7" Tablet Review

After a thorough search for the affordable yet decent tablet that will suit my needs, I decided to buy the Huawei Mediapad T1 7.0 3G 8 GB tablet or should I say a phablet (combination of phone & tablet).

Some information about the Huawei brand from Wikipedia:

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. is a Chinese multinational networking and telecommunications equipment and services company headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong.^[4] It is the largest telecommunications equipment maker in the world, having overtaken Ericsson in 2012.^[5]  

(Source: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huawei)

Huawei Mediapad T1 7.0 tablet was released, last March 2015 in China. In the Philippines, it was released just recently, June 2015, so it is still fresh.

Image from http://consumer.huawei.com/en/tablets/features/mediapad-t1-7-en.htm

I tried to find reviews about this tablet before buying but to my dismay I can't find any reviews aside from the one and only Russian review on YouTube, to which I couldn't even understand. Another video on YouTube was a promotional video of the said tablet, but in Japanese. Nevertheless, I bought it anyway.

I ordered the tablet from Lazada Philippines on Father's Day to avail of their 500 pesos off promo voucher. It costs P4,990 with free Globe microsim. I got a voucher worth P500 (from the Father's Day holiday discount) so I only paid P4,490 with one year warranty from Villman Philippines, the tablet distributor.

http://www.lazada.com.ph/huawei-mediapad-t1-3g-8gb-with-free-globe-sim-card-527108.html

Product Features:

• Display: 7-inch ONCELL touch-sensitive IPS screen
• CPU: Spreadtrum SC7731G, Quad-core 1.2GHz   
• Operation System: Android 4.4.2 KitKat / Huawei Emotion UI 3.0
• Memory: RAM : 1 GB
• Storage: ROM : 8 GB   
• Camera: Rear Camera: 2MP FF, Front Camera: 2MP FF
• Battery: 4100mAh(Typical)

After 5 days, the tablet arrived delivered by LBC. Here's some actual photos of Huawei Mediapad T1 7.0 Tablet I bought.

(Lazada Philippine's new packaging)

(It comes with free Globe Tatoo microsim)

What's inside the box :

• Huawei Mediapad T1 tablet
• Charger (adapter & usb cord connector)
• the manual
• warranty card

( Inside the box )

(The unit, warranty card, manual and charger)

Huawei Mediapad T1 7" Tablet actual photos

( The tablet comes with a plastic screen protector with a print of its main features)

(The Tablet, slimmer and lighter compared to other brands with same price)

(Back of the tablet)

                             

(Power button located at the top side while Volume rocker button below it)

(Microsim slot and microsd car slot for storage expansion located at the bottom)

(audiojack port)

(Microusb port)

Now, I went to test it's performance by using the ANTUTU BENCHMARK app that can be downloaded from the Playstore for free.

Huawei Mediapad T1 7.0 Tablet scores 18,229. Not bad :)

( Antutu Benchmark Rankings )

BATTERY TEST

Huawei Mediapad T1 7.0 has 4100mAh, higher than any well known brands tablet with same price as this tablet.

I can't find any information upon the initial charging of the battery in the manual so I just observed how many hours until it was fully charged.
Upon the time of the delivery, the tablet has still 50% battery so I used it until the battery has only 5% left and charge it.
It was approximately 5 hours until it was fully charged.
I observed the battery's life with Wi-fi on, some video playing, browsing the net, some music, some games like Temple Run and Car Racing.

Here's some screenshots:

(5% battery left, last for 1 day, 3 hours & 40minutes)

(Screen time on 8 hours 40 minutes)

(Wi-fi 8 hours 56 mins on)

Nice! I love the battery! If you're not a constant gamer then this tablet is highly recommended :) The battery lasts a day, yaaayyy! :)

PROS

* What I really love about this tablet is the battery. It would last a day if you continuously use it, but would last more than a day when you don't much use it.
* It has ultra power saving mode that you can switch to if you don't use much your tablet, thus saves your battery for a longer time.
* The screen is also good, smooth to touch and easily responsive even if you have screen protector on it.
* It's a 3g tablet. It has microsim you can use for messaging and calling and for connecting to your mobile data as an alternative when you don't have a Wi-Fi device. It has the functionality of a phone with its call and text features.
* It Supports USB OTG.
* It has good speaker and is loud enough. Pretty good as compared to other brands. The speaker is located on the front screen.
* It's more affordable as compared to other well known brands but can compete with its specs.
* It's slim and lightweight as compared to other brands
* It's good for watching videos and playing music,surfing the net, accessing Social Media, You Tube.
* It has cool user interface and have pre-themes installed powered by its Emotion 3.0 UI
* Video calling on Skype is pretty good, even at night the video interface is clear, considering your lighting is good.

 * One more thing, you can change the font of the system and no need to be rooted. Just download some apps like iFont in the Playstore.

CONS

* The only slight but tolerable disadvantage I see is the internal storage. The specs indicated an 8GB internal storage but the system already made use of half of the internal storage. So you have left with only 4GB for your apps and storage. You have to buy a microsd card for your storage expansion.

* Same also with the 1 GB RAM, half of it was already being used by the system before you have installed new apps. But it never lags anyway when you open several apps at a time or do multitasking so I guess it's not a problem. I haven't tried it though with games like Clash of Clans or other big games.

* The camera which are both 2MP only is not good with taking pics and videos on a not well lit background. Considering it is only 2MP that is acceptable. But in a well lit surroundings or background, It's pretty decent. Well, considering it's just 2MP don't expect too much about the camera.

* What else? I guess the back case is prone to scratches so you better need a tablet case for that. Also,be careful with the microsim/microSD slot cover when you open it. I feel like it will come off easily if I accidentally  forced it to open.

* And another thing, since this tablet is newly released I can't seem to find a screen protector and tablet case on a Huawei brand. I found some generic screen protector and case in some shops.

My verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I totally love it! It's affordable yet very good as compared to costly brands and some local brands. Hope this would last me for a long time. It is really a bang on your buck.

If you are looking for an alternative tablet/phablet aside from other higher price brands this is the one you should consider buying.

*Note: I don't know if this is upgradeable to Android 5.0 Lollipop as this is my first Huawei Device and I'm not really a techie person. I did some research on the net but can't find any. Maybe because this tablet was just recently released. I never tried rooting it either.  

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UPDATE: After almost a year, my tablet broke.

It doesn't have a problem but lately my niece who borrowed it all the time and used for watching movies dropped it twice accidentally. After that incident,the only thing i encounter one time was the screen went black while she's watching movies but managed to solved the problem by soft resetting. 

But just last month i finally said goodbye to my tablet.

I put it inside my bag as i left the house. I remember it still has 65% battery. When i got home, i saw the tablet is off. I'm wondering what happened coz i didn't use it. It's just in my bag all the time i'm roaming at the mall. I switched it on but it won't on. Tried soft reset but also not working. So i went to charged it thinking battery might got drained. I left it charging and when i came back after few hours the tablet still has that red light led. I tried switching on but still not working.

I searched on the net the possible solutions but no one has. They said better to bring it to repair shops. I have a feeling the board has been damaged an instead of going on a hassle for repairing (Maybe sooner i'll bring it to a repair shop) i decided to find an alternative tablet as a replacement with my damaged one.

 I don't really want to buy a tablet again but want instead to upgrade my 2 yrs old phone but when i saw a tablet with good specs i decided to buy it. It was on 50% off sale so i decided to get one. It's the Lenovo Phab which i got for P4,990 instead of P9,990. They also have sale for Lenovo Phab Plus for P6,990 but since I'm on a tight budget i chose the cheaper one. I'll be doing a review soon. 

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(DISCLAIMER: The author of this blog has no affiliation nor connected with the companies mentioned and the reviews done was purely based on her honest opinions and experience.)