Monday night saw the launch of the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and Mate 10 Porsche Design devices in South Africa, much like the wind in Cape Town, it blew many of the crowd away with it's features of which many are a first for a smart phone. For it's flag ship device, Huawei opted for the tranquil and scenic Camps Bay, which was anything but thanks to the weather. Once sheltered from the gale force winds, it was time to view what the Chinese manufacturer had in store in its latest Mate series device. With the smartphone trend, everyone is looking at what each other is inventing but then copying and perfecting these trends, with Huawei, they have set some standards in the industry first which saw their competitors play catch-up. some of these include the dual lens technology in the cameras, the long battery life and super charge, but with the Mate 10, they needed something ground-breaking, something that would make their competitors not only think "why didn't we think of that?" but rather "how did they do that?".
Step in the world's first AI Processor, the Kirin 970. But you may ask, what is AI? And how will it be beneficial to me? We've seen AI in movies but most of that has been fiction until now, AI is artificial intelligence, which enables the device to think on its own and not only when you tell it to do something. Yes, this is ground breaking and what makes it even more astonishing, is that it is able to do this without having a connection. For example, Huawei has teamed up with Microsoft for a number of things for the Mate 10 Pro, one of them being Microsoft Translate. The Mate 10 pro is able to view foreign text and convert it for you to the desired language, all on its own without an internet connection. "As we enter the age of intellegence, AI is no longer a virtual concept but something that interwines with out daily life. AI can enhance user experience, provide valuable services and improve product performance" says Likun Zhao, GM of Huawei Consumer Business Group. "The Huawei Mate 10 Series introduces the first mobile AI-specific Neural Network Processing Unit (NPU), launching a new era of intelligent smartphones. For the South Afrcan market, we bringing two most premium phones in this exclusive series - namely the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 - as we believe these are the best phones to meet the mobile needs of South African consumers, especially when it comes to business."
Yes, SA won't be getting the standard Mate 10 device as Huawei feels that the consumers would opt for the Pro and the PD devices, also the price difference in the standard and Pro is minimal. Getting back to AI, in essence, this issues a new dawn in the smartphone market, AI will only be enhanced from here on, unlocking potentials that we can only dream off from a phone. Some other cool features of the Mate 10 Pro, includes a new camera. It's a world's first f1.6 Leica Dual LEns camera which identifies, in real-time, different types of scenes and objects, such as food, nightscapes, sunsets and beaches, heck it can even identify if you taking a picture of a dog or a cat! It will then automatically adjust to make sure your picture is captured in the best possible way. While their is a Pro feature on the camera, you would rarely have to use it! The Huawei SuperCharge has also been upgraded, as the phone comes with a 4000 mAh batter with AI powered battery management for optimal usage, so this extends battery life on the device. It also comes with fast charging, allowing the device to get from 0 to 20 percent in 10 minutes.
The Mate 10 Pro also comes with a dual SIM where both SIM slots are 4G capable. The design see's a change to the 9, with it having a more beveled finish, making the handset quite smooth and sleek. It has quite a large display, Huawei calls this "full view" enabling the user to have brilliant clarity and optimizes the viewing for the user. It also has the best screen to body ratio in its class using a 5.9 inch screen and 16:9 display. The device is IP67 rated as well, which we put to the test in the viewing rooms where we were allowed to dunk the phones into a fish bowl. Quite nerve wrecking but cool to see.
Pre-Orders for the Mate 10 Pro have already begun, but the recommended retail prices have some folks talking. The Huawei Mate 10 Pro being R18,999 isn't too bad seeing that it has a host of worlds first and an extremely good smart phone, however the Porsche Design Huawei Mate 10 comes in at R26,999. That is a big jump in price but with PD, their products are quality and quite expensive. Also this Porsche Design handset will be super exclusive with only 999 units coming to South Africa.
"We are delighted to bring the Huawei Mate 10 Pro and the Porsche Design Mate 10 to South Africa as we believe these smartphones will cater for the South African consumers needs as we enter the age of AI" - concludes Zhao.
