Good
Premium design
Excellent speakers
Good value
Bad
EMUI is heavy
Half-baked software in places
Mediocre camera performance
The Huawei MediaPad M5 Pro breathes much needed life into the premium Android tablet world, toting a pen in the process. It’s also a good tablet, despite imperfect software in places and a reliance on a keyboard case for it to be a true productivity tool.
Huawei has a contender with the M5 Pro, thanks to the tablet’s great battery life, nice display and good performance. The MediaPad M5, however, is sunk by its short battery life and comparatively small sound.
For much more battery life, you can get the Lenovo Tab 4 Plus, which also costs less than the M5 Pro. But if you’re looking for an Android tablet with solid performance, and if you love to draw with a pen, the MediaPad M5 Pro is worthy of your consideration.
There are many ways in which the Huawei MediaPad M5 Pro gives you more for less – more screen, more storage, more connectivity, more battery and more features, all for less money than an iPad Pro 10.5 or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3, let alone the newer models of each.
While the hardware feels and looks very refined though, some of the tablet’s software features could be better – most notably EMUI Desktop.
There are a few other areas where the UI just isn’t as polished on the M5 Pro as on its main rivals, but having said that, if you’re prepared to overlook these niggles you can say it’s good value for money it offers.
For starters, it delivers excellent multimedia capabilities, from sound to power to screen. It also comes with a decent amount of storage and room for a microSD card, and with a 7,500mAh battery, it lasts for ages.
And so, all said and done, the MediaPad M5 Pro may well be the best value for money flagship tablet around, even if it’s held back by less than perfect software.
Specifications
Review Price: £500
10.8-inch 2560 x 1600 IPS LCD screen
Kirin 960 CPU
64GB storage
Stylus with 4096 pressure levels
13-megapixel rear camera
8-megapixel selfie camera
