Huawei Mate LCD – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The Huawei Mate series of phones are popular due to their great cameras, fast charging and high-quality display. Unfortunately, they can sometimes end up with screen problems like a cracked LCD screen or a malfunctioning touch panel.
This guide will show you how to replace the Huawei Mate LCD screen at home. It is a simple repair that you can do with the right tools and some patience.
Display
The Huawei Mate LCD has a 6.0-inch Gorilla Glass display and an aluminum back and frame. It is an Android smartphone with 32 GB of internal storage and 3 GB of RAM. It also has a 16-megapixel main camera and an 8-megapixel selfie camera. The phone has a non-removable 4,000 mAh battery and supports expandable internal storage with MicroSD cards up to 256 GB. It is also available in gold, silver, and grey variants.
The display on the Huawei Mate LCD has received the TUV Rheinland Low Blue Light and Flicker Free certification. This means that it can be used for long periods of time without causing eye strain or other health problems. However, it is important to note that this certification only applies to the standard display configuration and not when using an external screen.
If you have a problem with the display on your phone, such as a cracked LCD screen or an improperly functioning touch panel, you can repair it yourself at home with a few simple tools. The process is fairly easy and takes only about 60 minutes to complete. The steps below are based on replacing the Huawei Mate LCD screen on the Huawei Mate 10 Lite, but they should also work with the regular Huawei Mate 10 and the Pro model. It is important to remember that the replacement process is very delicate, so you should take your time and use high quality tools to prevent any damage to the components inside your phone.
Touchscreen
Huawei’s Mate S is a solid bit of kit, with a beautiful design, impressive screen and plenty of smart features. However, the 3:2 aspect ratio might be a little too limiting for some, especially for video editing and other colour-sensitive work. There’s no HDR support either, which could be a turn off for some.
Huawei talked up its pressure-sensitive screen at launch, taking the same approach as Apple’s 3D Touch on the iPhone 6S. It lets you press hard into an app and invoke quick commands without having to open the full-screen menu. It’s a neat idea, but in reality it’s not much more than a gimmick and has no obvious advantages over tapping or swiping. The long presses are also a bit fiddly and don’t work on many of the apps that come bundled with the device.
The screen does deliver excellent colours and brightness, with an impressive 17% wider colour gamut than the average laptop. It’s also passed TUV Rheinland low blue light and flicker tests, helping to reduce eye strain and fatigue when you’re glued to your screen for hours on end. A Bluetooth mouse and keyboard are included in the box, but they feel like a mere add-on rather than a thoughtful bundle that helps make up for some of the Mate S’s shortcomings.
Speakers
The Mate 9’s single speaker isn’t the best choice for media playback. The resulting distortion can make it hard to hear some music and movies clearly. It also won’t do the job well when holding the phone in landscape mode for viewing conventionally-formatted videos, which require a speaker to be on one side of the screen.
The audio quality is a bit better when using the phone for recording memos or voice calls. The phone’s microphones are excellent in both tests, and its Timbre score of 88 indicates that it can recreate sound levels from a wide range of sources. The Mate 9’s directional recording performance also places it near the top of our phones, though its Octave score isn’t quite there.
Despite its lack of stereo speakers, the Mate 9 still provides a very good experience for watching video and playing games. Its slim left and right bezels are a welcome design choice that make it easy to hold Huawei Mate LCD and use. The rounded edges and high-quality materials give it an elegant look. And the large display offers an impressive level of functionality — a huge advantage over many competing smartphones. The only real drawback is the software, which feels dated and clunky in some areas. Fortunately, it is possible to improve the user experience with third-party apps and launchers.
Battery
Huawei’s Mate smartphones have carved out a niche as big-screen powerhouses with epic battery life. That’s still true of this model, which packs a huge 4,000 mAh cell into a surprisingly compact package. It does a great job of conserving juice, too; an hour of HD Netflix streaming at 50% brightness used just 5% of the cell’s capacity. That’s significantly better than the best phones we’ve tested, which manage just over 30 hours of play between charges.
It’s also quick to charge: a full battery goes from dead to charged in about 90 minutes with the included 40W charger. And you can use it to top up other devices, thanks to a built-in reverse-charging mode.
The Mate 10 Pro runs Android 8.0 Oreo, with Huawei’s EMUI overlay on top. That’s an unusual interface, with a glut of options for just about everything from home screens and themes to battery-saving modes and navigation. It’s a bit distracting, and it doesn’t always work well with the phone’s big screen.
Despite some software hiccups, the Mate 10 Pro is the first Huawei phone that proves the Chinese company can legitimately compete with Samsung and Apple at the top end of the Android market. Its premium design, excellent low-light camera and two-day-plus battery life all make this a compelling option. And it’s less expensive than most of its premium rivals, too.