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Google might be betting on Chrome OS for its tablet ambitions with the Pixel Slate, but there's still plenty of demand for solid Android tablets. As our own Rita El Khoury points out, native Android app performance is still better on Android slates, not to mention the fact that there are no 7-8" Chrome tablets yet and likely won't be for a while. Thankfully there are still some good options for Android tablets on the market — just a few months ago we gave Huawei's MediaPad M5 series the title of "the best all-around Android tablets you can buy." Now, in the week running up to Thanksgiving in the US, you can buy the MediaPad M5 10.8" and 8.4" for less than usual. A $40 price reduction on Amazon brings the larger tablet to $320, and the smaller to $280.As a refresher: the Huawei-made tablets come out of the box with Android 8.0 Oreo and feature a Kirin 960 2.4GHz octa-core processor, 2560x1600 IPS LCD displays, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage. The 10.8" tablet has a 7,500mAh battery, while the 8.4" tablet's power store comes in at 5,100mAh — both providing excellent battery life in partnership with Huawei's custom optimizations. In the downsides column, the tablets do not have 3.5mm headphone hack, have a narrow 16:10 aspect ratio, and are a little bloated with pre-installed software.If you're interested in what are arguably the best Android tablets on the market currently, both are are at record lows for the holiday shopping season on Amazon — and, next to competitors like the $650 10.5" Galaxy Tab S4 — they were already comparatively affordable.Source: Amazon (1), (2)
Samsung is known for having the best displays in the smartphone/tablet game, and that hasn't changed with the new Galaxy Note9 and Tab S4. As a result, we're not surprised that Netflix has already added the duo to its HD/HDR support list. Several other devices have been added as well.
There's no denying that the Android tablet market is dwindling as years pass by. What was once a flourishing segment filled with options on every end of the price and specs spectrum now essentially holds two distinct categories: the cheap Amazon Fire tablets and the more expensive Samsung / Huawei tablets. Even those companies' releases have slowed down to a point where we can only hope to see one nice new tablet every 12 to 18 months.That's why it's important to look at the Huawei MediaPad M5 series as a unique offering. To some, it's a relic of a time that's passed, to others who still want an Android tablet like I do, it's a desirable unicorn. The M5 is one of the very rare, new, more or less affordable, and feature-full tablet options on the market. But before I get to my review of the MediaPad M5 series, I need to address the elephant in the room.
Android Enterprise Recommended program adds new models from Huawei, Motorola, BlackBerry, and others
Back in February, Google announced the Android Enterprise Recommended program, which defines which phones are ideal for business use. Devices in the program have to follow a set of guidelines from Google, such as rolling out security updates within 90 days of release. The company announced today that a handful of more devices have been added to the program, including the Moto G6, Huawei P20/P20 Pro, and Sony Xperia XZ2.
First announced at MWC this year, the three different Huawei MediaPad M5 tablets are now shipping in the US and available from both Amazon and Newegg. Beside Samsung's Galaxy Tab S series, Huawei's MediaPads are the only other high-end Android tablets that are worth looking at, and this new iteration is better while still being priced reasonably.
More and more smartphones are debuting with HDR-capable displays, but actual HDR support from app developers can often take a while. Almost exactly a year ago, LG's G6 became the first device to get Netflix HDR. Since then, the Sony Xperia XZ Premium, LG V30, Galaxy Tab S3, Galaxy Note8, Xperia XZ1, Razer Phone, and Galaxy S9 have been updated to support it as well. The Sony Xperia XZ2, Huawei Mate 10 Pro, and Huawei P20 have now joined the lineup, meaning there are now a full ten Netflix HDR-capable Android devices.
Today at MWC 2018, Huawei announced its new lineup of tablets: the MediaPad M5. As the successor to the MediaPad M3 (the number 4 is considered unlucky in China so most local companies skip it), the M5 keeps the 16:10 2560x1600 display resolution, curved metal unibody, and Hi-Res audio by Harman/Kardon but upgrades the processor, RAM, and cameras. There will be 3 variants available in two sizes: an 8.4" one for portability and a 10.8" for more screen estate and stationary use. The Pro version of the latter adds an active M-Pen for note-taking and sketching.