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LTE 8.0. You don't like small screens but want the phone functions of a smartphone? Then Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE might be your device: make calls and browse on the Internet on an 8-inch tablet.
For the original German review, see here.
More and more manufacturers are now following the example Samsung set with its Galaxy Tab years ago for their tablets: A phone feature in 8-inch or even 10.1-inch devices. Huawei does not want to fall behind and launches an affordable LTE tablet dubbed MediaPad T1 8.0. The buyer only has to shell out just below 220 Euros (~$233) for mobile Internet and telephony. What else is offered? The screen only has a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, but it is an IPS screen. 16 GB of storage and two relatively high-resolution cameras are also included.
The MediaPad T1 8.0 has to compete against other 8-inch tablets from this price range. However, none of them have an LTE module: The LG G Pad 8.0, Asus VivoTab 8, and Lenovo Tab S8 are the alternatives.
Display
8.00 inch 16:10, 1280 x 800 pixel, capacitive touchscreen, IPS, glossy: yes
Storage
16 GB eMMC Flash, 16 GB
, 11.27 GB free
Connections
1 USB 2.0, Audio Connections: 3.5 mm combo audio jack, Card Reader: microSDHC max. 32 GB, Sensors: compass, accelerometer, A-GPS, phone functionality
Networking
802.11a/b/g/n (a/b/g/n = Wi-Fi 4/), Bluetooth 4.0, LTE Cat. 4: 150 Mbps (down), 50 Mbps (up); UMTS/HSPA+ HSDPA: 42 Mbps, HSUPA: 5,76 Mbsp. 2G: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, 3G: 850/900/1900/2100 MHz, LTE: band FDD 1/3/7/20/ TDD:38/40; SAR: 0.44 W/kg
Size
height x width x depth (in mm): 7.9 x 210.6 x 127.7 ( = 0.31 x 8.29 x 5.03 in)
Battery
18 Wh Lithium-Polymer, 4800 mAh, Battery runtime (according to manufacturer): 16 h
Operating System
Android 4.4 KitKat
Camera
Webcam: 2.0 megapixels (front), 5.0 megapixels, AF (back)
Additional features
Speakers: front-facing stereo speaker, Keyboard: virtual keyboard, Tablet Manager, Cast, WPS Office, 12 Months Warranty
Weight
360 g ( = 12.7 oz / 0.79 pounds), Power Supply: 53 g ( = 1.87 oz / 0.12 pounds)
Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.
Huawei offers a classic tablet design with its MediaPad T1 8.0: silver plastic back cover, white front, chrome-colored rim - greetings from the iPad. The design of Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 is not really unique, but it is nice to hold and also fairly slim with a height of 7.9 millimeters. The weight of 360 grams is slightly higher than that of the comparison devices, though.
The casing's stiffness is satisfactory. However, pressure applied to all sides is passed on to the screen and becomes visible as waves in the liquid crystals. Furthermore, the device crackles under pressure.
LG G Pad 8.0 V480 Asus VivoTab 8 M81C-1B010W Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE Lenovo Tab S8 DIN A5
210.8 mm / 8.3 inch 124.2 mm / 4.89 inch 9.9 mm / 0.3898 inch 338 g0.745 lbs211.7 mm / 8.33 inch 124.9 mm / 4.92 inch 8.8 mm / 0.3465 inch 344 g0.758 lbs210.6 mm / 8.29 inch 127.7 mm / 5.03 inch 7.9 mm / 0.311 inch 360 g0.794 lbs209.8 mm / 8.26 inch 123.8 mm / 4.87 inch 7.9 mm / 0.311 inch 300 g0.661 lbs210 mm / 8.27 inch 148 mm / 5.83 inch 1 mm / 0.03937 inch 2.9 g0.00639 lbs
An LTE module naturally costs money, and Huawei obviously had to make cutbacks in other places: working memory, screen resolution, and even the storage devices are mostly more generous in the comparison devices. A user of Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 has to be satisfied with 1 GB of working memory and 16 GB of storage capacity, which shrinks to 11.27 GB of available storage due to the operating system. The device supports micro-SDHC cards with up to 32 GB for storage expansion. Users have reported on the Internet that 64 GB cards can also be read.
USB OTG that would, for example, allow connecting a USB flash drive to the tablet's micro-USB port via an adapter is not available. NFC is not installed, either.
Software
Android 4.4.4 is the underlying operating system. Huawei's Emotion UI 2.3 covers it. It has not yet been confirmed whether an update to Android 5 will be made available for the tablet. Huawei has been rather slow with launching a new operating system on its devices in the past. Of course, some effort is needed for modifying Emotion UI to the new design and new version.
It is basically possible to work quite fast with the preloaded operating system. Android veterans will soon manage because the modifications of the Emotion UI are sooner superficial in nature. Some freeware is found on the tablet, for example the "Tablet Manager" that helps save energy, clean the memory or filtering spam. "Cast" is a screen-sharing tool and documents can be created or viewed directly on the tablet with "WPS Office". A few apps, such as "Baidu" or "Autonavi" are in Mandarin, which will not be very helpful for western buyers. However, most apps can be uninstalled and there is barely any adware on the tablet.
Communication & GPS
The Wi-Fi module supports networks in the 802.11 a/b/g/n standards, and thus also the 5 GHz band. The reception is rather mediocre. Half the signal was still displayed at a distance of ten meters and through three walls, and websites opened noticeably slower.
The most significant unique selling point of the MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE is certainly the cellular phone network that enables making calls with the device and provides high-speed Internet via GPRS, UMTS or LTE. A maximum downstream speed of 150 Mbps and upstream speeds of 50 Mbps are possible. The reception is very good. We had the full LTE signal even indoors using the rather moderately developed German E-Plus net.
The GPS module does not do a bad job, either. Although it could not track us indoors, it determined our position outdoors with an accuracy of four meters.
Telephone
Seeing that the MediaPad T1 8.0 can be used for making calls, this feature naturally has to be examined closer in our test. The phone app is, like in smartphones, positioned in the menu's lower row as an always visible app icon. Tapping it leads to a clearly arranged phone app with keypad, quick-dial function, contacts, and favorites. Annoying contacts can be blocked when desired.
The call quality is very decent because the speaker is the earpiece at the same time. However, its isolation to the environment could be better as the surroundings hear a lot from the contact even at a normal volume. The microphone is also good; our contact perceived us as loud and clear. The speaker proved to be strong in hands-free mode, and the microphone was also reliable.
Cameras & Multimedia
Huawei did not save on the cameras. A 5-megapixel lens without flash but with auto-focus is on the rear. The image quality and particularly the color reproduction are appealing. However, frayed outlines (see scene 1 by the banana) and pixelated color areas (scene 2, the sit 'n' bounce) become visible when zoomed. The camera is generally overall quite suitable for snapshots.
Selfies shot with the 2 MP front-facing camera are quite decent, as well. However, the tablet has to be kept very steady so that the pictures do not blur. We liked the extended software that enables adapting the image focus or provides tips for the perfect selfie.
Image Comparison
Choose a scene and navigate within the first image. One click changes the position on touchscreens. One click on the zoomed-in image opens the original in a new window. The first image shows the scaled photograph of the test device.
click to load images
Both the stock keyboard from Google and Swype for Huawei are available as keyboard options. Other keyboards can always be downloaded and installed from the Play Store. Swiping functioned very reliably right from the outset, and we did not have any problems with language settings like in Honor's Holly. It is ultimately a matter of preference which keyboard is used - we could work very well with both preloaded keyboards.
The capacitive touchscreen even responded to light touches reliably, and it is sensitive up to the corners so that we did not have problems with it, either.
Display
The 8-inch screen's resolution of 1280x800 pixels is class average, but Lenovo's Tab S8 proves that even a Full HD resolution is possible in this price range. Although our review sample's average brightness of 301 cd/m² cannot compete with the comparison tablets, it is still fairly bright. The illumination of 87% is homogeneous enough to minimize visible brightness differences in large color areas.
289 cd/m²314 cd/m²287 cd/m²284 cd/m²324 cd/m²306 cd/m²282 cd/m²314 cd/m²309 cd/m²
Distribution of brightness
tested with X-Rite i1Pro 2
Maximum: 324 cd/m² (Nits) Average: 301 cd/m² Brightness Distribution: 87 % Center on Battery: 324 cd/m² Contrast: 831:1 (Black: 0.39 cd/m²) ΔE Color 5.96 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5.1 ΔE Greyscale 5.33 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3 Gamma: 2.19
Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE Adreno 306, 410 MSM8916, 16 GB eMMC FlashLG G Pad 8.0 V480 Adreno 305, 400 MSM8226, 16 GB eMMC FlashAsus VivoTab 8 M81C-1B010W HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745, 32 GB eMMC FlashLenovo Tab S8 HD Graphics (Bay Trail), Z3745, 16 GB eMMC FlashScreen
-4%
-4%
40%
Brightness middle
324
333
3%
352
9%
418
29%
Brightness
301
311
3%
340
13%
401
33%
Brightness Distribution
87
85
-2%
91
5%
85
-2%
Black Level *
0.39
0.54
-38%
0.45
-15%
0.22
44%
Contrast
831
617
-26%
782
-6%
1900
129%
Colorchecker dE 2000 *
5.96
4.64
22%
5.84
2%
4.19
30%
Greyscale dE 2000 *
5.33
4.78
10%
7.21
-35%
4.26
20%
Gamma
2.19 100%
2.63 84%
2.43 91%
2.41 91%
CCT
7184 90%
6458 101%
6140 106%
6246 104%
Color Space (Percent of AdobeRGB 1998)
38
* ... smaller is better
The black level of 0.39 cd/m² is good just like the resulting contrast ratio of 831:1. The color reproduction on the screen is decent, but the colors could perhaps be a bit more vivid. Particularly text areas make it obvious that the resolution could be higher.
We examine the screen using CalMAN software and the spectrophotometer to ascertain more details about the color reproduction. We noticed a light bluish cast in the grayscale levels with the naked eye. The increased average color temperature also points to that. Pure white and cyan as well as green hues shift most from the ideal rate of the sRGB reference color space.
The glare screen and the sooner middling brightness make outdoor use a problem. It looks better indoors or in the shade.
Generally, the viewing angles are good owing to the IPS screen. However, the screen's low brightness is noticed in very flat angles, and often nothing is recognized on the screen then.
Huawei installs a SoC with four cores in the MediaPad T1 8.0. To be more precise, it is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 MSM8916 with a clock rate of 1.4 GHz. The mid-range SoC is also found in Samsung's Galaxy A5, for example, and it should provide enough power even for slightly more demanding apps. In any case, we could navigate smoothly in the operating system of Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0; very short waiting times for reloading were only very rare. The review sample's processing power clearly surpasses the LG G Pad 8.0, but it is very clearly outperformed by both Asus' VivoTab 8 and Lenovo's Tab S8 with an Intel Atom SoC. A very similar picture is seen in the browser benchmarks.
The MediaPad T1 8.0 lags slightly behind the comparison devices in 3D computation; it is primarily behind tablets based on Intel Atom SoCs. The Adreno 306 graphics card should basically be sufficient for most games using the screen's resolution.
It is generally possible to play even more sophisticated 3D games, such as Asphalt 8: Airborne in the screen's resolution. However, it is not completely lag-free. We noticed stutters in just medium details settings. More basic games like Angry Birds normally run without problems, though.
Temperature
The temperature barely increased even during full load. We measured a maximum of 32.3 °C on the front in the camera's area. It was a maximum of 29.7 °C in the same place in idle mode. The MediaPad T1 8.0 never got unpleasantly warm at any time of our tests.
27.5 °C 82 F31.6 °C 89 F31.5 °C 89 F 27.2 °C 81 F28.6 °C 83 F32.3 °C 90 F 27 °C 81 F28.2 °C 83 F30.6 °C 87 F Maximum: 32.3 °C = 90 F Average: 29.4 °C = 85 F 31.6 °C 89 F32.2 °C 90 F29 °C 84 F30.3 °C 87 F30.1 °C 86 F28.5 °C 83 F29.6 °C 85 F29.2 °C 85 F28.4 °C 83 F Maximum: 32.2 °C = 90 F Average: 29.9 °C = 86 F
Power Supply (max.) 51.2 °C = 124 F | Room Temperature 21.3 °C = 70 F | Voltcraft IR-350
(+) The average temperature for the upper side under maximal load is 29.4 °C / 85 F, compared to the average of 30.1 °C / 86 F for the devices in the class Tablet. (+) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 32.3 °C / 90 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F, ranging from 20.7 to 53.2 °C for the class Tablet. (+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 32.2 °C / 90 F, compared to the average of 33.4 °C / 92 F (+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 26.7 °C / 80 F, compared to the device average of 30.1 °C / 86 F.
The speaker was already a great pleasure in calls, and it is very convincing even when playing music or movie soundtracks. That is primarily because it is located on the front, which is fundamentally a better position than on the rear where many tablets and smartphones have their speakers.
The sound is balanced and even bass is audible and palpable. The maximum volume is very high; setting the volume to half is absolutely sufficient. The sound is very present. The speaker occasionally distorts somewhat only in very high pitches. The user will soon notice that it is just a little speaker after all in very multilayered playback. Simpler music pieces sound good.
Power Consumption
Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE proved quite frugal with its power consumption. Comparable devices either need just as much energy (Asus VivoTab 8 with Windows 8.1) or more (Lenovo Tab S8). Our review sample only consumed a maximum of 2.5 watts when idling. Its absolute maximum was 5.4 watts. The latter devices both consume over 7 watts.
Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE is roughly on par with the comparison devices despite the decent consumption rates and the relatively high battery capacity of 18.2 watt hours. It does not really manage to outrun them. 10:33 hours of Wi-Fi browsing is, however, a very practice-suitable time. Especially since the standby time will definitely be longer than one week based on our experience.
Battery Runtime
Idle (without WLAN, min brightness)25h 45minWiFi Websurfing10h 33min
Pros
- Relatively slim casing
- LTE module
- Phone functionality
- Rich-sounding speaker
- Intuitive and extensive software
- Swift GPS module
- Good voice quality
- Decent cameras
- Reliable touchscreen
- Useful battery life
- Low temperatures
Cons
- Slightly dark screen
- Overall meager configuration
- Calls can be overheard
- Mediocre Wi-Fi reception
Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE is definitely a good deal: Phone functionality and the LTE module are sooner only found in more expensive models. Although the configuration of just 1 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage are not exceptional, it can still just keep up with the category standard. We very much liked the swift GPS module, the plain yet fairly slim casing, and the decent software configuration. Apps with Chinese characters are, however, rather useless for the western market.
Negative aspects are not easy to find. The screen could perhaps be brighter and have a higher resolution, and the battery life is only middling. More might have been possible considering the tablet's relatively high weight. Users who want to play a game without any lags should buy a different tablet.
However, those are rather small details. Huawei's MediaPad T1 8.0 is recommended to anyone looking for an unobtrusive, smooth-running tablet with phone functionality and mobile Internet.
Huawei MediaPad T1 8.0 LTE- 04/07/2015 v4(old) Florian Wimmer
Pointing Device
86 / 40-88 → 96%
Application Performance
26 / 91 → 29%
Tablet - Weighted Average
Pricecompare
Editor of the original article: Florian Schmitt - Managing Editor Mobile - 1093 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009
I initially wrote about gaming laptops when I joined Notebookcheck in 2009. I was then involved with the setup of the comparison portal Notebookinfo and worked with social media concepts for large companies like BMW and Adidas, while also returning to work for Notebookcheck in 2012. Nowadays, I focus on smartphones, tablets, and future technologies. Since 2018 I have been Managing Editor for mobile device reviews, working alongside my colleague Daniel Schmidt.