Large smartphones have become extremely common and a massive sub-segment within the smartphone market. Apple is the latest company to get into the phablet game ââ some would say a bit belatedly ââ with the iPhone 6 Plus.
Huawei are trying to take the market by storm with very well received Huawei Mate 7. These devices are very different, but in some ways very similar as well. Let us see how they shape up in a head to head comparison.
Design and Build
Apple has always been famous for their flawlessly beautiful design language and their iPhones lived up to everything that Apple made previously. The latest iteration of iPhones are the first where Apple really pushed the envelope in terms of size, ditching their once stringent âĹone-hand usabilityâ rule.
The iPhoneâs proportions are quite different to that of the Huawei. At 158mm in length, the iPhone 6 Plus is actually 1.1mm longer than the Mate 7 ââ yet it is using a screen that is substantially smaller at only 5.5 inches.
The solid aluminium chassis of the iPhone is still great to hold, although the device itself is more difficult to handle than previous models because of the rounded edges. The Mate 7, on the other hand, is much easier to handle and not as prone to slips and falls.
The design quality of both devices is top notch, with the meticulously design shells equally adept at warding off fingerprints and hairline scratches. I still wouldnât want to drop either, though. At the end of the day which design people will prefer will come down to personal preference.
Screen
The Apple iPhone 6 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch HD retina display with a resolution of 1920 x 1080, while the Huawei Mate 7 features a much larger, 6-inch IPS LCD screen with the same resolution. That means the iPhone 6 has a slightly higher pixels density, although you wonât be able to tell any difference with the naked eye.
In everyday use the Mate 7âs display does perform extremely well, with great viewing angles, good outside visibility and impressive overall quality. It must be said, though, that there is just something special about that retina display. Colours seem to be ever so slightly more true to life, is a little brighter and the detail is that smidgeon sharper.
While the Mate 7 features a very nice display and among the best 1080p displays out there, the iPhoneâs is just that little bit better.
User Experience
The Mate 7 comes with Android 4.4 out of the box, while running the Emotion UI skin. It is very different from the norm on Android, and you have to admit that there are more than a couple of elements that are reminiscent of iOS.
The folders look extremely alike, the notification bars are very similar and they even removed the app tray from Android, meaning that you have all apps on the various homescreens as you find on iOS.
While they might have gotten their inspiration from iOS, Huawei have baked in some features that set it apart. It is as difficult as always to compare iOS to Android, and once again it comes down to your ecosystem of choice.
Performance and Fingerprint Scanner
As always, the hardware in the Apple device is very different from what you find on the Android device. The iPhone 6 Plus is powered by 1.39GHz dual-core A8 processor with 64-bit architecture. It is supported with 1GB of RAM and either 32GB or 64GB internal phone storage. The Huawei Mate 7 is powered by 28nm HiSilicon Kirin 925 chip which has an octo-core setup. It has four ARM Cortex-A15 CPU cores clocked at 1.8 GHz, alongside four ARM Cortex-A7 cores clocked at 1.3 GHz, as well as 3GB of RAM.
As weâve said many times before, though, it isnât about whatâs on the inside but how it performs. The Mate 7 performs very well in everyday use, and you will very rarely see lag or glitches. That being said, Appleâs brilliant optimisation of software and hardware is still unmatched, and the iPhone 6 Plus flies. It is still up there as the best all-round performer you will find.
In terms of the fingerprint scanner performance, you canât choose a winner between the two. While testing I couldnât see any difference in the amount of time it takes to unlock the devices.
Battery
It is strange to think that battery life still hasn’t been properly addressed by most manufacturers. It is obvious that consumers find it very important, but there still isn’t enough noise to make manufacturers sit up and notice.
That being said, Huawei have stuffed a massive 4,100 mAh battery into the Mate 7 and the results speak for themselves. The battery life is brilliant and you will easily get two days of use out of it. The iPhone will get you through a day without problems, but it can’t compete with the marathon runner that is the Mate 7.
Camera
The 8MP rear camera on the iPhone may not sound like a world beater but in fact it is probably one of the strongest camera offerings you can find at the moment. The auto-focus is super-fast and accurate and the combination of an f/2.2 aperture, True Tone Flash and five piece lens with a hybrid IR filter means that it takes some absolutely stunning pictures, and you donât need to fiddle with the settings to attain the great pictures.
With the Mate 7 you are getting a 13MP rear camera sensor and a solid 5MP front facing camera. The rear Sony Xmor BSI sensor is solid and capable of some great photos, but in general it is not in the same class as what we have seen from Samsung and Sony, and indeed the iPhone.
Conclusion
The iPhone 6 Plus is without a doubt a brilliant piece of hardware, and with its massive price tag it had to be. Donât discount the Huawei Mate 7, though, it also offers bags of potential as a really great Android phablet, and at almost half the price of the iPhone.
It all comes down to how fat your wallet is and in which eco-system you are vested in. Moving from Android to iOS, or iOS to Android is a major change in your life. We do recommend both of these devices very strongly and you canât go wrong with either.
Also see our comparison of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 vs the Huawei Mate 7 here. For extra entries into our Huawei Mate 7 giveaway, simply share this comparison review and tell us which you would choose if you could get either. Share on Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #HuaweiMate7BWB which you can use to get an extra entry per day.
Follow Theunis on Twitter: @Theunis_BWB
