After an excellent Mate 10 Pro unveiled at the start of the school year, Huawei presented a few weeks later, more discreetly, a less beefy version of its spearhead: the aptly named Mate 10 Lite, which seeks to offer a maximum for a minimum price.
Presentation
At Huawei, the "Lite" models are a great tradition. Almost all of the brand's major smartphones are entitled to their less well-endowed but slightly cheaper version: Mate 9 Lite, P8 Lite 2017, P9 Lite. Logically, therefore, the latest spearhead of the firm, the Mate 10 Pro, is also available in a “Lite” version.
The filiation is marked above all by the presence of an 18:9 "edge to edge" screen. Other than that, the Mate 10 Lite's spec sheet borrows more from the recently announced Honor 7X. As the two firms are now accustomed to, the most direct competition for their products is found internally. Sold at €349, the Huawei Mate 10 Lite also comes up against other references such as Moto X4 or the Wiko Wim.
The front of the Mate 10 Lite.
Does the Mate 10 Lite succeed in repeating the feat of its big brother? Answer here.
Ergonomics and design
Unlike the Mate 10 Pro, the Lite does not have a glass back but opts for a one-piece anodized metal shell, similar to that found on the Honor 7X. Moreover, the comparison with the Honor 7X does not stop there. Putting the two phones side by side is a game of 7 differences, except that here there are three differences: location of the cameras, color of the hull and name printed on the front. That aside, the mobiles are extremely similar.
Huawei Mate 10 Lite and Honor 7X: the two (almost) twin brothers.
In itself, if we put aside the lack of originality, this copy-paste is not too bad a thing. The Honor 7X is a nice phone in the hand and well finished, just like the Huawei Mate 10 Lite. The phone, massive, is too big to be used with one hand, but the use of metal gives a fairly neat appearance to the whole. The 18:9 screen occupies approximately 77% of the front panel; it's not at the level of the top of the range this year, but we can still welcome the optimization effort.
The metal shell of the Mate 10 Lite.
Unfortunately, the Mate 10 Lite also copied the 7X's small flaws, namely the micro-USB socket rather than USB-C and the lack of waterproof certification. On the other hand, we are still pleasantly surprised by the speed and efficiency of the fingerprint reader which, even if it is placed on the back of the mobile, is a real plus. In short, the Mate 10 Lite is a well-finished mobile that does not have much to reproach itself for in terms of design, but which is technically a bit behind.
Screen
Huawei has not only borrowed the design of the Honor 7X: the panel that equips the Mate 10 Lite is identical to that found on the latest Honor. It's not really a problem, because the results are quite good. By default, the color temperature is always too cold, but opting for the screen profile below corrects the situation.
The profile to adopt for the best color temperature.
From 7 K, we drop to 800 and the delta E goes from 6 to 600. Results close to reference values characterizing excellent rendering (3,8 K, delta E less than 3,6). In addition, the contrast ratio reaches 6:500 and the brightness 3 cd/m². Not much to say about the rendering therefore; screen colors are accurate and readability is good. On the other hand, the treatment of the glass has probably evolved, since there is a reflectance rate of 1%, lower than the rate of 810% of the 1X.
In terms of use, the Full HD+ resolution (2 x 160 px) is more than enough for most mobile uses and allows you to display a good amount of information. Finally, the tactile delay and the persistence are respectively 1 and 080 ms. Nothing to spoil the experience, but nothing extraordinary either. In conclusion, the Mate 17 Lite benefits from a well-calibrated screen which will suffice for all those who are not Oled aficionados.
performances
Unsurprisingly, with the same chip as the 7X and the same amount of RAM, the Mate 10 Lite offers much the same experience. The Mate 10 Lite will be able to juggle between apps and navigate the interface or the web without slowing down.
After 10 minutes of photo + video (face and back).
The heating also remains measured, with peaks at a maximum of 36 ° C, whether after long minutes of video recording or gaming. Nothing to interfere with use, especially since it remains very localized.
In game, we cannot say that it is a real debauchery of polygons, but the quality and the graphics remain correct and the fluidity is there. The Mate 10 Lite will be a pretty effective companion for most gamers.
Audio
The Huawei Mate 10 Lite's headphone output isn't the best we've tested. It largely lacks punch and restores a slightly messy signal in the channel separation. Fortunately, the distortion is kept at almost zero level and the dynamic range is rather wide. On the other hand, we will avoid pushing the sound to the bottom, which only has the effect of increasing the distortion rate.
The single loudspeaker located on the lower edge restores a very tight sound and an aggressive hair to the ear. Of course, the entire lower part of the spectrum is absentee subscribers.
Photo
If we can assume that the two photo modules that adorn the back of the Huawei Mate 10 Lite are the same as those of the Honor 7X (with two sensors, one of 16 Mpx and the other of 2 Mpx), the treatment , it is not a priori quite similar. In broad daylight, the Mate 10 Lite produces shots with fairly warm colors, but with noticeable grain. Compared to the P8 Lite 2017 which manages to find the balance between smoothness and grain, the Mate 10 Lite does not do particularly well. The contours are less precise and the contrast less marked. On the other hand, the white balance and the colors are better respected, but overall we still lose details because of an overly aggressive treatment.
At night, the Mate 10 Lite avoids the slight blue halo with which the P8 Lite 2017 is afflicted and preserves a greater amount of detail on the edges. Although the scene is less bright due to a more measured ISO rise, the rendering is cleaner and there are fewer chromatic aberrations. The scene is a little less readable in some places, but the whole is less artificially illuminated. This is particularly noticeable on the edges of the scene, which are much more rugged on the P8 Lite.
At night, the Mate 10 Lite therefore does slightly better than the P8 Lite 2017 – which was not won – but the excessive presence of noise on the scene in broad daylight unfortunately does not allow Huawei's mobile to really win its 4th star in the field.
The 13MP front sensor, on the other hand, does a good job and manages to capture self-portraits that are quite rich in detail and with clean colors. On the other hand, the "Bokeh" mode powered by the second 2 Mpx sensor on the front does not work miracles: the background blur is quite random and the clipping deserves more attention. The result gives the impression of a subject stuck in front of a blurred background.
Video capture, finally, does not have much to reproach itself with; it is fluid even in Full HD and only suffers from sometimes slow autofocus.
Autonomy
With the same battery, the same screen and the same chip as the Honor 7X, it is quite logical that the Mate 10 Lite has more or less the same score in autonomy. A fairly average score, therefore, since the mobile only resists 10:25 on our SmartViser test protocol. Enough to ensure in fact a day of autonomy in normal use, but little more. If your use is intensive, you will probably need to pay attention to the battery gauge to avoid running out of water before the end of the day.
On the other hand, the day before is quite effective with barely 5% loss in 24 hours of inactivity. Count a little more than 2 hours to fully charge the mobile with the socket provided.
Highlights
Well calibrated screen.
Quality construction.
18:9 format and front panel optimization work.
Weak points
Too much grain in daylight photos.
Micro-USB port and not USB-C. No waterproof certification.
Average autonomy.
Conclusion
Note globaleAs you will have understood, the Huawei Mate 10 Lite is a quasi-copy of the Honor 7X (unless it is the opposite), but it is sold more expensive than the latter. A very strangely positioned product therefore, especially if we consider that the Huawei P8 Lite 2017 does better and costs 150 € less than this Mate 10. Definitely, the Chinese manufacturer's catalog is puzzling...
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