Huawei Ascend Mate

High-quality screen, Solid camera focusing, Giant battery

Size causes practicality problems, Over-processed photos, Occasional performance issues, Irritating keyboard

Great IPS display ; Outstanding battery life ; Decent camera

Laggy performance ; Too big and heavy ; Low internal storage ; Bland interface design

If you love big phones and battery life is a priority, the Mate could be for you. Otherwise, we'd stick to the brands you know for now.

Sensibly priced, big screen is very useful and the quality is good, battery life, well-built

Not comfortable to call with, camera is fairly awful

At this size, the Mate won't be for everyone. You're going to need to really want a massive handset and you're going to need to think about the practicalities of owning such a big phone. And on the downside, the screen resolution isn't that great but...

This is significant: you could argue that what makes the Note a ‘phablet’ is not the screen size but the fact Samsung has clearly thought about the unique ways you could put such a large device to good use. There’s no sign that Huawei has done the...

Huge screen, fine build quality, 3G internet connection, goodbattery life

Screen not full HD, processor not as fast as it should be

The Huawei Ascend Mate is a huge beast of a phone that isn'treally practical for carrying in a pocket. As a petite tablet itdoes everything it should considering the price and has someinteresting UI tricks up its sleeve but it's a little let down byits...

Great (albeit massive) screen, good battery life, good price

Some performance issues, only 8GB of internal storage, difficult to hold comfortably

The Huawei Ascend Mate clearly won't appeal to everybody. Huawei is looking to attract those after a massively screened phone, and it might, with the screen proving surprisingly crisp and the handset boasting one of the best batteries of any device in...

The Huawei Ascend Mate is a feat of engineering as impressive as it is ludicrous, but it’s not the best value phablet in town, and it’s far from the the most manageable. If you must have a phone almost the size of a Kindle Fire, the Huawei Ascend Mate...

I tell you what the best bit about this device is… well… the best bits .. First, it’s a quality build. Second, it’s (just about) a phone. Sure, it seriously stomps all over the “phablet” line, but you can actually use it as a phone. Thirdly, it’s...