It was a busy day for Huawei yesterday, which not only gave its event attendees in Thailand a look at its upcoming kids’ watches, but also a look at a bunch of other products, too. Up first is the Nova 15 Max, followed by the Watch Fit 5 Series, with the MatePad Pro Max serving as a nice little chaser. Only those first two are likely to come to South Africa, however, but there’s no harm in drooling over the MatePad’s gloriously thin body from afar.
Huawei’s super Nova?
Not to be mistaken with the Huawei Nova 15 Ultra, the new Nova 15 Max is one seriously impressive smartphone. It’s currently listed on the company’s global site, showing its impressive 6.84in FHD+ OLED display that won’t stand in the way of your 120Hz gaming ambitions — assuming the chip stands up to the heat.
This is usually the bit we’d put your minds at ease by letting you know which chip is powering the thing. That… won’t be possible just yet, seeing how Huawei is keeping it a secret. For now. Not even the wizards at GSMArena have anything to add, only noting 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage (which at least made the spec sheet).
Perhaps Huawei didn’t want to overshadow the Max’s battery, which appears to be spectacular. The 15 Ultra houses an 8,500mAh cell (likely lending itself to the Max’s rather heavy 232g weight). The 40W wired charging spec is a bit of a letdown, knowing just how long it’ll take to get the battery to its max. Still, it’s worth the wait.
A pretty basic 8MP sensor sits up front to handle selfie needs, while the rear sports a dual-camera setup. There’s the 2MP ‘Ultra Lighting’ camera that feels slightly pointless, while the bulk of your imaging prowess will rely on the phone’s 50MP ‘Ultra Sensing’ shooter. Huawei confirmed that the device will launch globally, though it failed to expound on when that would be, or how much it’d cost.
Watch this Fit 5 Pro go to work
Another round of products likely to get the South African treatment is Huawei’s Watch Fit 5 Series. Comprising the Watch Fit 5 and the Watch Fit 5 Pro, these wrist-huggers differ from their smartphone brethren in one key area: they have a price. Not locally, perhaps, but the €200 and €300 prices give us a rough idea of what to expect, respectively. We’re bordering on R4,000 for the Watch Fit 5, while the Pro sits closer to R5,800.
Is it worth the dough? That’ll mostly depend on you, but we can give you the basics in the meantime. The larger Watch Fit 5 Pro shows off your health stats via a 1.92in AMOLED, capable of hitting 2,500 nits no problem. Like its sibling, it’s made from recycled aluminium, with the screen under a coating of pretty durable sapphire glass.
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It’s slightly thicker than the Watch Fit 4 Pro at 9.5mm, but for good reason. The battery is larger this time around, now sitting at 471mAh, according to Notebookcheck. It’s got all the sensors you’d expect (and some you wouldn’t) to make Huawei’s claim of 100+ sports modes possible. The watch also has NFC powers, allowing you to tap to pay. It’s rated for diving up to 40 metres below the surface, as well as a virtual power meter for cycling.
If you’d prefer to keep it simple, the Watch Fit 5 can help you there. It’s equipped with a smaller 1.82in AMOLED, underneath the lithium-aluminium-silicate glass. Again, Huawei’s being a little cagey with the battery specifics. We can guess it’ll come in with something less capable than the Pro variant, anyway. Despite being 5ATM-rated, the Watch Fit 5 loses out on Golf mode as well as free diving features. Also missing are the ECG, pulse wave analysis, and arterial stiffness measurements. A lack of a temperature sensor helps keep the price down.
Ring up your MatePad Pro Max
Finally, we arrive at the Huawei MatePad Pro Max. You can still pick up a regular MatePad Pro for a cool R16,000 in South Africa, which bodes well for the Max’s chances locally. Still, it won’t be cheap. It’s currently priced at £1,000 in the UK, translating to R22,000 before South Africa tacks on shipping fees and all the rest.
It may just be worth the sacrifice of dinner a couple of nights a week, however. It’s incredibly slim, measuring a mere 4.7mm and weighing only 499g. That doesn’t mean the company has skimped on battery life, either. There’s still a 10,400mAh battery jammed in there, assuming you’re outside the EU. There, it’s a smaller 9,760mAh cell.
On top of it all sits a 13.2in ‘flexible OLED PaperMatte display’ that’ll top out at 1,600 nits brightness. Again, Huawei has omitted the SoC that keeps it going, but it does note 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. A single 50MP shooter resides on the rear, while a simple 12MP one sits up front for Zoom calls.
