I have been lucky enough to have been given a brand new Mate S for review so, as is the norm, here is the unboxing. The unit I have been given is the 32GB standard version, not the premium version (apparently I am not special enough). 😉
So let’s dive into the device with a break down of the specs.
The phone feels really good in the hand and is of a similar weight to that of the Z3. The screen is bright and clear and takes up a large area of the front of the phone with very reasonable screen-to-body ratio of 73%. The screen is just a standard FHD res of 1920 x 1080 but it doesn’t need to be any higher in all fairness, as all that gives you is higher battery drain. Also my old eyes can’t tell the difference anyway!
The body of the phone is really nice to hold, being all metal. Particular focus has been given to the seams to make sure that they don’t protrude and cause discomfort at all. This is evident on the antennas, which was something that was particularly poignant in the press conference earlier. I think it was mentioned at least 5 times in the space of 2 minutes.
On the back of the phone is the all-important fingerprint reader with Fingerprint 2.0. This is colour-matched to the rest of the phone. The detail and polish used here is very high and the phone reaps the rewards of that as it is a thing of beauty. Above the fingerprint reader we have the camera module with the two-tone flash sitting off to the side. This is a 13 megapixel sensor with OIS and f2.0.
At the base of the phone is a micro USB flanked by two speaker grills, under which we have a single speaker and also a mic. On the left hand side there are no buttons or controls of any kind. This is where the SIM slot lives.
On the right is where we find the volume rocker and the power key.
I have gone through all of the above in a unboxing video for your viewing pleasure..
I also decided that, as I have it with me, I would give you a comparison with the OnePlus 2. It is quite freaky how similar the two phones are in design.
As you can see there a lot of similarities with the OnePlus 2 in terms of port layouts and button mapping. The big difference is the obvious one with the placement of the fingerprint readers. This is one that I feel is down to preference, and I have to say that having the fingerprint reader on the back is more comfortable and natural… for me at least.
That about wraps it up for the unboxing then. I will have a full review of the device in a few weeks once I have had some time to test it more thoroughly.