Huawei MediaPad M3 Review gets 4 of 5 Stars

 I received my Huawei Media Pad M3 last week and have had enough time with it now to give a good review of it. I guess I need to point out that I would have given this tablet 5 stars if they would have sent the AKG ear buds with it, but more on that later.

 This is the most powerful device (as far as tablets go) that I currently own and I have a total of 11 tablets now that would include 2 Nexus, 4 Samsung, 1 Nextbook Ares 8, 3 Amazon Fire 7 inch and now the Huawei Media Pad M3 32GB. I may have left one or two out because of their age or that I just don't use them anymore. So I have a bit of experience with tablets.

The 4GB of RAM really makes this a mutitaskers dream. No matter how many apps that I have going at once, this thing just doesn't slow down and the screen quality is right up there with my Nexus 6 and some of my Samsung tablets.

It's 8.4" IPS display screen is vibrant and the colors are punchy. While not over saturated, it does raise the colors to a very enjoyable level. Viewing angles are very nice too. And the reslution is a whopping 2560x1600. That translates to a very nice ~391ppi.

The one thing that stands out on this tablet though is the Harman Kardon audio system with the true stereo duel speakers that it has. The volume is very loud and crisp at full throttle and it really has 2 speakers. Now, they aren't positioned on the front like I would have liked but are placed one on each end of the device. Even though they are not front firing, they are very loud and crisp for being in the position that they are. Although I don't recommend using it with the volume at 100% all the time because you may take the risk of blowing out the speakers. And this is just a "take caution" thing as I may be wrong and you may be able to run the volume there and not have to worry. The sound through a "quality" set of earbuds or external speakers is also bar none and are the best that I have ever had the pleasure to listen too. More on that in a bit.

 The device comes with some bloatware but surprisingly you are able to uninstall most of it, if not all of it, so kudos to Huawei for allowing us to get rid of the extra stuff if not wanted (uninstall through the settings/app). Also it comes running EMUI 4.1 and you will have an update "about 300MB" as soon as you have setup Wi-Fi up and running. EMUI 4.1 is a customized skin of Android based on Android Marshmallow. It is not like stock Android but has a skin over it that looks and feels a lot like iOS. I for one do not care for this OS and one of the first things I did was to install Nova Launcher for that true Android look and feel.

The device is also very well made and as soon as you pick it up you feel it. The body is made of a high quality aluminum with a glass insert where the 8MP rear camera is located. It resembles my Nexus 6p very much and actually would make me think it is just a blown up 6p.

Finally for the good points is the Hi Silicon Kirin 950 octa-core processor that boasts 4 cores clocked at a maximum frequency of 2.3Ghz for heavy resource consuming tasks and 4 cores at a max of 1.8Ghz for the less intensive demands on the system like reading, web browsing and so on. This thing is a beast. And when you factor in the 4GB of RAM that I mentioned earlier, the overall package is top shelf. I also experienced no overheating and the 5100mAh battery lasted for over 8 hours for me of hard use and testing and I put this thing through the mill with running Antutu and other graphic and CPU testing apps.

As mentioned earlier, it has two 8MP cameras, one on the rear and the other on the front and they are the best cameras of any of the tablets that I own. It comes with a very nice camera software package too and was real easy to use.

 The are 2 different versions of this tablet that you can purchase, the 32GB and the 128GB. All specs are the same for both devices and the only difference is storage capacity. But if you were like me and went with the 32GB version you will be pleased to know that the SIM tray will hold a micro SD of up to 128GB. That my friends is plenty of storage for me. If you get the 128GB version it comes with the ability to add a nano SIM card for GSM/HSPA/LTE carrier service. I'm not 100% sure about the 32GB version having this capability though and think it is only available for the 128GB version.

Ok, now for the bad, and there are not that many things that are what I would consider bad about this device but here it goes. This tablet was marketed as a media monster and it would be if I had purchased the 128GB version for about $100.00 more than the 32GB device. You actually get AKG ear buds with the 128GB version but they do not come with the cheaper of the 2 device. That is a total let down for me and I couldn't fully test this device without purchasing the same ear budds that come with the 128GB version. The MEUI 4.1 that comes installed is also not what I like in an Android device. It really makes the user experience not so great "IMHO" and I think the update to EMUI 5.0 will bring some much needed upgrades.

 I also do not care for the fingerprint reader and it's location. It was very buggy and would cause me to go home instead of back on may occasions. I ended up just turning the fingerprint reader off and using the on screen nav bar. This is something that could also be fixed with an update. That was the only things that I didn't like about this device.

Now for you tech heads like me, development for this tablet is almost non existent because of it being such a new device. But I am sure that with a little time developers will pick this device up and custom ROM builds will be out sooner than you know. There is already an unofficial TWRP recovery out for this device and the bootloader can be unlocked via an unlock code through Huawei's web site and links in XDA.

Final Thoughts 

This is a great tablet and one of the best tablets that I have had a chance to own. And since I purchased this device with my own money and it is not a test unit or given to me by Huawei, I can give you what I really think about it. And if you decide to get the cheaper model with only 32GB I highly recommend you get a quality set of ear budds to fully appreciate the high quality sound system. Finally, I feel that this device is worth every penny they are asking for it and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a quality tablet for medium gaming and heavy media consumption.

David Hayes

A lover of custom ROMs, a husband, and a proud father, David Hayes is the eldest member of the AndroGuider family. He owns a plethora of devices including several from Google, Samsung, OnePlus and Motorola. In addition to being a blogger, David is also a custom ROM developer having compiled ROMs for the Nexus 6, the Nexus 6P, and the Google Pixel 2.