The Huawei Mate 8 has been available on the market for a while now. In fact, when the Chinese phone manufacturer launched its experience store locally in April, it also unveiled the high-end smartphone.

Like all phablets, the Huawei Mate 8 is a large phone but it is very compact for a gadget with a 6-inch display. It is, in fact, one millimetre shorter than the iPhone 6s Plus, which only has a 5.5-inch display. Huawei also boasts that the device is even way more comfortable to hold than smaller phablets like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

The Mate 8 sports an 85 per cent screen to body ratio, with a resolution of 1,080 x 1,920 pixels, making it ideal to watch movies, read, edit work documents like Word and Excel, browse the Internet and social media, while allowing a comfortable grip that doesn’t sacrifice screen size.

The decision to use a 1080 pixel display over a QHD aids in battery consumption and fits with the Mate 8 battery life. The device has proven that it can endure beyond a day in real-life situations where instant messaging, social media, web browsing, photography and mail checking are frequently done.

The fingerprint sensor has just the right amount of recess, enough to be immediately identifiable with the tip of your finger. It is extremely fast, conveniently and naturally placed at the back of the phone where users put their finger to hold it.

As for the camera, the shooting modes allow users to select HDR, watermark (also available post-shot from the image editor), document readjustment (for scanning paper documents), panorama and professional effects, among others. However, the image output lacks detail and structure offered on other high-end smartphones and videos do not have the detail expected from the 1080p resolution.

There’s plenty to be said about the HiSilicon Kirin 950 powering the Mate 8. The Kirin 950 is made up of four low-powered ARM Cortex A53 processors running at 1.8 GHz, and four high-powered A72 processors at up to 2.3 GHz. The processor truly delivers in real life since the phone didn’t freeze up when there were nearly 20 apps running in the background.

The software on the other hand would benefit from an overhaul. The company’s Emotion UI interface has been unsatisfactory for many western users who complain about factors such as the lack of an app-drawer.

It isn’t a perfect device. The Mate 8 has poor camera quality that falls below the standard set by its high-end Apple and Samsung competitors. But, its aerospacial-grade aluminum body, which gives an authentic look and feel; Gorilla Glass 4 that offers screen resistance to scratches and bumps; excellent processor; and superior battery life makes it one of the top rivals in the smartphone market.

With Samsung flunking badly with the Galaxy Note 7, let’s see if Huawei will step up with its Mate 9, expected to be revealed next month.