At Huawei's all-scenario launch event today, Huawei officially launched the new generation MatePad 11.5" S. This product can be seen as an upgraded version of the Huawei MatePad 11-inch 2023 model that we reviewed last year. After using it for a while, I realized that it was probably the best tablet on the market for students.
Let's start with the idea that tablets may be the most suitable learning aid for student groups. Compared with ordinary PCs, tablets are more portable and can be easily carried in different environments such as libraries, classrooms, dormitories, and even off-campus. In addition, as a large-screen portable device, the tablet itself has more advantages than traditional PCs in terms of reading and writing, and can also take into account entertainment experiences such as audio-visual and games.
Eye-friendly soft light screen
And the first premise of all this is to have a good screen.
In the past, when we evaluated the quality of a screen, we generally used hard indicators such as display accuracy, color, and brightness as reference standards. However, for large-screen devices with read/write as the main application scenario, simple display performance may not be enough. The MatePad 11.5" S is equipped with a Yunclear soft light screen this time, and Huawei uses anti-glare nano etching technology and nano magnetron coating process on this screen to achieve the effect of "soft light display".
The picture above shows the screen off effect of the Huawei MatePad 11.5" S's YunClear Soft Light Screen and the mirror screen of an ordinary tablet computer in the same light environment. As you can see, the mirror screen is reflecting the light from the light source directly into the human eye. In the original light source area of the Huawei tablet screen, the light has been almost completely scattered. The reflectivity of the screen is greatly reduced, giving people the feeling that the reflected light source has been "scattered".
The immediate benefit of this is that it is easier to see and more eye-friendly. The soft light screen greatly reduces the interference of ambient light on the display content on the screen. It is also more comfortable to watch the display content when used in some outdoor scenes, as well as classrooms, libraries and other environments with more artificial light sources. Because it reduces a lot of glare caused by ambient light, it can also greatly reduce eye fatigue, which is also very helpful for the vision protection of the student group.
Similarly, if you like to read some e-books and courseware on the tablet, this soft light screen can also bring better eye protection. Of course, some people don't like the frosted display texture of the soft screen, especially some people who like to watch some audio and video content. For this part of the users, it is recommended to choose the regular version of the MatePad 11.5" S, which is also cheaper.
It is particularly worth mentioning that more and more manufacturers are now beginning to pay attention to the experience of screen eye protection. For example, the new iPad Pro released by Apple some time ago can also choose a soft light screen equipped with nano textured glass, but the premise is that you need to buy a version with a capacity of more than 1TB.
Drawing and note-taking apps are the highlights
The MatePad 11.5" S has a special texture on the surface of the ClearClear Diffuser, which adds a paper-like feel to writing. How do you describe the writing experience? If you're writing on a regular glass screen, you'll notice that the nib "slips" a lot of the time (especially when writing quickly), but when writing on the MatePad 11.5" S, the diffuser's characteristic damping is a bit similar to the feeling of writing on paper, and it doesn't feel like there's a layer of glass between it and the screen.
It is particularly worth mentioning that Huawei has also added a self-developed painting APP to the MatePad 11.5"S this time-born to draw。 This app provides a professional-grade drawing and writing experience, and is close to Procreat in terms of user experience. Born to draw provides a wealth of brush resources, providing a variety of brush styles including oil painting, ink, texture, and grain, and also supports the import of richer brushes. It also brings an immersive canvas feature that, in conjunction with the Huawei M-Pencil (3rd generation) stylus, brings an experience similar to painting on a real canvas.
It should be noted that I myself am a novice user of painting. But Born to Draw provides some preset hand-drawn templates and tutorials. After the experience, I decided that I wanted to take advantage of the MatePad 11.5" S to learn the skills of hand-drawing.
In addition to being born to draw, the Huawei Notes App is also a highlight of this experience.
The HUAWEI Notes app is very beautiful in terms of UI design, and it designs the main page of notes to simulate the effect of real bookshelf placement, providing a more literary and quiet atmosphere, and enhancing the sense of ritual of notes. The new editing page supports multiple notes, similar to the habit of web browsing, making multi-note switching more efficient. At the same time, the note search function has been added to facilitate information integration.
Not only that, but the notebook itself also provides a very rich template material. For example, reading notes, typo books, meeting minutes, etc., you can freely set the size and style of your notes, which is very convenient. In handwriting interactions, if you make a mistake, you can undo it by tapping the screen with two fingers. With three fingers, you can restore the previously withdrawn content, which greatly improves the efficiency of writing notes.
The student body always has a lot of recording needs in the classroom and in the library. The MatePad 11.5" S is equipped with a real-time voice transcription feature that can transcribe the audio recordings into text for easy subsequent organization. In order to enhance the aesthetics of handwritten notes, the tablet also supports adjusting handwriting to six target calligraphy fonts, supporting mixed Chinese and English adjustments, as well as progressive font tilt angle and word spacing adjustments.
With the help of these features, HUAWEI Notes can not only improve the efficiency of note-taking, but also take into account details such as aesthetics and handwriting experience. Personally, I think that the Huawei Notes app has surpassed most of the current professional note-taking apps in terms of feature richness and ease of use.
3,000 yuan to get efficient learning equipment
Don't forget, the MatePad 11.5" S is a HarmonyOS device in its own right. The experience of the HarmonyOS system in terms of sharing, collaboration, and connection between multiple devices has always been benchmark, and we have introduced it in detail on many previous Huawei products. This means that the data on the MatePad 11.5" S can be shared and transferred directly on any of your HarmonyOS devices, and this convenience and seamless feeling is one of the core reasons why many Huawei users choose HarmonyOS devices.
In my opinion, the MatePad 11.5" S is a tablet designed for students, and it shows a very high level in terms of software ecology, multitasking, and hardware configuration. Whether it's for classroom learning, resource review, professional creation, or everyday entertainment, the MatePad 11.5" S is the ideal companion for students on their learning journey.
Huawei has designed this tablet with the health and user experience of students in mind. With the multi-device collaboration function, you can enjoy healthy learning and convenient operation while using the tablet. The addition of professional software such as Huawei Notes and Born to Draw has fully unleashed students' creativity.
What's more, there is also the price, at present, the starting price of MatePad 11.5" S is 2599 yuan (8+256GB, soft light version). Counting the magnetic keyboard and stylus, you can get it at least more than 3,000 yuan. This price is not too expensive for an 11.5-inch tablet, and it is also the mainstream price point for many users who choose to learn tablets. In my opinion, the MatePad 11.5" S is actually an efficient and portable solution for students. If it can be used with Huawei's PCs, mobile phones and other products, it should greatly improve your learning efficiency.