The display is indeed impressive: its vibrant while at the same time being easy on the eye.
Video, photos, drawing and text are all equally displayed vividly and clearly.
However, I found it suited the overall design well.
The power and volume buttons are also of a similarly high standard.
The Glide Keyboard case, however, is more of a mixed bag.
It was always awkward to open and close.
The case also fails to protect the camera.
Huaweis official storefront is frankly no substitute for theGoogle Play Store, as its severely limited in scope.
Huaweis own apps included here can be quite useful and perform well.
GoPaint and Petal Clip are very well designed creative apps, with the former letting the M-Pencil 3 shine.
However, others have their issues (outrightly failing to work in the case of the Music app).
Gestures both on the touchscreen and on the trackpad are responsive and allow for useful functionality.
Typing with the Glide Keyboard is fine, although some software issues hamper the experience.
Air Gestures, however, failed to work consistently enough to be useful at all.
Battery life on the MatePad Pro PaperMatte Edition is impressive, lasting several days from general and varied use.
Huawei devices are always tricky to recommend.
However, at this price, its hard to recommend it wholeheartedly given its various foibles.
Both versions include the Glide Keyboard.
Compared to thebest tabletsaround, the MatePad Pro PaperMatte Edition sits somewhere in the middle in terms of price.
iPad Pro models can certainly be more expensive, but they do pack in far greater power.
However, there is a slight graininess to the finish, which becomes more apparent the closer you are.
Theres also a slightly softer focus compared to other tablet displays, meaning it isnt as pinpoint sharp.
The bezels are also very thin, with the display making full use of its allotted real estate.
The screen is silky smooth to the touch, with finger swipes being effortless to perform.
Its gold finish has a scratch-mark pattern that may divide opinion, but I dont think its too garish.
The profile of the MatePad Pro PaperMatte Edition is very thin, which adds to its portability credentials.
The same is true even with the Glide Keyboard attached, which is equally as slender.
Perhaps the biggest weakness of the Glide Keyboard, though, is its folding mechanism.
The Glide Keyboard magnet that holds the MatePad Pro PaperMatte Edition upright offers two viewing angles.
These are both less than elegant solutions.
There are also two notes-based apps: Notes and Notepad.
These allow for more drawing and scribbling, and come with some useful templates, including even music staves.
Considering the abundance of third-party note taking apps out there, though, this isnt much of a problem.
Theres also Petal Clip, a surprisingly in-depth photo and video editing app.
Disappointingly the web app app is pretty basic, even lacking common keyboard shortcuts many will be accustomed to.
Still, sites do load promptly and general speed isnt far behind more popular variants.
Huaweis other first-party apps fared less well during my time with the tablet, with glitches occurring frequently.
GBox proved to be the best solution to circumvent these restrictions.
This is an environment that claims to get Google apps working on Huawei devices.
However, even here, apps downloaded via this method arent flawless.
These drawbacks really hamper productivity.
More generally, some apps refused to appear on the home screen once downloaded from the Google Play Store.
Also, Google Chrome isnt available from GBox either.
What does work better, though, is floating windows.
The sound quality was also a pleasant surprise.
It also rendered all frequencies clearly while keeping distortion at bay.
When I did manage to install games that actually worked, they performed well too.
Typing is mostly a pleasant experience on the Glide Keyboard, thanks to the wide keys and damped feel.
On screen, however, there are few issues.
There were also occasions where the predictive dialog box obscured the screen.
The usual trackpad gestures are present.
you might also zoom by performing a pinching movement.
Some mouse gestures also fail to emulate their touchscreen counterparts with the same effectiveness.
As for those touchscreen gestures, they work more seamlessly.
They are responsive and smooth, and there are some unique gestures available too.
Again, these work accurately and seamlessly.
During my tests, it went for several days while performing typical user tasks.
Charging the MatePad Pro PaperMatte Edition is a quick process too, thanks to its super charging feature.
Charging from 5% to 100% took about two hours.
That is an ePaper tablet, though, explicitly designed for reading and note-taking, and not much else.
Should you buy the Huawei MatePad Pro PaperMatte Edition?
Plus, you also get access to Apples excellent app selection and ecosystem.
If you already have an iPhone, an iPad certainly makes more sense for cross-platform functionality.
Theres no official keyboard case available for it either.
During that time, I performed various tasks, including general browsing, light productivity, and gaming.
I used it with and without the Glide Keyboard.
Read we test.
