Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite 8 - Review 2022

Midrange Android tablets are becoming harder to notice as manufacturers concentrate on the more than affordable cease of the market place. At $199, the 8-inch Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite viii costs more than than twice as much as Amazon'due south Burn HD eight , but gets y'all a sharper screen, ameliorate speakers, and a more bonny design. Is it worth the actress $120? Maybe if you can't live without access to the Google Play store or you plan to watch a lot of video. Otherwise, the Fire HD viii is every bit capable and can't be trounce for the price.

Design, Display, and Connectivity

The MediaPad M3 Lite 8 is fabricated of polycarbonate and metal, with a white plastic dorsum panel and silver accents around the camera and fingerprint sensor. Measuring 8.four by 4.nine by 0.3 inches (HWD) and 10.9 ounces, it's similar in size and weight to the Lenovo Tab 4 8 (eight.three by four.ix by 0.3 inches, 10.9 ounces), and a fleck lighter than the Amazon Fire HD 8 (8.4 past v.0 by 0.iv inches, 13 ounces). The sleek design and relatively thin body make it easy to hold and keep propped upright when watching videos.

At that place's a power button, volume rocker, and microSD card slot on the right, and a 3.5mm sound jack on top. A pair of speakers are on the top and bottom for loud stereo sound. Harman Kardon software tuning gives audio a bit more than oomph and lets you tweak things to your tastes, but don't expect room-filling audio. A micro USB charging port is on the lesser.

The forepart has a fingerprint sensor, which is relatively rare on tablets in this price range. It likewise has an viii-inch, 1,920-by-1,200 IPS display. At 283 pixels per inch (ppi), it's sharper than you lot notice on low-cost slates similar the ane,280-by-800 Amazon Burn down Hard disk 8 (189ppi). Text and video is crisp, with skilful brightness and viewing angles.

The tablet supports Wi-Fi on both the two.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and registered solid double-digit download and upload speeds and good range in the congested wireless surround of PC Labs. At that place's Bluetooth iv.0 for wireless audio.

Processor, Battery, and Camera

The MediaPad is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 processor clocked at 1.4GHz and has 3GB of RAM. In the AnTuTu criterion, a mensurate of overall organization performance, it scored 45,464, higher than the Lenovo Tab iv eight (36,595), and on par with the Snapdragon 617-powered Verizon Ellipsis 8 Hard disk drive (45,684).

The 3GB of RAM is more than you get on whatsoever of the same slates, and allows for a good amount of multitasking, but Huawei's heavy UI layer slows things downwards. I encountered noticeable stuttering when switching betwixt apps, and it often took a few seconds to launch new ones. Trying to play graphically demanding games similar GTA: San Andreas wasn't possible due to significant control latency. That said, it'south yet a smoother performer than the Fire HD 8, and amend equipped to run multiple apps without crashes.

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Battery life is solid. The tablet clocked 5 hours, 54 minutes when streaming video over Wi-Fi at maximum brightness. That's over an 60 minutes longer than the Burn HD 8 (4 hours, 42 minutes), and while it'due south a fleck short of the Lenovo Tab 4 eight (half-dozen hours, xxx minutes), information technology has a brighter screen. It should be plenty of juice for mixed utilize on long car rides, but there's no fast charging, then you lot'll want to make certain you're topped upwardly before setting out (or carry a bombardment pack).

Tablet cameras are rarely intended to take great pictures, and the MediaPad's 8-megapixel rear sensor is non an exception. It takes passable photos in expert lighting. Color reproduction is on the cold side, with stark whites and some washing out, but noise isn't too bad. In dimmer atmospheric condition, there's quite a flake of blurriness and colors are nighttime and muddy. Information technology records 1080p video at 30fps, but drops frames in depression low-cal and is fairly jittery. The 5-megapixel front end camera is a bit soft, simply it's fine for video conversation.

Software

The MediaPad runs Huawei's EMUI 5.1 on top of an aging build of Android 7.0 Lollipop. Older software aside, you'll find an array of visual changes across app icons, the lock screen, notification shade, and settings menu. By default, all of your apps are splashed across the abode screens, but you can restore the app drawer in the menu. Every bit mentioned, I noticed some slowdown when switching betwixt apps, as well every bit visible stuttering when scrolling menus.

In that location are benefits to EMUI though. You can enable a blue lite filter to reduce eye strain, change screen color temperature, add a floating software button for reachability, remap navigation keys, lock detail apps or files, and utilize a congenital-in storage cleaner to save space.

There's a bit of bloatware. Preloaded apps include Amazon, Consumer (a Huawei app that just opens a back up folio), Excel, Facebook, Kids Corner, Lyft, Messenger, Outlook, PowerPoint, SwiftKey Keyboard, and Word. These apps can be uninstalled, and yous have full admission to Google Play, which y'all don't get on any of Amazon's tablets.

Out of 16GB, you have but 5.8GB of infinite available for use, so you'll almost certainly want to add a microSD card.

Conclusions

At $200, the Huawei MediaPad M3 Lite 8 offers a higher-quality build and sharper screen than yous get with sub-$100 tablets. But I can't quite say information technology'south worth more than twice the price of the Amazon Fire Hard disk drive 8. The Fire Hard disk 8 offers amend parental controls, and while it lacks access to Google Play, Amazon'south software is more intuitive and easier to use than stock Android, especially if you use other Amazon services. The MediaPad is a welcome entry in the midrange tablet section, merely it'south also an example of why lower-price options are dominating the marketplace.