Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 review

Design and build

The Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 is a super thin tablet at just 5.5mm of thickness. It's not heavy either at 580 grams, at least for its size. Its front is all-screen, its back is made of nylon fiber material with a shimmery frosted finish. The frame appears to be aluminum with a subtle curvature.

The front of the MatePad Pro 13.2 is occupied by the 13.2-inch OLED of high resolution and high refresh rate. It has a thin but wide cutout - this small eyesore contains the 16MP front camera and the 3D ToF setup of secure Face Unlock.

The screen bezels are equally thin across all sides.

The back houses the dual-camera setup on a slightly jutting out piece of glass. The 8MP ultrawide and the 13MP primary cameras are here, as well as a single-LED flash and one microphone.

The short sides of the MatePad Pro 13.2 have two long and symmetrical grilles each, outlets for a total of six speakers, probably 4 woofers and 2 tweeters like on previous MatePads.

The Power/Lock key is also on one of these short sides, while the other has the USB-C port.

There is nothing on the long side that usually faces your desk and where the optional magnetic keyboard goes.

The other, let's say top side, has the volume control and three small holes, probably microphones. This is also the side where you attach the M-Pencil for carrying and charging if you got one.

The MatePad Pro 13.2 is a large tablet, no two ways about that. But its thin profile and lightweight body, as well as the great build, made it a rather comfortable tablet to work with, read, play games, or shoot the occasional photo or video.

Keyboard and M-Pencil

The MatePad Pro 13.2 has a few optional accessories - the Smart Magnetic Keyboard and the M-Pencil, now in its third generation.

The keyboard is really nice as it is multi-part and everything uses magnets to stay together. See, the keyboard and the rear cover/stand are two separate parts the fit together nicely on the tablet. They both stick on the back via different magnets.

The keyboard part has an integrated battery and it connects to the tablet via Bluetooth. It draws power from the tablet wirelessly and that is how its battery gets recharged. But since it's a Bluetooth keyboard, you can type on it, or use the touchpad even if it is not physically attached to the MatePad.

The back cover has a hinge-like strip running along its length allowing it to double as a kickstand. You can adjust its angle all the way up to 45 degrees and overall - it is a great kickstand.

When the two accessories are snapped to the MatePad they behave like your run of the mill smart keyboard case - the thing is a case when closed, it's a keyboard when semi-opened on a desk, and it is automatically turned off if you fully open it.

The keyboard and the touchpad offer excellent feedback and work flawlessly. The keys have enough movement and we liked the typing experience.

The third generation M-Pencil looks like the previous one, but it offers 10,000 pressure levels of sensitivity. It attaches magnetically to the top of the MatePad, which is also how it pairs with it.

We can only praise the M-Pencil - it works lovely. The thing is ideal for drawing, taking notes, browsing.