8 things the Huawei Mate 8 can do that the S7 edge can’t

This post is brought to you by the Huawei Mate 8 — The new style of business.

The Mate 8 is a formidable device. Not only is it Huawei’s latest and greatest phablet, it’s also one of the most powerful ones in the market. Powered by Huawei’s homegrown Kirin 950 processor mated to 3GB/4GB of RAM and 32GB/64GB of internal storage, the Mate 8 has got more than enough horsepower to run with the big boys.

What’s more, it’s got a much bigger display than a lot of this year’s flagships which puts it at #1 on the list for many who like to consume a lot of video content, browse web pages and play mobile games. But, it is up against some pretty amazing smartphones too.

That said, the Mate 8 does have some tricks up its sleeve that you probably won’t be able to find on many of this year’s flagship smartphones, not even on the mighty Samsung Galaxy S7 edge.

1. OTG charging and a massive battery

The Mate 8 has a massive 4,000 mAh battery. It gives the device a day and a half of time-on-battery with about six to seven hours of screen on time. That’s a pretty amazing battery performance especially from a smartphone that large.

What’s more, you can also help a friend out who is running low on battery by giving them a quick charge via an OTG cable and still have enough battery power to last an entire day.

2. Knuckle sense

First up is Knuckle Sense. Knuckle Sense is a feature on the Mate 8 that allows you to use Knuckle Gestures to get some additional functionality out of your device. There are many different gestures for getting the phone to do different things.

The first is a simple double tap with one knuckle on your screen. That takes a screenshot which you can then choose to share edit or discard. You can also choose to screenshot a specific section of the screen by drawing on it with your knuckle.

This is pretty handy because you won’t have to remember any archaic button combos or perform complicated swiping to get your screenshot.

A double tap with two knuckles activates a screen record function which records whatever is on your screen. It also picks up audio from the microphone so you can narrate while recording your screen at the same time.

Besides that, you can also draw a line horizontally across your screen with one knuckle to activate multi-window mode. Finally, you can draw alphabets on the display to open certain specific applications that can be preset in the settings menu.

3. Fingerprint functionality

Most fingerprint sensors are there for the additional layer of biometric security, but not the Mate 8’s. In addition to the improved biometric security, you can also use it to navigate around your phone, answer a call, stop an alarm or even take a photo.

To activate it, simply dive into the settings menu and look for Fingerprint ID. Inside, you can pick and choose what Fingerprint ID gestures you want activated as well as what kind of slide gestures you want to use.

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4. Power Efficiency

The Huawei Mate 8 packs a powerful Kirin 950 chipset that comes with SmartPower technology. Keeping the lights on is a 4,000mAh capacity battery and Huawei is pushing it further with up to 2.36 days for standard usage. When the Mate 8 is not in used, the power management stretches its standby time further up to 22 days.

Need to get up and going in a jiffy? With Huawei’s 9V/2A fast charger, you can replenish a full day of battery life with a quick 30-minute charge.

5. Customised navigation buttons

Android is known for its customisability. However, if you have your function keys baked into the body of the smartphone like those on the Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, it becomes quite difficult for you to change it.

Many Android users have undoubtedly had some initial trouble when using a Samsung Galaxy device because the South Korean manufacturer swaps their keys — placing the back key on the right while the multitasking button sits on the left. With the Mate 8, you can swap that around and even add in an additional “Open Notification Panel” button as well.

Finally, there’s also an option to add a “Floating Dock” to the display which houses all your navigation keys, plus a lock screen and optimisation button.

6. Bigger screen

Well, you know what they say: Bigger is better. That’s pretty much the case with the Mate 8. It’s got a massive 6-inch full-HD display that will surely give you one of the best viewing experiences ever on a smartphone.
Videos just pop and you should have no problems bingeing entire seasons of your favourite TV series all from a display you can carry around with you without much of a problem. Magnificent.

7. Unique colour

Many smartphones these days come in funky colours – gold, rose gold, silver titanium, etc. – making it rather hard to match it with a formal business event. The Mate 8 though was designed for business. It comes in a range of colours that will fit perfectly in any business or formal occasion.
It even comes in a unique Mocha Brown colour – it’s pretty rare to find a brown full-metal smartphone.

8. Scan business cards

Sometimes, especially when you’re at a big event, it becomes rather difficult to keep track of all your business cards. These small rectangles of paper can easily get lost in one of your pockets and find themselves in an unfortunate trip to your washing machine before you can save the contact details in your phone.

With the Mate 8, this isn’t going to be a problem anymore. That’s because the Mate 8 has a nifty business card scanner feature that transfers all the necessary contact information from a business card into your smartphone. Simply hit contacts, select the scan function and take a photo of your desired business card.

Then, watch in amazement as all the contact information gets transferred to your smartphone. To make things even better, it’s able to scan business cards in 17 different languages with a 99% success rate.