Huawei
The Huawei P20 Pro is without a doubt the standout phone of 2018 so far. Nothing comes even remotely close — not even the much féted Samsung Galaxy 9.
Alongside this premium handset, Huawei released the ultra-extravagant Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS, which starts at €1,695 (roughly $ 2,091) and only gets pricier. On the inside, this is largely the same as the aforementioned P20 Pro, but with some gorgeous luxury touches that cements its appeal to the cashed-up few that’ll ultimately buy it.
Huawei loaned TNW a review unit for four days, allowing us to road-test (pun absolutely intended) the device. Ever wondered how the other half of society tweet, talk, and text? Read on to find out.
Porsche Design, Porsche price-tag
Huawei
As previously mentioned, the Porsche Design Huawei Mate RS is heavily derived from the recently-released P20 Pro. My colleague Napier Lopez will be reviewing this in the coming days, so I’m going to deliberately avoid rehashing anything he’ll inevitably say. I won’t, for example, talk much about performance or the device’s software (although I’m working on a separate piece about the camera system on both phones, because they’re that good).
The Huawei Mate RS carries the marque of the iconic design house, Porsche Design. It’s important to emphasize that unlike certain phones carrying the name of an iconic car manufacturer, Huawei didn’t just license a brand here; Porsche Design took a leading role in creating the look and feel of this phone.
Huawei
You can see this by contrasting the Mate RS with the P20 Pro. The latter device has a “notch” in the screen, which houses the front-facing camera and earpiece.
Porsche Design are unapologetically notch-skeptical, as the company’s design director, Christian Schwamkrug, explained to me. It believes that tried-and-tested rectangular displays make sense, and the Mate RS therefore has a more conventional design (which I personally prefer).
Much like the Samsung Galaxy 9, the Mate RS features a six-inch curved-glass screen that tightly hugs the sides of the phone, giving you maximum real estate. This looked absolutely gorgeous.
Given the Mate RS is a fundamentally premium device, it’s no surprise Huawei has made efforts to make it feel premium and luxurious in the hand. Its metal and glass construction gives it a presence that’s weighty, and doesn’t feel cheap. It boasts luxuriously curved corners, and ultra-reflective mirrored back.
Huawei
On the rear, there’s the bare minimum amount of logos and text, and the cameras are slap-bang in the center. This fundamentally minimalistic, symmetrical design is understated, but looks stunning.
As phones go, the Mate RS contains three major oddities that distinguishes it from its more mass-market cousin. One isn’t immediately obvious: on top of handset’s HiSilicon Kirin chipset is a layer of 9.7 million PCM microcapsules (which, a Huawei spokesperson told me, are the same type used in space suits). These absorb, store, and slowly dissipate heat, which (in theory) means the phone shouldn’t get too hot.
During the short time I used the device, I can’t recall noticing that it got especially hot, even while being thoroughly taxed.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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