Huawei’s sexy new mid-range handset goes on sale in Australia in two weeks alongside its larger brother, the MediaPad M2. Billed as two premium devices for the budget conscious consumer, the devices pack high end features without the high end cost.
We took a trip to San Francisco with Huawei last month and had some decent hands-on time with each device. The Huawei G8 is a capable upper mid-range smartphone, with all-metal body, 13 MP camera with strong low-light performance, 5.5″ 1080p display and rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, amongst other things.
The Huawei G8 goes on sale in its dual-SIM 32GB white variant from 5 November for just $599 from retailers including JB HiFi, Harvey Norman and Dick Smith. Vodafone have also picked up the Huawei G8 (albeit in a single-SIM variant) which it will have from 28 October as a carrier exclusive, starting at $0 on its Red $40 Plan.
The Huawei MediaPad M2 is a robust tablet designed for entertainment, with a large 8″ 1080p vivid display paired with Harman Kardon tuned stereo speakers. The MediaPad M2 is a strong performer, and kept me amused with media consumption the whole way back from San Francisco to Sydney (when I wasn’t asleep, of course).
The MediaPad M2 16GB White variant will be available from today at Vodafone stores nationwide for $14 on the $20 Mobile Broadband plan over 24 months. For those looking for more storage and other colour options, the 32GB Gold variant will be on sale from 5 November in JB HiFi, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, JR Duty Free and others for $499.
For more information about either device, take a look at my first impressions from the trip for the Huawei G8 and MediaPad M2.
Update: Price for MediaPad M2 is $14 on Vodafone’s $20 plan, not $17 as earlier reported.
Why would you get g8 for $600 when you can get the p8 for the same price from dicksmith right now??
Because Huawei thinks it is now in the same league as Apple. We know better. It is still years away from achieving Apple status in the marketplace, even HTC Xperia and Samsung have not achieved that status.
A Huawei tablet for $500? Are you serious Pagoda league hardware?
Hahaha I agree… I believe majority of Huawei’s success was due to their affordable pricing. Looking back at P series before P8 they were all aggressively priced.