HUAWEI Eyewear Review: AirPods for your eyes??

PROS:


  • Slick design that cleverly hides tech

  • Lightweight and comfortable

  • Great Bluetooth range (20+ feet)

CONS:


  • Missing the lower-end bass notes

  • Audio leakage means others can hear you

  • Lack of outlined touch-sensitive area

  • Limited global availability

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
SUSTAINABILITY / REPAIRABILITY
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The HUAWEI Eyewear are a pretty good solution in search for a problem. In a world where tech-infused eyewear just hasn’t caught on (with Google, Snap, Facebook, and Bose all trying and relenting), Huawei is taking on a fashion-first approach with stylish, sleek eyewear that just happen to also function as personal audio gear.

While the landscape for smartphones, tablets, and laptops gets increasingly competitive with legacy and new brands all fighting for eyeballs, Huawei’s always focused on its own trajectory towards innovation and cutting-edge tech. There’s a lot Huawei can offer beyond the everyday smartphone or laptop, with the company foraying comfortably into smart home audio and now even smart glasses. The tech giant announced the HUAWEI Eyewear, a hybrid pair of stylish spectacles that house some impressive tech underneath. No, these aren’t AR glasses, but are rather audio devices disguised as eyewear. Pop them on and you don’t need earbuds, or that’s at least what Huawei wants you to believe. We managed to get our hands on a pair to test them out. Chances are you won’t be able to buy them anytime soon if you’re in the USA, Canada, or the EU (they’re slated to be available in China, Japan, and Malaysia)… but it’s important to look at it as a milestone of what’s capable in the tech world, and also as a proof of concept for a new idea – the idea being, “Can spectacles replace AirPods? And should they?”

The Eyewear comes with a contact-point charging cable that plugs into the base of the stems

In theory, this means it’s somewhat possible (although not advisable) to charge these while you’re wearing them

First Impressions

If there’s one thing I give major props to Huawei for, it’s the fact that they take design incredibly seriously. I don’t think I’ve come across a single Huawei product that’s had a boring, lackluster design. Their MateBook X Pro was easily one of the most spectacular MacBook competitors on the market, the Sound X saw Huawei partner with Devialet to create a magical speaker that looked as powerful as it sounded, and perhaps my personal favorite, the P50 Pocket really pushed the boundaries of what a luxury foldable phone could look like. Similarly, the HUAWEI Eyewear look incredibly stylish – but more importantly, they look like stylish glasses, not stylish tech wearables. Huawei’s been incredibly careful in ensuring that its spectacles are slim, lightweight, and fashionable. One could argue that the spectacles feel a little TOO lightweight, although that might sound a little pedantic. The temple stems house “ultra-thin 128 mm² large amplitude speakers” that beam-form the audio right into your ear when you’re wearing the spectacles. You don’t need earpieces, and these aren’t bone-conducting spectacles either. The audio drivers are designed to channel the audio waves right to your ear (somewhat similar to the ones found on VR headsets), giving you a bespoke listening experience while you have the glasses on. It’s a clever idea but it begs the question – why?

The Idea

Quite a few questions come to mind with this device. For starters, why does such a device even need to exist? Will the average Joe and Jane ditch their TWS earbuds for it… and more importantly, will people actually go through the hassle of getting their prescription lenses fitted into this ‘audio eyewear’? The answers I personally have don’t give much clarity either. The eyewear are tech accessories, designed to support your existing gadgets, be it the phone, laptop, or tablet. The eyewear itself doesn’t rely on any OS or cooperation from a third-party company that may be restricted from working with Huawei. It’s an easy win for the tech conglomerate, and shows their ability to innovate beyond your ‘run of the mill’ products. Audio eyewear is a niche not many companies have explored. Bose tried making something similar and abandoned the project almost immediately. Aftershokz and Zungle have created audio glasses in the past too, but they rely on bone conduction – an audio technology I personally detest and wouldn’t consider a replacement for traditional in-ear audio devices. Facebook went as far as partnering with Ray-Ban to create glasses with cameras built into them, although I don’t remember anyone being excited or optimistic about those. In fact, it’s been over a year and Facebook (sorry, Meta) has been suspiciously quiet on sales and whether the product’s been a commercial success. My gut feeling is that it hasn’t. Here’s what my thoughts are with the HUAWEI Eyewear (and they’re solely my personal opinions) – people like glasses the way they are. They’re a hybrid fashion/medical device (given that they correct vision), so there’s a reticence when it comes to injecting consumer tech into them. My specs sit on my face nearly 17-18 hours a day, so having speakers that close to my ear for those prolonged periods of time just feels like something I wouldn’t want. Besides, the fact that I’d have to take my specs off to charge my earphones seems incredibly counterintuitive because I’m practically blind without my specs. Am I the HUAWEI Eyewear’s intended audience, though? Probably not. So let’s just put a pin in that and take a gander at how they work and how they sound.

A comparison between the temple stems on a regular pair of acetate glasses and the HUAWEI Eyewear

The Device

The HUAWEI Eyewear, objectively, are incredibly stylish spectacles with an open acoustic design that delivers audio straight to your ear without blocking them – this means you can listen to music and calls while still hearing the world around you. It’s impressive on paper, but not as impressive as the fact that the eyewear look deceptively like regular eyewear. They come in a variety of styles and formats, from wayfarers to aviators to rectangular and round frames in full-rimmed and half-rimmed varieties. The tech fits in the spectacles’ stems, which are, impressively enough, not too thick and don’t add too much weight to the frames either. While wearing them, they didn’t feel too heavy, and more importantly, they stayed in place without slipping off. The spectacles grip the face pretty well, thanks to the arc-shaped stems and the elastic hinges that flex comfortably as you wear them. The HUAWEI Eyewear comes with an all-day battery, supports connections with multiple devices (up to 2 devices simultaneously), and just like your TWS earbuds, comes with touch input on the side that lets you tap, slide, press, and pinch to control playback and answer/reject calls. Huawei touts the Eyewear’s Reverse Sound Field Acoustic System which allegedly provides a private listening experience, and a hydrodynamic wind-proof microphone design that reduces noise during calls… so we decided to put the Eyewear to the test to see how good it was.

The Audio

Ultimately, the true value of Huawei’s audio-glasses comes from exactly how good (or bad) the audio is… and the verdict isn’t particularly rosy. Here’s where things work in favor of the glasses – the audio isn’t bad. It doesn’t really compare to having actual AirPods in your ears, obviously… but then again, what it attempts is completely different from your average earphones. The sound is clear and distinct, but lacks detail, especially in the lower frequencies. I tried wearing a hoodie to see if it affected the audio and surprisingly, it enhanced my listening experience. The hoodie contained the sound waves, amplifying them and making my audio louder and more discernible. However, the claim that the HUAWEI Eyewear provides a private listening experience falls a little flat on its face. There’s a significant amount of audio leakage, and anyone sitting/standing within 3 feet from you will most likely be able to hear what you’re hearing. It almost seems like ‘open ear design’ and ‘private listening experience’ don’t ever go hand in hand, because even bone-conducting earphones have the same problem. A hoodie might help prevent excess sound leakage, but that seems like a rather odd way to enforce privacy, in my opinion.

The Eyewear comes along with a solf microfiber-lined fabric case that makes it easy to carry around

The User Experience

My overall impression of the UX can be boiled down to two simple words – needs work. Just like any first-iteration product ever made, whether it’s the first MotoRAZR, the first Pixel Watch, or even the first Nothing phone, I have a principle that I often encourage everyone to live by – The first iteration will always have a few flaws. If you want to avoid early adopters’ remorse, buy the second iteration. Design is an iterative process, and you can only solve problems after you identify them. The job of the first product, in a lot of ways, is to help identify those problems. Users express their concerns, and it’s only after they do that companies can build a second, better, more user-friendly product. To that end, it seems like HUAWEI’s Eyewear (given that it’s the company’s first independently-made smart glasses) needs a little fine-tuning. As far as its tech goes, it works rather well. The Bluetooth connection feels incredibly seamless and works up to 20 feet comfortably. The battery life is good, although I don’t know what the battery’s overall lifespan will be. The audio quality is acceptable, but the low-end frequencies need work, and the wind-canceling on the microphone needs a little reconsideration too. The lack of private listening honestly feels like a given at this point, and I don’t see it as something that’s realistically achievable, although I’m probably the harsh skeptic here. There are, however, a few rather glaring concerns I have. For starters, the glasses boast swappable front halves, but this seems easier said than done. At the risk of breaking the hardware, I decided not to apply too much pressure to decouple the front from the temple stems. The second problem I have is with the temple stems themselves. There’s no physical/visual/tactile demarcation that tells you where the touch-sensitive area on the temple stems lies. I found myself struggling to find the right place to tap, swipe, pinch to input my gestures, and it feels like something that will require a long, arduous learning process. A simple matte patch on the glossy plastic temple stems could have easily solved this problem. Finally, and perhaps my biggest concern yet, is the fact that this product brings planned obsolescence to eyewear. When I buy a new pair of spectacles, I wear them for nothing less than 5 years… although my gut tells me the battery on these temple stems don’t have a lifespan that long. This effectively means I have to replace my temple stems every 2-3 years to retain my spectacles – a feature that I personally don’t see myself doing. If it’s any consolation, I don’t really consider myself being the target audience for this eyewear anyway, because Huawei’s website doesn’t indicate whether I can get prescription lenses fitted into these spectacles. For other people who just like the idea of having spectacles/sunglasses with audio devices built into them, I’d say it’s worth a shot. It’s priced at roughly $240 too (converted from its Malaysian price), which places it somewhere in the mid-range tier. Don’t expect it to blow your mind, but if you’re open to pleasant surprises, the HUAWEI Eyewear will certainly deliver.

The post HUAWEI Eyewear Review: AirPods for your eyes?? first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei Mate 50 Pro delivers an elegant and powerful tool for content creators

Smartphones today are more than just gadgets reserved for more tech-savvy people. They have now become lifestyle choices and tools for making social connections. As the perception of these devices change, so do the appreciation of their designs or lack thereof. Going beyond mere utility or ergonomics, many smartphones have started to boldly embrace aesthetics as an important part of their DNA. It’s still a work in progress, though, with very few notable brands and models making that courageous leap. The Huawei Mate 50 Pro is the latest to join that growing roster, leading the way with an advanced flagship that looks exquisite as it is powerful, offering a content creation powerhouse that will match a designer’s aesthetic tastes.

Designer: Huawei

It is only recently that design and aesthetics have become important selling points for a smartphone. While it is always possible to embellish a phone with cases, stickers, and accessories, its innate design speaks volumes about a company’s attention to detail and dedication to a holistic user experience. More often than not, a smartphone that looks good also comes with the hardware to match.

The Huawei Mate 50 Pro is definitely an example of that. In stark contrast to the common trend of smartphones today, Huawei opted for a symmetrical design throughout the phone. In particular, the large camera array is placed in the middle, with four circles arranged in a uniform 2×2 grid. These cameras are enclosed in a Space Ring with an embossed Clous de Paris pattern, similar to what you’d find on luxury watches. Rather than obnoxiously calling attention to itself, this balanced camera design brings a touch of elegance and class to the smartphone.

Huawei’s choice of materials also points to the company’s design acumen. In addition to the classic Silver and Black glass finishes, the Mate 50 Pro also comes in an orange vegan leather that adds a unique identity to the phone. It is inspired by the orange rays of the sun, which seems appropriate for the Space Ring design of the camera at its center. And despite its luxurious looks, the smartphone isn’t a delicate snowflake. A new Kunlun Glass material protects the phone’s screen from drops ten times better, according to the company. In addition to its IP68 dust and water resistance rating, owners will be assured that their faithful companions will survive the test of time and accidents.

The Huawei Mate 50 Pro isn’t just a pretty face, though. In addition to some of the best hardware available to smartphones today, it boasts one of the most advanced camera systems in the market. The 50MP Ultra Aperture XMAGE camera, in particular, offers ten different aperture sizes ranging from F1.4 to F4.0, putting you in control of your blurs and depths of field. Together with the large and fast 6.74-inch 120Hz display, the Mate 50 Pro offers mobile photographers, videographers, vloggers, and designers one of the most powerful tools in their digital arsenal.

With the Huawei Mate 50 Pro, Huawei is proving that advanced technology doesn’t have to look cold and impersonal. Combining elegant design and high-end hardware, it offers digital creatives a tool that not only meets their needs but also matches their lifestyles as well.

The post Huawei Mate 50 Pro delivers an elegant and powerful tool for content creators first appeared on Yanko Design.

The Best of IFA 2022: Technology for Better Living

It’s that time of year again when big brands try to make a big splash in upgrading your home with the latest and greatest in consumer electronics and home appliances. The past two years were filled with devices that tried to fill the needs of the times, offering different ways to sanitize and protect your home against harmful microorganisms. Things have fortunately settled down, and industries have started to recover, putting their attention and resources into products that help make life less stressful and more enjoyable. There are plenty of such products up for show at IFA 2022 in Berlin, and so we distilled the lineup into our top picks for products to keep an eye on this year.

Zendure Superbase V Portable Home Battery

Thanks to natural calamities and resource shortages, power blackouts have become more common these past few years than ever before. Power banks might be enough for phones and even some laptops, but they are useless to power anything else, especially for extended periods of time. Gasoline-chugging generators do exist, of course, but the dangers they pose both to people and the environment make them inefficient and costly in the long run. Clean Energy Tech startup Zendure is putting its best foot forward this year with a new energy system that can power your house or even your car in a sustainable way.

Designer: Zendure

With a capacity that can reach up to 64kWh thanks to its expandable design, the Zendure Superbase V Portable Energy System has enough juice to give power to a house in an emergency. It even has a power outlet for charging EVs. Despite its large capacity and size, it can still be moved around like a cart on wheels. More importantly, the semi-solid state battery inside can be charged using solar power, offering a more sustainable solution to electricity problems. It’s a win-win solution for both humans and the planet.

Leica Cine 1 Projector

Along with cutting cables, some homeowners have also started getting rid of TVs that take up space even when not in use. While still waiting for the perfect rollable TV, home projectors have become more attractive and more practical solutions, especially when you want a bigger screen without losing wall space. Famed camera maker Leica is jumping into this market, and its first attempt is as classy as anything that bears its signature “Coke” logo.

Designer: Leica

The Leica Cine 1 short-throw projector utilizes triple RGB lasers to deliver picture-quality 4K images and videos on an area equivalent to a 100-inch TV. Despite all that power, the projector manages to keep a compact size that will fit in any room arrangement. Even better, it also bears Leica’s design language, with a sleek aluminum body with an automatic dust cover to protect the lens. Stylish and functional, this home projector promises to add life to a space, both through its design and through the videos it will play.

LG OLED Flex Bendable TV

TV innovation hasn’t been standing still, especially if you’ve been keeping track of recent buzzwords. While curved TVs haven’t exactly become the norm, they’ve become a force to reckon with in the market. Not everyone is convinced that they need a curved TV, though, or at least not all the time. LG’s latest trick is to give people the ability to choose between the two whenever they want.

Designer: LG

Utilizing its expertise in flexible OLED panels, the brand’s new 42-inch TV can lay flat or bend to a curve with a push of a button. Designed primarily with gaming in mind, the LG OLED Flex LX3 has plenty of features that benefit even non-interactive content like movies and TV shows. Now you no longer have to make an upfront decision to go flat or curved, freeing you to enjoy content in the best way possible.

LG MoodUp Color-Changing Fridge

Once upon a time, appliances were simply functional pieces of equipment and nothing more. These days, they have not only become smarter but have also become an expression of the owner’s personality and interests. Bespoke home appliances are becoming a little bit more common, but they can also be a little bit too specific to a certain style or theme. LG’s new fridge, however, tries to shake things up a bit by letting people choose the doors’ colors on a whim.

Designer: LG

The LG MoodUp refrigerator’s doors are covered with LED panels that can change their color depending on your, well, mood. You can select different colors for each door or you can set it to follow a motif based on seasons, locations, and moods. These panels can also serve as visual notifications, like when you left a door open. The refrigerator also has a built-in speaker that you can use to play music from your smartphone via Bluetooth. Of course, the colors of the doors can sync to that music as well, truly pushing the mood up on any occasion.

JBL Tour Pro 2 Earbuds

Truly Wireless Stereo or TWS earbuds have come a long way over the past years. Spurred by the retirement of the headphone jack on smartphones, these tiny audio devices have seen plenty of innovation in terms of features and designs. In contrast, the cases that hold these earbuds have remained practically the same, mostly changing only in shape. The JBL Tour Pro 2 tries to change that and make the earbuds case as smart as what it holds inside.

Designer: JBL

Portrait Of Young Caucasian Stylish Man On Sunny Day In The City.

The earbuds themselves are what you would expect from the brand, featuring features like adaptive noise canceling and spatial sound. What truly sets it apart is its smart charging case, which has its own 1.45-inch touch screen that lets you control the earbuds without having to take out your phone. It’s not an earth-shattering new feature, but it does level up the experience for the first time.

Philips Hue Lightguide Bulbs

Lighting can make or break the mood in a room, not to mention affect people’s productivity in that space. Since the smart home explosion a few years back, lighting was the first to be connected to the Internet, giving people better control over the hues in their homes or offices. As one of the pioneers of that smart lighting market, Philips Hue has to constantly innovate and mix things up to fend off the competition, and its new statement lighting collection tries to step up to that challenge.

Designer: Philips Hue

The new Philips Hue Lightguide Bulbs mix the old and the new with large glass bulbs in modern shapes like ellipses and triangles. Diffused light comes from an inner tube that you can, of course, control with your smartphone. Whether hanging from pendants or sticking up on stands, these bulbs give some character to a space, even when they’re turned off.

Electrolux AEG Kitchen Innovations

Electrolux is one of the most trusted names in the home appliance market, and it continues to push the envelope to meet the changing needs and trends of the times. Sometimes that means jumping on the smart home appliance bandwagon. Other times, it means making a commitment to sustainability and resource efficiency.

Designer: Electrolux

The AEG 7000 GreenZone refrigerator, for example, boasts using 70% recycled plastic for its inner liner walls, while the AEG 8000 series has new cooling technology that tries to preserve food longer so that they don’t go to waste. For those who love cooking at home, the AEG 800 Bridge/FlexiBridge with eXTractor sucks up vapor and recycles the air back into the kitchen, removing the stress of lingering odors while preparing your favorite meals.

Tineco Toasty One smart toaster

Everything’s becoming smarter these days, from the lights to washing machines to even toothbrushes. There’s always room to add a little intelligence to consumer electronics, especially when it means relieving our brains from having to fret over mundane stuff. It might sound excessive at first, but a smart bread toaster with a touch screen can be pretty convenient.

Designer: Tineco

The Tineco Toasty One can toast two slices of bread like other toasters, but it can have different settings for each of them. It can even detect the condition of the bread to automatically set the right heat for the desired crispiness. Of course, you can input your own preference, and it can remember different settings for up to eight people. OK, it might be overboard for some, but the toaster’s somewhat cute design definitely fits the kitchen of the future.

Bluetti Green Power Generators

Portable power generators that replace fuel generators are becoming more popular these days. Having emergency power that is clean, green, and safe is almost critical in this day and age, whether it’s for spending the weekend outdoors or living through a power outage. Bluetti is one of the most trusted brands in that growing market, and it’s showing off its latest solution to keep the lights on in the darkness.

Designer: Bluetti

The new Bluetti AC500 modular portable power generator steps up the game with a larger inverter that can dish out 5000W. When paired with B300 or B300S battery modules, it can provide an astounding 18,432Wh of power for the whole house. What makes it different from most battery-powred generators is that you can decide just how many modules you want to bring along, simplifying its portability. Plus, you can also charge it using solar power, creating a more sustainable solution to your electricity problems.

ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold OLED

Smartphones aren’t the only ones that are getting a foldable treatment. Although it’s happening more slowly, even tablets and laptops are getting foldable screens as well. There might still be some hesitation and doubt on whether it’s a fad or the next wave in computing, but devices that can change their forms will definitely become more common in the near future.

Designer: ASUS

The ASUS ZenBook 17 Fold OLED is one of the pioneers of this still nascent market. A 17.3-inch 2.5K screen that can fold into two 12.5-inch Full HD screens gives a whole new meaning to multitasking. Whether it will survive the test of time and hard work remains to be seen, but its launch marks the start of something new.

Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Fold (16-inch)

Credit where credit is due, Lenovo is actually one of the first to demonstrate that it really believed in the foldable laptop hype. The first Thinkpad X1 Fold, while functional, didn’t exactly meet the hype and imagination of the PC market. Its next-gen iteration, however, inches closer to that ideal.

Designer: Lenovo

The new 16-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Fold refines the design of its predecessor, making the body thinner while also increasing the screen size. It also comes with a new cover stand and an improved Bluetooth keyboard that should make the device more usable. No longer will you feel like you’re carrying around a prototype device and are instead using the computer of the future.

Bang & Olufsen Beosound Theater Soundbar

As TVs become thinner, the need to relocate speakers has also become greater. You can, of course, cram smaller speakers inside those thin frames, but that often comes at the expense of sound quality. Soundbars have become one of the solutions to this problem, offering a way to have an elegant speaker near an equally elegant TV. And when it comes to elegance, there are few names you can trust more than Bang & Olufsen.

Designer: Bang & Olufsen

The marque’s new Beosound Theater is unsurprisingly another proof of its expertise in blending audio quality and aesthetics. Whether standing alone or paired with a TV, the soundbar looks stylish and attractive, unlike common boxy soundbars. Inspired by sailboats, the Beosund Theather’s curved body looks like it’s floating on air, giving it a sense of grandeur and adventure that matches the heart-racing sounds that come from it.

Yaber Pico T1 portable projector

While short-throw home projectors are gaining popularity as alternatives to traditional TVs, another kind of projector is making its way into people’s travel bags or even pockets. Pico projectors offer the opportunity to enjoy videos or make presentations anywhere, as long as you have the right light conditions. Given how projectors work, it’s hard to find the right balance between portability and performance, something that Yaber gets mostly correct.

Designer: Yaber

The Yaber Pico T1 itself is like a shorter but thicker smartphone, and it can easily fit into your jeans’ pocket. It does output at a resolution of 960×540, but it can do so at a screen size of up to 100 inches. The downside is that it doesn’t have an internal battery, so you’ll have to connect it to a compatible power bank. That said, all its accessories still fit nicely in a pouch that you can conveniently carry around if you want a cinema on the go.

Huawei

In spite of and despite all odds, Huawei continues to bring quality products to meet the needs and demands of today’s consumers. From powerful smartphones to professional laptops, Huawei brings a plethora of choices across different markets and tiers. The Huawei nova 10 and nova 10 Pro, for example, bring a 60MP front-facing camera that’s sure to excite selfie lovers with limited budgets.

For those more focused on productivity, the Huawei MatePad Pro brings a tablet to rival the iPad Pro with a 120Hz OLED screen and a Huawei M Pencil stylus. The new MateBook X Pro, on the other hand, packs a 3.1K 14.2-inch screen into a Windows-powered laptop powered by the latest 12th-gen Intel Core processors. Whether it’s for lifestyle, entertainment, or productivity, Huawei has a product that has one of the best bang-for-buck offers in designs that make you feel you’re really getting more for less.

The post The Best of IFA 2022: Technology for Better Living first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei P50 Pocket Foldable Phone Review: Beautiful Symmetry of Tech and Art

PROS:


  • Stylish and elegant design

  • Crease-free hinge folds the phone flat

  • Impressive performance and camera output

CONS:


  • No formal IP dust and resistance rating

RATINGS:

AESTHETICS
ERGONOMICS
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY

EDITOR'S QUOTE:

The Huawei P50 Pocket masterfully embodies the symphony of art and technology in a design that perfectly marries form and function.

Beauty and power that fits in the palm of your hand, literally.

Smartphones are, at their heart, computing devices, but thanks to advancements in technology, manufacturing, and design, manufacturers are free to go beyond utilitarian purposes. These gadgets have, in fact, become so ingrained in our lives that they are now almost an extension of ourselves. They have become expressions of our personalities and uniqueness, reflecting tastes, passions, aspirations, and perception. We are now in an age where the design of a smartphone is becoming more than just a marketing point but a critical part of a buyer’s decision-making process. Sometimes, the things that people want are on opposing sides: large screen but pocket-friendly, luxurious but affordable, powerful but uncomplicated. It’s a delicate balancing act that very few smartphone makers have managed to achieve but which the Huawei P50 Pocket manages with the grace of royalty.

Designer: Huawei and Iris van Herpen

Aesthetics

We’ve seen our fair share of luxury phones, particularly from companies whose business revolves around coating regular smartphones with extravagant pieces and designs. To say that those often look gaudy and almost garish wouldn’t be an understatement. The Huawei P50 Pocket, the brand’s first foldable phone in clamshell form, is thankfully none of those, exuding a aura that is almost ethereal yet also sublime in its beauty.

The secret to the Huawei P50 Pocket is the symmetry that permeates its design, both in concept and in execution. As a phone, it folds horizontally exactly in half, resulting in a nearly perfect square device you can easily slip in and out of your pocket or bag. Each half of the phone is also symmetrical, aside from the presence of buttons, and the two circles on its cover form a perfectly balanced square.

You can both feel and see the balance all throughout the phone’s design and form, particularly with the Premium Gold edition. Gold is not something you would easily come by in nature, often used as a product of mechanical and artificial processes. It is often a symbol of affluence and the power of technology, like the technology that is used to engrave 3D micro patterns on glass. Yet at the same time, the delicate and flowing patterns on the back of the phone resemble leaves and the irregularity of life. Designed in collaboration with famed haute couture designer Iris van Herpen, this motif represents a symbiosis, a balance and symmetry, between two seemingly opposing ideas, the power of cutting-edge technology and the artistic beauty of nature.

Even when the surface of the P50 Pocket’s surface is broken by two circles, there is still an unmistakable element of harmony and symphony. These two circles is a nod to the groundbreaking Huawei P9 that raised the company’s profile in the field of mobile photography. The two circles are perfectly identical in size yet also distinctly contrasting. One lies flush against the phone’s back, displaying vibrant colors and dynamic images. The other is mostly black and unchanging yet rises from the surface to put itself in focus, literally and figuratively as it houses the phone’s powerful cameras.

The Huawei P50 Pocket is truly a work of art but its elegance isn’t loud or overbearing. It conveys its presence in harmony and symmetry, both in shapes and in themes, pulling in opposites to dance on its surface in a delightful play for form and light, the latter thanks to Huawei’s innovative 3D micro-sculpture design that creates a unique double-sided 3D design. And just as important, it also brings that balance that smartphone users need, delivering a powerful piece of technology that looks stylish, especially when they fold it close and slip it into their pocket in style.

Ergonomics

A well-designed smartphone shouldn’t just be a beauty to behold but also to hold. As a tool that you will use day in and day out, fold and unfold multiple times a day, a foldable phone such as this needs to be comfortable to use and inspire confidence in its longevity. In other words, ergonomics also plays a critical role, and, fortunately, the Huawei P50 Pocket doesn’t disappoint here either.

The point of a foldable phone, particularly a clamshell phone, is to enhance the device’s portability without sacrificing its usefulness. Thanks to the P50 Pocket’s slim profile and foldable design, it does exactly that, whether it’s opened or closed. When unfolded, its lightweight and slender body won’t weigh your hand down, though some might prefer holding it with two hands, just like any phablet these days. When folded shut, the P50 Pocket is a glamorous pocket device that you can still be able to use, thanks to that Cover Screen beneath the camera island.

Opening and closing the phone is something you will naturally do multiple times a day, and there’s no reason to be worried about the hinge giving out, which we will get to in a bit. Suffice it to say, the hinge is strong and gives a satisfying feeling whenever you fold and unfold the phone. While it is certainly possible to do those actions using only one hand, some people might find it difficult or a bit worrying. To open the phone with one hand, you’ll have to wedge your finger into that tight space in between the two halves, and some might be concerned that they will accidentally damage the foldable screen. To fold the phone closed, you might have to adjust your hand a bit to push down the top half, which could lead to some unfortunate accidents.

Fortunately, the phone isn’t as fragile as its luxurious appearance might suggest, and is made from durable materials all around. It doesn’t have a formal IP rating for dust and water resistance, but that doesn’t mean it will die at its first encounter with water. Huawei has taken measures to protect the phone from ingress, and might have decided that the expensive certification wasn’t worth the cost. Its glass back might make it feel slippery for some people, but its narrow frame also makes it easier to grip with your hand. Huawei also provides a clear case to offer added protection without hiding the P50 Pocket’s eye-catching visage.

Performance

Of course, the Huawei P50 Pocket isn’t just a fashion accessory. It is a smartphone that has to meet people’s needs when it comes to Web browsing, communication, social media, and even gaming. Huawei provides this foldable beauty with all the power to deliver that and then some. Given how lightweight and slim it is, it’s almost unbelievable that it manages to cram a 4,000 mAh battery inside. Don’t let the numbers fool you, it’s enough to get you through a day’s worth of use. And when you do need to reach for that charger, the fast 40W charging tech will minimize the downtime so you can be up and about your day as soon as possible.

While the phone’s intricate patterns and luxurious finish gives it its personality from the back, it’s the foldable screen that gives it its defining feature from the front. After all, what would a foldable phone be without a foldable screen. As one of the pioneers in this field, Huawei has been able to advance the technology and the design of flexible panels ahead of the competition. The result is a large and equally beautiful screen that brings delight and comfort to the eyes, whether you’re flicking through social media, watching your favorite shows, or simply reminiscing your last “revenge travel” experience. Best of all, that flexible screen barely shows any crease that tends to plague others of its kind.

That feat was made possible by Huawei’s newest Multi-Dimensional Hinge that creates that famed waterdrop-shaped cavity when the screen is folded. This is also the reason why, unlike other foldable clamshells, the P50 Pocket is able to fold completely flat without any gap. At the same time, a new Multi-Dimesnional Linkage Lifting design is responsible for elevating that part of the screen and remain flat without increasing the weight of the phone with unnecessary components. Watching the screen rise and fall is almost mesmerizing, and you don’t have to worry about doing it over and over again thanks to the use of Zirconium-based liquid metal and 2,100MPa Ultra-High Strength Steel to build the hinge, bringing both durability and reliability to the mechanism.

The hinge offers just enough resistance to avoid making it feel flimsy, but it won’t get in your way when using the phone. It doesn’t, however, support variable angles and will either fold shut or lie completely flat unless you leave it open at a right angle. This position is best for taking selfies or multi-tasking with a video, and it’s unlikely that there will be an important use for leaving the phone open at odd angles anyway.

Value

It’s hard to fully compare the Huawei P50 Pocket with other foldable phones, because while they share the same basic form and function, Huawei’s piece goes above and beyond being just a gadget that fits your pocket. At a time when smartphones have started looking alike and are becoming extensions of our own personalities, the P50 Pocket is both a statement and a testament to what these devices can and should be. It is, just like its overall design, a symphony of art and technology, one that you can proudly put on display and then fold and hide in your pocket.

It’s not inexpensive, mind, and there are other considerations beyond the scope of this review that may make or break people’s decisions. It is a rather weighty investment, one that is fortunately made to last a very long while. As far as design is concerned, with its definitely worth its weight in gold, even if you grab the equally elegant White edition with its shimmering diamond-inspired design.

Verdict

It’s hard to fully compare the Huawei P50 Pocket with other foldable phones, because while they share the same basic form and function, Huawei’s piece goes above and beyond being just a gadget that fits your pocket. At a time when smartphones have started looking alike and are becoming extensions of our own personalities, the P50 Pocket is both a statement and a testament to what these devices can and should be. It is, just like its overall design, a symphony of art and technology, one that you can proudly put on display and then fold and hide in your pocket.

It’s not inexpensive, mind, and there are other considerations beyond the scope of this review that may make or break people’s decisions. It is a rather weighty investment, one that is fortunately made to last a very long while. As far as design is concerned, with its definitely worth its weight in gold, even if you grab the equally elegant White edition with its shimmering diamond-inspired design.

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Huawei GT3 Pro brings classic luxury designs to smartwatches

If Google is going for a modern, futuristic motif with their recently announced Pixel Watch, Huawei is going for the complete opposite with their latest flagship smartwatch, the Huawei WATCH GT3 Pro. Huawei realized that people who are used to wearing watches on their wrists are more likely to adopt smartwatches if they look more like their beloved timepieces, so they designed the new GT 3 Pro series to please traditional watch lovers. Taking inspiration from classic watch design with a round watch face and crown, the new Huawei wearables come in two distinctive styles, one made of titanium and the other formed from ceramic, and both look gorgeous, especially on your wrist.

Designer: Huawei

The 46mm Titanium edition is the larger of the two, measuring 46.6mm x 46.6mm x 10.9mm and weighs approximately 54 grams without a strap. That size isn’t just for show, though, since it packs a large 1.43 inch AMOLED display, with a spacious 466×466 326 PPI screen housed in a titanium case with sapphire glass on tap. Despite the mostly Titanium body, it has a ceramic rear that went through 60 processes to transform zirconia ceramic powder into this elegant finished form. The Huawei GT3 Pro Titanium model also borrows a classic rotating crown from traditional watches, offering an easy-to-use control to zoom in and out or scroll through the user interface.

In comparison, the Ceramic edition comes with a smaller 43mm body at 42.9mm x 42.9mm x 10.5mm and weighs approximately 50 grams without a strap. Despite the smaller body, it still features a 1.32 AMOLED display with 466×466 pixel resolution and a higher 352 PPI. It is the first all-ceramic smartwatch, with both the body and rear using the premium material. Like the Titanium edition, however, the screen is protected by tough sapphire glass.

The luxurious design of Huawei’s latest smartwatches goes beyond just their bodies. The series offers a range of watch faces, including exclusive watch faces designed by IED students, giving the digital surfaces more familiar classic faces. There is also a new day-and-night watch face feature that dynamically changes the watch face according to the time of sunrise and sunset, something traditional watches can only dream of. The straps are also made from premium material, depending on which edition you grab. The Titanium edition has thee three different strap options available, including black fluoroelastomer, grey leather strap, and titanium bracelet. In contrast, the Ceramic edition only has two variants, one with a gold bezel ring and a ceramic strap, and the other with a silver bezel ring and a leather strap.

Of course, the Huawei GT3 Pro is more than just a nod to classic timepieces and is a smartwatch at its very core. It is equipped with an upgraded TruSeen 5.0+ with improved heart rate monitoring, which includes an ECG function on both models, though availability and activation will differ by country. Huawei also upped its water-resistance with the GT3 Pro, allowing users to free dive up to 30 meters deep while wearing it, even in saltwater. Huawei continues to build on the successes of its inaugural smartwatch, offering an impressive battery life with the new GT line of smartwatches: 14 days for the titanium edition and seven days for the ceramic edition with regular usage.

Just like with analog and digital watches, each wearer prefers a different style and design for their trusty timepiece. Leaning more towards traditional aesthetics, the Huawei GT3 Pro delivers a timeless design while offering the modern trappings of today’s technology. Elegant, powerful, and enduring, the company’s latest wearables exhibit the smartwatch world’s best style and performance, just like the GT sports cars they are named after.

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Huawei Mate Xs 2 reignites the foldable phone design

Almost every design has its pros and cons, but Huawei’s latest foldable phone makes it even harder to decide which fold is better.

When talking about foldable phones, it will be Samsung’s name that probably comes up the most. That’s partly because of marketing and party due to just having more foldable devices already available in the market at this point. It isn’t the only player, though, not by a long shot, and rival brands like OPPO and Vivo have started rising up to challenge its position. The disgraced Chinese brand Huawei, however, has been playing that game just as long as Samsung, and it has been pushing a different design to what is now regarded as the common fold. After seemingly giving up on that, the embattled company is returning to its roots with one small feature that could actually change the game for it.

Designer: Huawei

While many people probably imagine foldable phones to fold like books, which is how Samsung’s “innie” design works, it isn’t the only way to fold. In fact, it is the most inefficient way because of the many compromises it has to make. Such a device, for example, would be unusable when folded shut unless there’s a second display on the outside. It also requires that the folded area should have a gap, which means it doesn’t really fold flat without some tricks.

In contrast, the “outie” design that Huawei embraced addresses those problems, though it has issues of its own. You only need one screen, cutting down on costs, and you can fold the phone flat because there is already a natural curve on the outside of the screen. You can use the “back” main cameras for taking selfies without having to precariously hold the fragile phone. On the other hand, that sensitive, flexible display is always on the outside, always exposed to the elements and to whatever dangerous objects might pierce its softer material.

The Huawei Mate X2 last year ditched the outie design for Samsung’s innie, and it seemed that Samsung had won that debate. With the Mate Xs 2, however, Huawei is aiming for a rebound and has included one feature that makes the Galaxy Z Fold 3 look inept. Huawei’s latest foldable phone supports a stylus, but unlike Samsung’s version, it actually works whether the phone is open or folded.

With the Galaxy Z Fold 3, Samsung made the decision not to make the outer “Cover Screen” compatible with its special S Pen Fold Edition, mostly because it uses different technologies from its regular Galaxy Note phones. This meant that you’d have to open the phone first in order to use the stylus on the flexible display inside. Since it’s using the same screen anyway, the Huawei Mate Xs 2 doesn’t have to compromise on features just because it’s folded in half.

Whether that works in practice still remains to be seen, mostly because the Huawei Mate Xs 2 isn’t getting a wider rollout just yet. It’s currently being sold only in China, to the tune of $1,500, and there has been no word on a global release yet. Samsung will be launching the Galaxy Z Fold 4 in a few months as well, but early leaks and rumors don’t paint a very hopeful picture. We’re still far from that point where people don’t have to compromise or risk losing their investment in foldable phones, which means the device category still has a long way to go before becoming mainstream.

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Honor Magic 4 Ultimate phone design stands out in the wrong ways

Smartphone cameras are getting bigger, and manufacturers are getting bolder with their designs. Former Huawei subsidiary Honor seems to be taking both ideas to hear, but not exactly in a good way.

It’s not unusual for a single smartphone manufacturer to release multiple models under the same name, often to confusing effect. It’s also not unusual for those variants to differ slightly in their design, also to sometimes confusing degrees. Honor’s latest flagship, however, leaves no room for ambiguity as there is currently no other smartphone that looks like it. Hopefully, there will also be no other smartphone that will ever look like it, and brands will stay away from a design that brings attention to itself without providing many benefits in terms of usability or aesthetics.

Designer: Honor

Design Consciousness

Smartphone brands have thankfully become more conscious of the designs of their products, both in terms of visual appeal and ergonomics. Formerly believed to be Apple’s territory, some companies have become more attentive and even more talkative about the design thinking behind their latest creations. This means that the smartphone industry has started to move towards making these devices more human and more humane, appealing to the senses as much as they appeal to the mind.

Sometimes it works, like in the case of the iPhone and, more recently, OPPO’s and realme’s bold designs. While all products naturally go through the process of product design, not all smartphones reflect this in their final form. Brands like Samsung and Huawei are more than happy to wax philosophical about their design process, but the best designs are the ones that really don’t need a documentary to go along with them.

In some cases, it almost feels as if there wasn’t much thought given to the design at all, resulting in something that looks and feels like a mishmash of ideas and design elements. It’s almost as if someone simply took pieces that may have worked in older products and then smashed them together, hoping that the result will be the sum of its parts.

Center of Distraction

You can almost see that in the Honor Magic 4 Ultimate, the latest and probably final variant in the Magic 4 series from the old Huawei sub-brand. The large circular camera bump is not exactly new, and the gently rising structure has been done before as well. With the Magic 4 Ultimate, however, these elements are magnified to the extent that makes them the visual and conceptual focus of the phone.

To some extent, that’s actually true and probably intentional. The Honor Magic 4 Ultimate was launched with a heavy focus on the cameras, which occupy more space than most camera arrays do. It’s not like they actually need that much space, especially if they are arranged in a more compact and efficient manner. Honor intentionally chose a design that enthrones the cameras, as if the phone is a digital camera first and only a phone second.

Unfortunately, the smorgasbord of visual elements plays against each other in an almost disharmonious way. In effect, you have a large circle enclosing a hexagon with smaller circles in it and a rectangle in the middle with another circle inside. There are times when a mix of shapes and forms contrast with each other in a pleasing manner. This doesn’t seem to be the case, and the arrangement of elements seems almost messy.

Ergonomic Balance

There’s also the way how the camera bump is made to look like it’s rising out of the back of the phone. To its credit, Honor tried to make it look more natural with inclined planes from the top and from the bottom, rising to meet the camera bump’s elevation. Some manufacturers or models, like other Honor Magic 4 variants, simply have the camera bump jut out like a wart.

Unfortunately, this creates both unnecessary visual noise and some level of imbalance. Due to the lack of space, the left and right sides of the camera bump don’t have the same inclined structure but instead make use of a soft, curved slope. The visual elements do effectively guide your eyes towards the camera bump but do so in a way that is almost jarring and confusing.

More importantly, the form of the camera’s back panel raises (no pun intended) questions about ergonomics. While Honor will boast of its ability to produce such a shape, it could make holding the phone more awkward and, worse, more prone to being dropped. The fingers, in particular, will be forced to curve around the incline, which could weaken the person’s grip instead of strengthening it.

The Honor Magic 4 Ultimate is definitely an interesting phone in terms of design, though that shouldn’t immediately be seen as a net positive. It is clear that Honor is trying to mix things up in order to make this particular model stand out from its own siblings, but it does so in a way that looks confused and contrived. It could even result in a worse experience as far as ergonomics are concerned, which makes it a good example of poor product design.

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The Best of MWC 2022 – Product Design in a Mobile World

The Mobile World Congress this year is unsurprisingly filled with phones and Metaverse references, but producers and consumers are thankfully becoming more aware of the deeper impact these products have in our lives and on the planet.

Next to CES, MWC is an auspicious time for companies to show off their wares, especially those related to smartphones, tablets, and even the new “Metaverse.” Despite the onslaught of COVID-19 since 2020, the smartphone market shows no signs of declining, at least to a significant degree. After two years, MWC 2022 sees a return to face-to-face exhibits and interactions that almost feels surreal given previous events. It’s not as jam-packed and as frantic as before, but that’s not the only thing that’s different this year. There’s also an increased consciousness of the role that thoughtful product design plays in improving people’s lives, both directly and indirectly through sustainable products.

Like every year, a few of these designs and products manage to grab our attention more strongly than others. Some through their design, others through their commitment to the environment, while others are just plain fun or useful. Without further ado, here is Yanko Design’s Top 8 picks for MWC 2022, ranked!

1. OPPO Find X5 Pro

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and some smartphones are regarded to be beautiful, mostly from the standpoint of people who love gadgets and tech products. They are well-designed, of course, but few would probably be standout to a designer as a thing of beauty. The OPPO Find X5 Pro breaks out of the mold in more ways than one.

The phone’s design takes minimalism to heart without going overboard and ditching features. The cameras are still there, but they aren’t as in your face as most camera bumps are these days. The structure rises so smoothly and so softly from the surface of the phone, like a dune in a desert after a sandstorm. You have a single continuous form that looks and feels unbroken, even with the camera holes and branding.

OPPO’s choice of ceramic material also brings joy to the hands. The white colorway exudes an atmosphere of peace, while the black finish pulls you into its dark depths and into a meditative state. Both are sleek and clean, even if the black does become a fingerprint magnet. Wiping off those smudges can itself even become a mindfulness practice.

What makes the OPPO Find X5 Pro’s understated beauty even more compelling is its relevance. We live very busy lives in an ever-changing world that’s still recovering from two chaotic years. Smartphones have become our faithful companions and weapons in navigating this world, but they have also become sources of stress and, in some cases, addiction. OPPO’s “futuristic” design actually goes back in time and back to the basics, offering an oasis of calmness and comfort for the eyes, the hands, and the mind.

Designer: OPPO

2. Realme GT2

Realme gets the silver medal for the GT2 and GT2 Pro phones not in the uniqueness of their designs but for the boldness of their statement. True, the Paper White and Paper Green models of these phones do have unique patterns and textures that try to recreate the look and feel of paper, but that pales in comparison to the message that the design is trying to send.

Taking inspiration from paper and other sustainable materials, Realme adopted a bio-based polymer to create the shell of these two colorways. Although the phone is far from being recyclable, the novel material significantly reduces the carbon emission overhead of producing these phones. The Realme GT2 is only the second of two phones boasting a TCO 9.0 certification for its positive impact on the environment.

This bio-based polymer might be a one-off thing, but Realme is at least making a lot of noise about its other efforts to create a greener tomorrow. Like many smartphone makers these days, it is reducing the amount of plastic in its packaging and increasing its use of sustainable materials. With the Realme GT2 series, it’s also committing to planting a tree for every phone sold. As one of the fastest-growing smartphone brands in the market, it has a big responsibility in creating awareness and doing its part to help protect the environment. It deserves major props for getting the ball rolling in this arena.

Designer: Naoto Fukasawa for Realme

3. TCL Ultra Flex

Foldable phones are going to be around for a while, even if they won’t become the future. The new experiences it enables are both exciting and challenging, especially for designers. We’re still a few hundred steps away from the perfect foldable screen, which makes it the perfect time for designers and manufacturers to play around with new ideas and test out prototypes.

Samsung and LG aren’t the only ones having fun with deformable screens, of course. TCL is right up there with some even crazier ideas that actually become working prototypes. It hasn’t sold any of that technology yet, though, or at least the flexible screens it has been developing. That gives it at least more time and leeway to bring more ideas to light, including this one it showed off at MWC 2022.

Foldable phones seem to have adopted Samsung’s “innie” design, where the flexible screen folds inward like a book, protected by the phone’s external frame. It’s not the only way to fold, of course, but it is currently the winner, despite requiring an extra screen on the outside to make the phone usable even when folded. Some think that allowing a screen to fold in and out would be the ideal option, leaving the owner to decide which method is best, and that’s exactly what the TCL Ultra Flex tries to do.

As a prototype, it’s not exactly the prettiest nor the most usable, but it does try to prove that it can be done. Of course, there remain many questions about its durability, not to mention its economy, but there’s plenty of time for the company to figure that out. Once it does, TCL will have the opportunity to shape the foldable device market and, consequently, shape the new experiences that these devices will offer.

Designer: TCL

4. Huawei MatePad Paper

Tablets are making a comeback, especially from the Android side. These increasingly larger slates are getting more powerful to the point that they are being positioned as laptop replacements. Tablets, however, do have new competition in the form of more powerful and more talented e-book readers, often called eReaders. Huawei, however, is putting a different spin on that idea and is targeting a very specific and probably niche market.

The Huawei MatePad Paper does come with the trappings of a typical e-book reader, one that uses the popular E-Ink display to give your eyes and the device’s battery a well-deserved reprieve. What makes this new contender different is that reading is actually just its secondary purpose. Its primary goal is to replace your paper notebook instead.

That is definitely a tall order, especially with so many expectations coming from die-hard pen and paper users. You can really only do so much to try and replicate the feel of pen or pencil writing on a material like paper using a plastic stylus nib and glass. Huawei has made a good approximation, but the MatePad Paper’s features try to make up for whatever flaw there is in that experience.

The Huawei MatePad Paper is designed primarily to be a notebook, and the software it has reflects that purpose. In addition to typical note-taking, it even has features for creating your own digital journal and copying content directly from a Huawei laptop. It can also record audio while you’re jotting down notes and play it back later when you need more than just a visual reminder. Its lightweight and portable design makes it an almost perfect companion to keep your design ideas and references, and its simpler functions, at least compared to a tablet, leave very little room for distractions as well.

Designer: Huawei

5. HTC Viverse

The Metaverse is everywhere, at least when it comes to marketing and buzzwords. Just like the early days of the cloud, the term is still a bit hard to qualify and quantify in its current form. This, of course, leaves the doors wide open for any interpretation, implementation, and vision. Despite its name, Meta, formerly known as Facebook, doesn’t have a monopoly on the Metaverse (at least not yet), and its rival in the VR space is putting down some stakes on the ground to claim a bit of that space.

HTC’s Viverse is still a work in progress, but its ambition is no less grand than others. Its Vive VR platform already laid the groundwork for some Metaverse-compatible experiences, like holding events and meetings in virtual worlds. It is also envisioning more interactive experiences, like buying or paying for goods using cryptocurrencies and, of course, buying NFT art.

What makes the Viverse more encompassing is that HTC isn’t stopping with its Vive VR platform. Ideally, the Metaverse experience will extend to almost any device with a screen, like a smartphone, a tablet, or even a computer with a web browser. Without this seamless cross-platform experience, the Metaverse will be limited to a few people that have no problems wearing headsets or eyewear all the time, which doesn’t really sound Metaverse-like.

Designer: HTC Vive

6. Lenovo ThinkPad X13s

Let’s face it, most laptop designs don’t exactly excite, especially when they look like any other laptop in the market. Although there are a few that do stand out, they are far and few in between. When Lenovo announced a host of new laptops at MWC 2022 this week, we almost gave it a pass, but one new entry piqued our curiosity in more ways than one.

The Lenovo ThinkPad X13s has the distinction of being the first ThinkPad to be powered by an ARM Snapdragon processor, a glowing recommendation considering the strength of Lenovo’s brand. With the attention that Apple’s M1 chip has been getting since it launched, there has been a great deal of interest in seeing more Windows laptops running on this platform.

What this means for designers is that the ThinkPad X13s will last longer than most other laptops on a single charge. This translates to longer working times away from a power outlet and more freedom to work the way they want. There are still some problems with app compatibility with Windows on ARM, but staples like Adobe’s suite and ZBrush are completely supported already.

The ThinkPad X13s also has a rather intriguing design that could be best described as a “reverse notch.” Instead of going the way of the latest MacBook Pro, Lenovo opted instead to have a bit of a lip at the top of the screen to accommodate the camera and security hardware. That said, the bezels around the screen are still on the thick side, so there doesn’t seem to be anything gained from that unusual design.

Designer: Lenovo

7. Prinker

We’ve already seen the Samsung-backed Prinker make its debut back in CES 2022 last January, and it has returned to once again show how well-thought design can also be fun and whimsical. Basically a handheld inkjet printer in the shape of a gigantic ink cartridge, Prinker offers almost endless fun in putting temporary tattoos on almost any part of your body.

What makes this product special is that it combines existing ideas and technologies in a way that creates a totally new experience, the marks of a great product design. Plus, it’s also fun and safe, a win-win situation for young people craving to add a bit of personalization and identity, even at the wildest of parties.

Designer: Prinker (Samsung)

8. Fauna

Sometimes, the best solutions are also the simplest and the most inconspicuous. That’s the kind of solution that Fauna’s audio sunglasses try to offer, solving multiple problems with a single and stylish product. Part eyewear and part open ear headphones, Fauna lets you enjoy your music while keeping safe and looking great, all at the same time.

This kind of integrated solution will be critical in the next few years, especially as technology becomes even more deeply embedded in our lives. Ordinary objects like eyeglasses, rings, and even clothing will soon be connected to a network thanks to technologies like 5G (or 6G even), flexible screens, and wearable circuitry. These, in turn, will pave the way for the so-called Metaverse to become as normal and as ordinary as the real universe.

Designer: Fauna

Wrap-up

Mobile technology and consumer devices have grown by leaps and bounds ever since the iPhone first came out more than a decade ago. Smartphones, tablets, and the accessories built around them have become almost unavoidable parts of modern life. There are no signs of things slowing down, which doesn’t bode well for humanity and the planet in the grand scheme of things. Fortunately, there are signs of things shifting for the better as well.

Just like at CES 2022, we saw positive indicators that both manufacturers and consumers are becoming more aware of how these devices have indirect effects on lives and the environment. From focusing on mental health in addition to physical fitness to embracing and promoting sustainable practices, the design of products, both physical and digital, are seemingly taking a turn for the better. While foldable phones, the Metaverse, and dozens of identical devices will continue to flood the market, there is at least some hope that the people pushing these products and technologies have grown more conscientious of the role they play in building a better future.

The post The Best of MWC 2022 – Product Design in a Mobile World first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei MatePad Paper wants to replace your paper notebook

E-book readers are still in demand although not as popular when the idea first came out. Color tablets have overtaken the category but there are still groups of digital nomads that prefer the simplicity of a digital tablet with only an e-ink display and limited features.

We have featured a few here but the more memorable ones were those from Kobo and the Kindle line from Amazon. The Kobo Forma wanted to steal the e-reader spotlight from Kindle. Amazon’s Kindle Oasis E-Reader was once named as the perfect pool companion. Over at the Mobile World Congress (MWC 2022), the former Chinese tech giant Huawei revealed the MatePad Paper and there are a number of things to love about the device.

Designer: Huawei

Huawei MatePad Paper

The MatePad Paper isn’t a colored tablet. It’s an e-ink display that measures 10.3-inches and is compatible with a Huawei M-Pencil. It allows cross-device transfer so you can easily enjoy a bigger preview of whatever is on your smartphone. It’s mainly an e-ink tablet that allows an almost paper-like experience whether writing or ready.

The HUAWEI MatePad Paper can help take hold of your ideas as it offers enhanced multitasking capabilities. Efficient note-taking is a promise while letting you start seamless collaborations. When you’re in the mood to take notes while reading, you can choose the highlights and important details so you don’t forget and come back to the ideas you learned.

The large FullView display offers eye comfort even with the large size. Jotting down notes on the e-paper seems more natural as made possible by the texturized surface of the MatePad Paper. Writing is better with its 26 ms low latency and six levels of Pressure Sensitivity with the 2nd-gen HUAWEI M-Pencil.

The e-ink tablet features multiple screens for different tasks. You can swipe down from the upper right part of the display. Split-screen can be activated by a stylus. For the obsessive-compulsive (OC) person, you can better organize your templates and notes with the device. The more organized the notes are, the better.

Huawei MatePad Paper Key Pricing

The Huawei e-ink device can also be the perfect digital assistant. It can do an audio recording of your meeting so you don’t miss anything. You can listen to the recorded content to review your minutes or any notes you have. Write on the e-ink display as if you’re writing on paper. And then, later on, those electronically handwritten notes will be converted into text. Don’t worry about privacy, your notes are encrypted. Confidential notes can also be locked by simply pressing the Fingerprint Power Button.

Huawei MatePad Paper Availability

Huawei MatePad Paper MWC 2022

For smoother and more efficient viewing, you can transfer content from your phone to the Huawei MatePad Paper. This allows better productivity as you can view more on a larger screen. You can also do the same—transfer files from the MateBook. You are free to share files between the MateBook and the MatePad Paper.

For the bookworms, you will love this MatePad Paper as it can hold your favorite books from your favorite authors. High-quality reading content is a promise but you can also check other e-book sources or libraries. If you want to give your eyes a break, you can just switch to audiobooks. The dual speakers are powerful enough to deliver optimized vocal clarity.

Huawei MatePad Paper Where to Buy

Huawei MatePad Paper Device

The HUAWEI MatePad Paper can also do language translation. Any content in another language can be translated so you can understand what the author or source is saying. You will not run out of things to do on the e-ink tablet. It’s powerful because of the specs: 4GB RAM, 64GB onboard storage, Wi-Fi 6+, 3635mAh battery with 22.5W fast charging, and a fingerprint power button. In standby mode, the device can last for up to 28 days but in standard e-ink display usage, you may enjoy up to six days and that’s only on a 1.5hour charge.

The device runs on Huawei’s very own HarmonyOS 2. There are already apps available as Huawei continues to expand the third-party ecosystem. This means you can do more with the device apart from using it as an e-book reader or a digital notebook. It can very well replace your paper notebook. Normally, we’d push for you to just get a new colored tablet but the Huawei MatePad Paper also makes sense if you really just want to get things done. It eliminates distraction because you will only be focused on reading, writing, or recording.

Huawei MatePad Paper Key Markets

The size may be bigger than the usual compact tablets that are popular in the market but the Huawei MatePad Paper can be your secondary display or electronic paper. It really is an e-notebook as you can do a lot on the screen. Typing may be limited but writing on the display can translate your penmanship into text.

It’s like writing on paper with low latency. You have to try it yourself so you’ll understand what premium writing experience means. The design is no non-sense. It boasts a sleek and slim form with small bezels that you can bring anywhere with you. When it comes to UI, the HarmonyOS 2 Service Widgets are easy to understand and use. Expect a quick preview of important items like calendars, emails, or schedules.

Everything about the Huawei MatePad Paper allows you to work faster and be more efficient. When you just want to free your mind from work, you can switch to the e-book form and enjoy reading comfortably. Turn the pages of that new book from your favorite author. Your eyes won’t be harmed because there is a built-in adjustable reading lamp. Even when it’s dark, you can enjoy comfortable reading with any of the 32 levels of backlighting settings available on the grayscale screen with a reflective and anti-glare display that can also play videos.

Huawei MatePad Paper Announcement

The post Huawei MatePad Paper wants to replace your paper notebook first appeared on Yanko Design.

Huawei teases the P50 Pocket, their upcoming foldable smartphone with a distinct Art Deco aesthetic

Huawei P50 Pocket Folding Clamshell Smartphone

Proving that they may be down but they’re definitely not out, Huawei dropped images of their upcoming foldable, the P50 Pocket in a photoshoot for Harper’s Bazaar China. The folding phone models itself on the P50 (which launched in July this year) and will be exclusively available to Huawei’s Chinese demographic. Set to officially launch on the 23rd of December 2021, the phone comes in a clamshell format like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip and the Moto Razr, although with an aesthetic that’s eye-catching, to say the least. Instead of flat shades or metallic hues, the smartphone’s surface sports embossed pattern-work with a gold finish, looking almost like an ornate makeup mirror from the Art Deco period.

Huawei P50 Pocket Folding Clamshell Smartphone

There are a few things worth unpacking with the P50 Pocket’s design – starting with its aesthetic. Created to clearly appeal to a certain demographic, the P50 Pocket probably won’t be a very cheap phone (some speculate within the $800-900 range), which explains its opulent aesthetic. The P50 Pocket, shown here in the hands of Chinese actress Guan Xiaotong, looks more like a makeup kit than a smartphone, trying to blur the lines between tech and fashion to create a phone that evokes a sense of desire. The embossed pattern and the gold finish reinforce that approach, while the phone sports two large black circles on its outer surface – one being a camera bump with not two, but THREE lenses, and the other, in fact, being a miniature display that acts as a notification screen and a viewfinder while taking selfies. When open, the camera bump and screen look a lot like the two black camera bumps seen on the original P50, creating a bridge between the P50 and the P50 Pocket’s design languages.

Huawei P50 Pocket Folding Clamshell Smartphone

While the P50 Pocket isn’t due for another 3 days, details have begun emerging of its technical specs. The phone is rumored to be equipped with a large 6.85-inch folding screen (marginally larger than the Galaxy Z Flip 3) on the inside, while the outer circular screen measures a mildly disappointing 1-inch in diameter (that’s much smaller than the display found on most smartwatches).

“The rear camera setup of the Huawei P50 Pocket has a Sony IMX766 50-megapixel primary camera. It will be coupled with a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens and an 8-megapixel telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom”, GizmoChina reports. The clamshell-style phone will run on Huawei’s Kirin 9000 chipset (which means it won’t be 5G compatible), will have a 4,100mAh battery with support for 66W fast-charging, and a fingerprint reader built into the power button. The phone is rumored to be available in silver and gold color variants and will run Huawei’s own harmonyOS. Due to global restrictions, the phone isn’t likely to be sold outside the Chinese mainland, although I’m pretty sure a few tech YouTubers will have their reviews up pretty soon.

Designer: Huawei

Huawei P50 Pocket Folding Clamshell Smartphone

Huawei P50 Pocket Folding Clamshell Smartphone

Huawei P50 Pocket Folding Clamshell Smartphone

The post Huawei teases the P50 Pocket, their upcoming foldable smartphone with a distinct Art Deco aesthetic first appeared on Yanko Design.