Huawei's Mate 8

The Mate 8 is Huawei's latest challenger in the game of the big guns. The 6-inch giant is stacked with some impressive features. But are they enough to make the Mate 8 a worthy contender in the highly competitive smartphone market? Let's find out.

The Mate 8 has a well-made metal unibody. The gently curved back is smooth and matte. If you are a fan of big phones, this slickly designed set would rank high up on your bucket list. The 6-inch FHD display has a 1920x1080 pixel resolution, which might not be the highest resolution smartphone in the market, but that does not affect clarity of viewing, and aids in power saving.

Speaking of power saving, the Mate 8's battery life is a definitive champion. The 4000 mAh monster will serve you faithfully for as long as two days straight after one full charge. Once the charge is out eventually, you can charge it beyond the 30% mark in less than half an hour. Full charge takes a little over an hour. If you are out all the time and enjoy browsing and watching videos without having to worry about battery charge, the Mate 8 is an ideal choice for you.

Although the Mate 8 comes with Google's latest Android Marshmallow 6.0 OS, it does add its own touch to the software, which it terms Emotion UI (EMUI 4.0). Some visible changes include exclusion of the app drawer, which you may need some getting used to if you loved it before. But the new edition offers the convenient option of getting things started simply by invoking 'OK Google' from any screen. The latest Android OS allows you to enjoy some interesting additional features like Doze and Now on Tap as well.

The monster phone packs Huawei's very own octa-core Kirin 950 processor and 3 GB RAM. The Mali-T880 MP4 GPU, the ultra-powerful Cortex cores, and the 64-bit chip which has four 2.3GHz and four 1.8GHz cores make it a dream phone to play even the most graphic-intensive games available for android, including Real Racing 3, Asphalt 8 and Lara Croft: Go with no sign of stuttering.

The 8 MP front camera allows you to take great selfies in any light condition. The 16 MP back camera also does not disappoint at all with features such as optical image stabilisation, a dual-tone flash and HDR mode. You can focus and click within less than a second. You can video record at 1080p and 720p at 120fps for slow motion shots.

The redesigned fingerprint scanner on the back impresses. It can take you to the home screen in less than a second, and can be useful when taking pictures.

If you are a fan of big smartphones and are looking to buy a premium one, Huawei's Mate 8 is definitely a good choice. Priced at BDT 59,990, the Mate 8 is currently available at Huawei Experience Centers at Bashundhara City and Jamuna Future Park as well as brand and retail outlets across the nation.