Huawei MediaPad T3 10 inch 32GB tablet comes with 1280×800 (HD) IPS display, space-age anodised aluminum body. It has 2MP Front Camera and 5MP Rear Camera to record all precious moments. Quad-core processor (1.4GHz), 3 GB + 32 GB, Android 8.0, expandable up to 128GB. Excellent performance to handle multiple apps and video playing. 4800mAh battery, up to 9.8 hrs video playback time. Blue-light filter and low-light display mode to alleviate eye fatigue. Children’s Mode of Smart app access and content control. Find here everything you need to know in Huawei MediaPad T3 10 inch 32GB tablet review.
Specifications – Huawei MediaPad T3 10 inch 32GB tablet
Body:
- Dimension: 211.1 x 124.7 x 8mm (8.31 x 4.91 x 0.31 inches)
- Weight: 350g (12.35oz)
- Sim: Nano-SIM
Display:
- Type: IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colours
- Size: 8.0 inches, 185.6 cm² (-70.5% screen-t0-body-ratio)
- Resolution: 800 x 1280 pixels, 16:10 ratio (-189 PPI density)
Platform:
- OS: Android 7.0 (Nougat); EMUI 5.1
- Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8917 Snapdragon 425 (28nm)
- CPU: Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A53
- GPU: Andreno 308
Memory:
- Card slot: No
- Internal: 32GB, 3GB RAM or 16GB, 2GB RAM
Camera:
- Primary: 5MP, AF
- Video: 1080p@30fps
- Selfie Cam: 2MP
Sound:
- Loudspeaker: Yes
- 3.5mm Jack: Yes
Comms:
- WLAN: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n or a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot
- Bluetooth: 4.0 A2DP
- GPS: Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
- Radio: No
- USB: micro USB 2.0
Features:
- Sensors: Accelerometer
Battery:
- Non-removable Li-Ion battery (32.4 Wh)
Misc:
- Colours: Space Grey, Luxurious Gold
- Price: As seen in the above post
Compare Huawei MediaPad T3 10 inch 32GB tablet vs Samsung Galaxy Tab A
| HUAWEI MediaPad T3 10 Android Tablet, | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1-Inch 32 GB | Fusion5 104Bv2 PRO Android Tablet PC – | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average battery runtime | 90 hours | — | 5 hours |
| colour | Grey | Black | Black |
| Computer Memory Size | 32 GB | 2 GB | 2 GB |
| Connectivity Technology | Bluetooth; Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi | HDMI; Wi-Fi; Bluetooth; USB |
| Processor (CPU) Manufacturer | Qualcomm | Samsung | Mediatek |
| Processor (CPU) Speed | 1.4 GHz | 1.8 GHz | 1.3 GHz |
| Display Size | 9.6 in | 10.1 in | 10.1 in |
| Hard Disk Size | 32 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| Item Weight | 460.01 grammes | 460.01 grammes | 0.59 kg |
| Memory Storage Capacity | 32 GB | 32 GB | 32 GB |
| Operating System | Android | Android | Android 9 Pie |
| Processor Count | 4 | 8 | 4 |
Huawei MediaPad T3 10 inch 32GB tablet review
Design & Build Quality
The design of the MediaPad T3 10 is very similar to other recent tablets from Huawei. It looks very similar to the more expensive MediaPad M3 Lite 10, which I reviewed already. But it is a bit smaller. While we are not getting a full metal body here, the back plate is made out of aluminum. On the sides and on the top there is a plastic frame though.
It’s certainly not the thinnest tablet at 7.95-millimeters but I wouldn’t call it thick either. The weight is 460 grams which are alright too. Because of the metal back, the MediaPad T3 10 feels relatively high-end and, thanks to its rounded edges, it is very comfortable to hold. I like it a bit better than the Lenovo Tab 4 8 or Amazon Fire HD 10 which are both direct competitors.
Case
The back is made from one piece of anodized aluminum, a feature made fashionable by Apple’s iPad. Huawei also builds its tablet in this way, making it available in space gray or a luxurious golden color. However, on the Internet you can currently only find offerings of the gray model with a black front. The case is cleanly built and due to its rounded edges, it fits in the hand nicely. But the screen is not 100% protected: a medium amount of pressure from the back and front will be reflected in the liquid crystal display.
Speakers, Ports & Cameras – Huawei MediaPad T3 10 inch 32GB tablet
There are a micro SD card slot and a micro USB port on the sides. Yes, Huawei is still not giving us a USB Type C port. An HDMI out or fingerprint sensor are missing as well. But, to be fair, no competitor is offering it at this price.
On the bottom, we are getting one single speaker. Considering the price, the sound is not bad at all. But since there is only one at the bottom, it is fairly easy to cover by accident when using it while lying on a sofa or bed.
While the front-facing camera offers a resolution of 2-megapixel, there is a 5-megapixel main camera on the back. Both do not offer the best picture quality. But it is actually good enough. I’ve seen much worse from cheaper devices.
Display
Almost all smartphones offer a higher pixel density than the MediaPad T3 10. Compared to those and higher resolution tablets, icons and texts can look a bit unsharp – for example when reading eBooks. I didn’t mind the lower resolution when watching videos though. As I said, most competitors offer an HD resolution at this price. There is one exception though. The new Amazon Fire HD 10 (review) costs about the same and has a full HD screen.
Even though this tablet is called Huawei MediaPad T3 10, the display has a diagonal of 9.6-inches only. So it’s a bit smaller than most competitors. That makes it a bit handier. At this price, we usually get an HD resolution only and that is the case here as well. The screen offers a resolution of 1280 x 800.
Other aspects of this IPS panel are pretty good. It is bright enough, offers a good contrast and colors look nice. The touchscreen reacts nicely and smoothly as well.
Communication and GPS
With the help of the integrated WLAN modem, the MediaPad T3 10 can communicate with 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. The 802.11 a/b/g/n standards are supported. Considering the maximum achievable speed, the speeds are quite decent but naturally cannot keep up with 802.11 ac devices. Near the router, the full reception is available and the pages are rendered with a slight delay. At a distance of 10 meters (~33 ft) to the router and going through three walls, 3/4 of the reception is still available and rendering the pages takes slightly longer.
The test unit is equipped with a LTE-Cat.7 module, for which a nano-SIM is needed. There is also a Wi-Fi only variant of the tablet, and the price difference is currently about 20 Euros (~$23) on the Internet. In the well-established German D2 network, even indoors in the city, the LTE module often gets LTE reception that is also good in terms of signal quality. However, due to the limited network capacity, especially in populated regions, it is unlikely that the maximum download speed of 300 MBit/s can be reached. Phone calls are also possible – you can find out more in the next section.
Temperature
With the limited performance of the graphics unit, we should expect that the tablet does not warm up too much even under full load. Indeed, the maximum temperature is 32.6 °C (91 °F) at the right side in front. In other places, the device remains cooler, even during prolonged loads. The temperatures are not that much different than those during idle operation.
If the same sequence is rendered thirty times, the frame rates vary only within a small range, as we found out with the battery test of GFXBench. Thus we can deduct that there is no throttling after prolonged loads.
Hardware & Performance
Storage
With 16 GB of storage and 2 GB of working memory, the MediaPad T3 10 is on the standard level for this price class, but the Asus ZenPad 10.0 shows, that you could also build in 32 GB of data storage. Thus, you will have to make do with not less than 10 GB of available storage. In times of streaming and the cloud, this is bearable for a tablet, especially since the storage can be extended via microSD card. It can be formatted as internal or external storage and you can even install apps on the microSD. Huawei does not specify the maximum size of the storage card, but our 64 GB reference card is recognized, so there should not be any problems up to that size. The USB port only operates at USB-2.0 speeds. On the other hand, there is a USB-OTG, so you can connect external data storage.
Processor
As you might expect at this price, the MediaPad T3 10 is not a dedicated gaming tablet. But I did play a lot of games with it without encountering big problems. Games like Asphalt Xtreme, Rayman Adventures or Dead Trigger 2 runs pretty well. That is not the case with Modern Combat 5 though which tends to be very stuttery during action-heavy sequences.
The Snapdragon 425 is certainly not the fastest processor. But it is powerful enough for most things. That includes browsing the web in Chrome, watching YouTube or Amazon Prime Video and working with Microsoft Word. You might see some minor lags though when you’re switching between apps fast or have a lot of stuff opened in the background.
In benchmarks, the tablet gets very similar results to the Lenovo Tab 4 8 and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 which offer almost the same hardware. With Geekbench 4, the MediaPad T3 10 gets 680 and 1900 points. In AnTuTu the result is 37,700. By the way, the new Amazon Fire HD 10 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 are noticeably faster.
Android 7.0 & EMUI 5.1
With the Emotion UI, the design is customized quite heavily. There are a lot of apps pre-installed as well. I wish Huawei would give us a bit lighter version. On the plus side, you can customize the design yourself quite heavily as well. For example, out of the box, the app drawer is missing. But you can activate it in the setting.
There hasn’t been any tablet with Android Oreo yet and the MediaPad T3 10 is no exception. Huawei is shipping it with Android 7.0 Nougat and the EMUI in Version 5.1. That’s the own interface from Huawei. If you’ve ever owned a smartphone or tablet from them in the last couple of years, you’ll feel right at home. The interface is identical to the ones on their recent phones and tablets.
Besides that, it obviously still is normal Android with all the features we are used to. That includes the split screen view. With this feature, you can open two apps side by side. That works pretty well here as well.
I prefer vanilla Android but I can live with the EMUI. If you’re getting this tablet, I would recommend to take some time and go through the settings and pre-installed apps one by one. There are a lot of features and that way you see them all and can decide if you like them or chose to ignore them.
Battery Life
The battery life of the Huawei MediaPad T3 10 is not great. For my battery test, I’m always running the same HD video over and over again, until the tablet shuts itself off. Brightness is set to 50 percent and WiFi is activated. In this test, the MediaPad T3 10 got a runtime of 9 hours and 20 minutes.
Yes, it is a cheaper tablet. But similarly priced competitors like the Lenovo Tab 4 8 and Amazon Fire HD 10 offer a better battery life in the same test.
During my everyday use, the battery was not outstanding too, but I was fine with it. What’s certainly nice: The tablet is not losing a lot of power when the screen is turned off. I wrote down a kind of battery diary again and got a total runtime of 37 hours. In those 37 hours, I used it actively for 6 hours and 10 minutes. During that time, I mainly watched YouTube and played a couple of games. Brightness varied between 50 and 100 percent and Wifi and Bluetooth were both activated.