Huawei Mate X2: Mastering the folding phone formula By BBC Click

This is the Huawei Mate X2 the third iteration of its folding phone and easily its best yet. This time they've changed the format and the folding screen is now protected inside the phone when it's closed, which makes a lot of sense. It's been a pleasure over the last few years to be able to try out so many of these folding phones and see this new category of devices emerge. All the manufacturers have had such different approaches. Huawei's was always unusual because it wrapped the folding display around the outside of the device which looked super cool but did leave that delicate display vulnerable on the outside of the phone. This time around they're taking a leaf out of Samsung's book and putting the folding display on the inside of the phone where it's protected and there is a secondary display on the outside of the device.

Actually, I think they've taken a few leaves out of Samsung's book this time round because this is very similar to the Galaxy Z Fold 2. From the fingerprint reader on the side here to the speaker on the bottom to the camera bump and the chunky hinge. You can judge for yourself. I thought folding phones might be the end of every phone looking largely the same, but here we are. I remember saying when the Galaxy Fold 2 came out that it felt much sturdier than the original and that is the same here.

The Mate X2 is a much better design than the original. When it's open the screen snaps into place. When it closes its snaps shut and it doesn't leave a gap which I think is a big improvement over Samsung's design. This is the first one of these I'd feel comfortable enough to throw in my gym bag like I would with my regular phone. There's something else about this that I think is a fantastic bit of engineering.

When I first started using it it felt really comfortable in my hand and I couldn't quite put my finger on why. I've always been very scared of dropping these folding phones because they are typically very expensive and fragile, but with this one I never felt like I was going to drop it. It just sat very comfortably in my hand. And here's why: the phone is wedge shaped which moves the centre of gravity closer into your right hand. So when you're holding it here... there's less weight over here.

It weighs about 300g, which is more than a regular phone, but because of this it doesn't feel like it. The other thing I really like is the outside display because when this device is closed it's a full size regular smartphone with no compromise. You get pretty much the same experience as you would with a regular Pro Huawei smartphone including the great camera array as you'd expect from a flagship device. If folding phones that turn into tablets are really going to take off then the folding part cannot come at the expense of any other top feature that you would expect on a Pro smartphone and this I think is the closest we've got. In terms of apps things haven't really changed over the last few months.

Huawei is still on that US trade blacklist which means there are no Google services on this device and I think that lets it down at least for a UK audience. I would love to see a manufacturer create a full and uncompromised Android experience without any Google services but it hasn't happened yet. You have to recreate an app store you have to build mapping services you have to get individual app developers to make their software compatible with your ecosystem. It's a lot. I thought Huawei would be the one to do it, but it hasn't really happened yet in full.

This is still a bit of a compromised experience. You will find some popular apps like TikTok in the App Gallery and the company says you can use Petal Search to find others It installs them from a third-party repository, which I think is a bit of a workaround and not a particularly great user experience. Some of the apps even flash up and warn you they may contain security threats. You can find popular apps like Instagram and Spotify that do work and it's really nice to switch between the phone display and tablet mode to see the content fill the screen. I even managed to find Google Maps on there and it worked perfectly.

Although other apps that require Google Maps services like Uber Eats will install but not run. Ultimately, if this is released in the UK or US that will be a huge hurdle and it's a shame because I think Huawei has just designed the finest folding phone so far.

Source : BBC Click