Huawei Ascend Mate7 review: Stargazer

Performance

Huawei Ascend Mate7 runs on company's latest developed chipset - the Kirin 925. It has an octa-core processor with four Cortex-A15 cores clocked at 1.8GHz and four energy-efficient Cortex-A7 cores running at 1.3GHz. The Kirin 925 utilizes Mali-T628 GPU and 2GB of RAM (or 3GB of RAM, if you get the 32GB model).

Even though the Mate7 display is 6", it uses 1080p resolution, which means the phablet should provide a flagship performance. Let's see how it stacks against the competition.

So, our first test inspects the raw CPU performance, and quite expectedly, the Huawei Ascend Mate7's octa-core CPU demonstrates a stellar performance, a hair below the octa-core Galaxy Alpha.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  3214
• Oppo Find 7
  3178
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  3165
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  3011
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2925
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  2884
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  2670
• LG G3 - EU version
  2563
• HTC One Max
  1899
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1895
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  1522

The compound AnTuTu 5 benchmark reflects the performance of CPU, GPU, RAM and storage. The score is on par with the Snapdragon 801 devices like the Galaxy S5, and a noticeable improvement over the previous Kirin 910T chipset within the Ascend P7.

AnTuTu 5

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  51905
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  46824
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  43164
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  41510
• LG G3 - EU version
  39905
• Huawei Ascend P7
  28758

BaseMark OS II is another compound test that adds web performance into the equation as well. Unfortunately, the overall result is behind the curve, possibly because of a lower graphic sub-system performance.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  1222
• Oppo Find 7
  1212
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  1181
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  1168
• LG G3 - EU version
  1126
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  915
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  830
• HTC One Max
  588
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  542

Just as we suspect, the single-core power is on par with the Snapdragon 801 gang while the combined performance of all eight cores is top of the class and equal to the Galaxy Alpha's same octa-core processor.

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4031
• Oppo Find 7
  2606
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2588
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  2579
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  2415
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  2334
• LG G3 - EU version
  2213
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  1666

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  15096
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  15012
• Oppo Find 7
  10391
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  10063
• LG G3 - EU version
  9611
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  9604
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  9446
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  6662

Huawei Ascend Mate7 comes with Mali-T628 GPU, but Huawei didn't specify the number of GPU cores. For example Samsung Galaxy Alpha uses Mali-T628MP6, which means it is a hexa-core graphic accelerator. The first test we ran is the BaseMark X and Huawei Ascend Mate7 posted quite poor result, close to the HTC One Max, but twice lower than the current flagship crop.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18684
• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18297
• Oppo Find 7
  14968
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11744
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  11606
• LG G3 - EU version
  11552
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  11065
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  6501
• HTC One Max
  5353
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  1976

We continue with the GPU torture on the GFX Benchmark. Huawei Ascend Mate7 demonstrated really poor off-screen performance on both 2.7 T-Rex and 3.0 Manhattan tests, much lower than Galaxy Alpha. This makes us believe Ascend Mate7 is probably using a dual-core Mali-T628MP2 GPU.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  44.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  41.7
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  31.3
• Oppo Find 7
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• LG G3 - EU version
  27.2
• Sony Xperia Z Ultra
  23
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  16.4
• HTC One Max
  14
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.3
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  5.8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  18.6
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  18.5
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  13.4
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.8
• LG G3 - EU version
  11.4
• Oppo Find 7
  11.1
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  8
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  2

The uninspiring scores continue on the onscreen benchmarks as well, confirming the Mate7 runs on lesser Mali-T628 GPU than the one in Galaxy Alpha.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  48.4
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  26.4
• LG G3 - EU version
  20.5
• Oppo Find 7
  19.9
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  17.4
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.4
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  10.8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  25.3
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  11.2
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  8.5
• LG G3 - EU version
  7.2
• Oppo Find 7
  6.7
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  4.3

Finally, we put the Huawei Ascend Mate7 through the JavaScript-centric Kraken benchmark and the compound web BrowserMark 2.1 test. The Mate7 handles JavaScript very well, but its overall performance is behind the competition.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  4650
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  4911
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  5351
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  5567
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  6043
• Oppo Find 7
  6363
• LG G3 - EU version
  6987
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  20366

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 6 Plus
  3389
• Samsung Galaxy Note 4
  2208
• LG G3 - EU version
  1474
• Oppo Find 7
  1452
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  1364
• Huawei Ascend Mate2 4G
  822
• Huawei Ascend Mate7
  795

Huawei Ascend Mate7 is a powerful flagship with great raw CPU performance, but uninspiring GPU output. The Mali-T628 will do for most of the powerful games out there, but Huawei could have added some additional GPU cores. For what's worth, the Ascend Mate7 isn't slow, on the contrary - it offers buttery smooth Android OS and task switching and we had no problems while running heavy-duty tasks and games. But it could have been definitely better, future-proof.