Not that the Huawei MediaPad is something totally new and unknown, Huawei is even advertizing it on the::unwired already, it's nevertheless yet not available and still brand new. Huawei and Google jointly announced it last month as the first Android 3.2/Honeycomb tablet and today I had my first five minutes with Huawei's first high-end Android tablet. Featuring a 7" capacitive touchscreen, the MediaPad is powered by a Qualcomm dual-core CPU at 1.2 GHz and is expected to support HSPA+ up to 14.4 Mbps as well as WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth. Furthermore the device features a HDMI-out port as well as a separate micro USB port for charging (lovely!).

According to Huawei, the MediaPad is the company's smartest, slimmest and lightest tablet yet. It supports 1080p full HD video playback and features a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera as well 5 megapixel auto focus rear facing camera with HD video recording capabilities.

Personally I can say I fell in love with the aluminum unibody design which follows the the HTC Legend, Apple MacBook Air and even Audi A5 design language! While the device I got my hands on was turned off (but most likely we all can imagine how Android 3.2 will look like), the hardware itself felt rock-solid! Also the MediaPad made me thinking again that a 7" tablet might be the perfect size. It's not too large so it can be easily carried but still large enough to do things a smartphone might be too tiny for.

Yet no further information when Huawei will launch the MediaPad at which price but the initial announcement said that a launch is expected for anytime 2nd half 2011. In any case, it seems Huawei is on the right track and might have a real winner in the pipeline!

Cheers ~ Arne