Hands-on with Huawei MediaPad M5 and M5 Pro tablets: excellent multimedia capabilities and top-notch sound, but third party keyboard docks may not work well
Sascha Segan / PC Magazine :
Context & Ripple Effects
The MediaPad M5 line lands as part of Huawei's February 2018 push: the same event brought the MateBook X Pro Windows laptop at €1499, so the tablets sit at the bottom of a three-tier hardware story. Pricing runs from €349 for the 8-inch Wi-Fi model up to €599 for the 128GB LTE M5 Pro.
Sascha Segan's hands-on verdict splits the line in two: excellent multimedia and sound, but a warning that third-party keyboard docks may not work well — a caveat with history, since Sony's Xperia Z4 tablet was dinged years earlier for exactly this, a useless keyboard dock that made an otherwise strong tablet too expensive.
First-order effects
- Buyers choosing between the €349, €449, and €599 tiers are effectively buying a media device: the review's strength on sound and display is the pitch, while the dock warning means anyone wanting laptop-style productivity should wait or look elsewhere.
Second-order effects
- A weak dock story funnels productivity-minded customers up Huawei's own stack to the €1499 MateBook X Pro, turning the tablet line into an upsell path rather than a 2-in-1 competitor.
Third-order effects
- If the Sony Xperia Z4 pattern holds — great slate hardware undermined by keyboard accessories — Android tablets stay consumption devices and detachable-productivity demand consolidates around laptops with integrated keyboards, a direction Huawei itself later followed with the MatePad Pro's optional keyboard approach.
The trend: Android tablets are settling into premium media-consumption roles while serious keyboard-based productivity migrates to laptops, with accessory quality deciding which side of that line each device lands on.