Huawei MateView review: A stunning, innovative screen – but it’s expensive

Huawei made its name in smartphones and networking equipment, but its excellent laptops have shown that it has the chops to succeed in other areas. The most recent one it's moved into is monitors, and its debut effort is the Huawei MateView.

There are many things to love about it, and top of the list is its aspect ratio, which is delightfully different at 3:2. We found this worked supremely well, whether we were focusing on a single window or working on two side by side. It helps that a second thing to love about this monitor is its 3,840 x 2,560 resolution, which translates into a super-sharp 164ppi across the 28.2in diagonal.

Next on our list is the minimalist design, which will have art deco fans weeping with joy. We haven’t yet seen a bezel-less monitor, but with 7mm on the top, left and right edges the MateView comes close. The bottom bezel spoils the symmetry, being 10mm thick, but it holds a secret: you can slide your finger underneath from left to right to pump up the volume up, and the built-in speakers sound great.

This trick is the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Tap the underside and you can access the main menu, which lets you use taps and swipes to intuitively jump to the setting you want. It takes seconds to master: you could ask a five-year-old to switch between sRGB and DCI-P3 colour modes and they would work it out, which we can’t say about most monitors.

What’s more, switching between those two profiles makes a visible difference. Huawei has clearly put plenty of effort into tuning the electronics, with sRGB coverage of 98% and DCI-P3 coverage that’s nearly as good, at 94% out of a 98% volume. Colour accuracy is strong too, with an average Delta E of 0.38 and maximum of 1.01. Only one of our tests could find a weakness, with considerable variation of brightness across the screen – perhaps Huawei has tried too hard to hit the peak brightness of 500cd/m2.

The MateView supports wireless projection from a Windows PC or phone, with Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6 built in, but most people will rely on wires. Here, Huawei makes - in our view - a mis-step: at the rear you’ll find HDMI, mini-DisplayPort and USB Type-C connectors, but the latter is exclusively for the external power supply. If you want to connect a laptop via USB, you’ll need to use a separate USB-C port at the side, spoiling the monitor’s otherwise clean design. That’s also where Huawei puts the MateView's two USB Type-A ports.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is the price. £500 is a lot of money to pay for a monitor – even for such a gorgeous and innovative one. If money is tight, check our guide to the best monitors around: you may well be able to find a display that makes you almost as happy for a much lower price.

Huawei MateView specifications