Update 1/8/19: We have two hands-on videos of the new MediaPad M5 Lite for you to watch. One of the videos is by our one and only TK Bay from XDA TV. The other is by Jaime Rivera from our sister site PocketNow. Check them out below!

At the 2018 Mobile World Congress, Huawei announced the Huawei MediaPad M5 series of tablets, which aim to provide a high-end experience in tablet form. In September later that year, Huawei unveiled the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite, a mid-range tablet which aimed to be even more affordable than the standard M5 lineup. The MediaPad M5 Lite features a 10.1-inch display, a stylus, and quad speakers for around €300. At CES 2019, Huawei has announced that this tablet will be available in the United States from retailers such as Amazon and Newegg from the end of January. The Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite is powered by the HiSilicon Kirin 659 chipset and has 3GB of RAM at a price of $299. Given that the tablet market is rather stale across the globe, this is one of the few modern options from a big brand.

Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite

Specs

Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite

Display

10.1-inch IPS LCD 1920x1200

Chipset

HiSilicon Kirin 659

RAM

3GB

Storage

32GB + microSD up to 256GB

Rear Cameras

8MP

Front Camera

8MP

Battery

7,500mAh

Software

Android 8.0 Oreo with EMUI 8

Misc

USB-C port, QuickCharge in less than 3 hours, headphone jack

This is not a high-powered tablet for gaming, but it's a decent device for multimedia viewing. With a large 10-inch FHD display, expandable storage, and a large battery, it will handle most media consumption use cases. In addition, the MediaPad M5 Lite has quad speakers for loud, clear audio when watching movies or listening to music. When it does eventually run out of power, Huawei claims that it will quick charge in less than three hours. Lastly, unlike its larger sibling, the M5 Lite does have a headphone jack.

If you want to use the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite as a drawing tablet, you can do so with the included "M-Stylus" which supports pressure sensitivity so that you can have more accuracy when drawing on your tablet. Other miscellaneous features include a fingerprint sensor, a 2.5D display, and family mode. It is launching in the U.S. in Space Gray and will be available for purchase towards the end of the month.

Join the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite Forums!

Note: Huawei has stopped providing official bootloader unlock codes for its devices. Therefore, the bootloader of the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite cannot be unlocked, which means that users cannot root or install custom ROMs.


Update: Hands-on with the Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite