Once you get around the strange, human/robotic love connotations of naming a device the "Mate," it turns out Huawei's made yet another premium handset capable of competing with the big names.
The Mate S is a lovely little handset, with a premium metal body, clocking in at a slim 2.65 mm. Like its labelmate, the Huawei Watch, the smartphone has as high quality a build as any of the competition's flagship devices.
On the rear of the device is a fingerprint sensor that also doubles as a selfie button, because that's a thing that everyone apparently needs from their phones these days.
But the real trick of the device is its force touch. Huawei made waves by beating Apple to the feature by a full week or so. In Huawei's case, the touch responds to the level of pressure applied to complete a much wider variety of tasks than normal swiping and tapping alone.
You can also, get this, use your knuckles. Yep, your fingers just aren't cutting it anymore when it comes to getting the most out of your handset. With the oddly named Knuckle 2.0, users can use the joints on their fingers to perform tasks like cropping photos and loading apps by drawing the first letter of their name.
That's just the start, of course. It'll be interesting to see how third-party app developers begin implementing the pressure-sensitive technologies - particularly after Apple trots it out on stage in San Francisco next week.
Meantime, European customers will be able to pick up the fast-charging device this month starting at 640 euros, or about $713 USD. Sadly, however, it seems the Mate S is not destined for the States.
