Unfolded brilliance

MATE XT: BALANCED IN THE HAND, WORKS AS DUAL SCREEN DEVICE

- Arthur Goldstuck

What is it? The Huawei Mate XT is a foldable device that gives us a glimpse into the future of personal devices.

As opposed to a "once upon a time" story, this is a science fiction epic from the world of "what if...?"

It is the first tri-fold smartphone, and it could have gone badly wrong, if we recall the tragic tales of the first dual-screen handsets, with peeling screens and eye-peeling prices.

The protagonist of this story is elegant, precise, quietly powerful and... beautiful. However, that is how the story ends.

In chapter one, the XT is folded, and it looks like a conventional phone, if slightly thicker than usual. The front display is a bright 6.4-inch OLED panel with slim bezels and rich colour reproduction.

With a resolution of 2232 x 1008 pixels, it delivers satisfying high-definition display quality.

"Satisfaction" comes up often in this story plot.

What it gets right is a story best told by comparing it with the Samsung Z Fold series.

Lying side by side with the 2-screen Fold 6, it appears to solve two problems: each half of the Fold had the thickness of a regular smartphone, making the folded device as bulky as two phones, while its front display had been narrowed to 6.3-inches, making it only just suitable for multitasking.

The XT retains the width of a regular handset, at 156.7 x 73.5mm, for a 6.4-inch display, while its 12.8mm bulk - not very far from the Fold's 12.1mm - has a decent excuse - three screens folded into one.

In chapter two, the XT is unfolded once, with the two screens transforming the device into a 7.19-inch near-square tablet.