Huawei has taken the wraps off its much-awaited Mate 8 smartphone on Friday, Nov. 26, and the 6-inch phablet is poised for a Q1 2016 release.

The all-metal Huawei Mate 8 is also called the Ascend Mate 8 and the Mate 7 is also known as the Ascend Mate 7.

While Huawei sticks to the same screen size for the phablet, it has introduced a speedier processor and better camera for the Mate 8.

We take a look at which of the two Huawei smartphones - the Huawei Mate 8 or the Huawei Mate 7 - is the better companion for technophiles.

Display

The Huawei Mate 7 has a 6-inch FHD screen with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and 368ppi. The device has Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The Huawei Mate 8 also boasts a 6-inch FHD screen with the same pixel resolution. The new smartphone, however, has Corning Gorilla Glass 4 for protection, which is better than the older iteration's Gorilla Glass.

Processor

The Mate 8 houses a more powerful and speedier octa-core processor and the Chinese company's latest Kirin 950 SoC (quad-core 2.3GHz + quad-core 1.8 GHz).

The older-gen Mate 7 also has an octa-core processor with the Kirin 925 SoC (quad-core 1.8GHz + quad-core 1.3 GHz).

Since the Huawei Mate 8 is the next iteration of the smartphone, like all next-gen versions, it is only natural that the successor packs in CPU improvements and enhancements. Additionally, the Mate 8 has an i5 Intelligent Processor which is touted as the "most powerful coprocessor currently available," giving it an edge over the Mate 7.

The i5 coprocessor provides the Mate 8 with hardware support. "It supports speech recognition, low-power consumption MP3, all the functions of a sensor hub, fused location provider (FLP) navigation and reduces location-based power consumption," notes Huawei.

Memory And Storage

The Huawei Mate 8 comes in three storage options vis-à-vis the Mate 7's two. The Mate 8's 32GB model will boast 3GB of RAM, whereas the 64GB storage option model will have 4GB of RAM and the 128GB variant will also have 4GB of RAM.

By contrast, the predecessor Ascend Mate 7 is available in 16GB, which has 2GB of RAM and the 32GB variant with 3GB of RAM.

Both the handsets have an expandable memory option via a microSD card slot (up to 128GB).

Camera

The Mate 7 is equipped with a 13MP rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash. On the other hand, the new Mate 8 comes with a 16MP primary camera with autofocus and dual-LED (dual tone) flash.

The Mate 8 has an improved 8MP selfie camera while the Mate 7 comes with a 5MP front-facing camera.

Battery

A powerful 4,100mAh battery powers the Mate 7. However, a slightly smaller 4,000mAh battery fuels the new Mate 8.

Colors

The Mate 7 is available only in black or white colors. The new Mate 8 will be available in four hues: Mocha Brown, Space Gray, Champagne Gold and Moonlight Silver.

Operating System

The Mate 7 comes running on Android 4.4 KitKat straight out of the box. The handset has also received Android 5.1 Lollipop software update.

However, the Mate 8 has Android 6.0 Marshmallow preinstalled, which means customers will be able to access new features of the latest Android operating system.

While Huawei will offer additional details on the Mate 8 at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show, it is safe to assume that the phablet will be a better buy for technophiles compared to the Mate 7. For one thing, it packs in a better front-facing (and primary) camera which will go down well with selfie lovers. The faster processor will also enable smoother browsing.

The Mate 8 has some exciting new features such as a defragmenter, eRecovery and a power-saving firewall. It will also offer better navigation, roaming and payment support compared to the Mate 7.

Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr

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