Huawei’s consumer business group head Richard Yu on stage introducing the Super Device eco-system.
While Huawei continues to release smartphones, the Chinese tech giant is continue to pivot its consumer business model to place greater emphasis on a wider range of products. We’ve seen smart sunglasses and smart speakers. Now comes an entire smart office setup.
Huawei unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona yesterday a slew of new computing products, including a new laptop, all-in-one computer (like an iMac), 2-in-1 tablet, and a printer. These products all work fine by themselves, but they’re better together, forming what Huawei calls “Super Device,” a software system that links all these products together for seamless and back-and-forth interaction.
Of the new products, I was able to just try out the new laptop, MateBook X Pro, and the new printer, PixLab 1, but I have other Huawei gadgets to which those could connect for a “Super System.”
While there are some software quirks for now, the experience worked well and almost as seamless as Huawei advertises.
Huawei products connected to each other.
Huawei’s vision with “Super Device” is that the PC/laptop is the center of the universe, around which everything revolves. The new 2022 edition of Huawei’s MateBook X Pro laptop ships with Windows 11, but with a “Huawei Control Panel” app built in (older Huawei laptops and PCs can download the software). This is where you can connect other Huawei devices nearby. Assuming they’re all connected to the same Wi-Fi network, the moment you turn on Huawei’s Control Panel app, you will already see a map of sorts, showing other Huawei devices nearby in the form of floating icons. From here, you can just drag the icons to the center (the laptop) and pairing begins.
A promotional image showing the Huawei Control Panel app.
I can, for example, pair my laptop with the Huawei tablet (MatePad) via this method and use the tablet as a second screen. This is nothing new—Apple’s iPad can also double as a second screen for a Mac. However, Huawei’s connection offers more usability. In addition to using the tablet as a second display, you can also use it as a hard drive, meaning you can access files inside the tablet directly on the laptop. You can also interact with the laptop’s Windows apps on the tablet and take advantage of the latter’s superior touch screen and stylus support.
Dragging a file from Huawei’s Windows laptop to a Huawei tablet
Keep in mind, unlike the Mac and iPad, Huawei’s connection here is connecting two entirely different software developed by different teams: Huawei’s MateBook X Pro laptop runs Microsoft’s Windows 11, while the Huawei MatePad tablet runs Huawei’s HarmonyOS. Despite this, connection was seamless, without a noticeable lag.
Another useful connection is tethering the laptop to a Huawei smartphone. Once connected, you not only get a mirrored version of the Huawei phone screen on the laptop screen, but you can also interact with the phone and its apps directly on the laptop. You can, for example, open the smartphone’s WhatsApp and respond to a message entirely on the laptop, without ever touching the phone. The laptop can also access the phone’s files directly within Window’s file browser.
A Huawei laptop showing a Huawei phone’s camera app.
The Huawei PixLab 1.
As for Huawei’s new printer, it’s pretty much a typical printer, except it has a clean, stylish design and has a “Huawei Share” NFC pad that allows any Huawei smartphone to beam files over instantly via a tap. It can also connect to Huawei laptops or tablets and print things wirelessly.
There were some software quirks. For example, the printer took a few tries before my laptop could find and connect to it, and right now, the laptop can only connect to one other secondary display wireless at once—if I’m wirelessly connected to the MatePad and I try to also connect to the MateView monitor, the former connection ends. The Super Device ecosystem and software is still in its early days, and some of these products have just been announced, so there’s time for software to be refined before commercial release.
Having a connected ecosystem is not new—Apple’s doing it perhaps better than anyone right now. Samsung also has one, too. But Huawei’s Super Device is a bit more ambitious, allowing not just one way but two way connectivity. In the overly segmented Android/Windows devices space, having a group of items play nice with each other is a major benefit.