Huawei MateView GT Gaming Monitor Review

Huawei surprised us quite a bit when they announced their entry into the Gaming Monitor space, so we’re taking a look at this new family of products.

The Huawei MateView GT is a 34-inch curved monitor with a 3K resolution (3440×1440), a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz, and AMD’s Freesync technology support. It comes with a stand that clips in the back of the monitor and plenty of connectivity options.

The monitor’s response time is 4ms (milliseconds), which is the fastest the IPS LCD technology can support. It’s great for most people, but extremely competitive players might want a response time of 1ms which is achievable with TN LCD panels. That said, IPS technology has superior color rendering when compared to TN.

The stand has a neatly integrated soundbar (2x5W) that provides a powerful sound. It is great for watching videos or playing games at your desk or in your room.

The sound quality is good and distortion-free but doesn’t have as much “body” as large external speakers with more bass: that’s completely normal. For games that rely on surround sounds as in-game cues, headphones might remain the best option as it would be difficult to get a similar surround sound quality from the soundbar.

There’s a dual-microphone setup tuned to remove echo and other unwanted noises. It’s great for video calls, but a dedicated microphone will yield a more natural sound.

You can adjust the volume with a simple touch on the speaker’s light “bar.” The touch motion is highly intuitive to use and a great design. That light is RGB and supports programmable effects, including cycles, but I prefer something relatively dim that won’t be a distraction.

The LCD panel yields excellent colors, with a 100% sRGB color gamut (delta-E < 2%) and about 400 NITs of brightness. These specs also mean this monitor could be a good option for video editing and other creative activities. This monitor fully supports HDR10, which might be handy as more and more games have native HDR10 support.

A small four directions joystick controls the on-screen settings, and that’s a great idea. It sure beats the intense frustration often induced by using the volume buttons and a “menu” button as it’s much easier to go up/down/left/right + confirm with the joystick. I love this, and I am sure that other OEMs will copy it soon.

The 21:9 aspect ratio gives you a very “cinematic” view, and if you find content in this native format, it looks absolutely stunning. The 3K resolution makes text look significantly better (vs. wide HD), and you would be able to notice the difference when using your computer for mundane tasks such as browsing.

Because it is a curved display, it’s best to sit right in front of it, at the center. When people look at your screen from the sides, the image won’t be as clear across the panel for them, so be mindful of this if you often have other people staring at your screen.

To have an optimal position, Huawei made it super-easy to adjust the height or tilt of the panel. I was able to do that with one hand, and after that, the monitor firmly remained in place. I have a bunch of monitors in the office that could use this kind of flexibility. A poorly positioned monitor doesn’t affect only your vision and is often the source of back and neck problems.

In the rear, there’s a panel that hides the connectors, and you will find plenty of connectivity options:

I like having a USB-C cable for the power source because this makes it easier to power this display with a dock and re-use the power cable to charge a laptop or a phone in a pinch. Unfortunately, the Power USB-C connector cannot transport data simultaneously, making the monitor a 2-cables solution.

The monitor was well-packaged, and the assembly of the stand is effortless. Inside the box, there’s the power supply and (USB-C) power cable, but also three more male-male cables:

Sold for around $499.99, the Huawei MateView GT seems like it has a lot of competition in the 34-inch monitor space. It’s not difficult to find quality gaming monitors from established brands from $399 and up.

However, many have a much lower refresh rate, and keep in mind that plenty of gaming monitors do not have built-in speakers at all (or have lousy speakers), so the MateView integrated speakers could sway a purchase here.

Overall, the neat industrial design and the presence of a quality sound system are the comparative points to look at.

Filed in Computers. Read more about Huawei, Huawei Reviews, Monitors and Social Hit.