TechRadar Verdict
Huawei’s new 34-inch gaming panel is beautifully built and engineered. It’s fabulous value for money. But despite a 165Hz refresh rate, it’s a little short on pixel response. The audio quality of the impressive-looking soundbar is also disappointing.
Pros
- +
Fabulous engineering and build quality
- +
Strong feature set
- +
Excellent colors and contrast
Cons
- -
Mediocre pixel response
- -
Disappointing sound quality
- -
Limited HDR performance
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Two-minute review
The new Huawei MateView GT has landed like a bomb into the slightly stale PC monitor market. This 34-inch ultrawide gaming panel isn’t perfect. In many ways, it’s not terribly innovative, but by some measures it makes most other monitors look cheap and lazy.
The headline stats don’t reveal anything too radical. To be sure, a 34-inch curved monitor with 3,440 by 1,440 pixels, 165Hz refresh and USB-C connectivity with device charging (note charging power is limited to just 10W) is a very nice on-paper package.
It’s attractively priced, too, at $499 / £499 (around AU$700). OK, it lacks really cutting-edge features like full-array local dimming, and the HDR performance is limited. But monitors with features like that cost hundreds more.
Instead, what the Huawei MateView GT gives you that few other monitors can match at any price is outstanding industrial design and build quality. This thing looks and feels like a million bucks.
Even the height adjustment of the stand feels satisfying and expensive. In device segments like smartphones and laptops, premium build quality has become a distinct selling point and thus relatively widespread. Not so for monitors which are generally plasticky and dated.
There are a few exceptions, including Samsung’s Odyssey range of gaming panels. But none come close to the lush material vibe of the Huawei MateView GT.
Likewise none have design flourishes as slick and well-executed as the Huawei MateView GT’s touch-sensitive, programmable RGB light strip that doubles as a volume control. It’s ultimately a gimmick, but an awfully pleasing one all the same.
Then there’s the elaborately integrated soundbar built into the base. It’s very neatly done, though it is a pity and quite surprising that the sound quality is so very muddy and flat.
As for what any monitor is ultimately all about, image quality, the - well - picture is a bit more mixed. Huawei has gone for a VA panel and the consequence is vibrant, rich colours with bags of contrast. The flip side is mediocre pixel response, hinted at by the 4ms claimed response times.
Huawei has included several levels of user-configurable overdrive in the MateView GT’s OSD menu. But even set to full reheat, the pixel response isn’t that great, while overshoot increasingly becomes a problem.
In-game, rather than nit picking via arbitrary test images, the response is actually OK. And the 3,440 by 1,440 native resolution is arguably a perfect compromise between speed and graphical detail. The 34-inch curved form factor is also awfully sweet, the net result of which is a fantastically immersive experience in everything from epic adventure titles like Witcher III to graphics-heavy driving extravaganzas like the Forza series.
All of which makes the Huawei MateView GT pretty extraordinary, if a little flawed. For the money, the combination of curved 1440p ultrawide 165Hz gaming with pretty much unprecedented engineering and design is certainly something special. But niggles like poor sound quality, mediocre pixel response and limited USB-C charging power prevent it from being an absolute smash hit.
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