Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

bought the GOLD version of this Huawei Mate SE for $229 + sales tax from here on amazon. as an iPhone person who recently turned to Huawei, this is a fabulous great phone from Huawei. my iPhone was flaking out because of apple's horrible battery shutdown/slowdown problems. apple jumped the shark trying to fool people about what was really happening with iPhone batteries. anyways, previously got a nice AT&T-branded Huawei Ascend XT2 which was like my training-wheels version to get me ready for this much more powerful unlocked Huawei Mate SE. Huawei got me hooked with its EMUI 5.1 (based on Android 7.0) that is designed to kinda be reminiscent of the iPhone iOS, particularly when you turn off the app drawer, but still a powerful android. so switching to the new Huawei Mate SE was easy peasy. and having 4GB RAM and 64GB storage really helped a lot to make the phone much more comfortable to use without worrying about lack of memory or lack of space. oh, in comparison, looking at the Huawei Honor 7x here on amazon, but for a little bit more in price, the Huawei Mate SE is the definite better buy. both the Huawei Honor 7x and the Huawei Mate SE look the same but the major difference is the Huawei Mate SE is more powerful with the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. and the Huawei Mate SE is available in a GOLD version. my preferred phone gold color version. yea! definite no brainer. got the Huawei Mate SE. myself originally coming from iPhone, my suggestion to others regarding apps to make the transition in finding very good equivalent apps to iPhone's iMessages, Find My iPhone, and Find My Friends, is to go to the Google Play Store to download WhatsApp, Find My Device (from google), and Family Locator GPS Tracker (from Life360). and if you are like me thinking the android app drawer is a bit bothersome, well, you can turn it off in the settings on this Huawei phone. hopefully this advice should get you started if you want to have a more iphone-like experience on a Huawei phone. my journey is complete moving from iPhone to android where this Huawei Mate SE has become my primary phone. using this phone on AT&T and have 4G LTE. the Wi-Fi is only regular 2.5GHz wifi -- without the 5GHz wifi option (the Huawei Ascend XT2 has both 2.5GHz wifi and 5GHz wifi) but that's just fine if all your WiFi access is mostly to regular 2.5GHz wifi wherever you go and wherever you happen to be. personally still carry an iPhone as a backup phone in my go bag, but this Huawei Mate SE is my main phone now. went through other android phones, then recently got the aforementioned Huawei Ascend XT2, and now have this absolutely beautiful gorgeous Huawei Mate SE. physically very iphone-like and almost similar to the iPhone 7+ with the metal body plus with the dual camera on the back in the top corner like on the iPhone 8+ and then with the more modern 18:9 size front screen like on the iPhone X but without the iPhoneX ugly notch. also this Huawei Mate SE has a real must-have earphone jack. and this absolutely beautiful powerful phone performs smoothly with no lag. and Huawei seems to be hinting that Android 8 and most likely a newer EMUI are on the way for this and other Huawei phones for sometime during March 2018 or whenever. [edit: Honor 7x beta testing Android 8 and EMUI 8 began March 15. with maybe possible full release in April? (because news also reports Honor India says April for official release.) Huawei Mate SE should presumedly also get the android8 upgrade in the same timeframe sometime soonish whenever thereabouts is my guess....] so this phone will get even better with huawei support. yes, this Huawei Mate SE is very satisfactory. very happy with this phone. PS: people have commented in other reviews that if you turn on bluetooth, then the Wi-Fi slows down. this has particularly been reported in amazon reviews for the Honor 7x, and at least one other person mentioned it in a review here for the Huawei Mate SE. so, did a speed test to see what happens with my Huawei Mate SE on my home wifi internet: (1) wifi + no bluetooth had 47Mbps wifi internet speed; but (2) wifi + bluetooth turned on had 31Mbps wifi internet speed. this was tested using the Fast dot com website (which is reportedly owned by Netflix). okay this is with an ARRIS TG2472G cable modem with built-in WiFi that can handle both 2.5GHz and 5GHz, but only 2.5GHz is relevant for the Huawei Mate SE, where my home internet is on the Cox Internet Preferred 100 Plan, and so my plan's internet speed can be as high as 100Mbps on the 5GHz side but typically half that on the 2.5GHz side. of course, we are only concerned with the 2.5GHz wifi. turning on bluetooth and getting 30+ Mbps wifi internet speed doesn't matter in a noticeable way to me on my home internet plan. however, if your home internet is much slower like on a basic starter plan with a maximum speed of 10Mbps or less, then proportionally any decreased wifi speed with bluetooth turned on could possibly be noticeable to you. sorry, if you are a big bluetooth user. me not use an android gear watch or bluetooth earphones. if you really don't use bluetooth, then keep the BT off and this issue won't matter to you when you are on wifi. but if you are out away from home trying to use free wifi which can be congested or which may have throttled speeds already, then this BT issue could affect you -- and so maybe just use cellular data in that situation if you really need your BT. personally, this BT issue is not a deal killer for me. this is a great phone imho. PSS: okay maybe the bluetooth-wifi issue is a load of hooey. tried testing wifi internet speed with the bluetooth turned on while on the Wi-Fi at my parents' home where they have a DLink 2.5GHz wifi router and where my folks are on the Cox basic starter internet plan that has an advertised max speed of 10Mbps: (1) wifi + no bluetooth had wifi internet speeds of 9.8Mbps and 11Mbps; but (2) wifi + bluetooth turned on had wifi internet speeds of 8.4Mbps and 10Mbps. this was tested using the Fast dot com website (which is owned by Netflix). it's like no difference whether bluetooth is turn on or off as to the effect on wifi. but other real life factors could be involved -- that's for any picky bluetooth users to test, such as also using their particular bluetooth devices, because at this point, this so-called bluetooth-wifi issue is a non-issue for me. but my guess is if there is any effect, then it's a combination of your wifi router and/or your bluetooth device(s). (yeah, have previously seen differences in using a bluetooth speaker on my macbook versus on my iphone.) in other words, YMMV. bottomline as far as the Huawei Mate SE goes, get the phone, and if you are like me then you'll most likely love the phone. Another PS: (03/29/2018) just got the latest android security patch dated March 1, 2018 for the android 7 on this Huawei Mate SE. this is update version B130. it's not android 8 yet. comments elsewhere over on the xda-developer forum indicate that testing for android 8 (and also presumedly emui 8) on Huawei Mate SE may occur after testing is finished for the Honor7x. my guess at this point is to expect beta testing in April(?) or May(?) with official final distribution sometime soonish afterwards?? just have to wait and see. okay yeah would love to right now have android 8 (with treble to allow for more timely updates?), but this Huawei Mate SE, with android 7.0 and EMUI 5.1, plus with the latest android security update, is a very good reasonably up-to-date secure phone. my bottomline recommendation still stands to say this Huawei Mate SE is definitely a great phone very much worth getting. Yet Another PS (04/17/2018): GSMARENA indicates that Huawei Honor 7x to get EMUI 8, based on Android 8, to officially roll out with final release in May 2018. so maybe beta testing of Android 8 & EMUI 8 for Huawei Mate SE will occur sometime thereafter? could be looking at June/July for official final release on Huawei Mate SE is my current guess?? we'll see.... meanwhile, me currently still very happy with my Huawei Mate SE. oh, an app tip for those who use their Huawei Mate SE in the car: if you need a car app for playing your music and handling your calls & texts while driving, myself using the DRIVEMODE free app (found in the google play store). imho, it's better than Android Auto. can activate & turn off Drivemode from notifications, and overlay Drivemode on top of the music app, plus easy swipes & taps to control my tunes, and big buttons for answering calls & texts as well as voice control to answer calls and to read/answer texts. (oh, with the overlay, you may want to fully increase screen brightness & turn off the eye comfort.) drivemode works great with my whatsapp also. and particularly, the bigger controls (swipe or tap anywhere on the screen) makes it easy to manage my music tunes while driving, kinda sorta like on my old iphone, but different & better on my Huawei Mate SE which is usually docked on the dashboard of my car when me out driving. hope you all are enjoying your Huawei Mate SE (or soon will be if you are looking to get one). Still Yet Another PS (05/09/2018): there are discussion messages over on XDA-Developers that indicate an Over-The-Air update to Android 8.0 is being pushed out in batches to Huawei Mate SE. the batches are apparently randomly sent out and so you may not get it right away. still hasn't shown up on mine yet. sounds like minor changes, but have to wait to see. good luck and enjoy your Huawei Mate SE. PS Update (May 11, 2018): finally got the Android 8.0 & EMUI 8.0 update. see attached picture. if you have a Huawei Mate SE, you should also be getting this update. yes, this is the phone worth getting. Thanks, Huawei! ADDENDUM: after updating to Android 8.0 (EMUI 8.0), some apps like Swarm, Yelp, weather apps, etc may not show maps inside those apps and may instead state an error message stuck on saying: Google Play Services are updating. you have to clear the data for Google Play Services in the settings app. Settings > Google > Location > Google Play services > Storage > and then clear both Cache (Clear Cache) and Data (Manage Data > Clear All Data) -- and that should fix the maps inside apps.