Huawei has announced a more affordable version of its MediaPad M5 tablet during CES 2019 in Las Vegas, increasing the screen size but reducing the power to bring it to consumers for under $300.

Bigger, but less powerful

The tablet, which comes with a "Lite" suffix, features a 10.1-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS display and measures 162.31 x 243.33 x 7.62mm. It weighs just 475.14g

It sits alongside the already available MediaPad M5 and MediaPad M5 Pro and will be released in the "coming weeks".

Huawei has opted for a much bigger screen on this model; 10.1-inch compared to 8.4-inch. However, it features the Huawei Kirin 659 Octa-core processor which is not as powerful as the chipset in its stablemates.

It's definitely still interesting though, with iPad Pro-style curved glass for rounded edges and 3GB of RAM. There is also 32GB of onboard storage with the option to expand further via MicroSD.

Other tech specs of note include a fingerprint scanner, USB-C charging, two 8-megapixel cameras (front and back) and Android 8 Oreo from the box. 

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M-Pen lite stylus

Unlike Apple and Microsoft, Huawei doesn't force you to buy an optional stylus. The company's own M-Pen Lite stylus is included in the box as standard. Designed to look like a Parker Vector pen, it is metal and well built, although seemingly not as responsive as we would like in a brief play during our CES briefing. 

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Kid's Corner

For those with children, Huawei bundles dedicated software called Kid's Corner that allows you to restrict child use to a dedicated area away from your emails and other age sensitive apps.

It is a move that is likely to appeal to many parents as the Kid's Corner app can be directly accessed by kids using the fingerprint sensor. That means they don't have to remember a pin code and the device supports multiple users and will store multiple fingerprints - adults' too.

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Availability

The Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite will be available soon in the US and cost $299. The M-Pen lite stylus is included in the box.

It is already available in the UK, with Amazon, John Lewis and Argos.