The Chinese Smartphone firm Huawei probably would not be one of the top choices of your company when it comes to your choice of handheld devices. It is not as popular as the other Smartphone companies such as Apple, Samsung Electronics, LG and HTC, all of which are most preferred by consumers around the globe. This might be the reason that Huawei can be considered as the industry’s most underrated Smartphone companies.
But there is little merit to belittling this company just because the name is not as popular as those of other Smartphone firms. Huawei still has some tricks in its belt, as well as handsets that deliver excellent performance. For instance, a number of its devices have respectable to excellent call quality, making them a perfect pairing for VoIP service providers such as the RingCentral VoIP providers, to name one.
Just this mid-June, Huawei released its latest flagship Smartphone, the Huawei Ascend P6. It is dubbed as the thinnest Smartphone in the world to date, having a thickness of only 6.18mm. But aside from its amazing thinness, what does this handset offer consumers?
An iPhone rip-off?
True, the Huawei Ascend P6 scores a victory by being the world’s thinnest Smartphone, even beating high-end Smartphones such as the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S4. Yet does it fare well when placed side by side with these Smartphones in terms of performance and other specifications?
This Smartphone is also a light device, weighing only 120g. Many tech experts have pointed out to the similarities of this device with the iPhone 5 in terms of design. For example, it has the same flat aluminum sides as well rounded corners. The Huawei Ascend P6 and the iPhone 5 are so similar that it is easy to mistake one for the other. You can only distinguish the tow handset through screen size and the rounded edge bottom—the Ascend P6 has a larger screen than the iPhone 5. Because it also comes in a pink color variant, the Ascend P6 is sometimes kiddingly called the pink iPhone.
Specifications
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| ITEM | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| DISPLAY | 4.7 inch 1280*720 in-cell display |
| DIMENSIONS | Height: 132.65 mm Width: 65.5 mm Depth: 6.18 mm |
| WEIGHT | 120 g (with battery) |
| NETWORK | WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100MHz GSM850/900/1800/1900MHz |
| SIM CARD TYPE | Standard 6-pin micro-SIM card slot. Does not support hot swapping |
| EXTENDED PORT | Standard micro USB port, microSD card slot, and 3.5 mm headset jack |
| CPU | 1.5GHz Quad-core CPU K3V2E |
| OPERATING SYSTEM | Android TM 4.2.2 |
| UI | Emotion UI |
| CAMERA | REAR CAMERA Camera resolution: 8.0-megapixel Photos: up to 3264 x 2448 pixels Videos: up to 1920 x 1080 pixels (1080p) |
| FRONT CAMERA Camera resolution: 5.0-megapixel Photos: up to 2592 x 1952 pixels Videos: up to 1280 x 720 pixels (720p) | |
| Audio | Audio encoding: MP3, WMA 2–9, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, MIDI Audio file formats: MP3, MP4, 3GP, WMA, OGG, AMR, AAC, FLAC, WAV, MIDI |
| Video | Video encoding: MPEG-4, H.264, H.263, Real Video 7–10, WMV 9, XVID, AC3 Video file formats: 3GP, MP4, WMV, RM, RMVB |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS |
| Battery | Capacity: 2000 mAh Charging time: less than four hours |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 3.0 Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 with 480 Mbit/s |
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Though it takes much from the iPhone 5 in terms of design, the Huawei Ascend P6 may disappoint when it comes to actual computing power and other specifications. It does not match the features of the high-end Smartphones in the market today.
For example, the Ascend P6 sports a 4.7’ screen that only has a 720p resolution, which is measly when compared to the full HD resolution of HTC One or Sony Xperia Z. Though this might be the case, the display still looks sufficiently good as to not be considered mid-range.
In terms of performance, the Huawei Ascend P6 is fitted with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor that is coupled with 2GB of RAM. This machine has a decent performance, without any perceptible lag.
One letdown with this Smartphone is that it does not come with 4G LTE network support, although Huawei assured consumers that an Ascend P6 model with LTE will be released probably in November. What it lacks with 4G LTE it makes up for with two impressive cameras. The Huawei Ascend P6 is equipped with an 8MP BSI rear-facing camera, as well as a 5MP front-facing shooter. Its cameras can take excellent photos due to an IMAGESmart Engine that has auto-scene recognition and HDR, among others.
The Huawei Ascend P6 runs on the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system that is completely skinned with Huawei’s own Emotion user interface. This UI is highly customizable, with a number of themes and different screen transition. There is no app menu, however, and the apps are placed on the home screen panel.
About the author: Henry Conrad is a 29-year-old game developer from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Aside from gaming and being a tech junky, he also dabbles in creative writing, which allows him to create great storylines and backgrounds for his characters. Follow him on Twitter and join me in Google +