Previews

Huawei Ascend P2 Hands-On

Faster than Bolt, Thinner than Moss

Huawei Ascend P2 Hands-On
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A day before Mobile World Congress kicked off, Huawei unveiled the Ascend P2 smartphone.

Slotted in the Chinese manufacturers fashion range, sitting one step below the top, the P2 has a slimline chassis and one of its most advanced displays to date.

We got a chance to have a brief play with one at their official unveiling event, which joins a 2013 line-up that comprises of the flagship full-HD Ascend D2 smartphone and the phone-cum-tablet Ascend Mate.

The phone

The phone is slim, light, powerful and now it's superfast too, thanks to its support of LTE category 4 for mobile data speeds of up to 150Mbps.

With a summer release planned, the Ascend P2 should hit the streets just in time for all the other UK operators to switch on their own 4G service to run alongside EE.

The handset itself is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, with 1GB of RAM and a 2,420mAh battery that should hold everything together as a device that can last a whole day, evening and night between charges.

Huawei has also included a range of power saving features, which it claims can reduce power consumption by 30%, from managing applications and screen brightness to an optimised Wi-Fi performance.

The front of the phone sports a Gorilla Glass screen that wraps around the front and down to the base, seemingly like a waterfall - according to Huawei. I couldn't say I really noticed it as being particularly special, but the 8.4mm thick case is certainly quite appealing given the amount of tech packed inside.

The P2 is also available in black or white.


Like a waterfall, apparently Display

The screen itself is a 4.7-inch 720x1280 in-cell touch display with a 1000:1 contrast ratio. At 315 pixels-per-inch, it's not as high as the D2 (which has a full 1080x1920 pixel screen) but the P2 can be used even when wearing gloves - and it's reportedly brighter too.

The in-cell technology brings the image closer to the glass, improving the overall vibrancy of the display – although I couldn't help but notice that it still can't keep glare at bay (or fingermarks, for that matter). Taking a photo of the screen proved rather tricky, but it did look fantastic in the flesh and would surely look amazing indoors.


It's been emotional - the Huawei homescreen with custom widgets Camera

The phone was built as slim as it could possibly be to incorporate a 13-megapixel backside illuminated sensor, with HDR and a unique '2x zoom Super Resolution' that claims to keep images sharp even when using digital zoom. This will certainly be something of interest to put to the test.

A dedicated camera button also makes it quick and easy to fire up the camera, a feature I am always a big fan of.

Interface

Sitting on top of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) comes Huawei's own Emotion UI, an alternative app launcher and homescreen that can be themed (with a choice of hundreds of themes) and comes with a selection of widgets to convey useful information at-a-glance.

There are also folders for apps and shortcuts, with Huawei even including access to a fan club to share themes and discuss other features of the phone.

The other tech stuff

Although I wasn't able to check out any specific applications or test out its gaming capabilities or run benchmarks, the inclusion of Dolby Surround will surely help with the gaming experience.

And when those heavy 3D games cause even the larger battery to give up the ghost, the support for fast charging (supporting a 2 Amp power supply) will get you back up and running 25% quicker than charging conventional phones.

Given the quality of the display (even if you will be wiping fingermarks off for the rest of your life), and its quad-core processor, there's nothing to suggest it won't be just fine for high-quality performance gaming - although it was surprising to discover that the P2 will only come with 1GB of RAM. Hopefully this won't be a problem.

Huawei has also loaded other apps, including tools to manage system-level security and select what apps to run at startup, cloud storage, remote backup, and a phone finding (and locking) app. There's also AirSharing to display pictures and videos on another phone, tablet or TV.

For a package that will get you going straight out of the box, and some rather good looks, the Ascend P2 should prove very interesting when it goes on sale in the second quarter of 2013.

With Huawei now number three in the market worldwide, you can probably expect to see the P2, D2 and Mate all on the high-street in the future, so keep a look out.

Naturally, we'll be putting all of them to the Pocket Gamer test just as soon as we get our hands on the final production models.

Jonathan Morris
Jonathan Morris
From starting out as a games tester for Mastertronic, Virgin and Sega in the late 1980s, it may seem odd to then ditch everything to write about mobile phones that, at the time, lasted 20 minutes between charges. He always had a hunch mobiles would become quite popular, but possibly didn't realise how powerful (and, ironically, returning to 20 minutes between charges). Jonathan's job is to continue advising on the best hardware to buy, in order to enjoy games that have advanced considerably since those long days and nights testing Double Dragon on the C64.