Huawei has sold more than 1 million Ascend W1 handsets

We don’t normally credit Huawei as a significant Windows Phone player, but it seems the Chinese low-cost handset maker may be having some influence on the small Windows Phone market.
Speaking to Pocket-lint, Kevin Ho, president of Huawei’s handset product line, confirmed the company sold more than 1 million of their Ascend W1 Windows Phones in USA and Europe.
The low-cost smartphone was released in January, and hit Europe around March this year.
Despite the achievement however he did note selling Windows Phones was not easy.
"Compared to Android, Windows Phone is difficult to sell. Most people like Android, they are familiar with Android, but they need time to accept Windows Phone and make it familiar."
If Huawei doubles or trebles the numbers they may start taking market share from Nokia, but Ho said the company had no such intentions.
"We do not want to fight with Nokia. We want to work together with Nokia and Microsoft to build a better Windows Phone platform," Ho said.
Huawei has just announced the Ascend W2, which disappointingly had similar low-end specs to the W1, but given the relative success the company had with their approach  their response was somewhat understandable.
Do our readers think we have been underrating the company and their potential impact? Let us know below.

Huawei launches ‘Ascend Mate

Chinese communications giant Huawei, on Tuesday, launched its 6.1-inch Ascend Mate smartphone in India with a price tag of Rs.24,900.

The company said it planned to invest about Rs.175 crore to build the brand in the country as well as expand its retail presence.

“We will invest about 8-10 per cent of our mobile devices revenue in India. In 2012, our India revenue was $300 million. The spend would be mainly in strengthening our retail presence and brand building exercise,” Huawei President (India Device Business Development) Victor Shan said.

Huawei is targeting to sell about 10 lakh smartphones in the country by the end of this year.

The Ascend Mate, launched globally, runs on Android 4.1 JellyBean operating system. It has 1.5 gigahertz quad core HiSilicon processor and 16 core graphic processing chipset.

It features a display with 1280x720p resolution that can be used while wearing gloves. The phone has an 8 megapixel rear camera and 1 megapixel front camera. It comes with a 4050 mAh battery and boasts of up to two days of ordinary usage on a single charge.

The company has started selling its mobile devices in partnership with retail stores such as Croma, Ezone and online websites such as Flipkart, Snapdeal and Shopclues.

The Huawei Ascend P6:brief review

The Huawei Ascend P6 is teasing once again and this time a new photo is showing in Twitter, evleaks leaked a picture not so long ago and their one looks very similar to the one we are showing below. This is all adding up now and previous sources seem to be correct in the designs.
Normally, when we get to see leaked images of upcoming smartphones we just show people them and the shrug them off until the official announcement, but this time we will not shrug this one off because past leaked images looks like the one posted on Huawei’s Twitter.

On June 18 the Huawei Ascend P6 will be announced at the official launch and until then we have to speculate the specs this phone will come with.
We visited GSM Arena and they have been tipped off about the official specs, which includes a 2000 mAh Li-Po battery, 5MP front-facing camera, 720p video recording, 2- megapixel camera, Bluetooth v3.0 and wireless 802.11a standard is not supported.
Other specs include quad-core 1.5 GHz K3V2+ Huawei CPU, Intel XMM6260 modem, 8GB of expandable internal storage, 2GB of RAM, 4.7-inch display and will run on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean operating system.
It has also been said that the P6 could feature a temperature sensor and will weigh in at 120 grams and the size will be 132.7 x 65.5 x 6.5mm.
Huawei U9200 Ascend P1 Unlocked Phone - US Warranty - Black

Huawei Ascend Y accesories

Cellular does very well as a carrier, it's offer smartphones at very affordable prices. The Huawei Ascend Y Android handset costs only a penny in 3G areas, and $29.99 in markets with 4G. And yes, you can consider price this Android 2.3 Gingerbread phone's most compelling feature. Beyond the outdated version of Android, the Ascend Y is 3G-only, and comes with basic hardware features, including a mediocre camera without a flash, a slower processor, and a smaller battery. The low-end feature set is intentional; smartphones cost a lot to make, and budget models like this lower the barrier for entry that faces those on tight budgets.
However, that doesn't mean the Ascend Y beats out its fellows. For instance, the much more developed LG Splendor costs the same up-front price on a Web special at the time of this review. Samsung's Galaxy Axiom is also a good deal, and is 4G-enabled.

For Huawei Ascend Y M866 H866C Hybrid Hard Rubber Case Black Black With Stand
 Design and build
To Huawei's credit, their designers do put thought into their products, and as a result, the Ascend Y is pretty easy on the eye. It's black with rounded corners, some contouring on the face, and a dark gray, metallic strip on the back panel. At just 4.6 inches tall by 2.4 inches wide and 0.46-inch thick, it's a compact phone that's both palmable and pocketable. A soft-touch finish on the back cover makes it comfortable to hold and adds a little class to an otherwise plain backing.

Huawei keeps things simple and accessible on the Ascend Y, an Android 2.3 Gingerbread smartphone.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

The 4.4-ounce weight isn't as light as some phones, but in this case, the added gravity keeps the Ascend Y from looking and feeling too cheap.
There's a 3.5-inch HVGA touch screen with a pixel resolution of 480x320. The screen is extremely small by today's standards, but even a few months ago, top phones like the iPhone 4S, sported this size. A third-party app like SwiftKey or Swype might help out those who find the virtual keyboard too small to type on. I have relatively smaller fingertips, and was able to compose e-mail and texts with the normal number of errors. The screen quality itself is totally adequate, but colors may not look as bright and edges may not look as sharp as on more premium phone models.
Below the screen, you'll navigate with three touch-sensitive buttons. The power button and standard 3.5-millimeter headset jack are on top. On the left sits a rather short volume rocker; you'll plug your Micro-USB charger into the port on the bottom. The flash-less camera lens on the Ascend Y's B-side and micro-SD card slot beneath the back cover round out the simple hardware features.
For Huawei Ascend Y M866 H866C Hybrid Hard Rubber Case Black Black With Stand Unfortunately, you have to pop the battery to swap in a larger card than the 2GB one that Huawei includes. The Ascend Y can hold up to 32GB in external storage.
OS and apps
Android 2.3 Gingerbread brings with it support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS, plus all the tried-and-true Android features, including support for multiple social and e-mail accounts, multiple home pages, and access to a slew of Google services from the phone, voice navigation included.
Huawei adds its own custom layer on top of Gingerbread, enabling useful features like a lock screen that can snap open the camera, text messages, or the phone log. There's also access to quick settings from the notifications window, and the Huawei look and feel in the app tray.

A smaller handset, the Ascend Y is compact, with a 3.5-inch screen.

Cameras
Don't expect much from the Ascend Y's 3.2-megapixel camera and you may not be disappointed. It'll capture license plate numbers and help you remember where you parked, but you won't be turning a photo into a mug or an 8x10 wall print.

An inexpensive t Android phone:Huawei Premia 4G

An inexpensive off-contract Android phone is hard to find, and for $99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, MetroPCS' Huawei Premia 4G has a particularly attractive price tag for a 4G Android 4.0 phone.
There are some very decent features for the price point, including a 5-megapixel camera with flash, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor.

Yet, something has to give, and in this case it's the phone's battery life, and to a lesser extent, its voice quality. MetroPCS' 4G LTE network, while steady in my tests, also produces speeds you'd expect from a 3G handset, not a 4G device.
While The Premia is an OK choice, especially when compared with the outdated Samsung Galaxy Admire 4G, and ZTE Avid 4G, LG's Motion 4G is the better phone for the same cost.

Design and build
If you've seen a black candy bar phone with rounded corners, you've seen the Premia 4G. It has a nice metallic-looking rim around the face, and a dark gray back cover that gets it grip from a fine layer of plastic goose bumps. I like that Huawei's placed the cover release on the phone's bottom corner; it makes popping it off obvious and manageable while still preserving your fingernails. It snaps reassuringly back into place.
The Premia measures 5 inches tall by 2.5 inches wide by 0.48 inch deep and weighs just under 5 ounces. It's fairly hefty, but doesn't seem overly brickish. I could slip it into a back pocket and carry it around with me indoors, but mostly I carried the Premia in my bag. The phone feels fine in the hand, and I had no complaints with it at the ear.

Huawai's Premia 4G fits into front pockets better than mega-phones, though I preferred toting it around in my back pocket or bag.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

A 4-inch display is your window into Android, surrounded by a bezel that's fairly thick by today's standard. Its screen has a 800x480-pixel resolution, which isn't a sharp as some premium smartphones, but I think that with automatic brightness and support for 16 million colors, it does just fine indoors. If you're outside, you'll notice a substantial glare.
Above the screen you'll find the 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and below the screen are the three capacitive navigation buttons, including the Back, Home, and Menu buttons.
Turn the Premia toward its left spine to locate the Micro-USB charging port. Flip it the other way to raise or lower the volume. The top of the phone houses the power button and 3.5 millimeter headset jack, and on the back are the 5-megapixel camera lens and LED flash. If you've got a microSD card up to 32GB in storage size, you can insert that right under the back cover.
OS and apps
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich may not be the most up-to-date Android version, but it covers all the basics of a modern Android operating system. Existing handsets are still getting Jelly Bean updates at this time, so I won't hold the lack of Android 4.1 against Huawei.
As an Android phone, the Premia 4G has all the Google services you could want on a smartphone, including Google Maps with Navigation, Gmail, access to all your contacts and to your Google Calendar, and then some. The Swype keyboard is one of a few different input options.

The Premia's 5-megapixel camera comes with an LED flash.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

MetroPCS and Huawei have also loaded the phone up with a full roster of apps, one of which is incredibly intrusive by default. The offender in question is Metro's MyExtras app, which pings you all sorts of "news" items in the morning, afternoon, and evening. This was turned on by default in the Premia 4G. You can either adjust the pinging frequency in the settings, or, luckily, uninstall the app altogether in your apps manager settings.
Other MetroPCS app are much less obtrusive. You'll find a mobile hot-spot helper, a backup manager, the MetroWeb browser, and various other hubs for content and online connections.
In addition, Yahoo Answers, a DLNA connector app, Pocket Express, Rhapsody music, and Joyn messenger are other preloaded programs. You'll also find visual voice mail, a weather app, a note taker, and a sound recorder in addition to system apps like the clock, the calendar, and the music player.
Cameras and video
When taking photos outdoors in daylight, I was actually pleased with the quality of the Premia's 5-megapixel camera. Although images never rendered quite as sharp after processing as they did through the viewfinder, colors were pretty accurate and I took some nice shots I wouldn't mind uploading to my social networks or sharing via e-mail.

The bloom looked sharper through the viewfinder than it did once the image resolved.

The Premia comes with autofocus, a bonus for a phone of this class, but you can also manually apply focus points. The camera doesn't seem equipped to handle extreme close-ups in automatic mode, either. Images blurred if I held the lens too near, and didn't resolve on screen. However, if I pulled back a little bit and refocused, the image generally grew sharper.

A crop of the full-resolution flower in question shows the lack of detail in the flower's center, where I focused the camera.

Adjusting camera settings is pretty straightforward on the Premia 4G: you can rotate the lens around and turn flash on and off with on-screen controls. A pop-out settings menu lets you toggle shooting modes, like HDR, burst, and panorama, plus there's a range of filters to choose from, including sepia tone and negative. White balance presets are also around, and in the settings, you can adjust ISO, photo quality, and face detection, among other items.

$99 Huawei Premia 4G

The $99 Huawei Premia 4G is among the least expensive smartphones in MetroPCS's roster of devices. It's a compact Android phone that offers entry-level specs and entry-level performance. Budget smartphone shoppers will find plenty to like.


Body

The Huawei Premia, which is an update to the Activa, makes no attempt to be flashy, special, or stylish. It has a spartan, utilitarian design that favors function over form. It is a black slab that's made of average materials and works about as well as a $99 phone should.

The front face is made of glass, of course, and that is surrounded by a shiny black rim made of plastic. The battery cover encompasses the entire rear of the Premia and wraps around the sides to meet the shiny black rim. The seam where these two meet is somewhat uneven. The material used to form the back and sides is a dull, textured dark gray plastic. It gives the Premia some grip in the hand, no doubt, but feels cheap.

Body

The height and width of the Premia aren't too much, but at 12mm thick, the Premia feels downright beefy. I suppose I have been spoiled by devices that measure less than 8mm. It may not sound like much, but that 4mm makes a huge difference in how the Premia feels in the hand. Its saving grace, perhaps, is the soap-bar shape that produces a comfortable, rounded profile. You will notice when the Premia is in your pocket thanks to its thick profile.

When set flat on a table or desk, the plastic rim will prevent the glass from getting scratched. The display is swimming in an unattractive, thick bezel. Huawei's logo, positioned above the screen, often catches light, giving it a bit of flair. There are three capacitive controls beneath the display. They are flush with the glass.

There are but two physical controls on the Premia 4G. The volume toggle is positioned along the right edge of the phone. I had trouble with this one, but only because so many devices put the screen lock button here. The button itself works well. The actual screen lock button is on the top edge of the phone. It’s easy to find, but travel and feedback are pathetic. The standard headphone jack joins the screen lock button on top. The microUSB port is on the left edge of the phone. There is no dedicated camera button.

As mentioned earlier, the battery cover is a shell that forms the entire back half of the Premia. It comes off very easily. Once removed, the battery, SIM card slot, and microSD card slots are all plainly visible. MicroSD cards can be inserted/removed at will, but the SIM card cannot be pulled unless you first remove the battery. The Premia uses a full-sized SIM card, not a microSIM card.

Almost everything about the Premia 4G's hardware functions properly. I only wish the lock screen button felt better and the whole thing didn't have a bargain-basement aura to it.

Huawei's second phone to sound like a brand of yogurt, the Premia 4G is much better than the first, last year's Activa 4G. And for as low as $99, it's the best deal you can get on a contract-free smartphone from MetroPCS right now. That doesn't mean the Premia 4G is perfect—it doesn't run the latest version of Android, the video camera isn't great, and it has a bulky frame for its 4-inch screen—but those flaws are easy to overlook if you're searching for something inexpensive and dependable.
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Cell Phones & Accessories Design, Network, and Call Quality

A sleek phone this is not. The Premia 4G has a humdrum slab design, with a dark gray textured back panel and a ring of shiny gray plastic around the glass display. It feels solid, but it also feels like it's an inch larger than it needs to be. The phone measures 4.96 by 2.53 by 0.48 inches and weighs 4.94 ounces. Given the 4-inch display, that means there's a lot of bezel surrounding it on all sides, particularly the top and bottom. It's still relatively comfortable to hold, even if it feels bigger than it actually is.

View all 5 photos in gallery

Speaking of the display, the Premia has a 4-inch, 800-by-480-pixel TFT LCD.
It looks reasonably sharp and bright, especially given the price, though it's a little reflective. Typing on the on-screen, Swype-enabled keyboard felt fine. For controls, there's a Power button on top of the phone, Volume buttons on the right, and three capacitive touch buttons below the display.

If you're hesitant about getting the Premia because of T-Mobile's impending purchase of the company, you can put those fears to rest. While MetroPCS will shift its focus to GSM and LTE, sources have told us that the new network will support VoLTE even after CDMA declines. That means VoLTE-capable phones, like the Premia 4G, should work just fine.

We don't know what will happen to data plans in the future, but MetroPCS offers pretty phenomenal rates right now. You can get truly unlimited talk, text, and data for $60 per month. $50 per month gets you 2.5GB of LTE data, with throttled speeds after that, and $40 per month is good for 500GB of LTE data, with slower speeds once you've reached your cap.

Reception is fair and data speeds are very good on the Premia. As we discovered in our Fastest Mobile Networks survey, MetroPCS's LTE network can actually exceed 4G speeds on Verizon, though Verizon's network is more consistent and offers far more coverage. I pulled in average speeds of 4.8Mbps down and 3.9Mbps up, which are not the fastest LTE speeds we've ever seen, but plenty fast nonetheless. The Premia also connects to 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi on the 2.4GHz band.

Call quality is average. Voices distort at top volume in the earpiece, and there's a lot of fuzz in the background. But calls made with the phone sound very clear, with surprisingly good background noise cancellation. Calls sounded fine through a Jawbone Era Bluetooth headset and the stock Android voice dialer worked fine. The speakerphone sounds a bit distorted and isn't loud enough to hear outside. Battery life was average at 8 hours and 45 minutes of talk time.

Processor, Android, and Apps
The Premia 4G is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Plus MSM8960 processor, which is a fast chip for such a low price. The Premia feels fast and responsive in casual use, and turned in some respectable benchmark scores. You'll be able to run any of the 800,000+ apps in the Google Play store without a problem.

The phone is running Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich), which is nearly a year and a half old now. That's somewhat disappointing, as Ice Cream Sandwich lacks many significant upgrades you'll find in newer versions of Android (Jelly Bean), like Google Now and an overall smoother experience. There's no word on an update to Jelly Bean, and I wouldn't expect one to come in the near future, if ever.

As it stands, the Premia runs a mostly-stock version of Google's OS. You get five home screens to swipe between and customize that come preloaded with a few apps from MetroPCS. There isn't a ton of bloatware, but you can't delete anything that has been preinstalled, which is a bummer. The phone also bombards you with incredibly annoying ads for MetroExtras until you turn them off. But you do get the MetroPCS Easy WiFi app, which automatically finds and connects you to free hotspots.

You also get all the typical Android bells and whistles, including a fast Web browser, excellent email support, and free voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS directions via Google Maps. You can also share music, photos, and video on your HDTV or monitor via DLNA.

Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
There's 2.17GB of internal storage, along with an empty microSD card slot underneath the battery cover. I was able to use my 32GB SanDisk card, but not my 64. All of our standard music test files played back fine except for FLAC and WMA. Music sounded excellent over a wired pair of earbuds, but it was a little thin through a stereo Bluetooth pair. For video, all of our test formats played back in resolutions up to 1080p but Bluetooth audio was very slightly out of sync.

The 5-megapixel camera is decent, but nothing more than that. It snaps photos in just 0.2 second, but takes a little longer to save them. Photos quality is average for a 5MP sensor, with decent color and detail, especially for photos taken outdoors. But video performance is poor. The camera records 720p video at a smooth 29 frames per second, but the autofocus locks in and out every time you move the camera even a little, which makes videos look like you are constantly refocusing. A standard 1.3-megapixel camera is on the front of the phone for video chat.

So while it isn't perfect, it's hard to argue against the Huawei Premia 4G for all the features you do get for less than $100. The ZTE Avid 4G costs the same, but has a very dim screen and a camera that's worse than what you get here. The LG Motion 4G is also comparable, but has a slightly more compact size at the expense of a smaller, lower-resolution display. If you're willing to spend a lot more, the Samsung Galaxy S III has a larger, sharper display, a faster processor, better call quality, and a much nicer camera. It's the best phone on MetroPCS right now, but you can buy almost five Premias for the same price.