Huawei Ascend G7 hands-on: G-force in action
Huawei announced the Huawei Ascend G7 smartphone - an upper mid-range model that seems very interesting and appealing. For starters, the device has a big 5.5-inch 720p INCELL display, allowing for an exceptionally thin display assembly. Thanks to this, the Ascend G7 is only 0.29 inches (7.6mm) thick - almost a 0.03 inch (1mm) difference with the Samsung Galaxy Note 4, and it has the same slim bezels. Interested? Here's our hands-on with it!
If the Ascend G7 is truly Huawei's new vision for smartphone design, then the company is on a winning trajectory. The smartphone has a remarkably slim body with minimal bezels to literally put the spacious 5.5-inch screen on display. The G7 boasts an aluminium build with only two plastic covers on its back to aid in better signal reception. The rest of it is cold, hard metal. We could wax poetic about the design all day, but we'd rather let the photos do the talking.
Being a cheaper device, the Ascend G7 touts a 5.5-inch 720p INCELL display. Fitting the entire display assembly on a single layer allows for a thinner, lighter device, which is an advantage Huawei happily picked up. While it's early to form final impressions, the 720p is pretty good, despite being a tad fuzzy because of the middling resolution.
The Huawei Ascend G7 runs on EMUI 3.0. Huawei's custom interface is notable for its sleek, modern style - clean lines, moderate translucency, impressive animations, and a wide selection of software features are the bullet points to EMUI 3.0. There's nothing too flashy, though - in fact, Google's Material Design principles have been honored to a visible degree, resulting in plenty of white, and many soft buttons and rounded corners. In terms of functionality, Huawei has added a privacy protection layer, a cloud service, a customer support service, an optimization app, and more bells and whistles that we're looking forward to experiencing soon.
The G7's hardware brawn is sourced from a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm processor running on 1.2GHz - possibly the Snapdragon 410. It's paired with a hearty 2GB of RAM and possibly an Adreno 306 GPU. This configuration isn't benchmark-busting, but it seems good enough for everyday usage and non-intense gaming. The phone behaved pretty well in our hands-on testing, so we're looking forward to a good performer.
Huawei put a massive 13-megapixel BSI main-camera and a 5MP front-facing cam on the Ascend G7. An affordable phone that takes excellent photos and selfies is a recipe for good success, and Huawei knows its market well. We have to take the camera out for a proper spin, but we're content with what we've seen so far.
The Huawei Ascend G7 will be priced at an affordable 299 EUR in the European market. Although the limited 16GB built-in non-expendable storage is very little for a big screen phone, the G7 still presents a compelling offer. It has a great build, it's well put together, has awesome cameras, and it's 64 bit and therefore future-proof. Hopefully we'll get to spend more time with it pretty soon!
Design
If the Ascend G7 is truly Huawei's new vision for smartphone design, then the company is on a winning trajectory. The smartphone has a remarkably slim body with minimal bezels to literally put the spacious 5.5-inch screen on display. The G7 boasts an aluminium build with only two plastic covers on its back to aid in better signal reception. The rest of it is cold, hard metal. We could wax poetic about the design all day, but we'd rather let the photos do the talking.
Display
Being a cheaper device, the Ascend G7 touts a 5.5-inch 720p INCELL display. Fitting the entire display assembly on a single layer allows for a thinner, lighter device, which is an advantage Huawei happily picked up. While it's early to form final impressions, the 720p is pretty good, despite being a tad fuzzy because of the middling resolution.
Interface
The Huawei Ascend G7 runs on EMUI 3.0. Huawei's custom interface is notable for its sleek, modern style - clean lines, moderate translucency, impressive animations, and a wide selection of software features are the bullet points to EMUI 3.0. There's nothing too flashy, though - in fact, Google's Material Design principles have been honored to a visible degree, resulting in plenty of white, and many soft buttons and rounded corners. In terms of functionality, Huawei has added a privacy protection layer, a cloud service, a customer support service, an optimization app, and more bells and whistles that we're looking forward to experiencing soon.
Processor and memory
The G7's hardware brawn is sourced from a quad-core 64-bit Qualcomm processor running on 1.2GHz - possibly the Snapdragon 410. It's paired with a hearty 2GB of RAM and possibly an Adreno 306 GPU. This configuration isn't benchmark-busting, but it seems good enough for everyday usage and non-intense gaming. The phone behaved pretty well in our hands-on testing, so we're looking forward to a good performer.
Camera
Huawei put a massive 13-megapixel BSI main-camera and a 5MP front-facing cam on the Ascend G7. An affordable phone that takes excellent photos and selfies is a recipe for good success, and Huawei knows its market well. We have to take the camera out for a proper spin, but we're content with what we've seen so far.
Expectations
The Huawei Ascend G7 will be priced at an affordable 299 EUR in the European market. Although the limited 16GB built-in non-expendable storage is very little for a big screen phone, the G7 still presents a compelling offer. It has a great build, it's well put together, has awesome cameras, and it's 64 bit and therefore future-proof. Hopefully we'll get to spend more time with it pretty soon!
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: