Huawei Ascend P1 Review

Introduction:

Learn how to pronounce Huawei ("Wa - way"), since the company not only got its foot in the door of the smartphone business, but is intent on ripping it off the hinges and becoming one of the best value for money Android manufacturers out there.

The Huawei Ascend P1 was the first element in this strategy that was announced at CES before the quad-core monsters we handled at MWC, and just as the company promised it is on our dissection table in the beginning of the summer.

It won’t be much of a dissection since the unibody design of the phone sports a sealed battery compartment, but the Ascend P1 delivers on every other mid-range front. It has a fast dual-core processor, 8MP cam capable of 1080p video and large qHD AMOLED display.

Did we mention it is compact and stylish with a catchy two-tone design? It is, but what if we bite and get it only to discover the Ascend P1 is overpromising and underdelivering like a presidential candidate? Fret not, we dove in for you, so read on our review to find out...

In the box:

• Travel charger
• microUSB cable

Design:

Very thin is the right way to describe the Huawei Ascend P1, even if we count the “humps” at the bottom and around the camera module. Another recent handset that leaves a similar experience in the hand is the Panasonic Eluga, since the P1 is also very light at just 3.88oz (110g).



You can compare the Huawei Ascend P1 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

Huawei has not only managed to make one of the most compact Androids out there with a 4.3” screen, but it is also very stylish, in a two-tone black and white body. The white overlaps the black on the sides, while the black flows over the white at the top and bottom, fusing the handset in an Yin-Yang harmony in our version, but there are also a pink and a completely black variants.

It's good that the tapered edges make it comfortable to hold, since the back is quite slippery. The comparatively narrow and elongated profile make one-handed operation as easy as it gets on a 4.3-incher. Moreover, each and every port and button are within an easy reach around the sides.

The push-in regular SIM card slot with a protective lid and the microUSB port are unobtrusively situated at the top until you need them, joined by the audio jack. The power/lock key is right under your thumb on the right and is easy to feel with good tactile feedback, as is the volume rocker on the left. Thankfully we also have a microSD slot on the right for storage expansion.


Display:

Super AMOLED is no longer the forbidden fruit that only grows in Samsung’s gardens - the Koreans are earning a bit extra pawning its non-HD versions off to Motorola and HTC, and now Huawei joins in the fun. The 4.3” 540x960 pixels screen exhibits the typical AMOLED virtues like an incredible contrast ratio and viewing angles, with nice satured colors. It is on quite bright for an AMOLED screen, but still not enough for good visibility under direct sunlight.

Is it Pentile? Why, yes of course, but if you didn’t know what the alternative PenTile matrix arrangement is you would never get worked up about it like you are now. See what we did there? You can see some “screen door” pixel structure and jaggies if you are deliberately staring at solid colors or enlarged text, but that’s about it. And once you experience the deep contrast of AMOLED watching video on a phone with it, it’s hard to go back anyway.

Interface and Functionality:

You’d be surprised to hear this, but it’s precisely Huawei that might have found the golden ratio between a stock Android Ice Cream Sandwich interface as Google intended it, and manufacturer overlays. Simple - it is stock ICS by default but provides a variety of easy to switch themes to differentiate itself if you are so inclined.

There are three 2D “themes” you can choose from – the default stock ICS, then we have Breeze and Dusk, each one with different color scheme, icon art and above all - icon size - so there is something for even the most visually challenged. The underlying stock apps have the same appearance on all, just the homescreen dockand main menu icons change. There is also a 3D interface, which rotates homescreens and menu pages like in a cube, so all grounds are covered.

We liked that Huawei hasn't installed much if any bloatware. It just made a handy “Tools” folder for the homescreen, which nests the calculator, a flashlight app and so on, and also supplied a file browser, simple Notes app and an Office docs viewer. The only other app partnerships seem to be Music+, which adds Folder view to the music player, and SoundCloud.


Thanks to the narrow elongated profile and the excellent Android ICS keyboard, typing with one hand on the Huawei Ascend P1 is easier than on most 4.3-inchers. Your thumb reaches across the on-screen keyboard with relative ease, and its nice light blue theme is catchy.



Processor and Memory:

A 1.5GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP4460 processor is nothing to sniff at, and that's what powers the Huawei Ascend P1 with ease. The simple UI flies with it, and only the PowerVR SGX540 GPU can't measure up to Samsung's Mali-400 or the new Qualcomm Adreno 225 graphics processors. It is still a very capable PowerVR GPU, though, so you won't have troubles playing anything you throw at it.

The phone hosts 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory, of which only 2GB and change can be used for files, pics and videos, but thankfully you get an easily accessible microSD slot to add more.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	NenaMark 2
Huawei Ascend P1	3562	6145	36,4
Samsung Galaxy S III	5335	12016	58,6
HTC One X	4848	11024	47,4
Samsung Galaxy Note	3871	6409	40,9

Internet and Connectivity:

The stock ICS browser runs smooth as silk on the Ascend P1, powered by the TI OMAP processor. Scrolling, pinching to zoom and panning around are all quite fluid, and text reflow takes a split second to fit the article in the screen width for easier reading.


Good news for all Huawei Ascend P1 owners is that the phone is pentaband, meaning it will download stuff with up to 21Mbps on just any GSM network worldwide, including T-Mobile in the US. It also comes with a rich set of connectivity options – Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, A-GPS, FM Radio and DLNA, which has a dedicated app to manage the streaming media. It doesn't sport NFC, but nobody is likely to cry over this, are they?

MHL comes standard to fuse the microUSB and HDMI ports in one, in case you want TV-out with the good old cable.

Camera:

The camera interface is pretty simple, yet packed with features like HDR shots, face detection and Group mode, as well as a number of scene presets. It sports a rich number of pic and video effects, and a very entertaining face distortion regime, where you can choose from six warping effects to apply on your friends' faces.


The pictures from the 8MP module with dual LED flash are nothing breathtaking, but it came out as a decent camera nonetheless, especially when we consider the zero shutter lag and Burst shot modes made possible by the Android ICS camera API and the fast dual-core processor.


The colors are a bit colder and photos often get overexposed, overshadowing a good level of detail  and decent sharpness without much noise. You can up the contrast and saturation one notch in the settings for more eye-appealing results.

The 1080p video capture looks again a bit bland in terms of color representation, but it takes in a decent level of detail and is recorded with smooth 30fps, plus you get a somewhat nervous continuous autofocus.

Huawei Ascend P1 Sample Video:



Huawei Ascend P1 Indoor Sample Video:



Multimedia:

As we said, the music player is stock ICS with some equalizers and sound modes, and Huawei only added Music+, provided that you want to run your music from categorized folders with some fancier visualizations.

The handset features the Dolby Mobile technology, which works in loudspeaker mode as well, but since the unit itself is pretty average in terms of sound output, it doesn't do much good unless you plug in a pair of quality headphones.


The video player doesn't cover DivX/Xvid files out of the box, only runs them with software acceleration, so you'd have to hit the Play Store for those. MPEG-4s play up to 1080p without a hitch. Google's own Movie Studio app is provided to take care of video editing, if needed.

Call quality and battery:

Call quality is about average, with slightly digitized voices in the earpiece, but enough volume. The other side said we sounded fairly clean and loud, but a bit distant and hollow.

The battery module is with the decent 1670mAh capacity, considering the screen is not HD, and the TI OMAP processor has a pretty intelligent throttling system that ensures meager consumption at stand-by. Huawei doesn't quote talk times, but we found the battery to reach a long way in everyday usage.

Conclusion:

Huawei is certainly on the right track with the Ascend P1 – it is thin, light and stylish on the exterior, while capable on the interior with its dual-core processor. Some tradeoffs are introduced to seal its mid-range faith, like a non-HD screen and 4GB of internal memory, but the Super AMOLED screen is great for watching videos, there is a microSD slot for expansion, and the sealed battery is with quite the endurance, so these are minor quibbles.

We really liked what Huawei did with ICS, leaving the stock Android interface as default, but adding a few easy to switch to light themes for those who want some variety, including a 3D UI. It also abstained from adding bloatware, but rather preinstalled only useful basics.

We'd like to see a bit more capable camera module, but it's still neither better nor worse than your average smartphone cam, and has quite the number of functions and effects to compensate for the somewhat bland pics and video.

Good current alternatives are the Sony Xperia P or the HTC One S, for example, and these are both formidable competitors. The Xperia P might be a bit thicker, but its camera performs much better and it has one of the brightest smartphone displays out there, while the HTC One S has a superb design, a pretty capable cam, and more memory.

What Huawei Ascend P1 has going for it is the design and the stock ICS interface, which will appeal to many, plus the good all-around package. Yet considering it is the gateway phone for Huawei's Android onslaught, the Chinese should be very careful with the pricing scheme if they want to establish Huawei as the best value for money smartphone maker.

Software version: U9200-1V100R001COOB212

Huawei Ascend P1 Review: