Huawei Ascend P6 Review

Introduction

One need only look at the Ascend Mate phablet and now at the Ascend P6 design piece to conclude that the Chinese company has shifted some serious focus towards its smartphone department. While the Ascend Mate we found to be with barely a weak spot, but understandably a niche device due to the 6.1” display, the Ascend P6 is trying to provide what many think Android is not strong at in this moment – a well-designed midranger with adequate pricing.

The phone is not only the slimmest samrtphone at 6.18mm (0.24”), but the generous use of metal and some design twists in the chassis gives it a more premium feeling than your average plastic Andro. Is this going to be enough to lure buyers and has Huawei done the rest of the smartphone experience right? Read on to find out...

In the box

• Silicon case
• Wall charger
• In-ear stereo headphones
• microUSB cable
• Warranty and information leaflets

Design

Brushed aluminum backplate, metal band around the sides with diamond-cut edges and a rounded bottom – the Ascend P6 is undoubtedly a catwalk star, and a very light one at that. With the metal rim on the sides, and the two notches interrupting it, the Ascend P6 resembles very much the iPhone 4/4S design concept, which might be an effect sought on purpose, although there are enough exterior differences so Apple doesn't jump off the proverbial chair.


Being the slimmest out there has its virtues in terms of looks and portability, and disadvantages in terms of feel as it is often uncomfortable to operate such a thin device, or pick it up from a desk. Thankfully the Huawei Ascend P6 has sharp edges, which make for a more secure grip, though the phone feels, well, a bit too edgy against the skin because of that.

Huawei has also provided a silicon case in the box to protect your precious, and give it a bit more girth, which is, however, a simple silicon wrap for protection. If you want something that actually looks good, Huawei will be selling you a premium metallic case.


The metal power/lock key and volume rocker on the right are well-placed, wide and easy to feel and press without looking, with good tactile feedback. Overall, the phone feels like Huawei has paid a lot of attention to detail, which has been somewhat of a goal with the P6. The phone appears crafted with precision, and the side rim runs uninterrupted with gaping ports and openings, save for the microUSB one at the top.

Huawei even went so far in terms of plugging openings, that it inserted the tray ejector for the microSIM and microSD card slots in the headphone jack on the bottom left. The circular metal piece looks intriguing there, and it is easy to pry out if you have inserted it in the correct position. You'd have to remember to slide it in your wallet's dime compartment each time you use the headphones, though, or it seems bound to be lost.



Display

The Ascend P6 flaunts a 4.7” 720x1280 pixels IPS-LCD panel with 312ppi density, which is more than enough for your daily needs.

The screen sports the modern in-cell touch technology that contributes to the slim waistline of the P6. That means a slimmer packaging, letting more backlight go through, increased contrast and better responsiveness.

Color representation is very good and you can also adjust the display's color temperature from cold to warm with a slider in the display settings.

The screen has good viewing angles, and is sufficiently bright outside with its 470 nits, but has a bit too much reflectance, which diminishes sunlight visibility and makes it hard to tell in direct rays due to the mirror reflections.

There is a gloves-on mode that lets you operate the display while on the ski lift, for example, which can be turned on and off from the display settings.



Interface and functionality

First thing you notice about Huawei's new Emotion UI 1.6 overlay on top of Android 4.2.2, is that it does away with the app drawer, and centers everything around the homescreens. The widgets are compact, with minimized border distance, and thus you can fit a bunch of them on one screen. The apps are neatly laden into categorized folders on the next screen, the third houses the apps you download, and so on.


Unfortunately the awesome ability from the Ascend P6 to hide and show the on-screen navigation bar at will with a small arrow from whichever app you are into doesn't seem to be present on the P6, reserved for the larger phablet display only.

Another nice idea are the so-called Profiles, with their own switch in the notification bar toggles. A ring dialer appears when you press it, and you can choose from several presets like Work, Home, Sleep, Normal, Outdoors and so on. Each profile can have a smorgasbord of settings for everything – from sounds volume through display options to connectivity choices, and you can add and tinker with your own, or make them automatically swap at a given time. There's an abundance of launcher themes as well, plus ways to customize your current theme manually.


Amongst all its connectivity and profile toggles, the notification bar also offers a dedicated screenshot button, so you don't have to hold down the lock and volume down keys that are placed on the same side.

The default Emotion UI keyboard is very well spaced and the symbols are big enough so you don't tap on the neighbor when trying to key something in quickly. At 4.7” and an elongated profile, the display is just right for one-handed typing with a bit of a stretch, unless you have smaller hands.



Processor and memory

The upside of the "mere" HD resolution is that there aren't as many pixels to push for the GPU, so the homebrew 1.5 GHz quad-core Hi-Silicon K3V2E processor is powering the handset relatively well, putting it somewhere in the golden middle of the benchmark ladder, though it feels sluggish compared to other quad-core chipsets.

The processor might not be a speed king, but Huawei has placed the generous for a midranger 2 GB of RAM in the handset, so some serious app queue can be formed before you run out of it. There are 8 GB of internal storage (3.73 GB user-available), and a microSD card tray load on the side for expansion when needed.

	Quadrant Standard	AnTuTu	GLBenchmark 2.5 (Egypt HD)	Vellamo (HTML5 / Metal)
Huawei Ascend P6	5228	14220	2509 / 22 fps	1462/453
LG Optimus G	7669	9565
Samsung Galaxy S III	5335	15152
Sony Xperia SP	7866	16413	4970 / 44 fps	2013 / 755

Internet and connectivity

The default Ascend P6 browser is pretty barren as interface, but renders pages well, and has the added benefit of supporting sideloaded Adobe Flash, so you won't be left out when you come across a piece of the Web which needs Flash to run.


The phone is pentaband 21.1 Mbits HSPA phone, meaning that it supports all major frequency bands, so you can use it on both AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, for example, as well as Europe and Asia for international travelers.

There are also Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and A-GPS radios, and that's about it, while the wired connectivity is simply a regular microUSB port.

Camera

The camera app interface is comparatively simple, with a few basic shooting modes like Panorama, HDR, Beauty face and burst shot, plus a couple of color effects. Nothing fancy, but most stuff you might need is there. Unfortunately, it feels slow to load, and shot-to-shot times aren't the ones you are used to with flagship devices.


Unfortunately pictures from the 8 MP shooter on the back come out decent only in ample outdoor lighting. They have enough detail and sharpness but colors seem a bit washed out. When the light dims down, noise and blur start to creep up significantly, and weird hues get cast over the images.


Video is recorded in 1080p with 30fps on paper, but our retail unit did 26fps on average in bright sunshine, and skipped frames like crazy when panning around, making the video appear rather choppy.

Huawei Ascend P6 Sample Video:



Huawei Ascend P6 Indoor Sample Video:



The front camera is 5MP, and has a beauty mode slider, which enhances your face improving blemishes and skin tones to a certain level, and has a 720 HD video recording mode. However, we didn't notice the higher resolution to result in much higher pics or video quality than your average front shooter.

Multimedia

The typical grid thumbnail view in the gallery is about all you get, with no fancy pinching rearrangements, and the picture editing options are more limited than what we are used to see out of the box recently, though the basic features like cropping, resizing and adding a few effects, are covered.


The music player is pretty basic visually, too, with the obligatory tune categorization by artists, albums and genres, as well as album art depiction. There are no built-in equalizer presets, but the Dolby Mobile faux surround sound button makes a difference when turned on, and the loudspeaker churns out pretty strong and clear sound to boot.


In addition, the Ascend P6 plays most popular video formats thrown at it out of the box, including DivX/Xvid files up to 1080p resolution.

Call quality

Voices sound sufficiently loud in the earpiece of the thinnest smartphone, with barely a distortion only towards the highest volume levels. The two noise-canceling mics top and bottom weed out the ambient noise for a strong and clear voice transfer to the receiving end.


Battery

The unibody design of the Ascend P6 means that the 2000 mAh battery is sealed, so you can't easily swap it out, though the HD screen and the humble processor aren't known as battery hogs. Huawei hasn't posted official talk times yet, and in our review experience with the phone it can last you a day with average usage, which is about the norm.

Conclusion

With its combination of curved lines and sharp metal edges, the slimmest phone out there is undoubtedly one of the most elegant designs we've seen, too, and not only in the Android world.

The Ascend P6 gets almost all major smartphone details right except for the mediocre camera, which has some issues both with pictures and video. For about 400 (USD or EUR), we can't complain if something is lacking on a midranger, especially in such a thin and light package.

Direct competitors are other midrange Android handsets with similar specs like the LG Optimus G / Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S III or the Sony Xperia SP. With the exception of the glass chassis on the LG, they don't sport premium designer looks, so if you want a looker with the latest version of Android without breaking the bank, the Ascend P6 deserves your consideration.

Software version: P6-U06V100R001C00B106