Huawei launched the Honor Holly smartphone in India last month for Rs. 6999. With its 5-inch HD screen, 8-megapixel rear camera and a quad-core processor, the Honor Holly directly competes with the Xiaomi Redmi 1S. The specifications of the smartphone looks good on paper. How good is the performance and other aspects of the smartphone? Let us find out in the complete review.
Display, Hardware and Design
The 5.0-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 294 ppi is bright, but it is very glossy and is prone to fingerprints. It offers vibrant colors and has decent viewing angles. It doesn't have Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection like the Redmi 1S or the Motorola Moto E. It is curved in the corners and has huge bezels around the display, making it slightly wider at 72.3mm, compared to 70.7mm in the new Moto G smartphone. It looks premium even though it's a budget phone.
There is an earpiece above the display, next to the 2-megapixel front-facing camera that supports video recording at VGA resolution. The usual set of proximity and ambient light sensors are present next to the camera. It also has an LED notification light that is hardly visible when it's ...
Huawei launched the Honor Holly smartphone in India last month for Rs. 6999. With its 5-inch HD screen, 8-megapixel rear camera and a quad-core processor, the Honor Holly directly competes with the Xiaomi Redmi 1S. The specifications of the smartphone looks good on paper. How good is the performance and other aspects of the smartphone? Let us find out in the complete review.
Display, Hardware and Design
The 5.0-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 294 ppi is bright, but it is very glossy and is prone to fingerprints. It offers vibrant colors and has decent viewing angles. It doesn't have Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection like the Redmi 1S or the Motorola Moto E. It is curved in the corners and has huge bezels around the display, making it slightly wider at 72.3mm, compared to 70.7mm in the new Moto G smartphone. It looks premium even though it's a budget phone.
There is an earpiece above the display, next to the 2-megapixel front-facing camera that supports video recording at VGA resolution. The usual set of proximity and ambient light sensors are present next to the camera. It also has an LED notification light that is hardly visible when it's ...
One of the biggest changes in Apple's device portfolio of recent years was the introduction of the iPhone 6 Plus earlier this year; whilst Apple have previously made flagship handsets bigger, the iPhone 6 Plus is the first time the company has entered into the phablet arena but here they also face stiff competition. Apple are one of the last companies to enter the big-screen devices market and existing competition include handsets from LG, Nokia, Sony, HTC, Samsung and Huawei. So how does the iPhone 6 Plus compare to Huawei's flagship phablet, the Ascend Mate 7?
Whilst the iPhone 6 Plus has a 5.5 inch display, the Ascend Mate 7 has a 6 inch LCD - both are 1080p Full HD resolution - and given the smaller screen size, you might expect Apple's phablet to be smaller in size. As you can see, the iPhone 6 Plus has a half-inch smaller display but is almost identical in size to the Ascend Mate 7: the iPhone 6 Plus measures 158.1 x 77.8 x 7.1 mm which is slightly larger but narrower and thinner than the Ascend Mate 7 which measures 157 x 81 x 7.9 mm.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DaCIDuaiOg
Both manufacturers have understood the need to ...
The smartphone industry is on what seems to be a never ending trend where handsets are getting larger and larger and continually blurring the boundaries that separate smartphones from tablets. Samsung were arguably the first to offer a consumer-focused large screen device in the Galaxy Note and the success of this phablet alerted rival manufacturers to the possibilities of a large screen device.
In the case of Chinese manufacturer Huawei, their latest phablet is their third generation handset and the Ascend Mate 7 definitely packs a punch. Not only does it have the highest screen to body ratio of any smartphone but it also has a specs list that can rival most devices, including the latest from Samsung in the form of the Galaxy Note 4.
The Ascend Mate 7 is definitely Huawei’s best ever phablet device but does it offer enough to persuade you to choose it over a rival device such as the Note 4 or Apple’s phablet, the iPhone 6 Plus?
Hardware
As mentioned above, the Ascend Mate 7 has the highest screen-to-body ratio of any smartphone or phablet and despite the incredibly large 6 inch Full HD display, the handset itself is not that big. The display is half an ...
F0r any manufacturer hoping to release a successful slate-style handset, there are likely to be considerable comparisons with the latest handset from Apple who are arguably the most successful at launching candybar style handsets. Huawei's latest handset for Europe may come with the Huawei branding but still aims to compete with the best from Apple so how does the Honor 6 stack up against the juggernaut that is Apple's iPhone 6? The Honor 6 might cost less than the iPhone 6 but it doesn't mean it features reduced specs; in fact, the display is significantly better than the iPhone 6 and offers Full HD resolution on a panel measuring 5 inches compared to the 4.7 inch 750p HD panel on the iPhone 6. The Honor 6 uses IPS LCD technology compared to the Retina Display on the iPhone 6 and in real-world usage, the 326 pixels per inch density offered by the iPhone 6 pales to the Honor 6 which at 445 ppi is significantly more vibrant and immersive. Under the hood the Honor 6 is powered by an octa-core Kirin 920 processor with 3GB RAM, 16GB/32GB storage with microSD card expansion and a Mali-T628 MP4 graphics chip. ...
Shortly before it's launch, the new Honor 6 was involved in significant marketing activity but Huawei, having faced criticism over handling of customer data in Europe and the USA, chose to market the Honor 6 as its own brand. Confusion aside, on paper at least, the Honor 6 has a significant chance of dominating the mid-range as it features premium specs without a hefty price tag. After a week with the Honor 6, what did we make of the handset?
As a week is not long enough for in-depth testing of a handset, we've adopted this Editorial format as opposed to a full review.
The Honor 6 arguably aims to pick up where the lack of a budget Nexus handset this year left off. In previous years, the new Nexus device would have offered a very impressive challenge to any mid-range handset but the high-priced high-specced Nexus 6 has left a gap in the market that manufacturers will be keen to fill.
With the Honor 6, the hardware has the makings of a real mid-range heavyweight as the 5 inch IPS Full HD panel has the same specification as the much-higher priced flagship Sony Xperia Z3. The display offers vibrant colours and deep blacks ...
Huawei has officially launched the Ascend P7, the company’s latest flagship smartphone in India soon after it went on sale online. It has a 5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) full HD IPS touch-sensitive display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3, is powered by Huawei’s own 1.8 GHz quad-core processor with Mali-450 MP4 GPU and runs on Android 4.4 (KitKat) with Huawei own Emotion UI 2.3 on top.
It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with Sony’s BSI sensor, f/2.0 aperture and Huawei’s proprietary Image Signal Processor (ISP). It has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection on the back that has unique micro-pattern design. It doesn't have 4G TD-LTE Band 40 that is currently available in India, but it has FD-LTE band 3 that is expected to launch in India soon.
Commenting on the launch, Allen Wang, Head, Consumer Business Group, Huawei Telecommunications (India), said:
Huawei’s Premium ‘P’ series is one of the most popular series from Huawei’s next generation smartphone league. Earlier in 2014, we introduced a marquee product named Ascend P6 that received excellent response from Indian consumers. With the launch of Ascend P7 in India, we endeavour to strengthen our connect with the young and tech savvy consumers by redefining excellence in craftsmanship and camera experience. ...
The biggest trend in mobile over the past few years has been the move to even bigger displays with users eager to consume even more on a single display. Samsung were arguably the founders of this trend with the Samsung Galaxy Note back at IFA 2011 but since then, almost every company has introduced phablets to try to attain the same success (including Apple with the iPhone 6 Plus). Chinese manufacturer Huawei pose one of the biggest threats to Samsung's dominance at the top of the smartphone market but how does the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 compare to the Samsung Galaxy Note 4?
The Galaxy Note 4 features a 5.7 inch Quad HD (2k) Super AMOLED display whilst the Ascend Mate 7 sports a 6 inch Full HD IPS display. Samsung are the world leaders in display technology and this shows with the Galaxy Note 4 display offering the best experience on any modern smartphone. With 515 pixels per inch density, the Note 4 is super sharp whilst in comparison, the 368 pixels per inch density offered by the Mate 7 is less sharp (albeit still impressive).
The Ascend Mate 7 might be a little larger than the Galaxy Note 4 but ...
Huawei just announced the Honor 6 Plus at an event in China. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p screen with 72.8% screen-to-body ratio and 2.8mm slim bezels on the sides, is powered by a Octa-Core (4×1.8GHz + 4×1.3GHz) Hisilicon Kirin 925 processor with i3 low-power sensor and runs on Android 4.4 with Huawei’s own Emotion UI 3.0 on top. The main highlight is its dual 8-megapixel cameras on the back with dual LED flashes for effective pixel size to 1.98 microns resulting in sharper images, and an adjustable aperture that can be set between f/0.95 and f/16. It also promises ultra-fast auto focus speed of 0.1 seconds.
It even has a 8-megapixel front-facing camera. It comes with Cat.6 LTE support that has NFC support for payments, comes with dual SIM support out of which one doubles up as a microSD card slot. It comes with 100GB of lifetime Huawei cloud storage. There are separate models for China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.
Huawei Honor 6 Plus specifications
5.5-inch (1920 x 1080 pixels) in-cell LTPS display with 10-finger multi-touch
Octa-Core (4×1.8GHz Cortex A15 4×1.3GHz Cortex A7) Hisilicon Kirin 925 processor with Mali T628-MP4 GPU
3GB RAM, 16GB/ 32GB internal memory, expandable up to 128GB with microSD
Android 4.4 (KitKat) with Emotion UI 3.0
Dual SIM (micro + ...
The Honor 6 may have only just begun launching in several markets around Europe but it's bigger brother has already been announced. The Honor 6 Plus brings the Honor brand to the larger display market but as we can confirm, it won't be available to customers in Europe or other Western Markets.
Following the announcement of the Honor 6 Plus, we were in touch with the company to enquire about availability of its handset outside of the expected launch markets in Asia. Whilst not confirming any information about specific markets, an Honor spokesperson did confirm that the handset will targeted solely inside Asian markets and will not available in Western Markets.
"Honor is driven by its consumers, the digital natives and, in Asia, the customer demand for phablets is very high so we have developed the Honor 6+ to this need.
However we don't employ an "one size fits all" approach to our products and, in Europe where there is currently less demand for phablets, our focus at the moment continues to be on meeting audience needs with the high quality Honor 6 and Honor 3C devices."
The Honor 6 Plus, also known as the Honor Glory 6 Plus, has a few new features ...
Huawei plans to launch new smartphones with 4G LTE support under Rs. 10,000 in the Indian market within the next six months, according to a report from PTI (via TOI). Airtel already offers TDD-LTE services in some cities. Reliance Jio plans to provide LTE by mid-2015 through an integrated ecosystem since it owns both 1800 MHz FDD-LTE and on 2300 MHz TDD-LTE spectrum.
In an interview to PTI, P Sanjeev, Director for devices sales, Huawei, said:
We are largest owner of essential patents for 4G technology. The essential patents are technology required to connect with 4G network. Within 3-6 months, we have plans to launch 4G handsets below Rs 10,000. The combination of our own patents and arrangement with other companies has helped us in making devices in affordable price range. We sell devices which mostly use our patent technologies.
Other LTE spectrum holders include, BSNL, Tikona and Augere. There will be a huge demand for 4G smartphones once all these operators launch 4G services. Even though companies have started launching mid-range smartphones with 4G support in India, budget 4G smartphones have started coming to the Indian market slowly. Earlier this week Microsoft launched the Nokia Lumia 638 smartphone with 4G LTE support for just Rs. 8,299.
Xiaomi launched the Redmi Note 4G in India recently for Rs. ...
Huawei has announced the Ascend GX1 (SC-CL00), the company's latest mid-range smartphone in the Ascend series in China. It has a 6-inch HD screen with screen-to-body ratio of 80.5%, is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor and runs on Android 4.4-based Emotion UI. It has a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It has several camera modes such as voice capture, quick capture from the lockscreen and more.
It has 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage with expansion slot and packs a 3500mAh battery. It has 4G FDD-LTE connectivity and comes with dual SIM support. It features leather-like back cover.
Huawei Ascend GX1 specifications
6-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD capacitive touch screen in-cell touch-sensitive screen
1.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor with Adreno 306 GPU
1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB via microSD
Android 4.4 KitKat with Huawei Emotion UI 3.0
Dual SIM
8MP rear camera with LED Flash
2MP front-facing camera
9.2mm thick and weighs 173 grams
4G LTE /3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, NFC
3500mAh battery
The Huawei Ascend GX1 comes in white color and is priced at 1590 Chinese Yuan (US$ 225 / Rs. 16180 approx.). It is available through TMall in China.
Via
Huawei's new Honor 6 is recognised as one of the best value-for-money devices on the market and this was followed by the Honor 6 Plus, a larger version of the handset catering for phablet demand in Asia. A few weeks ago we reported the Honor 6 Plus wouldn't be coming to Europe but it is now available to buy globally for $399.
Sporting a 5.5 inch Full HD 1080p display, the Honor 6 Plus is powered by Huawei's own octa-core Kirin 925 processor with 3GB RAM and a Mali T628 MP4 GPU. Under the hood is 16GB/32GB internal storage (which can be expanded by up to 128GB using a microSD card) along with a 3600mAh battery.
The handset runs on Android 4.4.4 KitKat with Huawei's Emotion 3.0 user interface and there's a dual 8MP camera setup on the rear that allows you to capture 13MP photos with some impressive photo effects and super fast autofocus (with Huawei claiming the handset will focus in under 0.2 seconds). The front camera is also an 8MP sensor (with the three 8MP camera setup meant to reflect that 888 is a lucky number in China) and both the front and rear cameras are able to shoot Full ...
Huawei is working on a mid range smartphone that will reportedly sport a 64 bit MediaTek processor. The company's next smartphone, Huawei G628 was spotted in China as per a new leak.
The G628 features a 5-inch 720p touchscreen and the MT6752 SoC comes with a 1.5 GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 CPU. It will have 8 MP rear camera with LED flash, a 2 MP front camera, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of integrated storage. The smartphone will run on Android KitKat 4,4 and will also have Huawei's Emotion UI 2.3 on the top that will bring new features. The phone will be priced at around CNY 1,000, which translates to $160.
The G628 will support TD-LTE and TD-SCDMA networks. Huawei G628 may make it to other countries as the Ascend G628 but is not confirmed yet.
via
We're currently in a Question and Answer session at Huawei's Shenzhen campus in China with the company's Chief Marketing Officer for Mobile Device, Shao Yang and he has confirmed that the company has no plans to develop a phone running on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 10 platform.
When questioned about Huawei's past Windows Phone devices and plans by John McCann, Yang said that the biggest problem with the Windows Phone platform is differentiating between manufacturers. As an example, Yang said a Huawei device running Android has several unique characteristics compared to other Android devices but Microsoft's platform has the same interface across all devices. As such, it's difficult for the company to differentiate between themselves and other Windows Phone devices which is why the company has no immediate plans to launch a Windows Phone device.
Whilst discussing the possibility of Huawei's future plans however, Shao Yang did concede that the company may look into Windows 10 on its Tablet range. Yang suggested that the company has no plans to launch a solely Windows 10 device but is considering a dual-boot system to run both Windows 10 and Android on the same tablet.
Other companies such as Samsung have introduced devices with similar functionality and offering ...
[Update: Jerry Huang, Director of Marketing Communications, confirmed that the company is looking at introducing an Android Wear smartwatch that will be different to anything else on the market. The company is looking to a fashionable design and is aiming to integrate the smartwatch into average lives as well as appealing to tech savvy customers as well. Huawei also confirmed that it will release an update to Talkband B1 and a new fitness tracker at the MWC along with the Android Wear watch.]
We're currently in Shenzhen on a tour of Huawei's Chinese factories and operations and the company has confirmed to us today that they plan to launch new wearable devices at MWC 2015. The company hasn't confirmed exact details but according to a slide we've seen from the PR Director, the wearable plans potentially include a smartwatch running on the Android Wear operating system, a Huawei companion application and a platform to run their wearable devices.
Huawei's presence in the wearables market is currently very limited and their main wearable device is currently the TalkBand B1 which runs on a proprietary operating system. Huawei has long been expected to launch a device running on Google's wearable platform but information has been somewhat scarce ...
Huawei Ascend P7
We’re currently on a tour of Huawei’s facilities in China and several company executives have revealed that the company will be launching a follow up to the successful Ascend P7 later this year but the handset won't be launching at the MWC 2015.
Jerry Huang, Director of Marketing Communications at Huawei Global, confirmed that whilst the company will launch three new wearable devices at MWC in a few weeks, the company’s next-generation Ascend smartphone won’t launch until later this year.
We've heard that the Ascend P8 will share several design similarities with the company’s existing P-Series devices but rather than launch at the annual MWC trade show, the company will hold a separate launch event in April to introduce the world to its new device. The P8 is expected to share the same DNA as the P7 (and P6) and will focus on the key ideals of beauty, functionality and performance. Previously the P6 held the title of world’s slimmest smartphone, but the company has confirmed that whilst it endeavours to make its handsets as slim and beautiful as possible, it won’t sacrifice functionality for the sake of build and beauty.
Kevin Ho, President of the handset product line, said:
"We launched ...
If you're looking for the next-generation display in your next Huawei smartphone, you may be disappointed as the Chinese manufacturer as advanced displays come with a battery life compromise that the company isn't willing to accept. FoneArena spoke to Kevin Ho, President of the Handset Product Line at Huawei, in a special briefing at Huawei's Shanghai campus where he explained the trade-off the company is facing with adopting next-generation displays.
"On the large screen 4k is very good but on a smaller smartphone display of five to six inches, maybe our eyes cannot tell the difference between this and 2k."
"4k needs a lot of power, so if you use it you have to make compromises. A 4k display on a smartphone may give you half a day of battery life but a 2k display can give you maybe one day or more."
"4k has four times the pixels of Full HD so the power consumption is maybe 4 or 8 times as much as Full HD so the smartphone has to have compromises with battery life."
That being said however, Huawei isn't ruling out the possibility of 4k devices in the future as it acknowledges it will provide the best possible experience and ...
Huawei today announced that it has launched its new Research & Development center in Whitefield, Bangalore. The one million sq. ft. campus built on a 20 acre land will accommodate up to 5,000 engineers and includes an R&D Block, customer experience center, large cafeteria, multilevel car park and residential block for expat employees, said the company. Huawei has invested over US$ 170 million (Rs. 1051 crores approx.) in building the new campus in Bangalore.
It's first overseas research and development center being set up in Bangalore in 1999. Today it has over 2700 engineers, out of which more than 98% are local employees including leadership roles. It is also the largest and the most important R&D center of Huawei, outside of China. It also celebrates 15 years of operation in India and has launched Huawei – 15 years of enabling digital India campaign. Huawei is partnering with leading mobile service provider in India to build India’s 1st 4G LTE commercial network.
The India R&D center plays a key role in component development and delivery center of Huawei for the global markets and has ownership of almost all software platforms, components and products being developed in India. India R&D center is engaged in ...
During last night's 100 days of Honor event in London, the company introduced the Huawei Honor Holly smartphone to the European market. With the event focused around Honor fans, the company announced the handset is launching with a retail price of £109.99 but fans have the chance to reduce the price through the unique "price hacker" promotion.
The price hacker promotion is really simple - the more users who make non-binding registration for the handset, the lower the price drops. The promotion lasts for twenty days at www.hihonor.com/pricehacker and lasts for 20 days before the final price is set on 23rd February; following the announcement of the price, a limited number of units will go on sale for four days at that price on a first-come first-served basis. Once the four-day sale ends, the handset will raise in price but the firm's UK PR told us last night that the final price is still likely to be less than the £109.99 starting price.
Honor Executive Vice President for Europe, Lars-Christian Weisswange, said at the launch:
"We want to be the leading Android brand and offer the best user experience. Whether its health or e-commerce, we want our devices to meet the customer requirements."
"Honor ...