While at MWC, I dropped by the Huawei stand to get a closer look at the Ascend P2, the latest smartphone from the Chinese company. Billed as the world’s fastest 4G smartphone, it had a lot to live up to – and I have to say, it didn’t disappoint.
Whether the ‘fastest smartphone’ claim is legit or not, who knows, however it definitely demonstrated impressive performance when I tested it with a couple of games. The graphics were silky smooth, and Android was well optimised, something which a lot of manufacturers overlook. The 13MP camera also looked solid.
I also liked the slim profile, at 8.4mm. 0.8mm thicker than the iPhone 5, but 0.9mm thinner than the iPhone 4S. It felt great to hold, and of a similar weight to the iPhone 5.
However arguably the most attractive feature is the price. It has a spec sheet that is pretty much as good as any on the market, and it will sell for €399 ($519) in Q2 of 2013. In comparison, the HTC One will cost €680 ($885), and the iPhone 5 costs $649 at its lowest capacity.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that overall, it was the best Android smartphone I saw at MWC. As a phone alone, the Sony Xperia Z is better. However when you factor in the price, the Huawei Ascend P2 comes out on top, and I was really impressed.
Check out the full specs below:
Media Pad Lite
Unfortunately, I also tried out Huawei’s Media Pad Lite tablet which was on display, and this was a stark contrast to the smartphone. Sluggish, cheap and pretty unusable, it did leave a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth. Things were going so well.
It felt like a generic tablet, and a completely forgettable one at that. So by all means get the awesome Ascend P2. Whatever you do, don’t buy the Media Pad Lite. To be honest, the ‘Lite’ in the name is all you really need to know.
