Huawei Ascend P6 with 4.7-inch HD

Huawei's new smartphone, the Ascend P6, has been launched for the Indian market, at Rs. 29,999. The device was listed online in the fourth week of October on an ecommerce website for a discounted price of Rs. 25,750. Huawei first unveiled the Ascend P6 back in June this year.

The Huawei Ascend P6 is called the slimmest smartphone in the world by the company, and measures in at 6.2mm, while weighing 120 grams. The smartphone comes in Black, Pink and White colours. It features a 4.7-inch LCD display that has a resolution of 720x1280 pixels. It's powered by the company's in-house chipset, the Huawei K3V2 quad-core processor, clocked at 1.5GHz and coupled with 2GB of RAM.

The Ascend P6 includes an 8-megapixel rear camera with a BSI sensor, capable of recording 1080p HD video, apart from a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and features Huawei's Emotion UI 1.6 OS layer on top. It offers 8GB of inbuilt storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD card and has a 2000 mAh battery. 

On Wednesday, two of Huawei's recently launched Android phablets, the Ascend G610 and Ascend G700, also made it to the Indian market via an online retailer. The Huawei Ascend G610 and Huawei Ascend G700 have been listed at Infibeam for Rs. 12,499 and Rs. 16,500 respectively. The Chinese major had unveiled both the devices back in September this year, at an event in Taiwan.

Huawei Ascend P6 key specifications

• 4.7-inch HD in-cell LCD screen with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels
• 1.5GHz quad-core Processor
• 2GB RAM
• 8GB Internal storage expandable via microSD card
• Dual-SIM with dual-standby support
• 8-megapixel rear camera
• 5-megapixel front facing camera
• 2000mAh battery

Huawei Ascend W3 Windows Phone spotted in leaked images

Huawei has managed to make its presence known this year with a few of its Android-based smart phone. However, it seems that the China-based company is getting ready to unveil a new Windows Phone device.

Huawei’s expected third-generation of Window Phone 8 devices; the Ascend W3 has been spotted leaked images. The images of the alleged Huawei Ascend W3 were leaked from china and were first reported by GSMinsider which notes that the alleged Windows Phone device will come in two color models – Blue and Yellow. The leaked images show the Ascend W3’s front panel with Live Tiles and Huawei logo branding on top beneath the earpiece alongside the front-facing camera.

The rear panel of the device sports a camera and comes again with a Huawei logo branding in the centre. Presently, there is no word about the innards of the device. However, the site notes that alleged Ascend W3 will support multiple LTE networks in China.

This is not the first Windows Phone that Huawei has manufactured till now. The company had launched Ascend W2 earlier this year at the Mobile Asia Expo 2013. Ascend W2 was the successor to Huawei Ascend W1, which was launched in January.

The Huawei Ascend W2 is powered by a Qualcomm MSM8230 Snapdragon S4 Plus processor with a dual-core clocked at 1.4GHz along with Adreno 305 GPU. It comes with 512MB of RAM and 8GB of inbuilt storage, which can be further expanded by up to 32GB through a microSD card. Huawei Ascend W2 features a 4.3-inch display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels.

On the other hand, the Huawei Ascend W1 comes with a 4-inch LCD display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels with OGS Technology. The device is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8230 processor and 512 MB RAM. It sports a 5-megapixel auto-focus rear camera with LED flash and a 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera. It includes 4GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 32GB through microSD card. It is backed by a 1950mAh battery.

HTC could be an acquisition target for Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE

It looks like ailing smartphone giant HTC is being eyed by a number of Chinese device makers including Huawei, Lenovo, and ZTE.

Bloomberg cites analyst Sanford C. Bernstein & Co as saying that the three Chinese vendors are looking at taking over HTC with an intent to leverage the $4.2 billion Taiwanese giant's technological know-how and brand prowess in the mobile devices segment.

"They continue to produce the best phones of the industry," said Pierre Ferragu, an analyst at Bernstein in London. "They have good brand recognition. From that perspective, they could be an acquisition target for a company with more scale but less product development expertise and weak brand positioning."

While HTC's critically acclaimed flagship device, the HTC One showcased company's skill at making premium hardware, it faced stiff competition from the likes of Apple, Samsung and other Android OEMs. The launch of the device got delayed due to component shortages affecting the company's net profit.

The company's second-quarter net profit came in at just T$1.25 billion, far below forecasts.

Recently, HTC said it expected revenue to fall as much as 30 percent in the third-quarter of the year compared to the previous three months, citing fierce competition in the mid -to high-end smartphone markets. The company also indicated a weak outlook for profit margins.

Rocked by internal feuding and executive exits, HTC is positioned at the high-end of a smartphone market that is close to saturation. Thus, the company has seen its market share slump to below 5 percent from around 25 percent five years ago and its stock price is at an 8-year low.

While Lenovo is a new entrant in the mobile devices segment, it's riding on the success of its PC business to establish itself in the market, and a big acquisition would certainly help it in consolidating its position. The company recently reported good numbers back on a strong showing in the mobile space. Huawei and ZTE have the scale and produce millions of white labelled devices but their brands are not as well recognised as that of HTC's. 

However, Bloomberg suggests that Chairwoman Cher Wang and her family, who hold a stake in HTC, may stand in the way of a takeover as long as the company has adequate cash.

Huawei Ascend P1 now up for pre-orders at Rs. 12,990

Huawei Ascend P1 is now up for pre-order at a price point of Rs. 12,990.

The phone has been listed on online retailer Flipkart's website, with the estimated release date mentioned as the 3rd week of August. The listing was first spotted by FoneArena.

Huawei Ascend P1 is powered by 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor alongside 1GB RAM. It comes with 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD(540x960 pixels) display with Gorilla Glass 2, 4GB internal storage (expandable up to 32GB), 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The Huawei Ascend P1 runs the dated Android 4.0 operating system and is powered by a 1670mAh battery. 

The phone was first showcased at CES 2012 and is being made available almost after a year and a half in the Indian market.

The LTE version of the Ascend P1 was unveiled by Airtel in October 2012 which was said to be India's first LTE-TDD smartphone. Airtel had said that the phone would be specially equipped to use Circuit Switched Voice Fall Back technology to support voice calls over 3G, as under the current 4G license, Airtel can only provide 4G data services. However, the phone is still not widely available.

Huawei Ascend P1 key specifications

• 4.3-inch Super AMOLED qHD(540x960 pixels) display with Gorilla Glass 2
• 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 4GB internal storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD card
• 8-megapixel rear camera with dual LED flash
• 1.3-megapixel front facing camera
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 1670 mAh battery
• 64.8x129x7.69mm
• 110 grams