Hands On: Huawei Ascend P2
updated 12:19 pm EST, Mon February 25, 2013
Support for LTE Category 4, thin profile
Huawei took advantage of Mobile World Congress to demonstrate what it calls the "world's fastest 4G LTE smartphone." The Ascend P2, officially unveiled yesterday by the company, is the first with LTE Category 4 support for theoretical maximum download speeds of up to 150Mbps. Electronista took a few moments to get an overall feel for the high-speed mobile phone on the Barcelona show floor.
Picking up the P2 seemed stranger than it should do. The combination of its physical shape, case materials, and its 8.4mm (0.33-inch) thickness made it feel more fragile than it actually was. Though it has a smaller screen than the five-inch Ascend D2 on display at CES last month, the 4.7-inch version in the P2 is still more than adequate enough for media playback, if not at a full 1080p resolution, and not as brightly as it could have been.
Despite having a 1.5GHz quad-core processor supported by 1GB of RAM and running on Android 4.1, it seemed to stutter when transitioning to different home screen pages. Things did not improve when the camera was tested, as on the first phone being used the app failed to connect to it. A second device showed no such issues, and provided a decent image using its 13MP BSI sensor.
Though it is being marketed with the speed, testing its ability to load up a webpage within the confines of a trade show would not relate to its usage in real-life, and in real-world usage, would need for LTE Category 4 to be supported by more carriers for it to reach its full potential.
The Ascend P2 is set to be released in the second quarter, at an unreleased price.
