Hands-on With Huawei's Self-proclaimed "World's Most Powerful Smartphone" Ascend D2
The Ascend D2 is Huawei's jump into the world of high-end superphones.
Huawei is making a big splash in the North American smartphone market here at CES. No longer content to be the company that provides the budget option for low-cost phones, the Chinese company is showing that world that it can make high-end phones with the rest of its competitors – particularly those from South Korea.
Even before the start of CES, Huawei boasted that it will have the most powerful smartphone on the planet on demo. While we haven't been able to put those claims to the test just yet, we were impressed on first impressions of the Ascend D2 Android phone.
It's powered by a 1.5GHz K3V2 quad core CPU created by Huawei itself, while the operating system will be Google's Android Jelly Bean 4.1. Like some of the other top-tier handsets, the D2 sports a 443 PPI display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution crammed into 5-inches.
In terms of design and feel, the Ascend D2 is completely competent and minimalist. This is partially because of the use of Android's soft keys, which we are fans of. There's the right amount of heft and the phone feels solid, though some may wish for a more premium backing other than glossy plastic. Still, the use plastic hasn't hurt Samsung one bit, so consumers definitely won't mind.
Check out our hands-on with the MASSIVE 6.1-inch Ascend Mate here.
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jn77 There was an article on 60 minutes on Huawei. I guess the question should be this........ Are we more concerned about the US Gov. or Chinese Gov. using back doors provided by the manufacturers to hack our cell phones under "Illegal search and seizure".Reply
I know the Chinese Gov does not care and technically the US Gov does not care either. -
blubbey 'the D2 sports a 443 PPI display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution crammed into 5-inches.'Reply
Seriously. Someone put a display with even half that density into a monitor please. Aren't ~22" 1080p monitors only about 100ppi? 4k monitors are long overdue. -
edogawa blubbey'the D2 sports a 443 PPI display with a 1080 x 1920 resolution crammed into 5-inches.'Seriously. Someone put a display with even half that density into a monitor please. Aren't ~22" 1080p monitors only about 100ppi? 4k monitors are long overdue.Reply
Couldn't agree more. -
jn77 How is Apple going to Sue...... they don't and never will make a 6.1 inch Iphone.....lol then again it does look like an Iphone with the round corners......LOL....... oh and the band around it is silver/alluminum....... 2 things they can sue for.Reply -
Estix Maybe I'm just being cynical here, but it's way too hard for me to get excited about another ARM-based phone.Reply
I don't really care if it's the fastest, because I don't care if I get 30 FPS playing angry birds, or if I get 300.
Unless the phone actually adds more real capabilities, like USB ports (and can act as a proper USB host), or some other real features, it's still just a phone, or at best, an internet appliance.
I know I don't speak for everyone. I just want a phone that can, when I need it to, act like a real laptop.
I'd love to be able to plug into a projector and use it for a presentation; I'd love to be able to run a proper version of SQL server or IIS or Apache. I'd really love to be able to play Diablo (2) or such.
I've been an Android fan for a few years now, but I just can't muster any enthusiasm for another phone that's arbitrarily better at pointless things.
Phone makers; please make me an x86-based Windows or Linux phone, I know you can. -
danwat1234 "1.5GHz K3V2 quad core CPU created by Huawei itself"Reply
It seems like it is a quad core Arm Cortex A-9 chip, not A-15..
http://www.cnx-software.com/2012/02/27/hisilicon-unveils-quad-core-cortex-a9-k3v2-processor-hi3620/
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IndignantSkeptic When is our Steam game collection finally going to work on Android is what I want to know.Reply -
hytecgowthaman It support windows 8 or 7 or xp.Reply
I'm like to use full os in this mobile because of the display .
if it has usb3.0 (not mini port) because many usb monitor are available. it can support hdds and ssds. because cost = customers satisfied.