Huawei sets to be number 1 with the Huawei Ascend P7

On the7th May, Huawei has announced their latest flagship device – the Ascend P7. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the launch but I set my alarm to make sure I would follow my favourite South African journalists on Twitter who generated a buzz of excitement as they were clearly impressed with the thinnest LTE phone (at 6.5mm) that Huawei had delivered.

What has Huawei announced with the Ascend P7

• An LTE device which is technically able to download a  1GB movie in 1 minute.
• 1.8 GHz Quad-core SoC processor
• 5-inch 1080×1920 display
• An updated Emotion UI interface (EMUI 2.3) which comes with more than 650 enhancements over the previous Emotions UI of the P6 (EMUI 1.6).
• The operating system is based on Android 4.4.2
• A 13MP Rear camera which is based on the 4th-generation Sony BSI sensor with an f/2.0 aperture that can focus to snap a pic in 1.2 seconds.
• 8MP front facing 5-piece aspherical lens system camera with a Sony BSI sensor with a f2.4 aperture capable to taking a “Groufie” which is a group selfie.
• 2500 mAh battery which is said to give a user 2 days of normal usage or 1 day of heavy usage.
• The Huawei P7 continues the circular “rounded C-shaped” metal look of the P6
• Available in black, white, or pink however this depends on the local cellular networks.

How does the Ascend P7 compare ?

Reviewing the presentation notes, what stood is that Huawei is out for blood and has clearly set its mark on eating Apple’s and Samsung’s lunch. The presentation unashamedly compared the Ascend P7 to the Apple iPhone 5s and to the Samsung Galaxy S5 specifically naming each section with the not-so-subtle title Benchmark.

Software and Battery

What also stood is that the trend I predicted about the mobile wars being about software and battery life seems to be true.  The Huawei P6 runs on great hardware – but that is expected. The software interface with its 650 enhancements is what the user encounters first to make a purchase decision.  The same software also controls the battery. This is an area that Huawei has invested into by giving the user even better application and phone management tools.

The Ascend P6 has a superb facility that lets the user shutdown any battery intensive application prolonging the battery life. In the Ascend P7 this has been enhanced further with the ability to select which application automatically start and which applications are kept running in stand by mode.

The Phone Manager has been enhanced too with a storage cleaner, harassment filter and notification manager, virus scanner and permission manager. These are all built into the device.

There is also an option to enter into a Power Saving Mode so that when the phone is critically low on battery, the phone shuts down all power-hungry apps.

How much is the Ascend P7 and when will it be available ?

The phone is set to launch in selected markets in May. Unfortunately, South Africa is not on the list (and interestingly neither is the US) :

The priced of the Huawei Ascend P7 is set at €449 (US$625) or around R6250.  If the price of the device will be sold around those levels, it places the Huawei P7 in a highly competitive position compared to the Apple iPhone 5s and the Samsung Galaxy S5.

Even though the Huawei brand has had a 52% increase in its global awareness, the challenge facing Huawei is to continue to educate the market.  to ask for the phone by name and not be deterred by the sales-person who tries to sell another phone that offers the sales person better incentives.

I look forward to reviewing the Ascend P7 and see how it compares to my Ascend P6 (read P6 review here).