Huawei Ascend P1 Pro Reviews

A decent specification and fine screen make this a worthy mid-range contender

Not a bad handset, but for £50 you could have the LTE version of the all-conquering Samsung Galaxy S3

Despite its slightly cheap body the P1 ticks a lot of boxes. It has ICS from launch and while both thin and light still packs a decent battery. The screen is bright and vivid, it has a microSD slot and the camera is not half bad. The chipset may not be the latest word in modernity but it offers a more than sufficient amount of grunt and the option to use the stock ICS launcher is welcome. If it weren't for the Gallery app sync issue, the mystery of the NFC functionality and a few rattles, I'd happily give it a higher rating.

The Ascend P1 is a very impressive attempt at making a high-end Android phone to compete with the likes of Samsung and HTC. It's very, very smooth and fast in operation and great fun to simply poke and use, with more than enough power to handle apps and web use with ease. The camera takes great still shots and produces extremely impressive 1080p footage, plus being able to quick-launch the camera from the lock screen makes quick work of grabbing impulse shots of dogs doing funny things. The Ascend P1 doesn't quite manage to replicate the same classy feel as HTC's One series or the Xperia S, but it gets very, very close and is a great option for anyone looking to combine serious power and size while also avoiding manufacturer skins and getting a "pure" Android 4.0 experience. The £340 or thereabouts price tag means it's approaching the sort of prestige prices charged by the Samsungs and HTCs of this world, though, and to really compete we'd like it to feel a little more solid. If you can live with its lightweight feel, the P1's a seriously enjoyable and powerful phone.

It's a sure sign of how quickly things can change in the mobile industry. The Ascend P1 was a top-notch phone -- in January. Five months later, the landscape has changed drastically: Huawei's "Platinum device" will be released in a world in which the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S III are available as alternative options. The P1 is a good phone, but it's not in the same league as those big guns. But was a device like the Ascend P1 meant to be the best of the best? Probably not. Heck, the very same manufacturer that produced this phone will debut the quad-core D Quad as its flagship at some not-too-distant point in the future. Rather, this device seems more practically suited to take on the next tier down -- a place which houses phones like the Galaxy Nexus and Droid RAZR. And at roughly $500 (prices vary by region), Huawei's inaugural dual-core device does exactly that in respectable fashion. It may not be love at first sight, but the P1 is -- at the very least -- a great first impression.

Huawei set some ambitious goals and made some lofty claims at MWC 2012. The company’s numbers are looking up and its brand awareness seems poised to grow further over the next year; we’d say they’re a company worth keeping an eye on. But if Huawei is really angling for a shot at smartphone supremacy, it’s got to do better than the Ascend P1. We’re not saying it’s not a good phone; it is. In fact, in a few areas -like responsiveness, pocketability, and battery life- it really shines. And of course, we have to give Huawei credit for building one of the slimmest smartphones ever. But that’s not enough to wow audiences far and wide, particularly when negatives like the unremarkable build quality and bad stock keyboard experience are factored in. Of those, it’s the former “ding” against the P1 that we think is the most critical; a bad software keyboard can be replaced, but an uninspired design is tougher to correct. Huawei’s future path will be determined by its more bombastic devices, but in the meantime, the Ascend P1 will serve as one of the company’s big brand drivers. Whether that’s a good or a bad thing will depend on your point of view. From where we’re sitting, it’s neither; the P1 is sort of a wash. Its most exciting attribute might be its status as a preview device: a harbinger of the kind of products Huawei will (hopefully) be bringing us next. But there’s enough good in the P1, we think, to be excited about that future.

When we first got the Huawei Ascend P1 at the office we thought it was a great phone - if only had it arrived a year earlier. Now that we're done reviewing it, we think it's an excellent package for this year too. Clearly, the Ascend P1 won't beat any of the new flagship releases by the major players, but there's a good chance it will do well in the high volume upper midrange market. It has a solid build quality, very good performance and a software experience that Android purists will appreciate. We're quite happy with the Super AMOLED screen too - its PenTile matrix is something that's annoying only when you know it's there and look from way too close, while everything else about its performance is great. The camera does quite well too, especially the Group shot mode, which mimics the functionality of the HTC One series. All that's great, but the Ascend P1 still faces an uphill battle - Huawei isn't exactly a household name and the yesteryear flagships are now priced very competitively.

Despite a slightly average-looking front, the P1 rescues itself with the thin design, and generally being nice to hold. We'd prefer a little more grip on the back of the handset, but this is a small point. The screen isn't so big as to make using the phone one-handed a problem, and we really like that. The device itself is quick, thanks to that fast processor, and the inclusion of Ice Cream Sandwich is good news, because it's a great OS. There may well be an upgrade to Jellybean in the future, but even if there isn't, this remains a strong phone. Audio and video both won us over, and this makes for a great multimedia phone. Call quality is good too, and everything is well laid out, even with some slight UI tweaks by Huawei. Indeed, this is one of the closest phones we've used to a Nexus device for purity of Android.

The Huawei Ascend P1's light weight, good performance and decent battery life make it a phone well worth considering. However, the Ascend P1 isn't as competitively priced as many of Huawei's other Android phones and its questionable build quality detracts from its overall appeal.

The Huawei Ascend P1 is not really a phone for U.S. buyers, but it may be an indication of good things to come.

Huawei is certainly on the right track with the Ascend P1 – it is thin, light and stylish on the exterior, while capable on the interior with its dual-core processor. Some tradeoffs are introduced to seal its mid-range faith, like a non-HD screen and 4GB of internal memory, but the Super AMOLED screen is great for watching videos, there is a microSD slot for expansion, and the sealed battery is with quite the endurance, so these are minor quibbles. We really liked what Huawei did with ICS, leaving the stock Android interface as default, but adding a few easy to switch to light themes for those who want some variety, including a 3D UI. It also abstained from adding bloatware, but rather preinstalled only useful basics. We'd like to see a bit more capable camera module, but it's still neither better nor worse than your average smartphone cam, and has quite the number of functions and effects to compensate for the somewhat bland pics and video.

The Huawei Ascend P1 that so impressed us at CES isn't quite as shiny or new a few months down the road, when other Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich phones are also trotting out top-of-the-line features. Its design is arresting, but the just-adequate camera and so-so call quality wouldn't inspire me to pay the ballpark $600 unlocked price. Still, it's a handset I'd love to see take root in a carrier portfolio, at the very least for some eye candy and to assess how well the data and voice elements work when tuned to a specific carrier's bands. Moreover, the P1 is a good example of the caliber of phone that Huawei should strive to sell in the U.S., where the brand is still little-known.

Our final conclusion for the Huawei Ascend P1 was quite favorable. Other than a few design decisions we’d probably change ourselves the phone is promising. Huawei has continued to improve from an OEM brand into a mainstream competitor and the Ascend P1, the thinner P1 S, and the upcoming Ascend D Quad are a fine example of that. It appears they’ve taken some strong hints from Samsung with their smartphone design and direction — and with good reason. Samsung is the number one smartphone manufacturer in the world and their numbers have continued to climb. Out of the multiple Huawei handsets we’ve had the pleasure of working with as of late, the Ascend P1 is one of the most polished and best devices to date. They are headed in the right direction and I’d love to have this phone be available for a good mid-range price on AT&T or T-Mobile. Overall the Ascend P1 has a vibrant screen, impressive specs, the latest version of Android, a top quality camera, and everything fits in a simple and sleek 7.6mm thin chassis. We look forward to what else Huawei sends to market this year and you can expect the Ascend P1 to be available in Hong Kong and Taiwan this month, followed by Latin America in June, and with Europe getting the handset this summer.