Huawei Ascend P6 Pro Reviews

For a phone that had its specifications fairly public for some time, it's hard to feel overly excited about what the Ascend P6 has to offer. That's not intended to seem unkind, however. It's more an acknowledgement that it's clear the majority of the effort has been put into designing an object of desire, rather than blowing our minds with numbers and features. Yu made it known at the London launch event that the P6 isn't for the power users, with that distinction going to the Ascend P2, instead. So, are good looks and a daringly thin design enough to carry it? Possibly. More important than all of those things, however, is that the P6 shows that Huawei can build high-quality phones. What goes inside those phones can more easily be improved, but making something that feels and looks good is a harder skill to nail. Huawei appears to have made good ground here. Pleasing as the design is, it's still hard to ignore the occasionally mediocre performance, slightly dated UI (despite what the research might say), iffy battery life and lack of LTE. On more positive notes, the display looks great, the main camera can turn out pleasing photos and video, data and call performance are all solid. For the most part, the negatives are balanced by the positives (barring no LTE, perhaps). The takeaway message here is that Huawei means business. With the build quality and core-functionality nuts cracked, most other niggles should be relatively easy to improve. Iron those out, and there's potentially a bright future for the brand beyond its traditional markets.

The Ascend P6 can’t compete with the likes of the iPhone 5, HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4, but it’s considerably cheaper than any of them both SIM-free and on contract. It does give the Nexus 4 a run for its money, however. There’s no doubting the quality of the P6’s 720p IPS screen or its slender profile, and it feels well-made despite being very light for a 4.7-incher. The layout of the ports is a bit wonky and it does get a wee bit hot under stress. Also the processor doesn’t perform quite as well as the on-paper spec would suggest. What all this proves is that you can’t get a £550 phone for £350. But the P6 is still a very good £350 phone. Would I recommend one to a friend? Yes I would.

Making sure it enters the smartphone market race at the right time and not playing catching up with the more famous manufacturers, Huawei has hit the bull's-eye when it comes to purchasers' interests at the moment, as well as in the upcoming season. It is clear for the Chinese manufacturer that the hardware race in the production of smartphones is over -- important and reasonable maximums for the users have been reached and it is necessary to turn to diversification of models with software and design. The Ascend P6 offers precisely this, a software and design step up that not only places Huawei in the ring with the best, but also introduces Android OS to elements of iOS -- more than any other smartphone -- with the intuitive user interface as well as the device's elegance. Android fans that are a bit jealous of iPhone owners will find this the ideal phone and will not care that its hardware specifications are a notch lower than those offered by Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One.

It's never easy deciding on a phone, but it's easy to acknowledge a good one. The Huawei Ascend P6 is a solid performer in its class - one that is certain to put pressure on the competition. On the other hand, Huawei and the Ascend P6 are dealing with little or no pressure, being the underdog in this race. It may be a role they enjoy but one they aren't keen on playing forever. And they've shown it consistently.

We like the P6. It's got good looks, runs well and it feels well built. Yes, there are some really minor niggles, like that daft headphone cover/pin, among some more major issues such as the limited battery life - but we still rather like the phone when it's in full swing. From a price perspective £300 seems reasonable enough. The phone feels responsive and that means there's sufficient power and memory for it to justify a mid- to high-price, while the styling is easily good enough to compete against the likes of Samsung and Sony. It's only really HTC that makes more solid Android phones. The Huawei P6 is worth considering, but its main problem is down to the other phones out there that are available for similar money. There's a lot of competition and the P6 probably needs to be better value to attract customers to a company that is still building its name in the the eyes of many consumers. And we'll leave you on this notion: the HTC One is just £100 more at the time we write this. If you're buying on a 24 month contract (they're just about the only ones available these days) then that price difference spread over the duration isn't a great deal.

The Huawei Ascend P6 is a fantastic and desirable smartphone, whether it's an iPhone copy or not. It provides real value for money even if it is lacking NFC and 4G support. We particularly like the cameras and the customisable user interface.

What is a premium smartphone made of? It is of course the sum of first-rate components that ensure a high-end and swift system. But there is more: This feeling that you are holding a piece of technology which is absolutely innovative and which opens innumerable possibilities. Huawei manages to create this feeling right away from the outside: The extremely slim, stylishly designed, high-quality and very rigid metal chassis is convincing. And there are even three colors to choose from: pale pink, white and black. The elegant packaging also contributes to the A-one first impression. Then there is the good operation, clear speech quality, the consistently good signal strength of almost all modules, a lot of accessories and the decent software. The low-resolution screen, the swift but ultimately weak GPS module and the lack of LTE support are on the other side. The money saved when buying Huawei's Ascend P6 is thus noticed. Above all in the power: The installed SoC is now simply too old to keep up with the current premium range. Overall, the Ascend P6 lags behind the current first league of smartphones in a few points. Nevertheless, it is an impressive phone but not only because of its very slim build and good workmanship. Users who do not need LTE or a Full HD screen and can accept a lower performance will get a good smartphone for just under EUR 450, which is sooner located in the midrange than a premium range despite it all.

Beautiful hardware spoiled by laggy software

With its combination of curved lines and sharp metal edges, the slimmest phone out there is undoubtedly one of the most elegant designs we've seen, too, and not only in the Android world. The Ascend P6 gets almost all major smartphone details right except for the mediocre camera, which has some issues both with pictures and video. For about 400 (USD or EUR), we can't complain if something is lacking on a midranger, especially in such a thin and light package. Direct competitors are other midrange Android handsets with similar specs like the LG Optimus G / Nexus 4, Samsung Galaxy S III or the Sony Xperia SP. With the exception of the glass chassis on the LG, they don't sport premium designer looks, so if you want a looker with the latest version of Android without breaking the bank, the Ascend P6 deserves your consideration.