CES 2013: Huawei introduce two new Android smartphones and a new Windows Phone!

Image Credit: Huawei Twitter.

The Huawei Ascend Mate!

   At long last it's officially official! Here is the Huawei Ascend Mate that we've seen teased by Huawei's chairman and that has been caught on more cameras than we have fingers! 

   Now we finally have some concrete details too. Firstly, there is that huge 6.1-inch 720p HD IPS+ display, a 1.5 GHz Hi-Silicon quad-core processor and a 4050 mAh battery. On top of that there's Android 4.1 and an 8.0-megapixel AF rear-facing camera with HDR and 1.0-megapixel HD capable front-facing camera. Huawei has been keen to point out the dual MIC noise reduction technology and the Dolby sound system and stereo recording options on this device too!

   The device also has a screen to body percentage of 73% something which Huawei is keen to promote as notably higher than their competitors and it's something which should in theory make your experience with the device better!

   We expect we'll hear pricing when carriers start announcing whether or not they are carrying these phones! The full press release is available here!

The Huawei Ascend D2!

   We've already seen the monster phablet from Huawei, but Huawei knows that not everyone wants the biggest phone going and so to compensate for that here is the Ascend D2. 

   It's a water proof and dust proof device which will more than keep up with the superphones which are coming out this year. First up this is a 5" full 1080p IPS device, which gives this Gorilla Glass coated screen, a resolution of 443 pixels per inch! You'll also get a stellar pair of cameras here too, as the D2 features a 13MP BSI rear-facing camera and we're not sure of the resolution of the front-facing camera at the moment!

   The D2 has an ample 3000mAh battery, 1.5GHz quad-core processor and for those of you that think the 5-inch display is just a bit too unmanageable then the D2 will also be available in a 4.7-inch option! You can check out the full details here!

As for availability the Ascend D2 will be hitting China this month and the Ascend Mate will follow in February!

Via PhoneDog.

The Huawei Ascend W1!

   For whatever reason Huawei chose not to give their new Windows Phone 8 powered Ascend W1 the same centre stage treatment they gave their Android pairing. It might have something to do with the fact that this is a decidedly average offering and they didn't want to detract from the high-end offerings.

   So yesterday evening Huawei pushed out the Ascend W1. It's a 4" device which offers a 4-inch 480 by 800 pixel display, a 5-megapixel rear and 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera all of which is kept chugging along by the 1.2GHz dual-core processor. Huawei have made a good habit of including big batteries in their devices this year and the Ascend W1 is no exception: it's packing a 1,950mAh battery! To round out the rest of the specs there's 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage, thankfully there's also a MicroSD card slot because that will probably need expanding!

   If this one doesn't tickle your fancy then Huawei mentioned to CNet that they have a Windows Phone 8 device on the way which will be comparable in size and performance to the 6.1" Ascend Mate! We're looking forward to seeing that one! If you want to see the Huawei Ascend W1 in action then WPCentral's hands-on is embedded below!
Via Engadget.

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24/12/2012: Huawei's Ascend Mate shown off in store, Raspberry Pi becomes a basestation and Google trying to ruin Christmas?

   As that special day approaches the news always tends to die down, but don't fear there's still a few things to report, it just won't be quite as much as normal!

Huawei's 6.1" phablet gets shown off again, this time in a retail store.

   Huawei's upcoming 6.1" phablet may be causing quite a stir because of its size, but since we caught wind of the device last week the phone hasn't been able to keep itself concealed. That may have something to do with Huawei's CEO, Richard Yu, whipping his phone out every where he goes!

   Over the weekennd Yu made an appearance at a Huawei retail store in Guangzhou, and he showed off the Ascend Mate to a relatively excited group of onlookers. We're still not entirely sure when this phone is meant to be released but judging by the amount of airtime it's receiving we would expect to see it arrive at CES in a couple of weeks.

   So far we don't know everything about the phone, but the phone is expected to by 9.9mm thick, have a 1.8Ghz quad-core processor and 2GBs of RAM, something which will become the standard next year. None of this is confirmed but the rumour mill is usually pretty spot on. You can see the full meet and greet below, but in the meantime what do you think about this device? Too big? Just about right? Let us know in the comments below!
Weibo Via TechnoBuffalo.

A Cambridge team makes the Raspberry Pi work as a cellular basestation!

   By now most of you will probably have heard of the humble Raspberry Pi, but for $25-30 you might be surprised to learn that this little piece of kit can, with a little bit of extra work, be turned into a private mobile network! Now what the guys at PA Consulting did wasn't entirely legal, which is why they secured their own signal-proof room, but they did successfully get two phones sending texts to each other through the Raspberry Pi.

   The team connected the Pi to a radio interface, they twinned this with Open Source software, which together gave them their mobile basestation! Frazer Bennett, one of PA's experts, said:

 "We've shrunk a 30ft basestation into a 3in Raspberry Pi and created our own mobile phone network. This proves what can be achieved through low cost off the shelf systems."

   If you're intrigued how they did it then check out the video below, but remember there is a legal minefield if you want to try this yourself!
Via NewElectronics. 

Is Google trying to ruin Christmas?

   And finally, is Google trying to ruin Christmas? We've seen them release their very own Santa trackerwhich shows Santa delivering presents at this very moment! (You can also get it as an Android app!) But, there's also been a slightly humorous post on Google's issue pages for Android as one user has dug up a 'Santa with a sad face', which we all know is totally unrealistic and unrepresentative of the man himself! You can see the bug report followed by the offending emoji embedded below! First Google cancelled December and now this, maybe Google planned for the world to end!
Via AndroidPolice.

Please describe the problem in detail. Be sure to include:
- Steps to reproduce the problem.
1. Enable Emoji keyboard.
2. Use Emoji keyboard to type the Santa icon.
- What happened.
A Santa with a sad face appears, ruining Christmas.
- What you think the correct behavior should be.
A Santa with a jolly smile should appear, representing his unending joy he derives from gift giving; a joy he wishes to communicate to Android users during the holidays.
Version: 4.2.1 (Via GoogleCode).

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