Huawei Ascend P7: We review the PANORAMIC SELFIE smartphone

Last year Huawei crept into the No 3 spot for smartphone sales worldwide without anyone really noticing. At least not here, where Chinese giant is known (if it’s known for anything) for its networking equipment. But with the Ascend P7, it raises its game in two ways. It’s Huawei’s first 4G phone, and it's by far the most …

[Anonymous Coward]

As an iPhone owner

I hope Apple copies that power intensive apps screen. That would be handy to have, though not if I had to have it nagging me to shut down apps. Is that screen a part of Android or is it something Huawei added?

[karlp]

Re: As an iPhone owner

iOS8, out later this fall, will have per OS battery usage statistics allowing you to see what is doing what and act accordingly. I'll try and put a link in, no idea if it will get pulled out or not. If it does go to google image search and type "ios8 per app battery usage" First result should give you an idea.

http://i-cdn.phonearena.com/images/articles/123219-image/iphone-battery.jpg

This goes along with iOS7 providing per-app data usage and per-app storage usage which has been around for forever.

Karl P

[Matt_payne666]

Re: As an iPhone owner

Winphone 8.1 has per app battery usage (both in use and background), per app data usage, per app storage usage.......

apple also borrowed the winphone 8 app switching screen from winphone...

[Dave 126]

Re: As an iPhone owner

Something Huawei added.

The strangest thing for me, as a PC user coming to Android, was the concept that I didn't need to close applications. Reading up on it at the time, I was given the impression that Android OS did this for me. Fair does. Since version whatever, I can manually close apps with a swipe, but often when I return to an app after a period of time it shows signs that it has been 'hibernated' in the mean time.

[KjetilS]

Re: As an iPhone owner

Something Huawei added.

I'm pretty sure stock android has the same screen, with a slightly different layout.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: As an iPhone owner

It was always the case on Windows mobile. The close button just sent the app to the background. It was always getting complaints and Microsoft were always defending that design choice.

Even when iOS added the multitasking people complained that the home button wasn't closing the app.

[the_leander]

Temperatures during use..

Just curious, one of the consistent complaints about the P6 from users was that it got ferociously hot even when only dealing with medium loads such as simpler games.

Has this been rectified in the P7?

[1Rafayal]

Re: Temperatures during use..

I have the P6, which is an awesome phone. I dont think it evet gets that hot for me, but I use the bumper that came with it.

It certainly doesnt get as hot as 4g phones.

[drunk.smile]

As a P6 user I can vouch for the heat,

it's particularly bad during video calls when I have actually had to put in into the freezer for a bit to keep it from shutting down.

The build quality isn't too great as, although smooth at first the plastic around the corners has chipped away after several months of heavy use.

What I'd like to know is if the volume buttons have moved further away from the power button? I've tried to take a photo a number of times and accidentally turned the screen off.

[Richard Lloyd]

Just be wary about lack of updates

After the farcical "we will update it honest guv (months later...) er, no we won't" with their first foray in the range - the P1 - don't be surprised that as soon as the successor to this model comes out, you won't see updates for the P7 any more.

Sorry, but if you're actually going about-turn (I was almost going to say "lie", but let's give them the benefit of the doubt) about updates to end-users, then you've burned a lot of goodwill, Huawei, and it makes your later models a really hard sell.

As ever, my advice for *any* Android device is either buy the Nexus/Silver/Google Play Edition or at the very least make sure you can get CyanogenMod on it. Any other route will result in update delays ranging from months to, er, never.

[Baggypants]

First 4G phone?

What about the P2

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/01/huawei_china_here_come_the_grownups/

[Sartori]

Sound quality / updates ....

Would be nice if the review included something on audio quality through headphones. As phones these days are the modern 'iPods' for most people it would be good to know.

Also, what are Huawei like for Android updates? Good, or forget about it? If they're hopeless can another ROM easily be flashed to these things?

Seems a good spec for the price, phone looks nice, UI looks pretty awful but another launcher could fix that. With the Nexus 5 currently down to £249 in CPW I wonder how they both compare.

[Anonymous Coward]

It looks like a Sony Xperia.

[Lionel Baden]

I have the Experia Z And that was my first thought !!

[Anonymous Coward]

"it's by far the most attractive, eye-catching design we’ve seen from a Chinese vendor"

Which would be impressive were it not for the fact that all the design cues are Apple inspired.

[joeW]

Oh come on, those corners aren't nearly round enough.

[steveking1000]

Other Chinese companies also make eye catching phones.....

Oh, go on then! I'll make the obvious comment about Apple being a Chinese manufacturer with an American marketing division....

[The New Turtle]

Android updates - does anyone but google ever roll them out? I've had HTC nd Motorola phones, and there's typically one minor update in the first 6 months of life and that's all. Basically I expect to continue with whatever comes on the phone until it's replacement time or it gets rooted. That's not a problem if one buys a phone that does everything you need in the first place, of course.

[Chika]

I'm going to keep an eye on this. I have been using a Huawei Ascend G330 for some time now and though it's a reasonable budget phone (if you aren't one of those that buys mobile phones as a fashion accessory, of course), it's a little strict on space so adding apps is a bit of a problem. Upgrading to something like this, especially if the price isn't too high, is certainly a possibility for me, especially as I seem to have gravitated away from the big names and more toward folk like Huawei, ZTE and the like.

Actually, I've been reading up on quite a few reviews and this one is probably the best one I've read so far, especially as it isn't quite so eager to steer you toward the latest Samsung, HTC or Nexus products (most of what I have read so far is "It's good, it's even great, buuuut.... LOOK AT THE [insert favourite here]" which can be helpful on occasion for comparison but gets really annoying after the first few times).

And so what if it looks a bit like an Apple? Actually all the various companies nick little bits and pieces here and there (sometimes a bit too much, hence the mobile patent wars of the last few years!). If it works and does what you want it to do, then overall looks matter very little (except, I say again, if you are buying it as a fashion accessory - yes, some people do that sort of thing!)