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Huawei Ascend P6 Review

Huawei’s thinnest smartphone yet has just arrived — the Ascend P6. It’s actually the thinnest available smartphone in the local market today.

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series

Design and Construction.

The Ascend P6 has a very simple yet elegant and refined design. It looked so simple that it resembled the iconic look of the iPhone 5 with its solid metal look and rounded corners. Add to that the two-tone combination of silver and white colors, a polished metal finish around the trimmings and a flat white polycarbonate back panel.

The rounded edge at the bottom corner is a distinctive touch and the only thing we could see that separates the over-all look from the iPhone 5. the black variant though has a much different treatment.

Both the power button and the volume controls are found on the right side, along with the slot loaded micro-SIM card tray and the microSD card slot. The micro-USB charging port is found at the top end whiel the 3.5mm audio jack is actually hidden by a pin cap at the farthest corner on the left. The pin cap is used to pop open the card slots for the micro-SIM and the microSD.

The two pairs on micrphones are found at the top and bottom end of the handset, one for voice calls and the other for active noise-cancellation. The Huawei logo is prominently featured at the front panel, just below the soft buttons and then again right in the center at the back.

The 8-megapixel camera at the back is flushed at the top-left most corner along with the accompanying LED flash while the speaker grills are found at the opposite corner.

The back side has a somewhat polished finish and smooth rubbery texture that helps add more grip. The white variant can be a real dirt magnet so it’s nice that Huawei included a translucent, soft gel case along with it.

The Ascend P6 looks really stunning, there’s a keen attention to detail and we can certainly say that it is Huawei’s sexiest and best designed handset so far.

Display.

With a display size of 4.7 inches, the P6 just the right amount of screen real estate. As always, Huawei uses an IPS LCD panel and puts the resolution at 720p. While we’re already used to the full HD 1080p resolution of most other brands, 720p on a 4.7-inch still looks are sharp and crisp like the others.

This decision is certainly a factor that allowed Huawei to price this device more affordably.

The display looks very clean, sharp and more than enough screen brightness. Hauwei also added a feature setting that allows you to also adjust the color temperature of the screen from a slightly yellowish tinge to a brighter blue tinge.

Viewing angles are very good, glare is manageable even under direct sunlight or bright light sources. The three (3) soft buttons occupy some parts of the screen and still appears even when apps are full or inside a game.

There’s this Gloves Mode that once you activate, it will make the screen more sensitive so you can still use the touchscreen while wearing any gloves.

OS, Apps and UI.

Huawei has been trying to differentiate itself by trying out a more simple approach in their UI. Called the Emotion UI 1.6, the interface is very flat and straight-forward. There’s no App drawer so all the widgets and apps are organized in the homescreens. You can have as much as 9 home screens and once you filled that out with apps and widgets, you will be forced to group the icons into folders. This is exactly the same style with iOS, sans the widgets.

There’s a shortcut bar that hovers at the bottom, just above the soft buttons. You can arrage up to 5 icons in the shortcut and after that, you’ll have to group them in folders as well. Without the widgets, the Emotion UI will actually look very much like the interface on iOS devices.

The P6 comes pre-installed with the latest Android 4.2.2 update and gives you access to hundreds of thousands of apps on the Google Play Store so there’s really no lack of options and customization available to the user.

The native keypad for making voice calls is simple and functional; so is the virtual keyboard for composing text.

Multimedia and Camera.

Multimedia consumption on the P6 is a bit of hit or miss — while the 4.7-inch display is more than enough for watching videos or viewing the web, the built-in speakers aren’t that loud enough as we thought. The sound is actually good — crisp and clear — but I guess we were looking for more volume especially when watching movies.

There’s built-in FM radio tuner and you will need the headphones attached to serve as an antenna for it.

One of the more significant feature of the Ascend P6 is the 5-megapixel front-facing camera. It was specifically built with a larger camera for people who loves doing selfies. This is evident with the Beauty Shot function when switching to the front camera.

The rear takes good camera but we find the sensor to be a bit slow, especially in low-light conditions. here are some sample photos we took using the 8MP rear camera.

[fancygallery id=”37″ album=”39″]

Video is nothing exceptional — ranges from fairly decent to good, and does the job fine. Here are some clips we uploaded on YouTube.

We have to note again that the pin cap on the 3.5mm audio jack needs to be removed when using the headphones and due to its small size, could easily get lost which we did in just after a couple of days of using it.

Performance and Benchmarks.

The Ascend P6 comes with Huawei’s own ARM-based quad-core chip which has been used in previous models for about a year now, starting with the D Quad and Quad XL. It’s a pretty capable chip and when paired with 2GB of RAM, can prtty much handle anything you throw at it.

Navigation and transitions are pretty smooth, apps load fairly quick. Our synthetic benchmarks show pretty good results, strating with a Nenamark 2 score of 60.5ffps.

Quadrant Standard score tops at 5,066 while Antutu Benchmark went as high as 14,987. Based on the scores, the Ascend P6 sits somewhere in the middle of other flagship handsets in terms of raw performance.

Call Quality, Connectivity and Battery Life.

The Ascend P6 lacks the options for fast LTE connectivity and NFC. While NFC might not be that useful or practical at the moment, we were hoping Huawei could at least have LTE on their devices.

Our standard bench for battery test is a full HD 1080p video played in a loop at 50% brightness and 0% volume lasted the Huawei Ascend P6 around 7 hours 45 minutes.

Conclusion.

The Ascend P6 combines a good set of hardware in a very sexy design and super thin form factor that very few other handsets have achieved. Huawei has certainly done a lot of effort in order to give the P6 the title of world’ thinnest and the attention to detail is very evident. The P6 represents the best Huawei can do at the moment and though it might not be as impressive as other high-end flagship devices that came with full HD display, NFC and LTE, the Ascend P6 can still handle itself just fine.

The Huawei Ascend P6 is available in stores nationwide with a suggested retail price of Php18,990. It’s also available for free under Globe postpaid plan with a Php999 monthly fee.

Huawei Ascend P6 specs:
4.7-inch 720p LCD screen, @312ppi
1.5GHz K3V2 quad-core processor
Vivante GC4000 GPU
2GB RAM
8GB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
8MP BSI autofocus camera w/ flash
1080p video recording @ 30fps
5MP front-facing camera, 720p
3G/HSPA 14Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 3.0
FM radio tuner
Dolby Digital Plus sound
GPS with aGPS, GLONASS
Li-Ion 2,000mAh battery
Android Jellybean v4.2.2
Colors: Black, White and Pink
Dimension: 132.7 x 65.5 x 6.2 mm
Weight: 120g

What we liked about it:
* Great design
* Super thin form factor
* Good display quality and resolution
* Competitive pricing in the flagship category

What we did not like:
* So so battery life
* No LTE option

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

30 Responses

  1. Avatar for jed jed says:

    you can win the LG G2 with Yugatech’s index finger challenge

    http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtube_gdata_player&v=QsSode7AMNU&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DQsSode7AMNU%26feature%3Dyoutube_gdata_player

  2. Avatar for Marjun Marjun says:

    nakabili ako huawei g510 last october 10, 2013 almost 1 month kapin.. nasira ang lcd kaya hindi nag oh on ang aking cp., tinanong ko ang technician qng saan ako puyd bumili ng lcd. sabi nya hindi nya alam.. ang tanong ko saan ako bibili ng lcd g510 dito sa cebu area?? nakakalungkot isipin nasira agad2x.

  3. Avatar for Abby Abby says:

    Low quality photos? This is a major draw back.

  4. Avatar for xian xian says:

    sir abe. or anyone in this forum. which is better huawei p6 or lenovo k900?
    huawei is a good company. not bcoz china made gnyan n agad ang mentality nyo. i thnk its better parin with CM MP at SM

    • Avatar for sinned sinned says:

      Wow nanghusga kgad.. fyi lenovo oriiginate from China too.
      Anyway, specs-wise lenovo na.. no idea about pricing but if there is a little difference.. L will do.

  5. Avatar for sinned sinned says:

    i ask Globe SM Sn Lazaro about this yesterday (25-Sep) and it’s free stating Plan1799 and P4800 at Plan999.

    anyway, i think it’s the most decent looking Android phone in terms of appearance, very slim, lightweight. 2BG ram is good enough (i hv Note 2 with 2GB ram). interface, iOS-like, unique compare to all android.

  6. Avatar for AL AL says:

    How’s the overall feel of the UI and user experience? *I* didn’t get quite enough about that aspect.

  7. Avatar for Lon Lon says:

    Thats the reason why portable charger was invented.

  8. Avatar for Rain Rain says:

    Question: kung makukuha mo toh frew sa postpaid okay na ba toh? Or mas mas better handset pa na puwede makuha (globe 999) thanks

  9. Avatar for Sikat Sikat says:

    Mas sikat na d2 sa europe ang Huawie Ascend P6

    Kung maka- comment yung iba ! Wagas ! Hahhahah

  10. Avatar for Jie Jie says:

    Hi, this review is very nice. I want to inquiry for your ADVERTISING SPOT please contact me throught the aatached email above.
    jogie at merimobiles dot com. thanks a lot

  11. Avatar for Berkanoshow Berkanoshow says:

    Yugatech Crew, any experiences regarding heat issues?

    • Avatar for sinned sinned says:

      most of the phone nowadays have heat issue if you continuously use internet (EDGE/3G/HSDPA/HSPA+)

      only turn it “ON” if you are about to use it or leave it “ON” if you want to be always on-line in stand-by mode (screen-off). avoid running an app if you are not using it in stand-by mode even if screen-off (like FB messenger pop-up head).

  12. Avatar for Jeremy Jeremy says:

    Ang mahal ha. Tapos may malaking HUAWEI sa harap, nakakahiya ilabas. Yuck. Sa halagang yan mag Xperia Z LTE na lang ako kahit washed out yung screen.

    • Avatar for Name: abasosyalin Name: abasosyalin says:

      sa 18k ha nanghihinayang at namamahalan ka na pero kung makaYUCK ka sa brand at “nkakahiya ilabas” kala mong napakayaman mo.haha aba! sosyalin ang lolo mo. :D

    • Avatar for sinned sinned says:

      siguro hnd mo pa nakita o nahawakan man lng to. mas nakakahiya nga ilabas Sony Xperia Z kung un ang gamit mong phone sa sobrang OA ang laki.

  13. Avatar for sdr sdr says:

    thanks for the review sir abe

  14. Avatar for vinci vinci says:

    Been reading this site for quite sometime,and I must say galing ni abuzalzal magtroll. One of the things Im looking forward to reading are the hilarious reactions he gets from the replies he gets(apart from the stories). Lol. I cant say I agree with him all the time but damn, he does get you wild up.
    That aside, I’d say specswise, you get ’em locally, if you know where to look.

  15. Avatar for meh meh says:

    I think its a nice device but at that price point you could get an xperia Z

  16. Avatar for Cartoon Cartoon says:

    Ang Huawei P6 ay may Beauty panglabas lang. Sa loob ay low memory, low battery at walang LTE.

    • Avatar for jm jm says:

      pare.. aanuhin mu LTE sa pilipinas? eh ms mabilis at reliable pa ang HSPA+, lte san meron nyan? piling lugar? konting galaw mu lang wla ng lte hspa+ na ulit.. memory? expandable hanggng 32gb? mauubos ba ng candycrush na laro un?? whahaha,
      ram? 2gb ram dre.. lo battery? 2000mah, compare mu sa ibang phone na below 2000, hai nakuh utak nga naman ^^

    • Avatar for ryan ryan says:

      @ jm may review na nga na panget ang battery life eh. we cant deny na fact na LTE na ang in now a days. I agree na nde pa gnon ang coverage ng LTE sa pinas pro were goin there. bat ka pa pipili ng HSPA+ capable kung may choice ka nmn mag LTE na.

    • Avatar for sinned sinned says:

      ako naka unli data plan per pag nakikita ko billing ko, mas mali pa consumption ko sa WAP kesa sa 3G (3G/HSDPA/HSPA+). 3G marami na sa pinas pero hirap p din makaconnect, 4G p kya na iilan lng sa ncr meron.

  17. Avatar for abuzalzal abuzalzal says:

    You can get the much much superior Note 2 these days for Php21k…Php2k difference lang …Huwawei execs must’ve been smoking a lot of cracked pipe these days

    • Avatar for Abe Olandres Abe Olandres says:

      There will always be a discrepancy when you compare street price vs. SRP.

    • Avatar for wew wew says:

      pagpasensyahan nyu na sir yuga c @abuzalzal, bukod kasi sa may sayad yan sa utak eh hanggang cherry mobile lang afford nya kaya nabili sa grey market HAHAHAHAHA

    • Avatar for aha aha says:

      eh di yun ang bilhin mo! puro ka dakdak, bakla ka yata eh,. lahat na lang ng item na nirireview dito may reklamo ka!

    • Avatar for Huey Huey says:

      ehem, excuse me imaginary car aircon repair business owner, the pricing of a company product isn’t managed by a company exec, hello?!

      it’s the marketing dept. who usually decides the price for a product and you should really put your middle finger on ’em.

      a company is always different from a self-established business you know? if you’re really a business owner, try learning how business works from a source or two, okay?

      and quit claiming you’re some owner of your so-called “car aircon repair business” because you don’t look like one; judging by the way how you spoke.

      P.S. thank you for wasting my keyboard’s lifespan and my valuable time by making me type such comment that even a pre-schooler could understand. and quit rollin’ and trollin’ okay?!

    • Avatar for Huey Huey says:

      oh, by the way i agree with you that going with a Note 2 is much better buy than this. the cpu of this smartphone is decent but the gpu is so-so because it’s another vivante gpu, a weakling gpu.

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