Huawei Ascend P1 first impression

The first time I saw the Ascend P1 was over a month ago when I was having lunch with folks from Huawei Philippines. They were showing me the Ascend Y200 though and I never got the chance to check the other phone one of the reps were using.

During the last Huawei event, I managed to borrow the handset for a closer look.

Apparently, the Ascend P1 holds the record as one of the thinnest smartphones at 7.7mm. The specs isn’t that bad either. If Huawei is going to position this as their next midrange smartphone once they release this in the Philippines along with the Ascend D Quad, it should be a very promising one.

Huawei Ascend P1 specs:
4.3-inch AMOLED display @ 540×960 pixels, 256ppi
TI OMAP 4460 Cortex-A9 1.5GHz dual-core
PowerVR SGX540 graphics
1GB RAM
4GB ROM
up to 32GB via microSD
HSPA 14.4Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA
Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, HS
GPS with aGPS support
Dolby Mobile 3.0+
FM radio tuner
8MP autofocus rea camera with dual LED light
1080p video ecording @ 30fps
1.3MP front-facing camera
Android 4.0 ICS
Li-Ion 1670mAh battery
127.4 x 64.8 x 7.7mm (dimensions)
110 grams (weight)

The configuration above looks more than decent and can actually pass off as a flagship device to pit against the ones from Sony (Xperia Ion), Motorola (Razr Maxx) or even the older models like the LG Prada 3.0 or the Galaxy S2.

The Ascend P1 can also output video to an external display via the micro-USB port (as MHL). The unit that we tried is probably an engineering unit but it works just fine. It’s also running ICS and that Emotion UI which we saw in the Huawei Honor and Ascend Y200 looks clean and fluid (Huawei’s design team is based in Europe and their engineering team is based in the US).

The 7.7mm thickness might still be contested since the device has a reverse chin and the rear camera has a protruding base. Still, it feels really thin when you hold it. The device looks a bit plasticky though but that actually contributed to the very light net weight.

The device will b available in black, white and pink colors.

I am told that Huawei will release the Ascend P1 in the Philippines some time in September. They still don’t have a suggested retail price for this but if they will listen to me again (the same way they accepted my suggested for the SRP of the Y200), then I’d say put the SRP in the vicinity of Php18k and folks will see it as a good deal (since the Huawei Honor is in the 14k range).