Huawei has continually impressed at this year’s Mobile World Congress. The company has already unveiled a brilliant tablet in the MediaPad 10 FHD, and now it has unveiled the Ascend D Quad and Ascend D1 Android smartphones.
The ‘D’ in each name stands for Diamond – these phones belong to Huawei’s high-end ‘Diamond Series’ that we recently told you about. The Ascend D Quad sits at the top of the range with Quad-Core power, while the D1 is a quality Dual-Core handset. If the company hasn’t got your attention yet, then how about the tagline that comes with the Ascend D Quad?
“The world’s fastest Quad-Core smartphone”
Now, that’s perked your ears up, hasn’t it?
Ascend D Quad
The Ascend D Quad is being billed by Huawei as the fastest Quad-Core smartphone in the world, which is some claim. The Quad-Core processor in question isn’t the popular choice that is Nvidia’s Tegra 3, instead it’s Huawei’s own chip, the K3V2 that we saw in the MediaPad 10 FHD, and it runs at speeds of up to 1.5GHz.
Huawei’s latest and greatest boasts a 4.5-inch HD screen with a 720p resolution, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and an 8-Megapixel rear camera with autofocus and an LED flash. The rear camera is backside illuminated too, for excellent low-light performance. You also get a 1.3-Megapixel front-facing camera for video calling or self-taken shots of yourself, if you like that sort of thing.
An 1800mAh battery will last you between 1 and 2 days with regular usage according to Huawei, though they have developed a power management system which provides 30% more usage when compared to the industry standard.
Huawei has squeezed everything into that all-important sub-9mm thickness, with the phone measuring 8.9mm deep. The bezel also feels like it merges into the screen, creating the illusion of a seamless screen which looks fantastic.
Ascend D Quad XL
Huawei also announced an ‘XL’ version of the D Quad, which features identical specifications bar the battery. The company has crammed in a higher capacity 2500mAh battery, which should provide 2-3 days average usage. Unfortunately the battery takes up precious space, so the D Quad XL is a little chunkier at 10.9mm thick.
Ascend D1
Stepping away from the latest craze of Quad-Core processors, Huawei also unveiled a more traditional Dual-Core smartphone in the Ascend D1. This model, pictured above, runs on a Dual-Core processor which is clocked at 1.5GHz. It also features a 4.5-inch IPS+ display with the same 720p HD resolution as the D Quad.
An 8-Megapixel autofocus snapper with LED flash is on the back, with a 1.3-Megapixel equivalent on the front. You get 8GB of internal storage out of the box, which can be expanded by up to 32GB using the Micro SD card slot.
Keeping up with the tech trend, the Ascend D1 also runs on the latest version of Android – 4.0 aka Ice Cream Sandwich.
All three handsets will be selling in China, Australia, Europe, Asia-Pacific, North and South America, and the Middle East. The Ascend D1 will land first in April, and the D Quad and D Quad XL will ship between April and June. Prices are yet to be confirmed.
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