Huawei Ascend W1

With HTC, Samsung, and Nokia having unveiled their Windows Phone 8 devices, another brand that was expected to showcase its Windows Phone 8 handset from the onset was Huawei. However, when Microsoft launched the Windows Phone 8 platform, Huawei was a notable absentee. It now appears that the wait for the Huawei Windows Phone 8 handset called the Ascend W1 will prolong a little more. A report by WPDang states that the handset will be released at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2013 in January.

As of now, it is unconfirmed if Huawei will release only one handset, which is the Ascend W1, at the CES, or more.

A recent report suggested that Huawei may have more than one Windows Phone 8 handset up its sleeve. Images of a handset are doing the rounds, which indicate that the company is working on a smartphone called the Ascend W2. This is expected to be a high-end model. Our report states, “The W2 seems to be Huawei’s flagship WP8 handset. It certainly looks high-end, and we can see it has an 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash. Unfortunately, the rest of its features are not known. But I assume the display is an HD one, and its processor a dual core unit.”

Upon closer inspection of the leaked image, we can see that the smartphone features a 4.5-inch display, and measures 132 x 67 x 10mm. From the image, we can also see that it is LTE-capable, as the indicator at the top displays the 4G logo. What is baffling is the name on the Tile—it states Ascend W3, and not W2 as the website indicates.

Earlier in October, a press image of the Huawei W1 had leaked online, which showed that the handset shares a fair amount of similarities with other Windows Phone 8 smartphones from Nokia and HTC— the cyan colour found on the phone is synonymous with that of the Nokia range of Lumia devices. Another major similarity between this handset is the camera housing at the back, which is strikingly similar to that of the HTC One X.

However, Huawei has been reinventing its image. This year, the brand has launched a range of Android smartphones that can compete with the best in the business. It now appears that it is stepping into Windows Phone 8 territory, and aims to make a name for itself in order to compete with the likes of Samsung, Nokia, and HTC.

As for the specifications, the W1 sports a 4-inch WVGA display, 5-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory, and a 2,000mAh battery. Visually, the phone bears a resemblance to HTC’s Windows Phone 8X, while the specifications point to it being closer to the mid-end 8S.

Huawei, for its part, has announced that it is expanding its relationship with Microsoft for the creation of the brand’s first Windows Phone handset. A part of the Huawei Ascend family, the Ascend with Windows Phone 8 expands the company's smartphone portfolio and aims to bring the Windows Phone operating system to an even bigger audience.

We will just have to wait and see when these two handsets will be officially launched. If Huawei wants to remain competitive in the Windows Phone 8 market, time is definitely of essence. CES 2013 may be a little too late for Huawei, especially since HTC and Nokia are already in the process of launching its Windows Phone 8 handsets across the globe.


_________________
seo services