Over at CES in Las Vegas, as we expected Huawei have just announced their ‘phablet’ offering in the form of a monster 6.1 inch screen device running on the Android OS.
Running Android 4.1 ‘Jelly Bean’ the Ascend Mate features a HUGE 6.1 inch display with 720p resolution, an 8 megapixel camera and 1.5 quad-core processor.
The largest screen on a phone before now was the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 at 5.5 inches which was even too large for a lot of people to even consider, so Huawei upping their screen to 6.1 inches seems a strange move considering the main feature of this device is still a phone, however at least the technology is moving forwards and we will see new and exciting products instead of slightly upgraded older models.
Slightly disappointed though in the 720p resolution on such a large screen considering we are now starting to see 4.7-5 inch screens at 1080p resolution. However to balance out the specs the Mate does include a large 4050mAh battery, more than enough to get you through a day.
Update – More pictures and full press release below…
Some pics via The Verge
Huawei Unveils Smartphone with the World’s Largest Screen
The 6.1-inch HUAWEI Ascend Mate launched at CES 2013Las Vegas, U.S.A., January 7, 2013: Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today launched the smartphone with the largest screen in the world, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate, at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The HUAWEI Ascend Mate features a huge 6.1-inch HD display, a 1.5 GHz Hi-Silicon quad-core processor and a 4050 mAh battery. Together with Huawei’s proprietary Quick Power Control (QPC) and Automated Discontinuous Reception (ADRX) battery efficiency technology and fast sharing technology, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate is proof that bigger is better.
“The HUAWEI Ascend Mate breaks barriers to deliver a supercharged entertainment, communication and creative experience for all your personal and professional needs,” said Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Consumer Business Group. “The HUAWEI Ascend Mate is an industry-leading smartphone and showcases our innovation as we continue to make great technology available to more people globally.”
HUAWEI Ascend Mate has a screen-to-body ratio of 73% – the highest in the industry – which maximises your viewing pleasure for emails, documents, video or games. The 6.1-inch HD IPS+ LCD screen has a resolution of 1280 x 720 for unsurpassed clarity and colour accuracy, and ‘Magic Touch’ which provides enhanced screen responsiveness even with gloves. The Ascend Mate is slim and stylish, designed to fit comfortably in a single hand at just 6.5mm thin at its narrowest part.
HUAWEI Ascend Mate features a 4050 mAh battery and Huawei’s Hi-Silicon 1.5 GHz quad-core processor. With Huawei’s QPC and ADRX smart power-saving technology, the smartphone provides up to two days of ordinary useage on a single charge. It has the fastest battery charging capability of smartphones in its range, which saves over 30% of battery charging time.
Together with global roaming functionality, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate supports five frequency bands making this smartphone perfect for international travellers. Its dual-antenna design supports high power data transmission and is optimised with maximum ratio combining method, to increase network reception by up to 2.5dB and providing an increase of 20 to 30% of overall network coverage.
Operating on Android 4.1 and featuring an 8.0-megapixel AF rear-facing camera with HDR and 1.0-megapixel HD front-facing camera, HUAWEI Ascend Mate also provides dual MIC noise reduction technology, Dolby® sound system and stereo recording. HUAWEI Ascend Mate features an Augmented Reality navigation application to help reach your destination, ‘smart reading’ functionality allowing quick reference to dictionaries, Wikipedia and Google Search pages, and ‘swift sharing’ to upload pictures, videos and other files two- to three-times faster than other smartphone users in a Wi-Fi environment.
Available in crystal black and pure white, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate will be on sale in China in February 2013.