It’s good to see Huawei entering the game of premium phones with game changing specs. Huawei Ascend P6 has two great specs, the body size and the second camera. It is the slimmest phone of the market and has the best second camera ever built on an Android smartphone. Its funny to see that in both two specs, Sony had the lead that now belongs to Huawei. In the width spec, Sony Xperia Z Ultra used to be the slimmest phone, now overtaken by Huawei Ascend P6 (by 0.3mm). In the second camera spec, Sony had the lead with the 2.2MP camera of Sony Xperia Z and now this place belongs to the 5MP second camera of P6. But are these two specs enough to make Huawei Ascend P6 the best device to buy? That’s what we are going to see.
SCREEN
Huawei Ascend P6 has a 4.7 inches screen and belongs to a difficult category with a lot of opponents. We can find great devices at that size with great specs and prices. The screen of P6 has 312 pixels per inch, a number that is good but not better than most competitors. HTC One has one of the best screens with 469PPI and all the other 4.7” devices have almost the same PPI. HTC One X, LG Optimus 4XHD, Moto X have all the same PPI as Huawei Ascend P6 and LG Nexus 4, and LG Optimus G have 6 more pixels per inch that you cannot see naked eye. So the screen of Huawei Ascend P6 is good with wide viewing angles, vivid colors and great contrast.You can find a color temperature option to set cooler or warmer colors, an option we don’t find on other phones.
CAMERA
An 8MP front camera is good for the category but there are better camera phones at these inches. There are also different technologies like the Ultrapixel technology of HTC One that lets more light on the night photos to make them look better. But of course we cannot compare the 4MP camera of HTC One to the 8MP of Huawei Ascend P6. We can’t compare it either to the 13MP camera of LG Optimus G. Moto X has also a better 10MP camera. The main camera of Huawei Ascend P6 is decent and you have plenty of options to take Smart photos, HDR, Panoramas or apply an effect. You can record videos up to 1080p @ 30 frames per second and 720p # 30fps from the 5MP front camera. It is great to have 2 big cameras on your phone, you have plenty of options and the ability to make quality video chat.
PROCESSOR
Huawei Ascend P6 has a quad core processor at 1.5GHz and 2GB of RAM. The technology behind the quad core processor is not new but is better than other 4.7 inches devices like the dual core Moto X or the older LG Optimus L9. Of course there are much faster devices like HTC One or LG Optimus G. You can play games, do some multitasking and watch movies without any problems. So the processor is not the fastest of the market but is fast enough to power your daily life.
BATTERY
When you have a smartphone you tend to use it every moment for internet, facebook, photos, games etc so you need a big battery. Huawei Ascend P6 has a 2000mAh battery that is near the competition. In the 4.7 inches category only HTC One X (1800mAh), LG Optimus L9 (1700mAh) have a smaller battery, all other phones have slightly bigger batteries. The biggest battery is on HTC One (2300mAh), Motorola Moto X has a 2200mAh battery and LG Nexus 4 and LG Optimus G have a 2100mAh battery. So Huawei Ascend P6 is not at the top but the battery is enough and near the competition.
SOFTWARE
Huawei Ascend P6 was launched in June 2013 so the device has the 4.2 Android version. It is not the latest version of Android (4.3) but it’s one of the most used Android versions found in all new phones. Of course we are looking at the Android versions the devices have preinstalled and not updated. We are not sure if Huawei will update the Android version to 4.3 in the future like Google will do for the Motorola Moto X and Nexus 4 that also started with Android 4.2. On the Android custom software, Huawei made no big changes to the software so the control is simple and friendly. It is not the default Android like in Nexus 4, not the fully customized version found on Samsung Galaxy S3, it is something in between and you will enjoy it.
SIZE & DESIGN
We love devices that offer something unique, that are “the best” in their category. That’s why I love the design of Huawei Ascend P6. It is really slim, the slimmest device on the market right now, ahead of stylish megadevices like the Sony Xperia Z Ultra. Huawei can built extra slim devices, Huawei Ascend P1 is also very slim (7.7mm). Of course Huawei Ascend P6 is even slimmer (6.2mm) and is one reason to buy that phone. The design is impressive. The device is also very light, just 120g, the lightest Android device at 4.7 inches. This is a phone you enjoy holding thanks to the unibody design that has some downturns too, it won’t let you take the battery out. The back is made of metal and the front glass is Gorilla Glass. Light, compact and beautiful.
VERDICT – should I buy this phone?
Huawei Ascend P6 is close to be the best phone of the market. P6 is a great device because of the design (it is slim and light) and the perfect secondary front camera. It’s also the best dual sim Android smartphone. It’s also the best 4.7 inches screen smartphone (beating the ultimate HTC One). The general rating is better than LG Optimus G, Motorola Moto X (another device investing in design), HTC One X and all other 4.7 inches devices. Only 3 Samsung devices have better rating, Note 3, S4 and Round.
1. If you want a device that will look better than all other smartphones (because it is slim and light), buy Huawei Ascend P6
2. If you want to make video calls to your friends and family and you need the best device to do it, buy Huawei Ascend P6.
3. If you want the best device your money can buy at 4.7 inches, buy Huawei Ascend P6.
COMPARISON CHART
| Spec | Huawei Ascend P6 | Compared to: | with spec: | Score | Buy now: |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Width | 6.2 | Huawei Ascend P6 | 6.2 | 100% | |
| Weight | 120 | HTC Desire C | 100 | 80% | |
| Screen PPI | 312 | HTC One | 469 | 67% | |
| Camera MP | 8 | Nokia Lumia 1020 | 41 | 20% | |
| 2nd Camera | 5 | Huawei Ascend P6 | 5 | 100% | |
| Processor | 4 * 1.5 | Samsung Galaxy Note 3 | 8 * 1.9 | 39% | |
| RAM MB | 2000 | Samsung Galaxy Note 3 | 3000 | 67% | |
| Battery mAh | 2000 | Huawei Ascend Mate | 4050 | 49% | |
| Android | 4.2 | Google Nexus 4 | 4.3 | 83% | |
| Release Date | 2013-09 | - | Today | 88% | |
| Our view | 75% | - | 100% | 75% | |
| AVC rating method | Date Rated: | 2013-10-04 | Total Rating | 69.8% | Best price |