Huawei Ascend II Review
Huawei Ascend II is a latest Cricket Android smartphone, with Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system and Muve Music experience of Cricket. It is a value priced Android that features 3.5 inch HVGA touchscreen display with virtual keyboard, 5.0-megapixel camcorder and camera, microSD memory card slot, 3G Real Web Browsing and Wi-Fi capability. The Ascend II offers access to more than 200,000 applications on Android market along with Google applications, including YouTube, Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps and more. It also offers appealing design and great price. The Ascend II is a successor to original Ascend that was one of the top devices on Cricket. There are quite a few notable enhancements, which includes Android 2.3 OS and processor speed to 600MHz.
The Huawei Ascend II offers unbeatable price for Android handset, but the trade-off is getting lower end features, which sometimes underperform. It has been a long time since we first laid eyes on Huawei Ascend II at CTIA. Unlike original Ascend, it is more modern and much sleeker. Android offers standard for applications, communication and Google services. The 5.0-megapixel camera is mediocre, while the 600MHz processor is pokey. It is available for the price of $139.99 with two-year service agreement.
The Huawei Ascend II looks more attractive as compared to original Ascend with shiny black face, matte black soft touch back cover and glossy dark gray finish along the trim. It also has more rounded bottom and rounded top and feels grippy and nice in the hand. Measuring 0.5 inch thick, 4.6 inches high and 2.4 inches wide, the Ascend II is a more petite, pocketable handset unlike present smartphones. The 3.5 inch HVGA touchscreen display boasts 320 x 480 pixel resolution with 262,000 color support with fine looking automatic brightness. Powering the Ascend II is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system with own user interface of Huawei.
You will find excellent system shortcuts in pull down notifications menu of Huawei Ascend II along with 5 customizable home screens, which rotate in cubelike animation. Beneath the screen, there are touch sensitive navigation buttons to search with Google, to go home, go back and pull up the menu. The microUSB charging port is located at the bottom of the device, while the volume rocker on the left. The 3.5mm headphone jack and power button are situated on top of the smartphone, while the 5.0-megapixel camera at the back. The microSD memory card slot is beneath the battery cover and comes with 2GB card.
As an Android smartphone, the Huawei Ascend II offers support for VPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS along with essentials (music player, calculator, browser, calendar and clock), multimedia messaging and multiple inboxes support. Some of the Google services and applications include Maps with turn by turn navigation, Talk, Search, YouTube and Places. There are also various stores like Amazon Appstore for Android and access to Android games, ringtones and podcast streams. Audible, Twitter and City ID are three other applications on Ascend II. The 5.0-megapixel rear facing camcorder and camera lacks flash and offers five white balance settings and five color effects. Useful settings are missing such as shutter sounds and self timer.
Standard features on Huawei Ascend II include 2G Network: CDMA 800 / 1900; 3G Network: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO; 3.5 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with Touch-sensitive controls, 256K colors, 320 x 480 pixels and ~165 ppi pixel density; Vibration; MP3 ringtones; microSD, up to 32GB; 512 MB ROM, 256 MB RAM; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot; 5 MP, 2592õ1944 pixels and Geo-tagging; Android OS, v2.3 (Gingerbread); CPU: 600 MHz; Sensors: Accelerometer, proximity, compass; Messaging: SMS (threaded view), MMS, Email, IM; WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML, Adobe Flash; Java via Java MIDP emulator; SNS integration; Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Talk; MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player; MP4/H.263/H.264 player; Organizer; Document viewer; Photo viewer/editor; Voice memo/dial; Predictive text input; Phonebook: Unlimited entries, Caller groups, Multiple numbers per contact, Search by both first and last name, Picture ID, Ring ID; Organizer: Calendar, Alarm, Calculator.
Also standard on Huawei Ascend II include Notifications: Music ringtones (MP3), Polyphonic ringtones (72 voices), Vibration, Flight mode, Silent mode, Speakerphone; Bluetooth 2.1 EDR Profiles: Audio/Video Control Transport Protocol (AVCTP), Advanced Audio Distribution (A2DP), Audio/Visual Remote Control Profile (AVRCP), Audio/Video Distribution Transport Protocol (AVDTP), Generic Audio/Video Distribution (GAVDP), Generic Access (GAP), Headset (HSP), Handsfree (HFP), Object Push (OPP), Logical Link Control and Adaptation Protocol, Serial Port (SPP), Phone Book Access (PBAP) and Service Discovery Protocol (SDP).
The estimated battery life of Huawei Ascend II is 3.7 hours in talktime mode and 12.5 days in standby mode. It is only a modest refresh over the original; if you are willing to spend a bit of money, you can get much better smartphone on U.S. Cellular.
