The Huawei Ideos is the company’s first attempt at an own-brand Android phone released in our part of the world, and it’s not looking that bad.
The key reason for that UNBRIDLED OPTIMISM is that for a pay-as-you-go fee of between £99 and £129 you’ll get a 2.8″ screen – and unusually for a phone at this price point the screen tech is capacitive. So it’ll actually work.
You also get a directional controller, which is an important little feature that many Android hardware makers seem to be trying to erase from the hardware spec nowadays. The Ideos should be launching this October, on various SIM-free packages. Here’s its quite shockingly decent spec list:
- GSM / GPRS / EDGE / UMTS / HSDPA
- 2.8″ capacitive touchscreen – QVGA (320×240 px)
- 512 ROM / 256 RAM
- 528 MHz processor
- 3.2 MP AF camera
- GPS
- Accelerometer
- MicroSD card up to 16GB
- WiFi / Bluetooth / Micro USB
- 1200mAh battery
- Dimensions: 104 × 54.8 × 13.5mm
Motorola’s latest flagship dual-core Android monster is a massive, original powerhouse, that’s a big improvement on previous MOTOBLUR mobiles – but still isn’t a total winner.
A slim and glamorous phone from Sony Ericsson, with the sharpest display around. It’s no powerhouse and the screen’s not the biggest out there, but we don’t mind. Because it’s cute.
LG’s first glasses-free 3D phone is a heavy, fat monster, with a clever 3D effect that works rather well. As a smartphone, though, it’s heavy and underwhelming.
A very shiny thing from Sony Ericsson, with a 3.7″ screen and Android 2.3.3 inside. But is it exciting enough to win fans in today’s spec-obsessed market? Can man live on one core alone?
INQ’s Android phone is an interesting “boutique” piece of hardware, packed with unique interface customisations that go far beyond the headline Facebook integration. We like it a lot.
Bob
/ September 2, 2010game changer anyone?
Gary C
/ September 2, 2010It’ll definitely help. I bet around 1.4million kids will be getting one of these for Christmas. Probably to Nokia’s financial loss.
Dean
/ September 2, 2010Not only kids, i’ll be getting 1 for myself at this price point as a second phone and to test out the android 2.2.
k0zmic
/ September 2, 2010It looks decent, personally I think the LG Optimus GT540 is equal spec’s wise since it has higher res screen and a better processor. Although it won’t get 2.2, only 2.1 plus the screen’s resistive.
Pilot
/ September 3, 2010Huawei is claiming the Ideos as the first affordable Android 2.2 phone to be developed with Google, and carrying its branding, meaning it will benefit from future instant upgrades to the Android operating system without any delay.
floyd
/ September 2, 2010what is the cam video resolution? it looks like dual led on the back.
sb605
/ September 2, 2010Please, pretty please Huawei — please add the 1700 3G freq to this phone… (need to use it with T-Mobile USA) …. :-)
iyus
/ September 3, 2010If only the screen resolution was better, but at this price point is definitely worth a shot.
Hippie
/ September 3, 2010would be the best phone under £100.
Simon
/ September 4, 2010And those enterprising people at MoDaCo have flashed the U8150/Ideos firmware onto the Pulse Mini with surprising results. It pretty much works :)
http://bit.ly/axQdKa if you want to follow the progress.
Bob White
/ September 5, 2010This actually looks very nice! I hope some review videos surface soon so we can see if it lags or not…
Nadeem
/ January 4, 2011Hi guys!
i have recently started using the huawei. i can give you some feedback. its is somewhat slow…screen size is too small so touch keyboard really sucks…youtube playback is not very ideal…however media files somehow show good quality…i have to buy it cos i dotn have much money to go for the better android phone.
Steve
/ July 23, 2011These are all right but they are thirsty on battery power, took my one back to shop to see if its the battery or the phone itself…..still waiting for it to boomerang !!!!!