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Huawei's big Ascend Mate 2 4G can charge up your iPhone, coming to the US
Given the recent leak, Huawei's announcement of the Ascend Mate 2 4G should be no surprise to anyone. The device is essentially an LTE Cat 4 (read: 150Mbps!) refresh of its predecessor, packing a similar 6.1-inch 720p IPS panel that seems to be of better display quality, and Gorilla Glass is here to stay. Of course, such screen resolution also means the fixed 4,050mAh battery should keep the Mate 2 going for a lot longer than its 1080p competitors. Furthermore, you can also use the Mate 2 to charge up other devices! Huawei's rather confident of its own power-management technology, promising 60 hours of "normal use" and 12 hours of web surfing. At the launch event today, Huawei's Richard Yu confirmed that the Mate 2 4G will have two options for its quad-core 1.6GHz SoC: one is Qualcomm's MSM8928, and the other is Huawei's own HiSilicon Cortex-A9 chip. The Mate 2 also features 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, microSD expansion of up to 32GB, plus a pair of cameras -- 5 megapixels f/2.4 on the front and 13 megapixels, f/2.0 on the back. This is all tucked inside a familiar 202g, 9.5mm-thick body, which feels rather nice given the solid frame and slightly slimmer screen bezel, though we're not too fond of the glossiness on the white Mate 2's removable back cover (for access to the SIM slot and microSD slot). On the software side, there's Huawei's Emotion UI 2.0 running on top of Android 4.3, so users will benefit from features optimized for single-hand usage -- especially the telephone keypad that squashes itself to one side, depending on your tilt. You also get handy floating widgets like calculator, calendar, notes and messages to go on top of other apps. Huawei has yet to provide details on pricing and availability, but you'll hear from us as soon as we find out. Update: Richard Yu also confirmed that the Mate 2 4G will be coming to the US, with AT&T name-dropped as a compatible carrier.
Huawei Ascend Mate 2 snapped with its predecessor, said to keep 720p panel
While there's been no reason to doubt whispers of a follow-up to Huawei's Ascend Mate, pictures of the super-sized device have so far been unflattering. Today, however, a Mate 2-toting source has sent some snaps to our friends at Engadget Chinese, including a few family photos with the original Mate. Barring a few aesthetic changes and a slightly thinner profile, the Mate 2 bears a similar square form factor to its older brother. Aside from learning of its 13-megapixel main camera, the source reiterates specs we've heard already: a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 16GB of internal storage, 2 gigs of RAM and Android 4.2.2 with a coating of Emotion UI. It is claimed, however, that the next-gen Mate's display has not been upgraded as previously thought, so we're in for the same 6.1-inch 720p panel as before. That could make for an anticlimactic first impression, and if Huawei's going to make its Mate family announcements a CES tradition, then disappointment is just around the corner.
