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Huawei brings new super-fast LTE tech to affordable Ascend G6 smartphone and MediaPad M1 tablet (updated: hands-on)
This year's all about LTE Cat 4 for Huawei, which is why it's pushing this faster 4G technology into both the high-end market as well as the lower price points, in order to help drive its network business -- LTE Cat 4 only works if your carrier supports it, after all. At MWC, the company announced the launch of two affordable devices that will come with this 150Mbps technology: the Ascend G6 4G and the MediaPad M1. The Ascend G6 appears to share some design elements with the higher-end Ascend P6, so it looks quite pretty in the above render. It features a lesser 4.5-inch 960 x 540 LCD, a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, NFC and an adequate 2,000mAh battery. The cameras are surprising nice, though: there's an 8-megapixel f/2.0 imager (with Sony's IMX134 sensor) on the back, plus a 5-megapixel front-facing counterpart with unknown aperture. This phone will first arrive in its 3G-only, 7.5mm-thick form in Q1 this year, followed by a 7.85mm-thick 4G version in April. The 8-inch MediaPad M1 tablet (pictured after the break) has a 1,280 x 800 IPS display with stereo front-facing speakers, and with the help of its 4,800mAh battery, users will be entertained by hours of movies (Huawei claims up to eight hours) on one charge. Other specs include a 1.6GHz quad-core chip, a 1-megapixel front camera and a 5-megapixel main camera, all tucked within a 7.9mm-thick body. Like the 3G version of the G6, the M1 will also launch in various countries in Q1 2014. Update: We've just heard that the MediaPad M1 will come with a European street price of €299, while the LTE version of the G6 smartphone will set you back €249.
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.
Hong Kong's CSL preps network for LTE Cat 4, offers Huawei's 150 Mbps mobile hotspot (video)
With Hong Kong boasting pretty much the fastest average internet speed on this planet, it's no surprise that the city is also one of the first to launch commercial 150 Mbps LTE Cat 4 service -- just right after SingTel's launch in Singapore earlier this month. Announced yesterday by CSL (who operates both one2free and the more premium 1010), its FD-LTE network takes advantage of the recently acquired 5MHz extended spectrum, in order to increase the capacity of 2600MHz from 2 x 15MHz to 2 x 20MHz. This upgrade is what enables Cat 4 download speed of up to 150Mbps on compatible devices, and it went live yesterday. The company's 1800MHz spectrum will also get an upgrade from 2 x 10MHz to 2 x 15MHz in June, followed by another jump to 2 x 20MHz towards the end of the year. You'll find a live demo video (courtesy of RingHK) showing the performance difference between Cat 3 and Cat 4 after the break, with CTO Christian Daigneault claiming he's seen a speed increase of up to twice as fast in the lab.
