Huawei Ascend P1 (Unlocked)

HTC, Samsung, and? Huawei? I won't get ahead of myself, but if the Ascend P1 is any indication, that's the position Huawei is gunning for. We first saw the P1, and its even slimmer sister the P1 S, back at CES in January. Since then, not a whole lot has changed in the smartphone?world. We've seen some wonderful new devices from HTC (the HTC One S ($199.99, 4.5 stars), HTC?One X ($199.99, 4.5 stars), and the HTC?EVO 4G LTE ($199.99, 4 stars), and Samsung's Galaxy S III looms imposingly on the horizon. But the door is open for another high-end contender, and the Huawei Ascend P1 is it. Sort of.

Let me make this clear: You probably shouldn't buy the P1. At anywhere from $500 to $800, it'll cost you an arm and a leg, and it isn't optimized for use in the U.S. But that doesn't negate the P1's striking design and excellent performance. It's also one of the few devices out there to ship with the latest version of Android, 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). So while you shouldn't get the P1, you also shouldn't count Huawei out from becoming a top-tier player in the Android world in the near future.

Availability, Design, and Call Quality
First things first: The P1 test phone we received from Huawei is customized for the Chinese market. That means there are a number of Chinese language apps, and it's missing all of the Google-related apps you'd expect from an Android phone. According to Huawei, there will be an overseas version in English customized for all English-speaking countries, and it will come pre-installed with all of the Google apps. The availability of the phone in the U.S. market is yet to be confirmed. So this review is for the Chinese version of the phone.?

That said, the Ascend P1 is beautiful. Made entirely of high-quality, glossy plastic, the P1 sports a super-slim figure, measuring just .3 inches, with a slight bump out at the bottom and at the top for the camera. The black and white design is classy, but really, the best word to describe this phone is chic. It has a much more understated elegance than most other phones on the market. At 3.8 ounces, it's also lightweight, and very comfortable to hold.

The 4.3-inch, 960-by-540-pixel Super AMOLED display looks bright and vibrant, though the Pentile layout can make images and text look fuzzy to some people. There are three capacitive touch buttons below the display, and typing is easy on the relatively large screen and fantastic Android 4.0 on-screen keyboard.

The phone has a nonremovable battery, which helps contribute to its slim form factor. That also means the microSD and SIM card slots are housed in ports on the side of the phone. The microSD slot is on the right, underneath the Power button. There are volume controls on the left, and the top edge of the phone houses the 3.5mm headphone jack, charging port, and SIM card slot. The SIM card slot on my review unit was on the flimsy side. It took a minute or two to make sure it was completely closed, and while it never opened up on me, it felt like it could be popped up with just a simple flick.

The P1 is a pentaband (850/900/1700/1900/2100) device with a GSM radio and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. It's unlocked, so you can use it on either AT&T or T-Mobile's network. Data speeds top out at HSPA+ 21, which is fast enough to just barely be considered 4G,?but it's not up to the level of level of LTE on AT&T or HSPA+ 42 on T-Mobile. You can also use the phone with an inexpensive, contract-free plan from Simple Mobile, which uses T-Mobile's network.

For this review we tested it on AT&T. Reception is average on AT&T's network, and voice quality is solid. Voices sound clear and full in phone's earpiece, with just a hint of static in the background. On the other end, voices sound natural and easy to understand, with decent noise cancellation. Calls were clear through a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars), and voice dialing worked well without training. The speakerphone also sounds good, but it's a touch too low to use outdoors. Battery life was excellent at 11 hours and 2 minutes of talk time. The phone can also be used as a mobile hotspot with the appropriate data plan.?

OS, Apps, and Performance
The Huawei P1 runs the latest version of Android, 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). That shouldn't be a big deal, but nearly seven months after its release, Ice Cream Sandwich is available on precious few smartphones, so consider that a plus for the P1. Unlike HTC, which has modified Android 4.0 to look a heck of a lot like previous versions, Huawei has left the OS mostly intact. There are few themes you can switch between, which change some of the visuals, like wallpaper and icons. There's also a '3D Home' mode, which gussies up your home screen with some redesigned icons and 3D animations. Think of it as Huawei Sense.

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