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Huawei Launches Ascend Mate 2 4G at CES 2014, Comes With Modest Upgrades

By Sidney Wong - on 7 Jan 2014, 7:59pm

Huawei Launches Ascend Mate 2 4G at CES 2014, Comes With Modest Upgrades

The Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G comes with modest upgrades such as a 13-megapixel rear camera and LTE CAT 4 connectivity. 

One year after the launch of the first generation Ascend Mate, Huawei today announced its successor, the Ascend Mate 2 4G at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014.

Much of the changes are cosmetic and under the hood, with the Ascend Mate 2 4G retaining the same 6.1-inch 720p IPS display and 4,050mAh battery. Despite packing a similarly-sized battery as its predecessor, Huawei is confident that its patented QPC and ADRX smart-power saving technology is able to power the Ascend Mate 2 4G up to 2.5 days of usage on a single charge. The Chinese phone maker even boasts that the device is capable of charging other mobile phones too!

The Ascend Mate 2 4G will come in two variants: one running on Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor and the other is powered by Huawei's HiSilicon quad-core 1.6GHz processor. Both variants are supported by 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and a micro-SD card slot

Huawei also ships the latest version of its customized interface, Emotion UI 2.0 on top of Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Besides supporting one-handed navigation, the Emotion UI 2.0 also makes it easier for the user to multitask via the Floating Window feature.

With a similar concept as Samsung's Popup Note, LG's QSlide and Sony's Small Apps, the Floating Window feature allows you to access an In-App panel from any screen which gives you immediate access to notes, messages, calculator and calendar.

The Emotion UI 2.0 supports Multi-Screen interaction where you can share content (music, videos and other documents) with up to 8 phones or tablets. It is unknown at the time of publication how this feature actually works, but we reckon it shares via a Bluetooth connection. 

Users who find Emotion UI 2.0 a tad too complex to use can switch to another interface, Simple UI which has a clean and stylish interface for scrolling between windows, accessing apps quickly and customizing the home screen. 

Huawei also bumps up the camera hardware on the Ascend Mate 2 4G; there is a 13-megapixel rear BSI camera with F2.0 aperture and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera with F2.4 aperture.

Last, but not least, the Ascend Mate 2 4G supports LTE CAT 4 connectivity where download speeds can be up to a maximum of 150Mbps. If you recall, the Ascend P2 was the world's fastest 4G LTE smartphone (at time of launch) as it was the first phone to support such speeds.

Huawei did not provide any information on the price and availability of the Ascend Mate 4G, but CEO Richard Yu confirmed to Engadget that the device is heading to the U.S. Here's a quick specs comparison between the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G and its predecessor:

Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G vs Huawei Ascend Mate
  Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G Huawei Ascend Mate
  Huawei Ascend Mate 2 4G Huawei Ascend Mate
Launch SRP
  • From S$638
Operating system
  • Android 4.3 Jelly Bean with Huawei Emotion UI 2.0
  • Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean
Processor
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor or HiSilicon quad-core 1.6GHz
  • Hi-Silicon K3V2 quad-core 1.5GHz
Built-in Memory
  • 2GB RAM
  • 1GB RAM
Display
  • 6.1-inch / 1,280 x 720 pixels / IPS
  • 6.1-inch / 1,280 x 720 resolution / HD IPS+ with Corning Gorilla glass
Camera
  • Rear: 13-megapixel rear BSI with F2.0 aperture
  • Front: 5-megapixel with F2.4 aperture
  • Rear: 8-megapixels, autofocus with HDR
  • Front: 1-megapixel
Connectivity
  • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with Wi-Fi Direct Support, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with GLONASS
  • Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v4.0 LE EDR, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Storage Type
  • 16GB internal storage
  • micro-SD support up to 32GB
  • 8GB internal storage
  • microSD support up to 32GB
Battery
  • 4,050mAh
  • 4,050mAh
Dimensions
  • 161 x 84.7 x 9.5mm
  • 163.5 x 85.7 x 9.9mm
Weight
  • 202g
  • 198g

Sources: Engadget and Huawei

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