We’ve just wrapped up at the Huawei press conference here at CES 2013 in Las Vegas where the Chinese OEM announced the Ascend Mate. This device has been rumored some time as the super large competitor to the likes of the Galaxy Note II and Optimus Vu, and Huawei didn’t disappoint when it announced this 6.1-inch behemoth. As you would expect, the Ascend Mate is borderline when it comes to what we call a “phone,” but they’re positioning it as such nonetheless.
The hardware on this device is quite a departure from previous Huawei phones, stepping up to a stainless steel frame and solid plastic accents. Even the power and volume keys are stainless, and set well into the frame. The 6.1-inch screen is surprisingly manageable considering its size, thanks to very small bezels and on-screen navigation buttons, but this is far from one-handed use friendly. The panel itself is only 720×1280, although at first we thought it must be a typo because there really aren’t any noticeable pixels. It’s just a bit puzzling considering it’s sibling the Ascend D2 has a 1080×1920 display at just 5-inches. Nevertheless, under the hood we see the same specs as the D2, with a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
On the software front, Huawei has also made some big changes coming from its previous builds. This is its “Emotion UI” set of customizations, which combines many of the stock Jelly Bean features, with its own added tweaks and style. In the keynote, CEO Richard Yu noted that their software has “fixed 200 problems with Android.” This is indeed Jelly Bean 4.1.2 under the hood, but it doesn’t necessarily feel like it in normal navigation. Most items have received visual tweaks — from the app icons to the settings menu — and Huawei has even opted to remove an app drawer from its default launcher. It’s something quickly fixed from a download in the Play Store, but it hurts this device’s out-of-the-box appeal for some.
The Ascend Mate is expected to launch in China starting in February, with international availability thereafter. There was no pricing given, but Mr. Yu explained that the devices would be for sale to other markets online.
Be sure to stick around after the break to take a look at several pictures and a hands-on video we’ve got for you straight from CES.
