Camera and Internal Storage
The camera specs have seen some major improvement. At the back Huawei Ascend Mate 2 sports a 13 MP camera with BSI sensor, 28 mm lens and f/2.0 aperture. The camera module is manufactured by Sony and is capable of full HD recording. The front camera is no slouch either. The 5 MP camera comes with f/ 2.4 aperture and large sized 1.4 micrometer pixels. This implies the pixels can absorb more light and will give better low light performance. The camera software makes it capable of taking Panoramic ‘Selfies’. The Internal storage has been doubled as compared to Ascend Mate. The Ascend Mate 2 has 16 GB on board storage which is expandable to 64 GB using MicroSD support. The storage should be sufficient for most people.
Processor and Battery
The International version will sport, Snapdragon MSM8928 SoC which is Snapdragon 400 with 4 Cortex A7 based cores clocked at 1.6 GHz and assisted by Adreno 306 GPU. The last generation phablet was equipped with Cortex A9 cores, which is most likely what will be seen in the Chinese variant of Ascend Mate 2 as well. The RAM capacity is 2 GB and will be sufficient for smooth UI transitions and multi tasking. The battery of the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 is similar to the Ascend Mate in terms of battery capacity. However, you will be able to squeeze much more battery backup from the 4050 mAh battery with Sony Cells according to Huawei. The battery will last 2 days with single charge and this is plausible considering the transition from Cortex A9 cores to Cortex A7 cores will definitely enhance the back up. Huawei is very confident about its claims and stated that you can use the Huawei Ascend Mate to charge other devices via USB OTG.
Recommended: CES 2014 : GadgetsToUse Full Coverage
Display and Features
The LTPS LCD display is 6.1 inches in size with 1280 x 720 pixels spread across it. The pixel density is 241 ppi which is not the best considering the full HD phablets out there but is good enough for mid range phablet. The Low Temperature Poly Silicon (LTPS) displays are more integrated and responsive compared to conventional silicon displays. A similar display was seen in Gionee Elife E7 recently. The IPS LCD panel is further protected by Corning Gorilla Glass at the top. On the software front you will get Android 4.2.2 jelly bean operating system with Emotion UI2.0 on top.
Looks and Connectivity
Despite the same display size, the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 has thinner bezel and is slimmer at 9.5 mm. The weight is almost similar to Ascend Mate at 202 grams. The back cover is glossy and removable. The battery however cannot be removed. On the connectivity front, Huawei Ascend Mate 2 features 4G LTE cat. 4 along with Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS and GLONASS, WiFi, 3G HSPA and micro USB.
Comparison
In India this phablet will compete against big display mid range phones like Samsung Galaxy Grand 2, Nokia Lumia 1320, Intex Aqua Octa and Gionee Elife E7.
Key Specs
Conclusion
The refined Ascend Mate Phablet looks like a good preposition so far. The key factor will be the pricing. If Huawei manages to keep the price similar to the predecessor Huawei Ascend Mate, the phablet will be a viable option in 25,000 to 30,000 INR range. The enhancement in the spec sheet seem balanced so as to make the phablet make more sense without much increase in cost.
