Huawei Ascend P2 vs Galaxy S3 vs HTC One

Hauwei unveiled some pretty snazzy phones at CES last month, but the company isn’t done trying to impress smartphone buyers around the world. At Mobile World Congress Huawei unveiled the Ascend P2, a follow up to the P1, that bears the promise of being the world’s fastest smartphone. The speediness Huawei claims is not just in the processor, but in the data connection as well. By utilizing LTE Cat-4 generation networking, the P2 can achieve speeds of 150 megabits per second (the iPhone 5 gets 100Mbps). The Ascend P2 even charges faster thanks to 2-amp charging that gets the battery full in less time.

With it’s 4.7-inch display featuring 500 nits of brightness to show off a heavily customized UI on top of Android, the Ascend P2 is in direct competition with Samsung’s Galaxy S3 and the new HTC One.

Here’s how it compares:

Specification	Ascend P2	Galaxy S3	HTC One
Size	8.4 thick (mm)	136.6 x 70.6 x 8.6 (mm)	137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3 (mm)
Weight	122g	133g	143g
Screen	4.7-inch IPS	4.8-inch Super AMOLED	4.7-inch LCD
Resolution	1280×720 pixels	1280×720 pixels	1080p
OS	Android 4.1 with Emotion UI	Android 4.1 with TouchWiz UI	Android 4.1.2 with Sense 5
Storage	16GB	16/32GB	32/64GB
SD Card Slot	TK	Yes	No
Processor	1.5GHz quad-core	Dual-core Snapdragon S4 (US)	Quad-core Snapdragon 600
RAM	1GB	2GB	2GB
Connectivity	Wi-Fi, 4G LTE	Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, HSPA+	Wi-Fi, 4G LTE, HSPA+
Camera	Front 1.3MP, Rear 13MP	Front 1.9MP, Rear 8MP	Front 2.1MP, Rear 4MP
Bluetooth	Yes	Yes, version 4.0	Yes, version 4.0
Battery	2420mAh	2100mAh	2300mAh
Charger	Micro USB	Micro USB	Micro USB
Marketplace	Google Play Store	Google Play Store	Google Play Store
Price	€399	$200+	TBA
Availability	Orange (EU), unlocked (US)	AT&T, Sprint, T-Mob, Verizon	AT&T, T-Mob, Verizon

The Ascend P2 holds up well in comparison to the new HTC One flagship phone, and out-specs the Galaxy S3 (admittedly an “old” handset) in several areas. What’s surprising is that the P2 doesn’t have full 1080p resolution, which is the trend for new Android smartphones in this size class. It’s great that the phone has wide viewing angles, can be used even with gloves like the new Nokia Lumias, and is protected by Gorilla Glass. Will the lack of full HD matter to everyone?

Huawei is taking the same route as Samsung, HTC, and even LG in putting a heavily customized skin over Android and bundling in a ton of apps and services to enhance the Android experience. Some people love this approach and others really hate it, so the Emotion UI may prove polarizing. That 1GB of RAM could prove a problem in this area.

The 13 megapizel camera on the back is another of Huawei’s selling points. As HTC reminded us recently, megapixel count isn’t the only thing that determines pixel quality. The promise of HDR (high dynamic range) photos and video plus sharper pictures using digital zoom point to a camera that will give even HTC’s ultrapixels some competition.

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Huawei Announces Ascend P2, World’s Fastest Smartphone

Rocketing out of the gate at this year’s Mobile World Congress is the smartphone dark horse Huawei, announcing the arrival of the “fastest smartphone in the world.” The title is a bit misleading, however, as the phone only exists on paper and will not be commercially available until this summer.

With an entire week left for smartphone makers to announce their latest and greatest (and several months between now and summer), it is entirely possible the only thing the latest from Huawei will be fastest at is capturing headlines. The Ascend P2 is the follow up to the Ascend P1 and will be leveraged to earn Huawei attention in the global marketplace. As it stands, the Chinese company is currently the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world – though they are less known in the US compared to Asian and European markets – trailing market dominators Samsung and Apple.

With a large, high-resolution display and quad-core processor running Google’s latest confectionary-inspired operating system, the Ascend P2’s tech sheet won’t stand out amongst other Android “superphones.” The latest from Huawei boasts a familiar less-than-5-inch display, a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 13-megapixel camera and Android 4.1. Like many other smartphones of the day, the Ascend P2 also carries an NFC chip, a feature which Apple, number two in the global smartphone market, has yet to take advantage of.

The phone does have a few extra tricks up its sleeve to make it stand out amongst the scrum, however. For instance, the company showed off a feature called “Magic Touch,” a new touch screen technology that gives gloved users the luxury of being able to navigate their device while keeping their hands warm and toasty. Richard Yu, the head of Huawei’s consumer business group also touted a package of more than 100 themes for the phone, giving users more opportunities to customize their phones just the way they want. In a bit of an awkward press moment, Yu suggested these themes would be of particular interest to their female customers who “like flowers, colorful things.”

The display of the Ascend P2, while impressive, does not quite meet the standards set forth by Apple’s Retina or HTC’s latest “One.” The iPhone 5 has a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch, or ppi, making each individual pixel even harder to identify. The new HTC One soundly bests this display with a ppi of 468. Huawei’s Ascend P2, however, has a ppi of 315, landing it somewhere in the “better than average” category.

So what is it about the Ascend P2 that makes it so fast? This phone will be the first ever released with a new kind of LTE chip capable of squeezing about 150 megabits per second from the next generation wireless network. In an ideal world, this means the Ascend P2 could deliver much faster-than-WiFi download speeds. This ideal world would also have to include a carrier capable of delivering these speeds, as no such wireless network currently has the infrastructure to serve up such speedy service. As such, the P2 may be the “feistiest smartphone in the world,” but like a Ferrari in gridlocked traffic, it will have a hard time showing the world what all it is capable of.

There’s also the fact the world’s number one smartphone manufacturer, Samsung, is widely expected to release the latest in their line of Galaxy smartphones. According to the rumors, this phone will be a worthy successor to the best-selling S III, which garnered so much attention and praise last year.

Source: Michael Harper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

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Acer W3-810 tablet photo leaked online, first Windows 8 tablet to feature an 8-inch display

About a month back, we had reported about Microsoft easing the hardware requirements for Windows 8 tablets, which was an indication that there could be smaller tablets in the pipeline. A report on French blog MiniMachines now claims to have credible information that Acer will be one of the first companies to launch a smaller Windows 8 tablet.

The tablet in question is the Acer W3-810, and going by the leaked specifications seems to be a midrange tablet. It seems to sport an 8-inch (1280×800 pixels) display and is claimed to be powered by a 1.8GHz dual-core Intel Atom processor. Not much else is known about the tablet, except that the photos show the tablet featuring a rear and a front camera, a mini-USB and HDMI port and will come bundled with accessories like a keyboard dock.

For now it isn’t clear when or at what price Acer will launch the 8-inch Windows tablet.

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Ellen Degeneres to Make Viral ‘Dance With My Father’ YouTube Singer A Star [VIDEO]

This just in from the dreams don’t come true file — 14-year-old Fillipino native Aldrich Lloyd Talonding has just been handpicked by Ellen Degeneres to come perform on her show after she saw a video on YouTube of the boy singing. Wait a minute, this isn’t right either …

Watch Talonding's performance and make sure to have some tissues handy.

A young Filipino boy is becoming an Internet sensation with a stunning rendition of Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father." In the video above, Aldrich Lloyd Talonding belts out the 2003 hit in a pure, soulful voice, while his talented cousin, James Walter Bucong, plays the guitar.

Following on the heels of Grayson Chance, the YouTube pianist who became a, well, marginally bigger star after performing on Ellen, Talonding was recruited to come from the South Philippines after being seen singing a heartfelt version of Luther Vandross’ “Dance With My Father” — a performance that was uploaded by his cousin. The video has had more than 1.3 million hits since April.

Aldrich is now applying for a visa after Ellen called him personally to ask that he “please come here and sing to me and all of my friends here.” And if that’s not sweet enough, the little boy wants to grow up to be a doctor unless a singing career is “the will of God.”

Say it with me folks: “Aww …” There has been no word on what Talonding’s father thinks of the performance or whether he has actually “danced with his son.”

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