Huawei Ascend P2 review

Huawei aims to rise to new heights with this record breaking handset

Huawei Ascend P2
It's the Usain Bolt of smartphones

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The Huawei Ascend P2 has been blessed with a decent 13MP camera on its rear complete with single-LED flash, which means it should be capable of taking some decent snaps.

Round the front you're furnished with a 1.3MP snapper for awkward video calls with your parents and the casual vanity check while on the train home - and it's nowhere near the 5MP option on the Ascend P6.

Huawei has also equipped the Ascend P2 which a physical shutter key on the right side of the handset, giving you a quick way of launching the camera app as well as an easier way to take photos.

Huawei Ascend P2 review

The camera app hasn't escaped the Emotion UI overlay, but luckily it's not particularly oppressive, with a clean intuitive layout.

There are three quick tools on the right which allows you to switch between front and rear cameras, toggle the flash and an option to enable or disable the tap-to-focus function.

Huawei Ascend P2 review

More options can be reach by tapping the down arrow which appears at the top of the screen (when held in portrait).

Here you get several menus including shooting mode which lets you choose from seven options including panorama, HDR, group and low light.

Next up is the filters option which includes favourites such as negative, sepia and emboss - all thrilling choices we're sure you'll agree.

Huawei Ascend P2 review

The effects menu allows you to have some fun with your friends with options such as "big nose", "gobbler" and "professor" - oh yes there's hours of fun here for the kids, although you're unlikely to use most of these.

If you're looking for some more sensible settings then you can also adjust white balance, ISO levels, exposure, saturation and contrast - although these are hidden away in a menu within a menu.

Huawei Ascend P2 review

There's also a digital zoom incorporated into the camera which can be controlled by the on screen slider and while the further you zoom in decreases the quality of your final image the Ascend P2 does a far better job than most.

Auto-focus is present and settles pretty quickly, allowing you to get into snapping pictures and the responsive shutter button takes just a second to capture an image and turf you back to shooting mode.

Huawei Ascend P2 review

The quality of pictures produced by the Huawei Ascend P2 are, on the whole, very good, with a decent level of detail and solid colour reproduction resulting in some very pleasing snaps.

It does struggle a little in poorly lit areas and with close up macro shots, but apart from that you can rely on the Ascend P2 to give you some worthy photos to show off to your friends and family.

Huawei Ascend P2 review

You can get some pretty impressive shots in good light

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

Even with direct sunlight the Ascend P2 manages to pick out objects

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

You can get sort of close up to objects without too much hassle

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

But move right up close and the macro mode struggles

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

Indoors and the Ascend P2 copes pretty well

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

Without HDR mode the P2 still manages to take some nice shots

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

Turn HDR on and the differences are minor, but noticeable

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Huawei Ascend P2 review

Panorama mode works ok, but it's not the best we've seen

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John McCann
Global Managing Editor

John joined TechRadar over a decade ago as Staff Writer for Phones, and over the years has built up a vast knowledge of the tech industry. He's interviewed CEOs from some of the world's biggest tech firms, visited their HQs and has appeared on live TV and radio, including Sky News, BBC News, BBC World News, Al Jazeera, LBC and BBC Radio 4. Originally specializing in phones, tablets and wearables, John is now TechRadar's resident automotive expert, reviewing the latest and greatest EVs and PHEVs on the market. John also looks after the day-to-day running of the site.