Huawei Ascend P2 review

The Huawei Ascend P2 finds itself between a bit of a rock and a hard place. On the one hand it's got an impressive spec sheet and attractive price point, but on the other it's supposed to be going head to head with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One and Nokia Lumia 925 - and it doesn't really match the same dazzling heights of any of these handset.

We liked

The Huawei Ascend P2 is a respectable all-round handset which offers up a decent set of specs wrapped up in a simplistic, if not slightly childish, wrapper know as the Emotion UI.

It may not suit everyone's taste - especially the hardened Android fans - but for those who aren't so technically minded the Ascend P2 may offer up a less baffling experience.

The Ascend P2 was able to run Android Jelly Bean with little issue and we experienced smooth operation during most of our activities on the phone.

With a 13MP camera capable of capturing some decent images and a solid build quality the Ascend P2 doesn't let itself down.

We disliked

As we've mentioned the UI won't suit everyone and it's certainly not the easiest on the eye - even with a large selection of themes to choose from, none really ooze premium, class or sophistication.

Battery life isn't awful, but it also isn't the best we've seen and the 4G connection can really eat into it, especially if you're planning on downloading large files or streaming video.

We didn't enjoy using the Huawei-made keyboard on the Ascend P2 either and the quicker we'd installed a replacement the better a handset it became - we just wish the Chinese firm had stuck with the default Google offering.

There's no a microSD slot available, so you're stuck with the 11.83GB of internal storage made available by Huawei on the Ascend P2 and if you plan on watching movies or playing some graphically intensive games on the handset you may find this filling up fast.

Verdict

The Huawei Ascend P2 is a highly capable smartphone which offers a strong line up of features and a decent level of specs - although it doesn't exactly excel at anything, or wow us with amazing features.

It also has the tricky problem of the Huawei Ascend P6 which basically lines up alongside the Ascend P2 sporting a fancier, slimmer metallic frame, although spec wise it's not quite as cutting edge.

So as well as fighting with its brother the Ascend P2 also has the difficult task of marking itself out as a flagship device in a market dominated by the superior Galaxy S4, HTC One and Xperia Z.

Of course the Huawei Ascend P2 does carry a far more attractive price tag, but that still means it's doing battle with the still excellent Galaxy S3, One X+ and iPhone 4S, and with the Huawei brand not exactly in the mind of the everyday consumer it could be a tricky sell.

That's not to say you'll be disappointed if you do opt for the Ascend P2 and it is a potentially great value 4G option at the top end of the market.