HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 Smart Phone – $299 Free & Clear Super Phone Review
HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 4G Smart Phone
Up until recently there were only a handful of smartphone manufactures that offered great phones in the United States. HTC, LG, Samsung are probably the biggest, or at least most popular Android based smart phone companies state side. HUAWEI is a company that is new to the states, but is no newcomer to the world of smart phones. HUAWEI has been big across the seas for quite some time now. Today we are fortunate enough to look at the first Smart phone from HUAWEI to hit state side, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2. The Ascend Mate2 looks like your typical (if there is such a thing) smart phone, but one of the biggest advantages to the Ascend Mate2 is the price. For only $299 you can purchase the Mate2 free and clear of a contract!
The question that I’m sure is popping into your brain right now is, what kind of a smart phone can you get for only $299? For starters, it’s not tied to a specific network so that means that it is an unlocked phone that should be able to run any SIM card and being a 4G phone it’ll have plenty of network speed for ya. At the heart of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 is a 1.6GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 2GB of RAM to back it up. When it comes to internal storage, the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 isn’t lacking as it has 16GB available with the option to run a micro SD card to expand on the internal storage.
The HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 isn’t exactly a small phone, it measures 161.0mm x 84.7mm x 9.5mm (6.3″ x 3.3″ x .374″) and weighs ~202 grams (7.13 ounces). The Ascend Mate2 features an IPS screen and measures 6.1″. The resolution isn’t as high as you may expect though, as it is only a resolution of 1280 x 720. For some that may be to low, but I had no issues with it.
Taking a closer look at the top edge of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 we can find the speaker and of course the front facing camera. The Camera on the front of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 is a 5mp camera which is more than enough for skype or various other chatting apps.
If you’re looking for a significantly higher resolution camera, look no further than flipping the Mate2 over. The camera on the back of the Mate2 is a 13.0 megapixel camera with maximum resolution of 4208 x 3120. Just below the camera lens is a LED flash to be used with the camera in low light areas.
Taking a look at the edges of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2, they are kept clean, with very little going on with them. This is the left edge of the phone if you’re looking at the screen, there are no buttons along this edge of the phone.
The top of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 features the typical 3.5mm audio jack for a set of earbuds or hands free device.
The right side of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 is where we’ll find all of the buttons. The smaller button on the bottom is the power button that will also lock the screen. The larger button is the volume button. I wasn’t wild about having both buttons on one side, as there were a couple times that I meant to adjust the volume and instead I put the Mate2 to sleep. It took a little getting used to, but ultimately I stopped putting the phone to sleep (mostly).
Rotating the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 around to the bottom edge, here we can find the MicroUSB port used to connect the Mate2 to a computer or charge the device.
The battery in the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 is built into the device and is rated at a capacity of 4050mAh.
With the back of the HUAWEI Ascend Mate2 opened up, the micro-SD card slot and SIM card slot are easily accessible to us.
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