LIVE FROM HUAWEI ASCEND P6 LAUNCH, LONDON: Huawei launched its latest device, Ascend P6, which – at 6.18mm thick – is the world’s thinnest smartphone. It is the Chinese vendor’s flagship device for 2013 and is aimed at competing with Apple’s iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S4.
Speaking at London’s Roundhouse venue for the launch of the P6, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, said the new device innovates in terms of hardware design, camera technology and software functionality.
Referring to the Chinese company’s new slogan announced at Mobile World Congress in February, Yu said: “We want the ‘impossible things are possible’ spirit to challenge the market, to challenge ourselves, to challenge the innovation of the industry.”
The Android-powered P6 features a 4.7 inch HD screen and 1.5GHz quadcore processor and has an 8 megapixel rear-facing camera and 5 megapixel front-facing camera. The smartphone supports HSPA+ 3G at launch but Yu promised an LTE version will arrive in the autumn.
With a recommended retail price of €449, the P6 will be launched in 19 countries by the end of July, including the UK, Spain, Germany, China and Australia. Huawei plans to make the P6 available in more than 100 countries by the end of the year.
The camera features the IMAGESmart engine with automatic scene recognition for different light conditions and photo types. It also has HD video recording capability and 4cm Macro View, which allows objects to remain in focus from just 4cm away.
The P6 features the latest version of Huawei’s Emotion UI which was first launched a year ago. The new version includes more than 300 enhancements, which UI design director Dennis Poon said “makes it more usable, powerful and fun”. Poon also touted the range of data permission options available as part of the UI.
Nick Woodley, head of Huawei’s London design office, said the company used the simplicity of paper as an inspiration for the design of the new smartphone: “With the P6 we truly believe we’ve achieved world class design. We tried to keep simplicity key to the whole thing,” he said.
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