Design
It’s compact and the cover for the battery that can be swapped is ugly It’s hard to discern that the Ideos is a sluggish phone. This Huawei Ideos is one of the first smartphones from the company to be released in Australia that was sold under its own brand. Huawei phones have been sold in Australia for many years, in fact, the majority of the re-branded USB modems that are sold by the telcos include Huawei modems. To make its debut on the market, Huawei (pronounced whar-way) is attempting something new that is selling smartphones with full features priced at less than $200 AUD.
The Ideos comes with a compact 2.8-inch display with a 120×120-pixel (QVGA) resolution. This may sound like a reason for into the other direction however we’ve been impressed by how clear and vivid things appear on this screen. Also, the touchscreen can be useful. Huawei chose to go with the most sensitive capacitive touchscreen technology and the result is a high-quality user experience.
In a row of touchscreen navigation buttons, you’ll discover start and call buttons, as well as a large round navigation pad. Additionally, there’s a 3.5mm headphone socket to connect your favorite headphones, and a 3-megapixel camera lens at the back of the.
What’s inside the box?
What kind of phone can you get for the price of AU$160? You’ll be shocked, maybe like we were. In the beginning, you’ll find all the typical smartphones connectivity features that you’d expect on phones. There’s HSDPA and Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth, GPS, micro USB, and a MicroSD slot to expand memory. The 3G radios can be used with the 2100MHz and 900MHz spectrums, therefore it’s suitable for use on VHA or Optus networks, however, the radios aren’t Next G compatible.
The Ideos runs Google’s Android 2.2 (Froyo) which is an exciting development in terms of performance and features. It is preloaded with the usual Google applications like Maps and Gmail and tools such as Facebook and Twitter are already installed. It also has an FM radio that can be used to enhance your personal music playlists.
It’s also important to not forget the fact that with Google Maps Navigation, the Ideos can be a full-featured turn-by-turn navigation gadget. This isn’t an exclusive feature to this device and there won’t be a car mount designed exclusively for Ideos for just 160 dollars, it’s a bargain.
So, what’s it supposed to do?
As you’d expect, there are some limitations with phones at this price as well, but when you consider it performs everything well, these shortcomings should be noted. The Ideos features a 528MHz processor, as well as the memory, is 256MB approximately half the performance of phones such as HTC’s Desire and the Samsung Galaxy S. This equipment is sufficient to handle basic tasks however more complex, graphics-intensive applications will push the flimsy Ideos to the point of the useless.
We ran a few standard tests with the Ideos and installed each of Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds to see if the phone could be able to cope with certain of the most popular games. We found that both games were incompatible. We also tested the media player of the phone with the 720p video format however, even though it would start, however, the playback speed was inaccessible. It’s hard to imagine these issues as major drawbacks on a smartphone that’s so low however we can see the way that its intended market of teens might be disappointed that their new shiny phone will not be capable of playing the latest mobile games.
The camera’s 3-megapixel resolution is sure to be a disappointment to anyone who hopes to capture those impromptu moments. The camera is bare-bones There’s no flash as well as no auto-focus feature and a limited set of user control. The only benefit in the sense that we are able to see is that the picture preview is highly accurate which means that through the viewfinder, you’ll be able to know exactly how awful the photo will look prior to pressing the shutter.
Conclusion
The Ideos is a unique beast and a low-cost phone that is loaded with the features that you would expect to find in phones that cost at least two times the cost. The money you save is from the high-quality screen and the capabilities of the device, but for those who want to add web surfing or social media, as well as an email to their normal phone, you’ll never be able to tell the distinction. The experience for users is excellent and the phone feels comfortable to hold. The Huawei Ideos certainly sets a new benchmark in terms of what we are able to expect from a smartphone that is priced at this level.
