Review: Huawei Ascend
To start a call on the Huawei Ascend, you have plenty of options. Tap the phone icon on screen for the dialer; or press the Send button to jump to the call log; or hit the contact button for your address book, and start a call from a contact listing. You can also place direct dial shortcuts on the vast homescreen panels.
For the most part, making calls with the Ascend is the same as on every other stock Android phone. The Ascend does not have a proximity sensor, so the in-call screen does not leave any buttons exposed for your face to press accidentally. You have to hit the menu key to find the speakerphone, Bluetooth or 3-way calling options, but this wasn't much trouble. Also, no need for an onscreen End Call options, since the Ascend uses a real End button. Boy, do I miss the Send and End buttons on my other, everyday phones.
The phone app gets a unique look on the Huawei Ascend. The features are all the same, but instead of just having tabs up top for the dialer, the call log, contact list and favorites, the Ascend uses a sliding mechanism as well, which leaves extra room for a Groups option. This was not a very useful design change, it just added an extra slide motion to an already simple design.
The Ascend uses a basic-looking contact list, similar to other Androids. Under every contact name, the Ascend provides that person's primary contact info. So, if you list a mobile number first for a contact, you get “Mobile: 917-555-1212-” listed under their name. I'm not sure why this would be useful. The whole point of a contact list is to let me pick a name and a picture, and not have to worry about the associated number. Even worse, email addresses that are described as “primary” on other phones are shown as “Other” on the Ascend, so many contacts, especially social networking friends who don't list their numbers, will show up with “Other: steve@apple.com”. I found this oddly annoying.
The individual contact entries are divided into two tabs. One is the familiar contact card with email addresses, phone numbers and the like. The other is a “History” tab. This lists all of your calling and text messaging history with that contact. It might have been nice to see some more social integration into the contact list. The Ascend does not come with Twitter or Facebook preloaded, so you'll have to download those apps from the App Market if you want to sync contacts with your social circles.
CTIA Fall 2010
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Huawei Ascend
