The Huawei Ascend G7 is a desirable handset if you want a large screen and don’t have cash to spare
The Huawei Ascend G7 enters that crowded territory of the five to six inch screened handset. It’s a phone size that pushes the boundaries of what most of us are prepared to carry in our pockets, yet the lure of a larger screen appeals particularly to gamers and anyone who reads a lot of text such as web sites, emails or even ebooks on their phone.
Moreover, with a price half that of most flagship phablets, the G7 is a real contender. So the question is, do the build and specifications really make it a bargain buy?
The outward signs are very encouraging. The build looks like that of a much more expensive phone. Metal makes up most of the back plate, while two strips of white plastic sit at its top and bottom, one housing the speaker, the other the camera and its fl ash. The back plate bends round into the edges, bleeding into a plastic front for the handset that’s ever so slightly smaller than the back.
Needless to say, that metal makes this a very solid phone. It is thin too, at just 7.6mm, and though it is a bit on the heavy side at 165g, the weight lends some gravitas to the handset – by which we mean that it really doesn’t feel like an inexpensive handset.
We’ve only got one real grumble about the design and that is the relatively large top and bottom screen bezels. To be fair to the Huawei Ascend G7, we often make this comment.
The back of the phone isn’t removable, so your microSIM sits in a slot on the right edge. Next to it is a second slot for a microSD card. This can be used to add to the 16GB of built in storage. Our review handset had 11.2GB free, which should be enough for many users. If you want to hotswap music or other data too, then it is easy to do.
Huawei makes a big deal of the two cameras – on the back is a 13 megapixel shooter, and on the front is a five megapixel camera with its own panorama mode. There are other camera features aimed at selfie fans, such as beauty mode and auto-capture when a smile is detected. You can also add audio notes to shots (pick this option, shoot a photo, then record up to ten seconds of audio automatically). We like the ability to separately set the focus point and light metering point by dragging two icons on screen – it’s an interesting feature that can give you control over the ambience of a photo. It’s a great effort for a budget handset.
We said the large screen can have appeal for readers and gamers. The good news is that the viewing angles are wide and the screen is also quite bright. The bad news is that the resolution is just 1,280 x 720, which isn’t great for a 5.5-inch screen and offers just 267ppi. The screen resolution is a clear compromise to help Huawei reach its price.
Android 4.4 is accompanied by Huawei’s Emotion UI overlay. Among its many features is the absence of an app drawer – instead apps sit on home pages – and there are oodles of themes that you can apply to help personalise the Ascend G7.
The quad-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor has 2GB of RAM in support and it seems very efficient. Certainly all but power users should find it is up to their requirements, though as already noted, gamers may hanker for a higher resolution screen. The 3,000 mAh battery might end up being an issue for anyone wanting to game, read or listen to music for long periods, and access to the mains during the day or early evening might be good thing.
Huawei has done a good job with the Huawei Ascend G7 giving it features that for the most part belie its price. The screen resolution and average battery are the two features that potential owners should be most wary of.
The Huawei Ascend G7 punches way above its price-point, with just the low screen resolution letting it down