New Delhi: Amidst the growing crowd of Indian brands, Chinese manufacturer Huawei is trying to make space for itself in the Indian budget smartphone market. Recently, the company launched a new smartphone, the Ascend G510 at a price of Rs 10,990. At its price, the phone does promise good specs including a 4.5-inch display, dual-core processor and Android Jelly Bean. Do the specs that look good on paper offer a satisfactory end-user experience?
The Huawei Ascend G510 is a decently designed Android phone that does not weigh much. The front has a 4.5-inch 854x480 display with a black bezel around it. The phone has a removable patterned back and its rounded edges make it rest comfortably in your hand. The phone supports a regular SIM card and also has a microSD card slot. The build quality is something you would expect at this price. It surely doesn't look cheap, but at the same time doesn't exude class.
It's 4.5-inch 854x480 display produces decent colours and lets you navigate smoothly. The touch is responsive and viewing angles are good. The screen is quite readable under sunlight. But the screen is prone to scratches.
The phone's 4.5-inch display is reasonably good and produces decent colours. The display offers good viewing angles. The touchscreen is responsive. On the rear is a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with flash that captures quality pictures in both bright and low-light conditions. The camera comes with a few built-in filters to apply to your photos before you capture an image. It also gives you a spate of options to customise images. Also, the 0.3 megapixel front camera is good for video calling and captures satisfactory photos in favourable light conditions.
While the phone's display and camera managed to impress me but not its performance. The phone comes powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor
and 512MB RAM. The phone allowed me to multitask but up to a limit; it would fall behind when I tried to work on more than three apps at a time. Switching between apps was smooth, but not always. The phone dawdled, at times, while switiching from one app to another. Even playing Temple Run was a chore as the phone stuttered during the game. The instant messaging app WhatsApp crashed many times. Also, on two occasions, the phone froze and I had to remove the battery and put it back again to resume using the phone.
The phone functioned pretty well when I stopped using heavy apps, simultaneously. It is ideal for normal usage, but if you are a heavy user it is likely to let you down. Also, it does not support 720p and 1080p videos. The phone lets you record videos in two formats - VGA (640x480) and MMS (176x144). The phone's battery did not prove to be a let down. It comes packed with a 1750mAh battery, which can easily last for a day. The phone's speaker is not loud and also I faced a few call drops.
Running Android 4.1 OS, the phone has 4GB of internal storage, of which 2.16 is user-accessible. The phone lets you expand memory and supports a microSD card up to 32GB.
While the phone's display and camera are satisfactory, its performance dashed expectations and I wouldn't put it up on our recommended list.
Pros
Decent display
Satisfactory camera
Good battery
Cons
Disappointing performance
Pesky gaming experience
Plaguey call reception
Rating: 2.5/5
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