huawei

Our mobile reviews team checks out a fair number of unlocked phones. It's fun to see what's available elsewhere in the world, and it's a window into models that might come out here soon with a carrier.

Unfortunately, these phones rarely perform as well as they would if they were tied to a network, especially a fast one. Still, there's much to glean from checking them out, even if their high prices keep us from recommending them to U.S. shoppers.

The Huawei Honor is a case in point. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread device is a midranger that looks pretty good and has some notable additions, like an interesting virtual keyboard. It also has a 4-inch screen, a 1.4GHz processor, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and a 1,900mAh battery for longer life.

Call quality and data speeds were poor on the unlocked unit, and the cameras underperformed in some situations. Still, if the specs and design strike you, you'll also be able to check it out stateside as the Huawei Mercury for Cricket.… Read more

Chinese phone maker Huawei may have one of the first press conferences at CES next month, but it's at February's Mobile World Congress show where the company intends to impress.

Earlier today, Huawei circulated the teaser e-mail above (border my own), promising to announce the company's "fastest and most high-performing" smartphone to date.

That doesn't tell us much about the processor, the screen size, or even the operating system of this forthcoming wonder phone, but I suspect it'll at least have a dual-core processor, a 4-inch screen, an 8-megapixel camera, and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich--that last one since Huawei hasn't yet released a device on the Windows Phone platform.

As much as I appreciate the heads-up, Huawei's timing, just weeks before CES, is a little curious. It makes sense for Huawei to announce a high-impact device on a more global stage where the company has a markedly higher market penetration, but at the same time, it's just cast a shadow on anything it'll announce at CES.

Huawei hasn't been as successful breaking into the market as HTC, but the company stated in fall its long-shot ambition to become one of the top five wireless vendors in three years.… Read more

The weeks leading up to CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show, are usually slow, but a new Android smartphone, the Huawei Mercury, is heating things up for Cricket.

At least, that's what Cricket hopes will happen with the phone it's claiming as its most advanced ever.

Previously known as the Huawei Honor (see review) or Glory, the Mercury boasts a 4-inch FWVGA touch screen (480x854-pixel resolution), a 1.4GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture, and a front-facing camera (with a basic VGA resolution). The device has 2GB of internal storage. Cricket's new tethering plan lets you use the Mercury to provide an Internet connection to up to five other devices.

Although the Mercury ships with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, Cricket apparently hasn't decided whether it will upgrade the device to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, according to a Cricket representative.

The Huawei Mercury is available now and costs $249.99 without a contract.… Read more

If, like me, you had assumed that the Samsung Nexus S would be the first Android phone to receive the official update to Ice Cream Sandwich (after its debut with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus), we'd both be wrong.

Huawei has bypassed carriers to distribute the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) operating system to owners of the Huawei Honor through its Web site. (The second tab below the image translates to Software.)

Of course, this demo build is not an official carrier push, and you'd have to be comfortable manually updating your phone from the kernel contained on the Web site. If you don't read the Chinese alphabet, you'll still be able to switch to other languages that Android supports.… Read more

A year from now, you may be coveting a flashy new ZTE smartphone.

At least, that's what ZTE is hoping for. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Lixin Cheng, the head of ZTE's North American business, said he plans on introducing high-end smartphones in the U.S. By 2015, he expects the U.S. to be the largest market for ZTE.

ZTE, which makes mobile devices and telecommunications equipment, is a growing power in the mobile-handset business. Globally, the company is the fifth-largest handset maker by market share--just behind Apple, according to Gartner. But … Read more

Android continues to inch its way higher as the leading mobile OS on Millennial Media, according to the ad network's October Mobile Mix report.

Google's mobile platform grabbed 56 percent of all ad impressions on the network last month, double iOS's 28 percent share, figures that include both smartphones and tablets together. Android has been the leading mobile OS on Millennial Media's network for almost a year now.

Among the rest of the pack, RIM's BlackBerry OS took home a 13 percent share, leaving 1 percent each for Nokia's Symbian, Microsoft's Windows Phone, … Read more

Huawei announced that it will begin shipping its next Android handset, the Honor, in December to select markets.

Powered by Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread and running the latest build of Huawei's custom software, the handset features a single-core 1.4GHz processor, an 8-megapixel camera, 512MB RAM, and 4GB internal storage.

Obviously, it's not the most advanced smartphone on the market, but one particularly interesting detail about the Huawei Honor is the battery life.… Read more

"Not another 7-inch tablet!" you say. Well, hold that thought and feast your eyes on the T-Mobile SpringBoard, first announced at CTIA.… Read more

Just when you thought the world didn't need another 7-inch Android tablet that few would end up buying, here comes the T-Mobile SpringBoard, the 7-inch tablet you'd do well to look at, for the right price.

Announced just before CTIA officially kicked off in San Diego, the SpringBoard offers quite a bit--"4G" speeds, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1,280x800 screen resolution, and surround sound. There's also a 5-megapixel camera that can record 720p HD video, a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera, support for HDMI, and up to six hours of battery life. There are … Read more