Huawei Ascend P7 review

When the Huawei Ascend P6 launched last spring, it turned heads. First, because the design seemed at first glance entirely derived from the iPhone, though as you looked down at the bottom end there was a different styling at play.

Now, the Huawei Ascend P7 has arrived, with an identical design language. It looks better, though, because the aluminium back of the P6 has been replaced by Gorilla Glass which looks fetching where the metal P6 just looked, well, plasticky. This time it’s a classy and subtly patterned back which is smooth, tactile and pleasing to look at.

And though this is a phone which will undercut the top-flight phones out there in terms of price, Huawei (pronounced 'wah-way') wants you to see the Ascend P7 as a strong and powerful alternative to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the HTC One M8 – so how does it stack up in terms of style, features and all-round goodness?

Huawei Ascend P7: Size and build

This phone isn’t quite as razor-thin as the P6, but at 6.5mm there’s precious little in it. It’s still thinner than the iPhone 5s and it has a bigger screen that’s much higher-resolution.

And it’s 4G-capable, unlike the P6. For many people the absence of super-fast data connections was not a problem but the networks, it seems, like 4G for everything but the most budget of smartphones now. Though the P7 has again positioned itself as great value, it’s not budget.

Huawei Ascend P7: Screen

The display is bigger than before – matching the five inches that premium phones like the HTC One M8 offer. This is a Full HD screen so you can feast your peepers on a 441 pixels per inch display (considerably more than the iPhone’s 326ppi). Put a picture on the screen and you can’t miss the richness of the image: colours pop without being overdone while text is as sharp as on paper. It looks tremendous.

What’s more, because this screen is so big, it’s almost a surprise how thin it is, as though the proportions are off. But the truth is the slimness of the Ascend P7 feels great in the hand, making it feel less of a palm-stretcher than the Sony Xperia Z1 let alone the new Sony Xperia Z2.

For all its slimness, the phone feels solid and strong, with no flexing evident. Oh, and because the display stretches to within 3mm of the edge of the phone, it’s an even more impressive screen.

Turn it on and you instantly know you’re holding a Huawei phone thanks to the distinctive Emotion UI, including a special panel called the Me Widget that is easily customised to include important contacts, music player, weather and more. It could be a crucial part of your experience of the phone. Or you may never use it.