Huawei Ascend P1 has a striking silhouette, iffy camera (pictures)
The unlocked Huawei Ascend P1 smartphone has runway-ready looks and some specs to match.
Jessica Dolcourt
Jessica is a passionate content strategist and team leader across the CNET family of brands. She leads a number of teams, including commerce, performance optimization and the copy desk. Her CNET career began in 2006, testing desktop and mobile software for Download.com and CNET, including the first iPhone and Android apps and operating systems. She continued to review, report on and write a wide range of commentary and analysis on all things phones, with an emphasis on the iPhone and Samsung devices. Jessica was one of the first people in the world to test, review and report on foldable phones and 5G wireless speeds.
Jessica began her leadership role managing CNET's How To section for tips and FAQs in 2019, guiding coverage of topics ranging from personal finance to phones to home. She holds an MA with Distinction from the University of Warwick in the UK.
The unlocked Huawei Ascend P1 is part of Huawei's platinum line of smartphones. First announced at CES, the ultrathin Android 4.0 smartphone looks tuxedo-sharp in black and white.
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Camera
The 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, flash, and support for 1080p HD video capture sometimes took spot-on shots, but didn't quite live up to its promise.
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Up front
I like that there's a front-facing camera as well.
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MicroSD card slot
You can add and remove expandable memory without futzing with the back cover, which is good since it's unremovable.
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Lines and angles
I love the phone's sculpted curves and angles.
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Top view
The charger, SIM card slot, and 3.5mm headset jack are all up top.
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Camera test
I took numerous photos in all sorts of lighting situations using the Ascend P1's default settings. Photos have been cropped and resized, but are otherwise untouched. This grainy, disappointing shot was taken indoors in rather low, artificial lighting.
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180
The camera was clearly inspired by the beauty of this confection, taken indoors with plenty of natural and some artificial lighting at San Diego's Extraordinary Desserts.
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Orange bang
Neither of these two unwitting models has such brown-orange complexions in real life. I'd also expect less of a soft-focus at such a close range.
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All wrong
Sunlight clearly threw off the Ascend P1's abilities with this koi pond. Just note the blown-out rock at the right.
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Color fail
This is the third time I photographed the still leaves, hoping to get brighter colors and more-defined edges if I refocused and bided my time. No luck. The flat, muddied colors are low on contrast and much flatter than their real-world counterparts.
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Tea for 10
The Ascend P1 equally disappointed when capturing this lifecycle moment during a bride and groom's Chinese tea ceremony.
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Fountain of youth
The P1 did better with this hilarious carbonated paean to lucha libre wrestlers.
