Huawei now holds the claim to the world's slimmest smartphone with the Ascend P1 S. CNET gets a hands-on look at CES 2012.
Bonnie Cha
Bonnie Cha was a former chief correspondent for CNET Crave, covering every kind of tech toy imaginable (with a special obsession for robots and Star Wars-related stuff). When she's not scoping out stories, you can find her checking out live music or surfing in the chilly waters of Northern California.
The Ascend P1 has a sharp 4.3-inch Super AMOLED (960x540-pixel resolution) touch screen with Corning Gorilla Glass. And in the wake of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, I welcome Ice Cream Sandwich.
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Thin and trim
The P1 is the thicker of Huawei's two new phones, but even then its profile is just 7.69mm (0.3 inch). And there's still room for an 1,800mAh battery.
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Camera and flash
On the P1's back cover is the 8-megapixel camera. The shooter also has a back-illuminated sensor and 1080p HD video capture. For video calls and self-portraits, there's a separate 1.3-megapixel camera around front.
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Ports and power
On the P1's top edge are the microSD card slot, power control, and headset jack.
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The P1 S: Just as shiny
The Ascend P1 S sports the same 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display. As with other Android phones, you have multiple home screens for customization, shortcuts to the various connectivity features, and a Google search bar. The tray of five touch icons at the bottom of the display is a hallmark of Ice Cream Sandwich, and just below that are three physical controls (Back, Home, and Menu).
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A darker tone
The P1 S' back cover has a darker color and a subtle design.
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Main menu
The P1 S and P1 have the same icon-based menu design.
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Shared features
You'll find the same 8-megapixel camera and flash on the P1 S. In fact, the handsets have the same features, including a 1.5GHz dual-core TI OMAP 4460 Cortex A9 processor, 1GB RAM, 4GB ROM, 5.1 surround sound, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, and DLNA support.
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Just a hair's difference
When placed together, you can see that the P1 S (left) is slightly fatter than its sibling. The P1 S measures 6.68mm thick (0.26 inch), which makes it the trimmest dual-core smartphone, at least for now. Yet, that also means a smaller 1,670mAh battery.
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Changeable backplates
You can make a statement by purchasing a variety of changeable backplates for either phone.
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Bright and black
The darker tones of the P1 S (left) contrast sharply with this bright yellow backplate on the P1.
