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Thick Huawei Activa 4G delivers Metro's LTE (pictures)

The Huawei Activa 4G for MetroPCS is a midrange Android 2.3 Gingerbread phone with a reasonable price tag and Metro's LTE speeds.

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.
Jessica Dolcourt
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Huawei Activa 4G

The Huawei Activa 4G is Huawei's first LTE phone in the U.S.
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2 of 6Josh Miller/CNET

Big 'n' large

Even though it has a 3.5-inch screen, this is no itty-bitty handset. It's 0.4 inch thick and weighs nearly 5 ounces.
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Camera

One of my favorite features is the dedicated camera shutter button on the phone's right spine, which goes along with the 5-megapixel camera and flash.
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Android 2.3

Stock Gingerbread is the Activa 4G's given OS, but don't expect much in the way of updates.
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Cool design

While I'm not partial to the handset's overall design, I do like this not-quite-checked back cover.
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Front-facing camera

A VGA camera on the front assists with video chats, and the movie, "Kung Fu Panda 2," is loaded onto the phone.

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