Huawei Ascend D Quad XL Android phone (preview)

Name: Huawei Ascend D Quad XL Android phone (preview)
Item: Huawei Ascend D Quad XL Android phone (preview)
Rating: None
Author: Ross Catanzariti

Huawei's Ascend D Quad XL aims for 2-3 days of battery life

Ross Catanzariti

PC World

12/06/12

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Pros

Large 2500mAh battery
Quad-core processor
IPS HD display

Cons

Large battery adds thickness
No Australian release date

Bottom Line

Huawei's Ascend D Quad XL promises up to three days of battery life thanks to a huge 2500mAh battery. We'll be keen to put these figures to the test if or when it eventually makes its way to Australia.

Would you buy this?

Yes 111
No 2

Price
TBA (AUD)

Modern day smartphones pack plenty of technology into a small package, which is why most of them struggle to last a full day before needing a recharge. Huawei is aiming to change that with the Ascend D Quad XL, an Android phone that promises up to three days of battery life.

The key feature of the Huawei Ascend D Quad XL is obviously its huge 2500mAh battery. This is significantly larger than most other smartphone batteries on the market including the popular Samsung Galaxy S III (2100mAh).

A 400mAh difference doesn't sound like much between these smartphones, but Huawei says the inclusion of proprietary energy management software on the Ascend D Quad XL is the key to its longer life. We're not sure how accurate Huawei's three day figures are (we'd honestly be surprised if the battery lasted more than a full day), but it would be a hugely impressive feat if it worked as advertised.

Aside from its large battery, the Huawei Ascend D Quad XL boasts pretty impressive specifications. It is powered by the company's in-house developed processor, the 1.5GHz quad-core K3 V2 chip, and has a 4.5in screen with a 720p HD resolution. The larger battery means the Ascend D Quad XL (10.9mm) is slightly thicker than the very similar Ascend D Quad (8.9mm). It's also a little heavier at 150g.

The Ascend D Quad XL's IPS+ display has a pixels per inch (ppi) rating of 326ppi, equal with the iPhone 4S (326ppi) and ahead of both the Samsung Galaxy S III (306ppi) and the HTC One X (312ppi). This impressive ppi figure means the Ascend D Quad XL should display a very high level of detail that will make individual pixels on the screen hard to distinguish.

Other features of the Huawei Ascend D Quad XL include an 8-megapixel rear camera that doubles as a full HD 1080p video recorder and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera that can record 720p HD video. There's only 8GB of internal memory but a microSD card slot means this can be expanded.

Huawei hasn't yet revealed whether the Ascend D Quad XL will be released in Australia.