Huawei's 6.1-inch Ascend Mate Officially Arrives

With mobile action coming only from Sony, Alcatel, and Vizio, Chinese phone maker Huawei surely added color to CES 2013 by officially announcing the Huawei Ascend Mate. The Ascend Mate is a 6.1-inch behemoth that sports a 1.5GHz quad-core processor paired with 2GB of RAM and 4030mAh of battery. It was leaked by the company a couple of weeks ago, presumably in anticipation of the event.

Here's a quick rundown of the Ascend Mate's specs:

Huawei Ascend Mate [photo courtesy of pcmag.com]

• Dimensions: 163.5 mm x 85.7 mm x 9.9 mm (6.5 inches x 3.4 inches x 0.4 inches), 198g
• Display: 6.1-inch HD IPS+ 1280 x 720 LCD with Gorilla glass, 241ppi
• Processor: quad-core Huawei Hisilicon clocked at 1.5GHz
• Memory: 2GB of RAM, 8GB internal storage
• OS: Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean with Emotion UI
• Camera: 8.0-megapixel AF rear-facing camera with HDR, 1.0-megapixel HD front-facing camera
• Battery: 4030mAh

The Huawei Ascend Mate runs a custom skin called the Emotion UI, complemented by the company's Magic Touch Technology (you can still communicate with the display even while wearing a glove) and its 1280x720 resolution. Pundits have pointed out that massive size of the Ascend Mate doesn't go in the way of its usage, thanks particularly to its slim profile (probably akin to the Samsung Galaxy Note II).

Huawei also announced the Ascend D2, a smaller version of the Ascend Mate bearing almost the same specifications, albeit the 5-inch, 1080p display. It's a bit thicker than its bigger brother, but it makes up for it with some water and dust-resisting features. It runs on a big 3000mAh battery, and an even bigger 13MP camera.

The Ascend Mate and the Ascend D2 will be available worldwide on March 2013, but unforunately there's no word on pricing yet. With Huawei's current pricing model here in the Philippines, these may hit the stores at Samsung-ish price levels.