Key Features: Dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex A9 CPU; 5MP and VGA cameras; 4GB internal memory, expandable; Android 4.1 with Huawei Emotion UIHuawei Ascend G510 Review
What is the Huawei Ascend G510?
The Huawei Ascend G510 is the latest budget phone from a company that has become renowned for its affordable phones. The G510 is a dowdy cousin of the Huawei Ascend P2 that trades glamour and style for function and affordability. The Huawei Ascend G510’s modest 1.2GHz dual-core processor won’t challenge the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4, but it has a spacious 4.5-inch IPS LCD touchscreen display and costs just £130 SIM-free and is available for free on contracts as low as £21 per month. It is available in both black and white.
Huawei Ascend G510: Design & Features
Utilitarian, uninspiring and functional aptly describe the Huawei Ascend G510’s design. It is a stock plastic phone with few flourishes to set it apart from the masses. As such, the G510’s design doesn’t compare too favourably with the likes of the Nokia Lumia 620, a more colourful and interesting looking phone for around the same price.It may be just 9.9mm thick, but the Huawei Ascend G510 feels larger in the hand. It’s not uncomfortable, but the G510 feels overstretched and dense. The G510 weighs a hefty 150g, too, 30g heavier than the more premium Huawei Ascend P6.
Pleasingly, however, this solid plastic body does not fall into the same pitfalls as many budget phones. The G510 feels sturdy. It doesn’t creak and groan when pressure is applied as some phones at this price do. We don’t fancy its chances against repeated drops, however, as it still lacks the durability of a metal phone. The buttons are sensibly arranged, too, as is the speaker and camera to avoid being obscured by stray fingers.
Besides its plainness, the only serious issue with the G510's design is the small gap between the screen and frame at the top that quickly fills with dust and detritus. It doesn't affect performance at all, but it's a needless eyesore.
Inside, the G510 has a relatively limited 4GB of built-in storage. It’s enough for most apps, however, and there’s a microSD card slot so you can expand by up to 32GB. That’s enough for a decent music collection and a few videos as well. Naturally Wi-Fi is included, as is 3G, but there’s no 4G support or more high-end features like NFC.
Huawei Ascend G510: Screen Quality
On paper the Huawei Ascend G510’s screen sounds OK – a 4.5-inch IPS screen with an 854 x 480 pixel resolution is nothing outstanding, but it’s decent enough for the price. But the reality is quite different. In short: it’s rubbish.Its 218 pixels-per-inch (ppi) pixel density ensures text looks slightly fuzzy and HD videos lack the visceral sharpness of top-end phones, but that’s nothing any other cheap smartphone doesn’t suffer. Likewise the slightly muted colours and low peak brightness: that’s all fair enough at this price.
But the Huawei Ascend G510’s screen is unparalleled in its inability to cope with bright sunlight. Direct sunlight renders the G510’s screen near unusable; adjusting brightness levels does nothing to help. This alone is a big enough reason to avoid the Huawei Ascend G510 as it makes it incredibly hard to use outdoors.
What’s more, the checkerboard imprint of the display’s touch panel is visible in all manner of lighting conditions – an annoying distraction.
Huawei Ascend G510 Review - Software, Performance and Camera
Huawei Ascend G510: Software & Performance
The Huawei Ascend G510’s software struggles are present from the off. Even simple transitions between the homescreens feel sluggish. No doubt Huawei’s custom Emotion UI skin doesn’t help. It’s the same skin as on the Huawei Ascend P6 – the world’s thinnest phone – and it’s far from the sleekest or most engaging user interface. HTC Sense or Samsung TouchWiz this is not.The Emotion UI looks and feels like a poor amalgamation of Android and iOS. It replaces Android’s familiar app launcher with a simple app menu bunged onto the end of the homescreen list. Removing some of Android’s clutter is good idea, but the Emotion UI does a poor job of this and loses some of its unique charm along the way.
A fact not aided by its bugginess. Attempting to scroll through images in the gallery app quickly becomes the literal representation of the old adage – ‘two steps forward one step back’. It’s clunky and laggy and the erratic jumping between images when attempting to scroll is a major nuisance.
The G510’s iffy software is all the more disappointing given its processor is reasonably powerful for the price. Compared with the £150 Samsung Galaxy Fame, the Huawei Ascend G510’s 1.2GHz dual-core CPU and 1GB of RAM is considerably more powerful than the Fame’s 1GHz single-core CPU.
This ought to ensure smooth everyday performance, but the Emotion UI holds things back. Launching apps is a largely prompt affair, but the G510 struggles with more demanding applications and gaming can take a while to get into its stride and repeatedly jumping between apps leads to noticeable slow down.
On a browser front, the G510 comes packing Chrome and web activity is one area where its 4.5-inch display comes into its own. The browser is sleek and speedy, loading pages across both 3G and Wi-Fi connections in pleasingly prompt times.
Huawei Ascend G510 Camera
For a budget phone, the Huawei Ascend G510’s camera is not that bad. The phone has a 5-megapixel rear-mounted camera with an integrated LED flash (a feature missing from many budget phones), autofocus and 720p HD video recording capabilities. Although it is possible to jump direct to the camera app direct from the lock screen, doing so is not a particularly speedy experience.
The G510’s primary camera takes decent shots. Unlike many entry-level phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy Young or Vodafone Smart Mini, it will not disappoint if it is your only camera option to hand when a can’t miss photo opportunity arises. Colour balance is one of the G510’s main stumbling blocks. Shots feel cold and usually vibrant hues such as bright reds and yellows feel understated and diluted. Focus is acceptable if a little slow at times and shutter speed is perfectly manageable.
A dedicated shutter button would have been a pleasing addition on such a large body. Sadly this is missing. The flash, however, helps bring the murkiness of indoor, low light shots back to the realms of usability, even if it’s a little hit and miss how good the resulting shots are.
The secondary camera fares much worse than its sibling does. It’s only VGA camera (i.e. 0.3-megapixels), it has very poor light management and an extremely sluggish focus. Photos look grainy, flat and almost greyscale.
Huawei Ascend G510 Review - Call Quality, Battery, Value and Verdict
Huawei Ascend G510 Call & Sound Quality
Call quality is fine. It took the phone a little longer than we would have hoped and expected to connect falls, but once connected communications were clear and detailed.Volumes were of an acceptable level and, during our time with the phone, we experienced no dropped calls or unexpected signal loss. On the contrary in fact, the phone’s 3G connection proved strong throughout.
The phone’s internal speaker is not the best we have seen on a wallet-friendly handset. Pushing its volume range to its upper limit introduces a bit of tinny rattle and distortion, which is quite annoying.
Huawei Ascend G510 Battery Life
The Huawei Ascend G510’s battery life is yet more evidence of its ordinariness. It features a 1700mAh Lithium-Ion cell with a claimed battery life of just 5 hours 20 minutes of 3G talk time, and if anything this claim is on the generous side.The G510 struggles through a single day’s use with moderate to heavy usage, and its standby times are only marginally better. Although the G510 is pushing budget priced phones into the realms of mid-range specs, its poor battery is one oversight which has failed to follow the curve. By contrast, flagship phones are now featuring batteries with almost twice the capacity of the G510’s power pack. The recently announced LG G2 features a 3000mAh offering.
Should I buy the Huawei Ascend G510?
It’s not the most glamorous phone, but for the price you could do much worse than the Huawei Ascend G510. It is a significantly better buy than the likes of the disappointingly overpriced Samsung Galaxy Fame, but that’s no ringing endorsement when there are better alternatives available.The Nokia Lumia 620 is a much more appealing option in the same price bracket. Yes, the Finnish phone might not boast a 4.5-inch display, but its 3.8-inch LCD screen is far superior. Huawei’s Emotion UI does Android no favours, either, and in comparison Windows Phone 8 is easier to use and runs more smoothly on the Lumia 620 than the G510.
In short, was it not for the screen the Huawei Ascend G510 would make an acceptable first time smartphone. But it’s too difficult to use in bright light for us to recommend it.
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