Huawei Ascend P8, Ascend P8max With Android 5.0 Lollipop, Octa-Core SoCs Launched

Huawei on Wednesday launched its flagship smartphone, the Huawei Ascend P8, alongside its large-screen variant, the Huawei Ascend P8max. The dual-SIM Android 5.0 Lollipop-based smartphones feature the company's EmotionUI 3.1 skin on top.

The Huawei Ascend P8 will be available in two versions, Standard (16GB inbuilt storage) and Premium (64GB inbuilt storage). While the standard version is priced at EUR 500 (roughly Rs. 33,300), the premium version costs EUR 600 (roughly Rs. 40,000). Huawei says Europe, Middle East and South Africa will be the first regions to get the flagship smartphone, followed by a worldwide release within one month.

The Huawei Ascend P8max is due to launch in 30 countries and will arrive almost a month after the Ascend P8. Priced at EUR 550 (Rs. 36,700) for its 16GB inbuilt storage variant, the phablet will also be available with 64GB inbuilt storage version at EUR 650 (roughly Rs. 43,300). Both the Ascend P8 and Ascend P8max sport a metal unibody design made of space-grade aluminium.

The Ascend P8 (seen above) also comes with a special nano-coating that the company says makes it splash-proof. The handset houses a 5.2-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution display (424ppi). Huawei says the display takes up to 78.3 percent of the front panel, as compared to Apple iPhone 6's 65.8 percent and Samsung Galaxy S6's 70.8 percent. The 4G-enabled smartphone also has an E-Ink cover accessory, which adds a 4.3-inch display suited for outdoor reading.

Huawei says the Ascend P8 uses what it calls the world's first 13-megapixel rear camera sensor that captures light in RGBW (Red-Green-Blue-White) pattern and features optical image stabilisation (OIS). This tech is supposed to help the device capture better low-light images. The camera can balance jerks and vibrations of up to 1.6 degree, which Huawei says is better than the stabilisation on the iPhone 6 Plus. The firm adds that an independent image processor for DSLR-quality images, ISP for noise reduction and more has been added for better results. An 8-megapixel front-facing camera is also onboard for selfie images and video chats.

The Ascend P8 is powered by a 64-bit octa-core Cortex-A53 Hisilicon Kirin 935 SoC clocked at 2GHz coupled with 3GB RAM. Backed by a 2680mAh battery, the smartphone is said to run for 2.3 days of regular use and 1.5 days on heavy usage. The smartphone's Signal+ tech enables the device to switch between the two antennas (one on top and one at bottom), which Huawei says will help find best the data and call connections.

The smartphone measures 144.9x72.1x6.4mm, weighs 144 grams and will be available in Mystic Champagne and Titanium Grey colour variants.

Coming to the bigger phablet, Huawei Ascend P8max (seen above), the device features a 6.8-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) resolution display with pixel density of 326ppi. Huawei says the display takes almost 83 percent of the front panel. Besides featuring a landscape mode, the handset's huge display can also perform split-screen multi-tasking operations.

Powered by the same 64-bit octa-core Hisilicon Kirin 935 SoC, but this time clocked at 2.2GHz, the Ascend P8max features 3GB RAM alongside a Mali-T628 MP4 GPU. The Huawei Ascend P8max comes with the same 13-megapixel rear camera module as the Ascend P8, but sports a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. Backed by a 4360mAh battery, the device is rated to last for over two days of normal usage and 1.5 day of heavy usage, while it can offer 15 hours of continuous video playback.

Huawei says that its LTE-enabled Ascend P8max weighs 228 grams, measures 182.7x93x6.8mm and equips a 7-layer heat conducting structure, which keeps the processor's temperature 5 degrees lower than its competing devices.