New selfie-centric Huawei unveiled

At 6.5mm and 124g, the Huawei Ascend P7 is slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor, the Ascend P6.

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Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has launched its latest salvo aimed at winning over the high-end smartphone market, the Ascend P7.

Speaking at the Huawei Ascend P7 official launch event, in Paris yesterday, Richard Yu - CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group - said the new device challenges existing industry standards "by redefining smartphone design, camera experience and connectivity".

Entering the market about a year after its predecessor, the Ascend P6, the new slimline P7 features an 8MP selfie-centric front-facing camera. This trumps rivals Apple and Samsung's latest flagship offerings, which feature 1.2MP and 2.1MP front-facing cameras, respectively. The Ascend P7's rear-facing camera has a capacity of 13MP.

"Take better selfies - or the ultimate group selfie, a 'groufie' - with the [Ascend P7] front-facing camera, which comes with a panorama function for panoramic selfie shooting, and 10-level auto-facial enhancement in beauty mode," says Huawei.

Users can also take a selfie video with the 1080p HD video playback. The smartphone camera also features a built-in mirror function and selfie preview window.

The Ascend P7 has a five-inch FHD touch-screen display with 1 920x1 080 resolution, 445ppi and 16:9 aspect ratio. It is available in black, white, and pink.

At 6.5mm, the P7 is slightly thicker than its predecessor, at 6.18mm. It weighs about 124g - 4g heavier than the P6.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Ascend P7 features Ultra Power Saving Mode (UPSM). When the phone's battery charge begins to run down, UPSM shuts down functions that drain battery life the most, leaving calling and texting, and giving users up to 24 hours of standby on a 10% charge.

Huawei says the new flagship phone is "built for enhanced connectivity in the era of lightning-fast 4G LTE". When a user is away from a 4G network and needs to improve signal stability - or wants to save battery power by using a 3G connection - the Ascend P7 switches automatically between networks.

The recommended retail price of Huawei Ascend P7 is EUR449 (about R6 500) and it will be available in China, the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Serbia, Greece, Norway, Hungary, Denmark, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates from May, with other markets to follow.

Huawei Ascend P7 specifications: