Huawei Ascend Y100

Feature set summary for Huawei Ascend Y100 review

The very average two-megapixel snapper can’t compete with the 3-5 megapixel models of other handsets and the meagre onboard storage needs to be expanded with a microSD card.

Style and handling summary for Huawei Ascend Y100 review

This is a very neat device that fits into a pocket or bag with ease, and has a smooth, solid feel to it.

Battery power summary for Huawei Ascend Y100 review

Outstanding battery life – we didn’t need to recharge even when we played with apps and streamed media all day.

Performance summary for Huawei Ascend Y100 review

Under the hood is a single-core 800Mhz chip that offers your average budget handset performance, so while it runs smoothly, don’t expect to be playing 3D games and their ilk.

User friendliness summary for Huawei Ascend Y100 review

The operating system is Android Gingerbread, which runs okay, although the display is a tad small for playing with apps and surfing the web.

Huawei’s Ascend Y100 aims to take on the likes of the Orange San Francisco II and LG Optimus L3 in the budget handset market. At £80, it offers plenty of the features you expect from a smartphone – such as web browsing, apps and snapper – but does it offer enough to please the buyer looking for a smartphone at a cut price?

Tiny treat

Inside the Ascend Y100’s small body lurks a single-core 800Mhz chip, which is good enough to run the phone and its OS but you won’t be playing any 3D games. In practice we found that even the likes of Temple Run only got as far as the loading screen before it crashed – but basic titles such as Angry Birds Space ran pretty well. The display is pretty small, so it doesn’t really lend itself to a lot of game playing. The screen measures just 2.8 inches – and this is one of the smallest smartphones we’ve encountered.

The phone weighs a lightweight 104g, but it has enough heft to feel solid in the hand. It makes it feel more expensive than it is, as does the rubberised back, which proves quite resistant to scuffs.

Battery life is impressive – even if you stream media and play apps all day you’ll get a full day out of a full charge. 

Small and sweet

The operating system is Android Gingerbread, which runs well, even with that small screen. The display may not be overly sharp, but is really bright. If you want to zoom into a web page to see the text, you’ll see images are pixelated – however it is better than the screen on the LG Optimus L3. Viewing angles aren’t great, and while video streams well, you won’t watch a full-length film. Surprisingly, that small screen doesn’t hamper typing too much, thanks to the fact that the touchscreen is so responsive. There are some nice touches too – you can swipe a letter to turn it into a capital, for instance – and we found it was easy to input quite long messages and emails. There’s a trio of keyboard types to choose from, including a numeric keypad, but we preferred to stick with the QWERTY model.

The snapper is a two-megapixel model that can also capture video, but image results are mediocre. Snaps proved blurred and pixelated when viewed on a TV or monitor and there is no flash for low-light snapping. A one or two-second pause between hitting the shutter and taking snap is annoying. If you like taking pictures we’d suggest you go for the Orange San Francisco II instead, which has a five-megapixel snapper.

Going online

Surfing the net proves a smooth experience, surprisingly. Even busy websites with lots of images loaded speedily and there was no stuttering as we browsed through them. That small display is not ideal for web browsing, but it’s good enough for quickly checking the news or train times. 

Our conclusion

If you’re on a tight budget but want to play with apps, surf the net and take a few pictures, you’d be better off with one of the large budget handsets such as the HTC Explorer or Orange San Francisco II. The display on the Huawei Y100 is too small for doing much more than checking texts and emails. But if you want a small handset, with excellent battery life, which will be okay for downloading a few apps or doing a bit of web browsing, this is good enough.

By Simon Thomas on 24th May, 2012

Tags: Huawei, Huawei Ascend Y100