Huawei Ascend G 300 review
This £100 Android smartphone comes with meaty specifications including a 4in display, 1GHz Qualcomm processor, 512MB of RAM and 5-megapixel camera. Despite its budget nature, and the use of Android 2.3, Huawei hasn't compromised on performance or battery life.
At just £100 or free on a £15.50 contract, pound-for-pound, the Ascend G 300 is one of the best Android devices on the market. Huawei gets all the basics right and we can look past the Android Gingerbread 2.3 interface and mediocre camera when the performance is this good.
Huawei is the latest manufacturer to offer a 100 device in conjunction with Vodafone. But until now, budget smartphones haven't offered the high performance demanded by business users.
Fellow Chinese handset maker ZTE launched a 99 device in the form of the Blade/Orange San Francisco, but this was disappointing. Can Huawei do any better?
The G 300 gives a positive first impression, as the specifications emblazoned on the box offer hope of high-performance. The firm has included a 4in TFT display, 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM and a 5-megapixel camera. These features put it in the territory of devices such as the Motorola Motoluxe and the older HTC Desire S, but for a third of the price.
The G 300 promises much in terms of performance before you start using it
Performance
The G 300 packs a single-core 1GHz Qualcomm MSM7227A processor and 512MB of RAM. We were disappointed with the internal memory allocation. The 2GB is measly and will get used up quickly, but this is supplemented by the microSD card slot, which allows users to add another 32GB.
Performance isn't too far behind dual-core and quad-core devices. The Geekbench benchmark, which measures processor and memory detected a 1.01GHz clock speed and 395MB of RAM in the G 300. The device received an overall score of 520.
This is better than the Motoluxe (420) and the HTC Desire S (509). The G 300 isn't too far behind the high-end HTC One S (686), which is four times the price and packs a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm processor.
Sign up today and you will receive a free copy of our Future Focus 2025 report - the leading guidance on AI, cybersecurity and other IT challenges as per 700+ senior executives
Key Specifications
OS: Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Huawei Android PlatformProcessor: 1GHz Qualcomm MSM7227AStorage: 2GB internal + 32GB microSD card supportScreen: 4in (480 x 800) TFTConnectivity: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, microUSB
Webpage loading times were clocked at 3495.7ms using the SunSpider Javascript test. This is faster than the Motoluxe, which averaged a pedestrian 7019.4ms. The Huawei is still a couple of seconds slower than dual-core and quad-core counterparts, which load pages in sub-2000ms times.
As the benchmarks suggest the device is quick, and can cope comfortably with web browsing, video playback and games. We did experience some split second pauses when opening busy webpages, but we're not talking frustrating waiting times.
-
CISA just published crucial new guidance on keeping Microsoft Exchange servers secureNews With a spate of attacks against Microsoft Exchange in recent years, CISA and the NSA have published crucial new guidance for organizations to shore up defenses.
By Emma Woollacott Published
-
US telco confirms hackers breached systems in stealthy state-backed cyber campaign – and remained undetected for nearly a yearNews The hackers remained undetected in the Ribbon Communications’ systems for months
By Emma Woollacott Published
-
Heavy workloads and botched digital initiatives are causing ‘transformation fatigue’ – and enterprises risk losing top talent if they don’t change their waysNews Digital transformation “fatigue” is becoming a real problem as enterprises look to modernize at rapid pace
By Ross Kelly Published