Huawei Ascend W1 vs HTC 8S vs Nokia Lumia 820

Back in June 2012, with the beginning of Windows Phone 8 operating system, major tech giants, Nokia, Samsung and HTC, took the fight in Windows phone 8 arena and splashed the market with the launch of their new range of smartphones consecutively.

After a while, moving ahead this CES 2013, Chinese tech firm Huawei has come out as one of the four main manufacturers of Windows Phone 8, launched its first brilliant Windows Phone 8 smartphone , Ascend W1.

So, for those who are looking forward to have their hands on mid-range Windows Phone 8 handsets, below is a comparison between Ascend W1, 8S and Lumia 820, to observe which one is worthy choice

Lets’ walk through specifications first:

	Huawei Ascend W1	HTC 8S	Nokia Lumia 820
Display	4.0-inch IPS LCD	4.0-inch S- LCD	4.3-inch AMOLED ClearBlack
Resolution	480 x 800 pixels	480 x 800 pixels	480 x 800 pixels
Keyboard	No	No	No
Processor	1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8230	1GHz Krait dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor	1.5GHz dual core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon
Software	Windows Phone 8	Windows Phone 8	Windows Phone 8
Storage	4GB	4GB	8GB
Rear camera	5.0 Megapixels with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection and 720p video recording	5.0 Megapixels with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection and 720p video recording	8.0 Megapixels with autofocus, Carl Zeiss optics, dual LED flash, touch focus, geo-tagging and 1080p video recording
Front camera	Yes	Yes	Yes
4G	No	No	LTE
3G	3G/HSDPA	3G/HSDPA	3G/HSDPA
Wi-Fi	802.11b/g/n	802.11b/g/n	802.11a/b/g/n
Bluetooth	2.1 with EDR/A2DP	2.1 with EDR/A2DP	3.1 with A2DP and EDR
Size	63.5 x 124.5 x 10.15mm	120.5x63x10.3 mm	68.5 x 123.8 x 9.9mm
Weight	130g	113 g	160g
Talktime	10.5 hours	undisclosed	8.0 hours
Standby	470 hours	undisclosed	330 hours
Extras	GPS/A-GPS, NFC and an accelerometer	GPS/A-GPS, NFC and an accelerometer	GPS/A-GPS, accelerometer, free SkyDrive storage and it’s available in multiple colours

 

Dimension & Weight:

Weighing around 130 grams, Ascend W1 boast a dimension of 124.5 x 63.7 x 10.5 mm, while HTC 8S carries a dimension of 120.5 x 63 x 10.28 mm, weighing quite lighter at 113 grams and the bulky  Lumia 820 boasts a dimension of 123.8 x 68.5 x 9.9 mm with a weight of around 160 grams.

Display:

Ascend W1 pack a 4 inch IPS LCD capacitive touch screen display with OGS technology and 480 x 800 pixel resolutions. On the other hand, HTC 8S houses the same 4 inch display with Super LCD 2 capacitive touchscreen and a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels. While, Lumia 820 stands strong here, sporting a larger 4.3 inch AMOLED Clear Black capacitive touchscreen display with the same 800 x 480 pixel resolution.

Operating System:

In this segment, all the three handsets are based on the latest incarnation of Microsoft’s mobile platform, Windows Phone 8.

In terms of software features, Windows Phone 8 has improved features like dynamic Live Tile Information, social network integration in the People hub, Skydrive and Office 365 documents synchronization, Facebook-events integrated calendar, visual voicemail, threaded email conversations support and many more.

Processor:

The new arrival, Ascend W1 is powered by a 1.2GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor while HTC 8S is equipped with a 1GHz dual core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. On the other end, Lumia 820 has a faster dual core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor.

Camera:

On camera front, Ascend W1 and 8S sport same 5MP rear camera, whereas, Lumia 820 packs an 8MP rear camera with the capabilities and features of Pureview technology.

Moreover, all the three smart phones come with the same configuration VGA front camera for video calling.

Storage:

When it comes to storage, both Ascend W1 and 8S have 4GB internal memory and 512MB RAM while Lumia 820 is quite impressive carrying 8GB internal storage and 1GB RAM.

Further, all the three smartphones have an external micro SD card slot additional memory support up to 32GB.

Connectivity:

Huwaei Ascend W1 and the Lumia 820 have the connectivity options of NFC, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. But when it comes to 8S, the handset lacks NFC and comes only with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Further, Lumia 820 scores more with Qi Wireless Charging feature.

Battery:

In this segment, Ascend W1 is better as it is loaded with 1,950 mAh Li-Po battery delivering 10.5 hours talk time and 470 hours standby. While on the other hand, 8S is loaded with 1,700 mAh Li-Po battery of undisclosed backup and Lumia 820 is embedded with a 1,650 mAh battery with 300 hours standby and 14 hours talk time.

Verdict

Based on Windows Phone 8 operating system, all three smartphones will offer similar user experience. However, due to different offerings from mobile companies, they will come loaded with unique features.

Under the concern of a relatively lesser price tag, the Huawei offering could be a better option.

While for better connectivity options including NFC and outstanding audio quality at a lesser price tag, HTC 8S with integrated Beats Audio feature could be the right choice.

However, those who are not much concerned on the extra price tag and want to experience wireless charging, NFC, a larger display, faster processor, better camera performance with increased storage options and a strong battery backup, Nokia Lumia 820 would the right smartphone’s choice