Huawei Ji 7. review of a beautiful phablet with a magical battery and a strange attitude towards toys. Why is he interesting?

Huawei smartphones have already gained popularity among Russian users. Probably the reason is that Russians love technological devices, but are not ready to overpay thousands of rubles for a fashion brand. The Huawei G7 smartphone is an excellent alternative to more expensive Western models. Despite the fact that its price is significantly lower, the stylish case, made in black, white, silver and gold, inexorably resembles the famous new product from the famous American company.

At the same time, the appearance of the smartphone is different and has its own individuality - its compact, light and thin body fits very well in the palm, it does not slip out of the hand, is light in weight, and will appeal to both men and beautiful ladies. By the way, the manufacturer also does not expect an age distinction - the smartphone is suitable for both a student and a business person.

If you want to buy a silver Huawei Ascend G7, you should start the ordering process right now. If you still have any questions regarding the characteristics of a smartphone or the selection of a model with suitable characteristics, you can always leave a request to our consultants, who will be happy to contact you and provide all the information.

Huawei Ascend G7 - Review of a beautiful phablet with a magical battery and a strange attitude towards toys

03.03.2015

But I very, very recently already tested a very reasonable phablet with a screen of the exact same diagonal, five and a half inches. Yeah. MegaFon Login+ costs six thousand rubles. And you can’t argue - it’s a decent smartphone. The speed is at the level, the screen is more or less. Even the camera is of tolerable quality.

I don’t know what’s causing this - either the Snapdragon 410 is so economical, or something else. But seven and a half hours of play (!) - the result is amazing.

Time to fully charge the battery is 3 hours. Moreover, I tested it with both 1A and 2A charging - the time turned out to be the same within five minutes.

Huawei Ascend G7 as a flashlight

The flashlight from the flash turned out to be unremarkable, the brightness is average - about 100 lux when illuminating an object located at a distance of 50 cm. For comparison, the Xiaomi Mi 4 has 200 lux.

Huawei Ascend G7 as a photo and video camera

I liked the front camera. For selfies - just right for my taste.

And the main one. Well, the camera. Average. With good lighting, you can hope for some pretty decent shots. In the dark, it’s difficult to take pictures of anything sensible.

However, see for yourself:

Videos

Huawei Ascend G7 as a GPS navigator

The ideal smartphone navigator. Look at these tracks - it’s a song, not tracks! Even little ones! At the same time I tested the super-duper Mate7, its tracks turned out to be much more clumsy.

Let's remember about the good screen and excellent battery life - a classic breakfast companion for a tourist, in short.

For some reason, it is generally accepted that if the device is budget, then you need to install a cheap plastic case, install an mediocre processor, and the issue of software optimization can generally be put on hold. The product is not key, which means we need to work on it in the same way - according to the residual principle. This is something you often encounter when you discover some minor flaws in smartphones from most manufacturers. Huawei Ascend G7 seriously breaks this rule.

Equipment

In addition to the smartphone itself, the white box made of thick cardboard contains a microUSB cable, a charger, a wired headset and a translucent plastic case as a small bonus from the manufacturer. As for the latter: the case sits very well on the smartphone, so well that it is extremely difficult to remove it.

You need at least two hands and one broken nail, so you won’t want to take it off and put it on again.

Case design and materials

Huawei moved away from straight and angular design and settled on rounded shapes. Despite the almost flat surfaces on the front and back, the corners of the smartphone are strongly rounded, which goes well with the animation elements of the updated software shell.

On the front panel we see a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor, an earpiece mesh and a front camera eye closer to the right edge.

The surface under the screen is completely empty, which is great. This makes it more convenient to hold the smartphone in a horizontal position and prevents accidental clicks, as, for example, in the same Samsung GALAXY Note 4, where this place is occupied by touch navigation buttons.

Most of the body is machined from a single piece of metal using Nano Molding Technology, with plastic inserts on the back surface.

At the top there is a slightly (less than half a millimeter) protruding eye of the main camera, a hole for a microphone that records sound, and a single-section LED flash.

On the bottom insert, under the perforation, the main speaker is hidden. The latter, by the way, is moderately loud. It’s not deafening, of course, but you won’t miss a call even from your bag.

On the right side of the device there are volume and power buttons that stand out above the body and are quite prominent. Holding the first button for a long time activates the camera directly from sleep mode. Below are compartments for a SIM card and a memory card. The sled is also made of metal and fits tightly in its positions - there are no gaps.

The manufacturer decided to leave the left side empty.

At the top end there is a 3.5 mm jack for connecting a headset. The opposite edge is occupied by a microUSB connector and a speaking microphone hole. There are plastic layers on both the top and bottom, dividing the body into segments. Most likely, this design is explained by the design of the phone's antenna.

There will be mainly three colors available: dark, gold and all-silver. The first one looks very noble, so I recommend looking at all the colors before purchasing.

With its size and rounded shape, the smartphone vaguely resembles the iPhone 6 Plus. I repeatedly caught myself thinking this way, especially when comparing the dimensions of devices directly.

	Length	Width	Thickness	Weight
	153,5	77,3
Samsung Galaxy Note 4	153,5	78,6
iPhone 6 Plus	158,1	77,8
LG G3 Stylus	149,3	75,9	10,2
Lenovo VIBE Z

Please note that the length of the G7 is completely identical to the Samsung GALAXY Note 4. This is not an error, they are actually the same in this parameter.

As for convenience, you need to understand that this smartphone is a shovel. You can’t handle it always and everywhere with one hand, no matter how wide your palm is. Every now and then you have to resort to using your second hand.

If this moment does not bother you (as in my case), then the device is very convenient. It is thin, its ribs are angular and, as a result, it is grippy. It doesn’t slip in your hands and doesn’t try to jump out at some crucial moment.

Display

The device has a 5.5-inch IPS matrix with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The pixel density is 267 pixels per square inch, which is not much by modern standards. Of course, with such a screen area, individual pixels can be seen with the naked eye. This is especially noticeable on the rounded edges of application icons. However, there is nothing criminal about this. If you are switching to the G7 from a Full HD device, it will most likely take a few days of getting used to.

The display is covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3, which protects the surface from scratches and fingerprints. Glass copes with this task perfectly.

Color reproduction, contrast, viewing angles - everything is at the usual high level for an IPS panel.

In the parameters you can set the color temperature of the screen to suit your needs. You just need to move the slider in the desired direction or leave everything as is. Accordingly, in the photographs above this option is left by default.

Just like in the LG G3 and HTC One M8, there is a mechanism for waking up the screen by double touching it. This is a very convenient thing that you quickly get used to and is definitely worth adopting.

Auto brightness correction occurs without problems. Even with automatic backlight control, I set the slider to maximum, since the battery installed here is very capacious, so the energy consumption for the backlight is low.

Specifications Huawei Ascend G7 (G7-L01):

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor (MSM8916) with a frequency of 1.2 GHz (4 Cortex-A53 cores)
• Adreno 306 video chip
• RAM 2 GB (on a clean device 1137 MB)
• 16 GB data storage memory (11.27 GB actually available)
• microSD memory card support (up to 32 GB)
• 5.5" display based on IPS matrix with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, 267 ppi
• main camera 13 MP
• front camera 5 MP
• Sensors: accelerometer, gyroscope, ambient light and proximity sensor, magnetic compass
• connectors: USB 2.0 (OTG), 3.5 mm audio output
• non-removable battery 3000 mAh
• OS Android 4.4.4
• shell version EMUI 3.0

• 2G, 3G, 4G (cat4, bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 20)
• Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0
• aGPS / GLONASS
• NFC is available!!!

This time, Huawei did not decide to install its own processor, but limited itself to a brainchild from Qualcomm. Not the most productive solution, but not the worst option either. Let's look at synthetic tests.

I would also like to mention the presence of NFC.

For many Huawei mobile devices, this issue was painful, since this wireless module was ignored by the developers. The G7 corrected the situation and installed a standard wireless chip for most Android smartphones. Hooray!

As for system performance, there are no problems here. The animation does not slow down at all, and transitions from one window to another do not freeze.

The only weak point of the system is the Gallery.

I usually have a lot of photos in my library (at least two to three hundred photos), so the built-in application is very difficult to cope with such a volume. After going to a specific album, at least 10 seconds pass until all the thumbnails are loaded.

In addition, when scrolling the list of pictures, there are also noticeable slowdowns, which decrease with loading time, but still do not disappear anywhere.

Front-camera

The front camera shoots at a resolution of 5 megapixels, which corresponds to 2592 x 1944 pixels in the end. An 88 degree lens is used.

There is auto-correction, a set of panoramic self-portrait filters, and a watermark mode. When the latter is activated, information about the weather, current location and date is added to the photo. Double pressing the volume up button can take a photo. The main thing is to avoid shaking your hands at this moment.

Main camera

The viewfinder interface is very similar to that of the iPhone. See for yourself (screenshot from iOS is on the left):

All shooting modes and parameters are placed in a separate menu. The camera interface does not have hot shortcuts for the most popular functions, such as HDR. Every time you have to go to the menu to activate them. And to get to the settings, you have to go one more level deeper. Not very comfortable.

Some of the capabilities of the rear camera are duplicated from the front one, so let's look at additional settings. It is possible to create HDR images; you can select the best frame from several taken in one “sitting” or add additional decorations in the form of filters.

It is worth noting that the main camera settings menu is displayed only in vertical view and does not flip to landscape orientation. A little inconvenient.

You can take pictures using an on-screen button, volume key, saying a special phrase, and so on. Such features are quite a gentleman’s set for any smartphone.

As for the quality of the images, you can evaluate everything yourself using the examples below:

The camera takes pictures more or less well, even in the dark, but there is one caveat. From time to time, highlights are visible in the pictures, and even the HDR mode does not help get rid of this problem. This is clearly visible in the example of two pictures under the paragraph (on the left is a regular frame, and on the right with dynamic range support):

In general, it is obvious that the camera is average. In some places it performs well, but sometimes the quality of the images is not good.

It's worth getting used to. I don't think this is a drawback. You need to understand that the G7 is not a special photo solution or the flagship of a company where good photo modules are usually installed.

The smartphone is capable of recording video in Full HD resolution and lower. It would be strange to expect 4K support from a device of this level. Even Huawei Ascend Mate 7 does not have this functionality.

Let's watch examples of videos.

Significant twitching and stuttering are visible, which I could not avoid. On the current firmware version everything is exactly this way.

Multimedia

The most important thing for us is sound quality, and here the Huawei Ascend G7 does not disappoint. The sound is on par with any other modern smartphone.

The proprietary Music application is used as a player. The player interface is minimalistic. All track covers are cropped to a round state according to the principle of the entire system.

Of the additional effects, only DTS (Digital Theater System) mode is present. This setting is not close to me, so I deactivated it literally right away. There are no other enhancements or a regular multi-band equalizer.

In the settings you can activate a timer after which the player will automatically turn off. A useful thing for those who like to fall asleep with headphones on to the sound of an audiobook.

Declared support for the following audio formats:

• codecs: MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, PCM;
• formats: mp3, mid, amr, 3gp, mp4, m4a, aac, wav, ogg, flac.

As for video support, out of the box the smartphone is capable of playing the following files:

• codecs: MPEG-4, H.264, H.263;
• formats: 3gp, mp4, webm.

Battery

The smartphone has a 3000 mAh non-removable battery. This is far from a record, given the capacitive capabilities of the latest new products, but the actual operating time is impressive. The G7 can easily work in intensive load mode for two full days in a row. By intensive workload in this case I mean: two hours of Internet a day via Wi-Fi, taking about 40 pictures from the main camera, constant background push notifications from various applications, correspondence via Viber, two hours of reading e-books, and so on. Moreover, I did not use any proprietary tricks to optimize energy consumption, and I never turned off wireless modules such as Wi-Fi, NFC or Bluetooth. And through the latter, by the way, the Huawei Talkband B1 fitness tracker was connected all the time.

Of course, the screen consumed the most charge. Second place is shared between communication and system. Let's look at the screenshots.

Not a single smartphone that I was able to test showed such results. The exception is Huawei Mediapad X1 7.0, but it has a battery with an order of magnitude higher capacity.

Considering all this, Ascend G7 can easily be considered one of the best smartphones today in terms of optimizing energy consumption. You really don't need to charge it every day.

If you use proprietary energy saving tweaks, you can get even more interesting battery life results. For example, there are several battery consumption modes: normal, smart and extreme. The latter turns the smartphone into a black and white dialer with SMS messaging function, but makes it possible to stay in touch for some time. According to the manufacturer, with 10% of the remaining battery charge, you can stay afloat for about 24 hours.

The system provides an approximate forecast of battery savings from the settings in real time.

Software shell

The Ascend G7 and Ascend Mate 7 are the first two phones from Huawei to feature Emotion UI updated to version 3.0 right out of the box. Now, by the way, it is called EMUI for short. The concept of the new design is based on airiness, minimalism and the presence of a variety of round elements in the interface. Everything looks very stylish and fresh!

The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the navigation keys. They look exactly the same as in Android L, thus, Huawei, at least in this parameter, was ahead of Google in presenting the new design to the general public.

The second is the loading icon. Where the device needs time to update some data or load something, a circle appears with a dot running around it. Actually, this is the symbol of the entire software superstructure. The appearance of the entire shell dances from this element.

Applications such as voice recorder, FM radio, world clock, timer and audio player best reflect the principles of the new design. In addition, they have very beautiful and smooth animation. I recommend trying all these features live, because screenshots can only convey part of what the developers put into the system.

Has undergone changes notification curtain and quick settings. As before, they are divided into two tabs. This doesn’t seem convenient to me, since you constantly need to switch between them, but this is a matter of taste and habits. All notifications are arranged in a vertical list, and opposite each of them there is a time of occurrence. A very visual and, again, stylish way of presenting information.

Notes, SMS chats, as well as the call log have a similar structure: on the left edge there is a timeline.

Divided into two components. The first automatically sorts all available files by type and shows two dials with the percentage of disk space filled. The second tab is a regular file structure in the form of a directory tree. All the necessary elements are located at the bottom of the utility, that is, always at hand.

From the same program you can encrypt some part of the data stored in the device’s memory with a password.

Naturally, I couldn't mention Topics for EMUI 3.0. Among those that are pre-installed, a couple of new ones have appeared. There are also those that we have already seen earlier on the same Huawei MediaPad X1 7.0: Colourful, Journey and others. Each skin can be customized in detail by selecting the unlock effect, wallpaper, font style, and more.

If the default themes are not enough, you can download additional ones created by developers around the world. Basically, everyone differs in application icons and desktop wallpaper. Eh, just like the good old days of Symbian OS...

All applications are located directly on desktops and from here they can be permanently deleted. We've seen this before, but if you pull the application grid down, a search bar for the entire smartphone will open at the top, including browser history, correspondence, and more. Again, this maneuver is familiar to many from iOS.

As in currently sold devices, it has Phone Manager, which is an application for optimizing the system and processes hanging in its background. I really liked the data traffic tracking feature. All data is presented in a visual form as a graph.

In addition, here you can clean out unnecessary applications that eat up RAM, set up notifications from various utilities, optimize energy consumption, and so on. In general, a sort of control point for the entire smartphone.

By the way, you can assign a password to any program, thereby protecting your data from prying eyes. Again, this is part of the functionality of the Phone Manager, which, in principle, duplicates something from the settings of the main menu.

In its rightful place there is the opportunity to move to Simple mode. Its appearance has not changed and remains the same as in the same Huawei Honor 6. For people who shy away from complex gadgets, this setting will most likely be to their liking if, by the will of fate, the G7 ends up in the hands of such a person.

From the menu you can activate various gestures, such as turning the phone over to mute the sound, turning off the screen by covering it with your palm, and so on. But there is one innovation. Even on the sleeping screen, you can draw any of the preset letters, and such a gesture will be followed by activation of the desired application. For example, to call the camera, it is enough to draw the letter “C” on the front surface (obviously from the English word “camera”), the letter “M” calls the music player, and so on. Each successful input of such a “squiggle” is accompanied by a beautiful animation - a line of fire on a dark background. Although it doesn't always work, it looks very cool.

Bottom line

Let's talk about the price and launch date. Even during the presentation at the Berlin IFA 2014 exhibition, the price was announced at 299 euros, which for Russia means approximately 17,500 rubles. However, the price level in domestic retail has not yet been announced, so this question remains open.

Sales have already begun in a limited number of countries (Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and others), but the start date in Russia is again unknown.

As for the smartphone itself, it is difficult to draw any conclusion apart from its final cost. Therefore, we will try to build only on the characteristics of the smartphone and the impressions it leaves.

I really liked the Ascend G7. It is stylish, has high quality materials, and is well put together. The kit includes a protective case and for some, there may be no need to buy additional clothing for their device.

The device does not shine with technical characteristics, but it has a good display, everything works quickly and very smoothly (with the exception of the Gallery). Finally added NFC support.

Of the negative aspects, first of all, it is worth noting the mediocre camera with the inability to shoot normal videos, as well as the low pixel density of the screen.

Considering all the positive and negative aspects of the device, I believe that in the conditions of current currency fluctuations, a price of 15,000 rubles would be adequate for a smartphone. However, this is a ceiling that is only fair thanks to the high-quality case and pleasant appearance of the G7. If the price tag at the start is higher, then I don’t think there will be many people who want to buy a smartphone. In times of crisis, people do not have the opportunity to change their mobile assistant once again, and some are increasingly paying attention to the secondary phone market, where completely different price categories rule.

This year's trend is the use of metal cases in smartphones. If earlier only lovers of flagship models could dream of metal, now we can choose a mid-level device. We received just such a smartphone for review - Huawei G7. It is equipped with a modern processor, 2 GB of RAM and a capacious battery. In the review we will identify the main advantages and disadvantages of the device.

Equipment

The box in which the device is supplied is white; inside, in addition to the phone, you can find a complete plastic case, a charger, a USB cable, a headset and paper documentation.

Appearance and ease of use

Huawei G7 is not a small smartphone, as its screen has a diagonal of 5.5 inches. At the same time, the thickness of the device is small - only 7.6 mm. In the comparison table you can evaluate the dimensions of the device in comparison with competitors.

We received a silver-colored smartphone for review, but it’s worth remembering that there are two more color options: black and gold. It’s worth considering that only the silver version will be officially sold in Ukraine.

The front side of the smartphone is covered with protective glass Gorilla Glass 3, at the top of which there are light and proximity sensors, an earpiece, a notification LED, a 5 MP front camera and the manufacturer’s logo.

The touch keys are on-screen, so there are no controls under the display. It is worth noting that the configuration of the keys can be changed, and you can also select collapsible keys.

The mechanical volume rocker and power key are on the right side, with two slots below them that can be accessed using a paperclip. The top slot hides a microSD memory card, and the bottom slot contains only a SIM card in microSIM format. The headphone jack is on top, and the main microphone and microUSB port are on the bottom.

On the back side there is a 13 megapixel camera lens with a flash and an additional microphone, as well as a multimedia speaker.

It is worth noting that the smartphone body is made of a single piece of aluminum. The metal itself has a pleasant tactile sensation, it is not painted and is not very susceptible to scratches.

However, the body is quite slippery, especially in the cold season. And at sub-zero temperatures, the cooling sensation of metal is not so pleasant. However, there is a complete case for this. The case itself is translucent, but not soft.

Using a case significantly reduces the risk of dropping your smartphone, although it adds some thickness to the case. Otherwise, in terms of convenience, everything is quite good. The smartphone feels heavy, but not massive. All controls are located in a convenient place, as for the owner of a large palm.

Of course, you won’t be able to comfortably use a smartphone with one hand even despite the existing software modes. Otherwise, in terms of convenience, everything is excellent.

Interface and shell

The Huawei G7 runs on Android 4.4 KitKat operating system, with an option to upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop, which should be expected in the second quarter. The shell is Emotion UI version 3.0. Compared to previous versions of the shell, the interface has undergone significant changes.

When unlocking the screen, it became possible to call up the curtain with a gesture from the bottom edge. It can contain icons of a calendar, calculator, flashlight and mirror. Also here you can set the wallpaper to cycle or select the next picture.

After unlocking, we get to the desktop, which also does the work of the application menu. Desktop screens can contain both widgets and application icons, which can be grouped in folders. There's nothing special here. The top curtain is divided into two parts: the first contains notifications, and the second contains the usual switches, the sequence of which can be changed. You can switch between running tasks by pressing the menu key. The running applications themselves are presented in the form of small screens. You can close each one using an upward gesture from the application, and you can close everything with the same gesture, but from the bottom of the screen.

The interface has been completely redrawn; there is not the slightest reminder that this is a smartphone running Android 4.4 KitKat. For finer adjustments, you need to hold your finger on the screen until an additional menu appears. In it you can not only change the wallpaper, select widgets, but also change the screen grid (4x4 or 5x5), and also select the desktop scrolling animation.

In addition, there is a pre-installed “Themes” application, in which you can select a theme from existing ones on your smartphone or download it for free from the Internet. Each theme can be changed to your heart's content.

The smartphone settings have also undergone changes. The “Movements” item has appeared, here you can enable various gestures with which you will greatly simplify your life. Also in the settings there is a “With gloves” mode. This mode is especially necessary in the winter season.

Hardware platform

Huawei G7 is equipped with a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 (MSM8916) processor. The clock speed of the ARM Cortex-A53 cores is 1.2 GHz. The video adapter is Adreno 306.

The main advantage is support for 64-bit computing, the capabilities of which can only be experienced after updating to Android 5.0 Lollipop. The amount of RAM is 2 GB, of which about 1 GB is free. The built-in memory is only 16 GB, but the user can only count on 11.27 GB, although this drawback can be solved using microSD memory cards.

Benchmark results are not the most impressive. All tests show a low level of smartphone performance, but this does not affect actual use in any way, because the smartphone works smoothly and quickly. Even the interface crammed with settings doesn’t make the smartphone think twice.

Of course, not all heavy games will run with maximum detail, but they run smoothly. For example, the game Real Racing 3 was installed, although not with maximum graphics, but in the gameplay everything happens smoothly, without jerks.

For video playback, the built-in player is not the best option. It does not have much support for audio-video codecs, so it is worth using a third-party application. Actually, AnTuTU Video Tester confirmed our predictions.

The speaker volume is good and the voice quality is excellent. The multimedia speaker, despite the fact that it is located on the rear side, produces high-quality and loud sound.

Wireless interfaces include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth version 4.0 LE with A2DP, as well as GPS/A-GPS/Glonass. All interfaces performed well. It only takes a few seconds to find satellites even after a cold start. The smartphone supports USB-OTG.

Despite the fact that a version with support for one SIM card will be sold in Ukraine, it is worth noting that the memory card tray is formatted to accommodate a nanoSIM SIM card. This means that there are versions in which you can install a second SIM card instead of a memory card.

Working hours

Huawei G7 is equipped with a 3000 mAh battery, which is not very much for a smartphone with a 5.5-inch screen, but you need to take into account that the device does not run on the most productive hardware.

This time we left aside tests on operating time in different modes. In normal use mode, the smartphone easily lasts for 2 days, showing a screen operating time of more than 8 hours and 40 minutes, while at this time 1 hour and 20 minutes were spoken. This is an excellent indicator for such a smartphone, because if you moderate your appetite, the device can easily work without recharging for 3 days, and this is just great. Synthetic tests also show excellent results in terms of autonomy.

As is now customary, there is an energy saving mode. During testing, we used the “smart mode”. It automatically adjusts processor performance for balanced operation. Normal mode is best suited for games and applications that require maximum performance. This is what the manufacturer reports, although in practice the results are the same as in the “smart” mode. The energy-saving mode seemed emergency to us and will suit the user only when the battery reaches its last percentage, and the outlet is still far away. In this mode, the user has access only to calls, messages and contacts, other functions are not available. Also in this mode there is no way to change the screensaver or anything else. Even the unlocking mode changes, the same can be said about the curtain, in which only a tab with notifications remains.

Screen

The smartphone is equipped with a 5.5-inch IPS screen made using OGS technology. The display resolution is 1280x720 pixels, therefore the pixel density is 267 ppi.

Subjectively, the screen is excellent. For those who like to customize everything, you can slightly adjust the screen indicators, thereby setting it up the way you want.

The measurement results show that at maximum brightness - 373 cd/m2 and minimum - 9.8 cd/m2. The contrast is 1:578. The indicators are not high, but quite acceptable.

Checking the screen calibration shows the following. The gamma curve is mostly within acceptable limits, which allows images to be transmitted with little distortion. The color temperature graph is at 6000K and shows that the screen is slightly warmer.

Cameras

The smartphone is equipped with two cameras – a 13 MP main camera and a 5 MP front camera. The main camera can record video in FullHD resolution, and the front one in HD. The main camera can take photos in HDR mode.

Among the interesting settings, it is worth highlighting the “Focus” mode. In it, the smartphone takes a photo, and only then the user chooses what to focus the frame on. I won’t say that everything works perfectly, but the result is quite good. Below I suggest you take a look at the photographs taken in this mode.

If we talk about the quality of photos taken in automatic mode, then it is worth noting that autofocus is quite accurate, although it is not the fastest. The quality of the images is generally not bad, and it is worth considering that during testing there were very few sunny days. In low light conditions the pictures are not bad. There is not much noise throughout the entire frame.

Example of photos taken with the main camera in automatic mode:

Example of photos taken with the front camera in automatic mode:

Video recording example:

Results

The result is an interesting smartphone with a good 5.5-inch screen, autonomy, camera and performance, made in a high-quality metal case. The only disadvantage of the Huawei G7 is its weight, which you will need to get used to.

The product was provided for testing by Huawei,

• Class: smartphone
• Case materials: glass and metal
• Operating system: Google Android 4.4.2
• Processor: 4 cores + 4 cores, HiSilicon Kirin 925
• RAM: 2 GB
• Data storage memory: 16 GB
• Interfaces: Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, 3.5 mm headset
• Screen: capacitive, IPS 5.5" with HD resolution
• Camera: 13 MP (main), 5 MP (front)
• Additionally: LTE, accelerometer, light and proximity sensors
• Battery: non-removable, lithium polymer (Li-Pol) with a capacity of 3000 mAh
• Dimensions: 153x77x7.6 mm
• Weight: 165 g

Equipment

• Smartphone
• USB cable
• Network adapter
• Ejector
• Instructions
• Warranty card

Introduction

The smartphone of the Chinese company Huawei was first presented at the annual international exhibition IFA in 2014. We already had material dedicated to this device, so if you want to briefly read about the G7, I advise you to follow the link below.

The positioning of the device was determined by the head of Huawei’s German office. He said that you have to pay a considerable amount of money for a high-quality device, but the company offers such a device at an affordable price. At the time the price was announced (about 300 euros), the gadget was simply expensive, but now with the growth of both the dollar and the euro, the G7 is very expensive, as it will appear on store shelves at a price of at least 17,000 - 18,000 rubles.

I wonder what merits of the Ascend G7 we will have to pay such a lot of money for? Apparently, for the metal body (I wanted to write “all-metal”, but I know that readers will start to find fault because of the plastic inserts), for the fairly large 5.5-inch screen and IPS matrix, although the resolution is not the highest, for the Qualcomm chipset with 4G support LTE, as well as a 13 MP camera with F2.0 aperture. There is also a 3000 mAh battery, but not the ultimate dream. In general, let's look and read what Huawei has done.

Video review of the device:

Design, dimensions, control elements

I won’t write that the Ascend G7 is similar to the iPhone 6 Plus or another device on the modern mobile device market. Everyone copies each other to one degree or another. The gadget has a rectangular shape with smoothed corners. The dimensions are quite large - 153x77 mm, but the thickness does not exceed 7.6 mm, which is very nice. Weight – 165 grams. If we compare it with the Apple iPhone 6 Plus (it also has a 5.5-inch diagonal, but the price is the same as three Huaweis), then its dimensions are 158.1x77.8x7.1 mm and it weighs 172 grams.

Due to its small thickness, the G7 fits perfectly in the hand, although it hardly fits in the palm; it is impossible to control it with one hand without pulling the gadget towards you.

There are three color options: metal with white plastic inserts on the back, gray and gold (in this case, the inserts match the color of the case). We are reviewing the first option. The backing of the front panel is white, the diamond-shaped pattern is barely noticeable, and the thin edging is made of semi-glossy white plastic. It forms a protective edge around the perimeter of the screen. The sides and back are metal, painted silver. The chamfer along the edge plays beautifully in the light. On the top and bottom of the back panel there are two matte white plastic inserts, vaguely reminiscent of the iPhone 5/5S.

There are also plastic jumpers at the top and bottom ends. There are two antennas for better signal reception and transmission.

The device looks complete, elegant and looks quite expensive (in fact, it is, unfortunately).

The assembly of the device is ideal, since the body is metal and has no removable parts. Inserts don't count; they don't affect the build quality in any way. The body is durable and not easy to scratch.

The screen is most likely protected by durable glass. The website doesn't say which one. In two weeks of active use, not a single scratch appeared on it. The surface is covered with an oleophobic layer, so if fingerprints appear, they are simply erased. The finger glides across the screen pleasantly, easily and without jerking. Anti-glare properties are excellent: the glass surface perfectly absorbs bright reflections, so even under direct sunlight you will see a rich color picture.

The speech speaker is located at the top center of the front panel. It is covered with a thin silver metal mesh. The speaker volume is high, the quality is good: both high and low frequencies can be heard, and the interlocutor can also be heard clearly and intelligibly. Under the speaker grille is a light indicator of missed events. On the right is the selfie camera, on the left are light and proximity sensors. On-screen touch buttons.

At the bottom end there is (for some reason not in the center) a micro-USB connector, next to it is the main microphone. On top there is only a 3.5 mm audio output for headphones. There are no elements on the left, and on the right there is a metal power button, a volume rocker key, two trays - for microSD and microSIM. The phone's power button is conveniently located under the thumb of the right hand or under the index finger of the left hand. The pressure is soft, the stroke is small.

On the back of the Huawei Ascend G7: a speaker, a single-section LED flash, a second microphone and a large camera eye framed by a metal insert.

Comparative sizes:

Huawei and Highscreen ICE 2

Huawei and Apple iPhone 5

Display

This device used a screen with a diagonal of 5.5 inches. The physical size is 70x123 mm, the top and bottom frames are approximately 15 mm, and the side frames are 3.5 mm.

The resolution is low for such a diagonal - 720x1280 pixels, that is, the density is 267 pixels per inch. Pixelation is invisible thanks to the high-quality IPS matrix (In-Cell technology is used). Maximum white brightness – 410 cd/m2, minimum brightness – 10 cd/m2, maximum black brightness – 0.77 cd/m2, contrast – 530:1. The average temperature is 6500 K, gamma varies from 2 to 2.3, color gamut is slightly less than sRGB. Color saturation is approximately the same, perhaps a little lacking in red at low brightness and slightly oversaturated in green at maximum brightness.

Overall, an excellent display: bright, with nice rich colors, wide viewing angles. The only caveat is that at certain angles the screen turns purple or yellow. Traditionally, in the Huawei settings there is a “Color Temperature” item. I don’t recommend touching it, you’ll only make it worse.

The capacitive touch layer supports up to 7 simultaneous touches. The sensitivity is excellent. You can wake up the display by double tapping on the screen if you check the box in the “Motion” settings. Locking the screen is also easy: just place your palm on the display, covering the proximity sensor. Works fast.

In the “Control” section there is even a “Work with gloves” mode.

For those who are not used to reaching the necessary areas of the screen with a large diagonal, the developers have created the “One-Hand Control” function. True, this only applies to controls, the dialer and some other functions.

Battery

The device has a non-removable lithium-ion (Li-Pol) battery with a capacity of 3000 mAh. Kudos to the Huawei developers for fitting such a capacious battery into such a thin body.

The device “lives”, like any other modern Android, for about a day of not the most active work. If you load it up, you can count on 8-10 hours. Without an Internet connection, the G7 operates for about 2 days with 40-50 minutes of calls per day and writing 20-30 SMS. If only Wi-Fi is turned on (the network is stable), then Ascend works for 20-25 hours, or even more.

Fans of watching videos can count on 9-10 hours at maximum brightness and maximum volume of the headphones. On toys, the battery will run out within 4 hours. In book reading mode, the device will last no more than 20 hours.

There is a section “Energy Saving”. It's easy to switch between Energy Saving, Smart and Normal modes. When you activate the first one, only the necessary functions will be displayed on the phone screen: calls, messages, contacts and time. In this mode, the device operates for about 40 hours.

Communication capabilities

In this section, in order not to inflate the review, it is worth describing the most important thing: Huawei Ascend G7 works with LTE CAT4 networks.

G7-L01 (this was the model we tested):

1. FDD LTE: B1/B3/B7/B8/B20
2. UMTS: B1/B8
3. GSM 850/900/1800/1900MHz

It has Wi-Fi b/g/n (Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot), Bluetooth version 4.0 (BLE), NFC chip.

It is easy to connect Flash devices to USB (OTG mode).

Huawei has GPS/A-GPS and GLONASS (Qualcomm IZat Gen8C). They function stably, the speed is very high: even near the window up to 10 satellites are “visible”.

Memory, memory card

Inside the Ascend G7 there is 2 GB of RAM. This volume is quite enough for any task. There is usually about a gigabyte of RAM available.

We had a sample with 16 GB of Flash memory; there seem to be no other versions yet. About 12 GB free. However, there is no need to worry, since there is a slot for a microSD memory card. The maximum volume is 64 GB.

Camera

This smartphone traditionally has two camera modules: a 13 MP main camera (back-illuminated BSI, F2.0 aperture, 28 mm) and a 5 MP front camera without autofocus (F2.4 aperture), but with a wide viewing angle.

The maximum ISO value is 1800, the minimum is 100; shutter speed from 1/17 to 1/10000 second.

The latest generation of devices from Huawei are equipped with cool camera modules, and the G7 is no exception. I liked the quality, but at the level of P7, Mate 7 and Honor 6. The first thing worth highlighting is the minimal amount of noise; second – good detail; third – accurate white balance; fourth - the absence of blurry frames even in low light.

The front camera takes 5 MP 22mm wide-angle shots. This allows you to “take a picture” of yourself in full height at arm’s length or get a beautiful panoramic shot. The quality is decent.

The main camera records FullHD video at 30 frames per second. In low light conditions, the number of frames drops to 15. The quality is good, but nothing more. The sound is clear, stereo.

The selfie camera shoots wide-angle HD videos.

EXIF information

Characteristics of the video file recorded on the main camera:

1. Format: MP4
2. Video: AVC, 22 Mbit/s
3. Resolution: 1920x1080, 30 fps
4. Audio: AAC, 156 Kbps
5. Channels: 2 channels, 48 ​​KHz

Examples of photos taken with the main camera:

Example photo on the front camera:

Examples of videos from the main and front cameras:

Performance

The Huawei Ascend G7 smartphone uses a chipset from Qualcomm – Snapdragon 410 MSM8916. The quad-core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 processor (ARMv8 architecture) is based on a 28 nm process technology. The world's smallest 64-bit processor. In terms of performance, it is 50% superior to Cortex-A7. Adreno 306 graphics (400 MHz).

Probably, the use of a 64-bit processor is nothing more than a fashion trend, however, it is worth noting that this particular model can work with LTE in all countries, including Russia.

In terms of performance, the chip is not the most powerful, but it allows you to play FullHD video and run any games either at maximum settings or at medium ones. As for the lags and friezes of the shell, they are absent here.