Phone Review – Huawei Ascend Y200

Earlier this year, my wife’s mobile phone started to play up. I went to Officeworks and purchased a standard mobile worth about $65. Her demands where pretty basic, I don’t want it to be complicated but I would like a smart phone if the price is right. At the time it wasn’t right so I opted for a basic Nokia handset. From the moment I brought it home through, I could tell from the look in her face that she was disappointed.

The challenge was now to find a smart phone that was under $150 and that wasn’t going to fall apart within 6 months. I spent some time looking around the the challenge was really price. Anything that was unlocked and looked decent was well over $200. Then I saw an advertisement in my regular weekly Woolworth catalogue, for a Huawei Ascend Y200 for $138. It was an unlocked phone and that suited me perfectly.

I did some research and the price was right, whilst the phone certainly was no iPhone, it really didn’t need to be. Quick decision and so far it has proven to pay itself off.

Here is a little about the phone itself.

The Huawei Ascend Y200 is a good entry-level smart phone. It is marketed toward youth and first time smart phone users and thus has the smaller screen (3.5”), slower processors (1GH), and fewer camera functions, yet is an attractive phone with rounded edges and dark body, is light weight (120gms),  and has an affordable price tag.

It is easy to use to make and receive phone calls –  ie easy to find  contacts, check call log, use dial pad, has light sensor touch etc.

Texting is also easy and similar to most android devices. It has the option to use the Huawei keyboard, as well as the standard keyboard or voice to text. The keyboard height is adjustable.

The camera is average, with only 3.2 mega pixels. There is no flash so you can only take photos in good light. Also, there is no front camera. Video quality is okay, though I feel not very loud when played back.

Some people have said that they have found internet access a bit slow and that it stops responding, however I have not experienced any problems with this….it seems to load quickly and work fine.  Perhaps this is more of a network issue than a problem of the phone itself, or perhaps running too many applications at once which 800MHZ obviously cannot cope with.  For this reason, perhaps it’s not the right phone for an extensive app user.

It comes pre-stored with several apps such as navigation, email, g-mail, You Tube, maps, weather clock, and others, and an app installer, however due to limited memory capacity you probably cannot add heaps of new ones.

Overall a good phone if you are new to smart phones, and great value for money!