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It´s been quiet for certain companies--namely Nokia, Samsung, Research in Motion and HTC--on the mobile front at <span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">CES</span>, with either no new product announcements or just US-centric handsets.
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However, there were a handful of exciting smartphones from other manufacturers that are keen to give the big players a run for their money. Handset makers such as Huawei, ZTE and Sony have announced rather compelling models and also set the tone for the year. If CES is anything to go by, we´re likely to see a wave of smartphones equipped with full-HD displays, LTE support and quad-core processors. Oh, and apparently big is beautiful, too, with many of the smartphones in this roundup pushing the 5-inch screen mark and beyond.
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Of course, we won´t know for certain if these handsets live up to our expectations until we get them in our Labs. Here are the ones we´re most looking forward to reviewing, based on specifications and some hands-on time (in alphabetical order).
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<span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">1. Huawei Ascend D2</span>
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First take:<br />
With a 5-inch 1080p display, the Huawei Ascend D2 joins the ranks of other handsets with a similar resolution at CES. No doubt, this screen resolution will be the next big thing for smartphones, since we likely won´t see a handset with more than four cores for a while. We found the display to be remarkably bright, and the pixel density of 443ppi meant we weren´t able to see any individual pixels on screen no matter how hard we squinted.
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Inside the D2, you´ll find Huawei´s own K3V2 quad-core processor, which reportedly is <span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">pretty darn fast</span>. However, we didn´t find it to be so in our <span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">Huawei Ascend D1 quad XL review</span>, but perhaps the use of Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), with its performance tweaks, should help the handset feel smoother.
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One thing that Huawei didn´t skimp on was the battery, and the D2 sports a massive 3,000mAh cell that puts its rivals to shame. This should help with the huge amount of power drain likely to be caused by the 1080p display.
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<span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">2. Huawei Ascend Mate</span>
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First take:<br />
<span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">Size matters when it comes to the Ascend Mate</span>. The handset has a ginormous 6.1-inch screen, which is one of the biggest we´ve seen and puts it in the category commonly called "phablets". The Mate is also big on battery size: A 4,050mAh whopper which Huawei claims can provide up to 48 hours of power.
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Like the Ascend D2, the Mate also rocks the Chinese company´s proprietary quad-core K3V2 processor that´s clocked at 1.5GHz. Other noteworthy specs include Huawei´s Emotion UI skinned over thes Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS, a 720p Gorilla Glass display, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.
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<span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">3. Huawei Ascend W1</span>
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First take:
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The <span style="border-style:initial;border-color:initial;border-image:initial;font:inherit;">Huawei Ascend W1</span> (which probably stands for "Windows Phone 1") looks similar to the Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate also unveiled at CES, except that it´s smaller. It has angular corners and a very thin bezel around its 4-inch LCD screen.
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The W1´s processor is a 1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8230 chipset, with the Adreno 305 GPU. Most of the new Windows phones use the slightly faster 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor, but this spec shouldn´t slow users down too much, especially if they´re accustomed to using a single-core phone.
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A 1,950mAh battery gives the Ascend W1 up to 19.6 days of standby time. Huawei claims this is the longest on the market for this type of phone.
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Following a new Windows phone trend to kick up the color, the W1 will come in red and blue in addition to the more standard black and white.
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