Huawei launches smartphone with enhanced camera

Huawei has unveiled its latest smartphone, the Ascend P7, with an enhanced camera, an overhauled user interface and a five-inch screen, as it continues its assault on the smartphone sector.

The handset, which is aimed at the premium market, comes with an 8-megapixel front-facing camera to target the current trend for "selfies", improved connectivity through 4G LTE services, and an updated design that makes it slimmer than its main rivals, the iPhone and the Samsung Galaxy S5.

A new ultra-fast camera mode will allow a photograph to be taken in 1.2 seconds, using the volume key when the phone is locked, while the camera has also been improved to take better photographs in low light, with a Sony fourth-generation sensor, and a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera.

“Around one billion photos shared on social networks every day, with 70 per cent taken by smartphones,” Huawei’s head of technology planning Changzhu Li said. “The camera function is extremely important in the smartphone. Our design philosophy is to help our users to keep the moment to help use smartphones to keep the moment.”

The company said it had also improved the battery life of the phone to ensure that it would stand up to a day of heavy use.

The Chinese company, which makes a range of telecoms equipment, including 4G network equipment, has also improved the phone’s signal with a 4G dual antenna.

The premium smartphone follows only months after the announcement of the P6, Huawei’s flagship smartphone that helped lift the brand’s image worldwide.

The P6 sold four million units worldwide since it launched. According to chief executive of Huawei’s consumer business group Richard Yu, brand awareness doubled following the unveiling of the P6, and the company is hoping that the P7 will help boost that higher by challenging industry standards.

“Huawei’s relentless commitment to developing premium quality smartphones over the past three years has paid off,” he said. “We are now ranked number three globally in terms of smartphone shipments, and our brand recognition is growing steadily in key regions such as China and Western Europe.”

The phone is expected to cost about € 449 and will be available throughout Europe later this month. Among the first markets to get the phone will be Ireland.