Huawei talks up 'fastest smartphone'

BARCELONA: Huawei, a Chinese company that recently became the world's third-largest maker of smartphones, calls its new flagship product "the fastest smartphone in the world" and wants to use it to expand global awareness of its brand.

Parts of the presentation of the phone at a press conference on Sunday here suggest that the company has some way to go in polishing its pitch for a global audience.

Richard Yu, head of Huawei's consumer business group, said the new phone can be programmed to display more than 100 different "themes" or looks.

This is important because "ladies like flowers, colourful things", he said.

Yu also said Huawei is learning from Apple on how to make Google's Android software easier to use, a suit-friendly utterance considering that Apple is on a global campaign to sue makers of Android phones for copying from the iPhone.

He said Ascend P2 will be available from April for about US$525 (RM1,627) without a contract.

It is the "fastest" because it supports faster download speeds than other phones. However, today's wireless networks are not equipped to supply those speeds.

Huawei Technologies Ltd was the world's third largest seller of smartphones after Samsung and Apple, in the fourth quarter of last year, according to research firm IDC.

That is despite selling very few phones in the United States, where the big phone companies mostly ignore it. It has a much better position in Europe, where cellphone companies have embraced its network equipment.

The world's largest cellphone trade show, Mobile World Congress, opened here yesterday. AP