Huawei joins the Windows Phone 8 family with the Ascend W1

The Ascend W1 a 4” device that packs a 480 x 800 display, a dual-core 1.2 Ghz Snapdragon processor, 5MP rear and .3MP front-facing cameras, and 4GB of internal storage. You can add another 32GB via the built-in MicroSD slot to give yourself plenty of space for your music, videos and movies. Huawei also included a 1950mAh battery (pretty big for a phone of this size) that the company says is good for a monster 470 hours of standby time. That figure makes it #1 in stand-by battery life out of all of dual-core Windows Phone 8 devices on the market.

I’ve had a W1 for about a week, and I’m really happy with it so far. The W1 fits great in my pocket, and it feels really nice to hold. It’s thin (about 10mm) but not toothin to hold comfortably, and the matte, textured caseback makes it easy to grip. I found the display sharp and responsive, and text, graphics and video were clear and bright.

The Huawei Ascend W1 is available in blue, red, black and white in Russia and Asia starting this month, and it’s coming to the rest of the world soon after. If you’re looking to get your first smartphone (or upgrading to Windows Phone from an old iPhone or Android device), the Ascend W1 is going to give you a lot of value for your dollar. It looks great, offers solid performance, and comes with all of the awesome stuff you expect from Windows Phone 8.