The handset makers are in a scurry to launch phablets - large screen smartphones. Huawei is one of the manufacturers who has made a revolution by announcing a 6.1 inch phablet at the CES 2013 in January.
The Chinese tech firm with a belief that the bigger is better has come up with such a massive handset, which could be the best competitor to Samsung's Galaxy Note 2.
At the time of launch, Huawei confirmed that Ascend Mate would be released initially in China in February and in the other markets in March. However, there was no confirmation on the price of the handset. With the debut of February, a Chinese online retailer has started accepting pre-orders for Ascend Mate.
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According to Liaow.com, Ascend Mate is priced at $575 (approx. Rs 30,500) and will be shipped anywhere across the world after February 5, 2013 and will be dispatched starting from February 17, 2013.
Speaking of specs, Ascend Mate boasts a spacious 6.1 inch Super IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels, 1.5GHz quad core processor, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, 8MP rear camera, 1.3MP HD front camera, 16GB internal storage, 1GB RAM, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, micro USB 2.0 and a 4,050 mAh battery.
When it comes to the India pricing and release date, it is speculated by tech experts to cost Rs 30,000 approximately as it is claimed to be a stiff competitor to Galaxy Note 2. The latter being the hottest selling phablet is priced at Rs 36,700. Hence, a Rs 30,000 price tag for the 6.1 inch handset is reasonable, while it packs similar specs as the Samsung phablet.
Further, the Ascend Mate is rumored to release in India in February, soon after its China release. Anyways, there is no official confirmation on the price of the handset and its availability.
