Looks like I was a little behind on this one, Huawei apparently launched the Ideos X3 on the 3rd of November. It appears to be another decent entry level phone from Huawei, however this little fella runs Gingerbread right out of the box and as a bonus it also supports the Huawei Handset Over-the-Air and Online Upgrade (HOTA) solution, which provides users with easy and timely upgrades, so this phone should be kept up to date fairly well.
Spec wise it`s fairly basic but should run all your basic smartphone related apps :
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread
- Qualcomm MSM7227 600 MHz processor
- 3.2” HVGA (480×320) Capacitive Touch TFT
- MicroSD expandable memory (up to 16GB)
- 3.2MP FF camera
- 1500mAh Li-ion
- HSDPA 7.2Mbps, UMTS900/2100M
- Bluetooth 2.1, MicroUSB, WiFi b/g/n
- 110 x 56.5 x 11.2 @ Less than 115
Looks like a fairly decent little phone, it`s exclusive to Vodafone and you can pick one up for just $99 from Vodafone stores, Mo’s Mobiles, Crazy Johns, Allphones, Woolworths, Coles, Australia Post, Dick Smith & Big W, so this phone makes for a decent stocking stuffer for just under $100.
All the Huawei phones i`ve seen so far aim at the lower end of the market and I think they`re pretty solid phones, but they`re not exactly pushing the envelope spec wise. They do have one advantage that appeals to me however, they don`t appear to be running any custom skin, it all looks to be vanilla Android, so I would love to see them take a crack at the high end market. Anyone else think they could do something real nice?
I’m still happy with my U8150 (almost a year old)… I’d buy a (slightly larger) Huawei.
As for vanilla Android, that’s a good thing, isn’t it? Certainly a differentiating factor 🙂
Certainly is a good thing for me anyway, some people do like a custom skin though, according to a couple of commenters though apparently there is some minor skinning on the Huawei phones, still i`d love to see what they could do if they really cut loose.
mobicity want $229 for it http://www.mobicity.com.au/huawei-ideos-x3.html
lol
The phone supports 850Mhz on 3G as well
there’s also a new competition on Huawei’s facebook page, presumably to win one of these:
“Need a new mobile? We may just have the answer.. As the saying goes – good things come in (X)3’s …stay tuned for more details!”https://www.facebook.com/HuaweiMobile
Will these be locked? It would make a nice entry Android phone for my wife on TPG (Optus).
Yes they are locked just like all prepaid phones
Unlocked versions are on eBay for $149
There is some light skinning on the Huawei models, but nothing too drastic. Just a 3D cube-like animation for scrolling left and right and other little things, similar to the RAZR.
I’m quite fond of the upcoming Huawei Honor, not sure if being released in Australia but it has high single core specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_honor-4197.php