Huawei Ascend P8 Officially Announced; Packs in Powerful Features

[dgstorm]

Image credit: Android Central​

The latest Huawei flagship smartphone was unveiled earlier today. The Ascend P8 is a solid product in every respect. It has an attractive design and is decked out with powerful internal features. Here's a breakdown:

• 5.2-inch 1080p display
• Huawei's own Kirin 920 processor - octa-core 64-bit SoC
• 3GB of RAM
• 32GB of storage — expandable up to 128GB via microSD
• 13-megapixel Sony camera with OIS capabilities in rear (software includes super low-light mode, as well as Photosphere-like 360-degree panorama capabilities)
• 8-megapixel selfie camera in front
• Lollipop and Huawei's latest EMUI 3.1 overlay
• 2,600mAh fixed internal battery

In the thread below we have the full press release with additional details including pricing and general launch areas. Unfortunately, there is no indication that the device will come to the US yet. We will keep you posted if that changes.

 

[dgstorm]

Here's that full presser:

"Huawei Launches the P8, A Revolutionary Light Painting Smartphone that Breaks New Ground in Fashionology by Combining the Best of Fashion and Technology
London, 15 April 2015 – Today at the legendary Old Billingsgate, London's renowned arts and fashion venue, Huawei Consumer Business Group unveiled the Huawei P8 smartphone, a perfect blend of technology, sleek styling, usability and revolutionary low light camera features. The Huawei P8 is the culmination of the P series' rich heritage of style and functionality, and is once again redefining the smartphone market with easy-to-use features that amaze and inspire consumers.

The Huawei P8 takes beauty to the next level, striking a flawless balance of artistry and creativity. Based on a deep understanding of human-machine design, the Huawei P8 delivers a new level of usability for applications impacting everyday life – at work and at play. With craftsmanship that pushes the bounds of possibility and new revolutionary light painting modes, the Huawei P8 provides consumers with an inspiration for creativity.

Redefining Style, Beauty and Technology

Introduced in 2012, the Huawei P series has redefined style. The P1 marked the debut of Huawei's journey, taking the stage with a new ethos based on beauty. The P2 built on the momentum of the P1, breaking new boundaries of processing speed; the P6 brought out a new and elegant sleekness; and the ultimate craftsmanship of the P7 stunned the market.

The Huawei P8 design is deeply rooted in literary tradition, combining elements of ancient manuscripts, illuminated books and the essence of sunlight in stained glass library windows. It is inspired by the best of human design from different cultures across the centuries and embodies the human spirit of exploration and beauty.

The design details of the Huawei P8 evoke the pages, bindings and hardcovers of traditional books. The one-piece aluminum body with the diamond shape blasting craftsmanship highlights the texture of the metal. The phone comes with four elegant color options: silver, gold, black and grey. The devices come in a translucent package and the unboxing experience is like taking a book from the shelf.

Highlights of Design and Technology

Continuing the minimalist design of previous generations in the P series, the Huawei P8 embodies the ultimate in elegance, craftsmanship and durability. Highlights include:

• The nano-injection molding process results in an industry-leading seamless tight junction connecting a 1.5mm thin plastic bar with one of the industry's largest screens.
• The phone is 6.4mm thin, with dual SIM cards, and works seamlessly with a 4G network (where the service is available).
• The triple-layer shark-gill design enhances the reliability and robustness of the device.
• Inside, the new Kirin 930 64-bit Octa-Core chipset boosts performance by approximately 20 percent compared with other phones with similar levels of battery life.
• The body's sleek back cover is constructed of steel, for reinforced structural rigidity.

Craft Best-in-Class User Experiences

The Huawei P8 is designed to have a natural connection to human nature, providing solutions to common pain points and meeting consumers' needs – both simple and complex. The Huawei P8 has a revolutionary touch screen experience that is innate to consumers. Double-tapping a knuckle captures a full-length screen shot, while drawing a circle on the screen quickly captures content. Additionally, the "search phone by voice" function allows users to call out to their misplaced smartphone, which will respond through its speaker to identify.

Unique power management creates a bridge between the Huawei P8's slim design, power efficiently and stunning performance. The device contains a 2680mAh battery and with Kirin 930 Octa-Core 64-bit chipset, delivering outstanding performance that outpaces the smartphone market by 20 percent.

The Huawei P8 brings innovative and much-needed features to voice and sound. In loud environments users can increase volume up to 58 percent above normal level. In a windy environment, the smartphone can eliminate 90 percent of the sound of wind when using a headset or earphones with a single mic. Additionally, super hands-free functionality supports hands-free speaker calls within a radius range of 2 meters, while a built-in independent audio decoder chipset enables music volume to double while maintaining the same high quality.

Considering the user habits as well as upcoming trends, the Huawei P8 provides a comprehensive line-up of solutions:

• For 4G SIM card users, the device features dual 4G SIM card support with two flexible card slots.
• Once the Huawei P8 has identified and connected with a Bluetooth device such as the Huawei TalkBand B2, the phone can be remotely unlocked without entering a password.
• With network roaming performance optimized for 4G, the Huawei P8 connects with network roaming services approximately three times faster than average phone models.
• Additionally, with an optional E-ink screen on the back of the phone, the metal back cover can switch to an eBook in just seconds.

"The goal of Huawei P8 is to become the most user-friendly smartphone for consumers globally" said Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer Business Group, "Through in-depth market research, Huawei has addressed the most pressing pain points for premium smartphone users today. Huawei seamlessly combines the best elements of style and durability in this device, delivering a revolutionary user experience – especially in terms of camera capabilities and network connectivity. Building on the outstanding market performance of Huawei's P series, we fully believe the Huawei P8 will become one of the most popular smartphones of 2015."

Best-in-Class Smartphone with Light Painting Camera

The Huawei P8 introduces a new philosophy for camera design leveraging a combination of hardware, software and proprietary algorithms to help users capture beautiful photographs, even in the worst lighting conditions. Features include:

• Industry-leading Optical Image Stabilizer technology up to 1.2°, enabling high-quality photos and videos, and managing camera shake so images are consistently sharp. +The world's first four-color RGBW sensor enhances brightness by 32 percent in high contrast lighting situations, reduces it by 78 percent in low light environments. DSLR-level independent image processor enabling noise reduction when shooting and intelligent detection of a high-contrast lighting environment.
• Four professional quality low-light shooting modes giving users access to a virtual photo and video studio to capture artistic inspirations.

For example, the Light Painting mode, one of the four professional quality low-light shooting modes, leverages the Huawei P8's manual camera shutter to capture broad swaths of light. Light Painting mode can capture a rolling ferris wheel at night, showing the circular streams of light in an artistic photo. Users can also "light paint" their own freehand pictures using a small torchlight in the dark. Another industry first low light technology is the light check and preview mode. By giving users a preview of what the shot will look like, the device makes it easier to experiment creatively with light sources in the dark.

The Huawei P8's Director mode is the industry's first professional-level video capture function on a smartphone. It allows consumers to direct and control up to three other Android phones when shooting a video scene from four angles simultaneously, while also synchronize video clip editing.

The Huawei P8 also introduces a powerful new Selfie mode, which allows preset image enhancement settings to capture and customize everyone's unique beauty, enabling even more people to get in on the fun.

Setting New Standards for Mobile Connectivity

During the process of researching and listening to the needs of elite smartphone users, Huawei has addressed emerging pain points around dropped calls and signal degradation. Building on Huawei's DNA of world-class communications technology, the Huawei P8 has re-defined the industry benchmark for seamless network connectivity.

The Huawei P8 has re-defined the industry benchmark for seamless network connectivity through proprietary Signal+ technology. The compact and powerful dual-antenna design plus rapid switching technology allows the smartphone to instantly switch between antennas, ensuring a continuous strong network connection. Additionally, the devices' Signal+ enhances the call connection rate, even when users are traveling on a train at a speed of up to 300 kilometers per hour.

For consumers who travel by air, it takes quite a bit of time to connect when landing at an airport; the Huawei P8 increases the speed of connecting to a roaming network. Based on international roaming test data from more than 20 countries and regions across Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America and North America with network roaming performance optimized for 4G, the Huawei P8 synchronizes with network roaming services approximately three times faster than an average phone.

Huawei's extremely stylish P series has achieved great success around the world. Global sales of the Huawei P6 have totaled 5 million units in 60 countries and the Huawei P7 surpassed 4 million sales across more than 100 countries in just six months. The success of the Huawei P6 and P7 indicates a strong potential demand for the Huawei P8.

There are two versions of the Huawei P8; the standard device for €499 and the premium version for €599. It will initially be available in more than 30 countries including China, Columbia, France, Germany, Mexico, Spain, South Africa, Turkey, UAE and the United Kingdom."

 

[boidsonly]

For what it is worth...
Really Huawei Blatantly Photoshops Screen Bezels Out Of P8 And P8max Marketing Renders

 

[VillaRegina]

I am dying to get a P8 MAX! I really don't know much about phones but it sounds awesome to me... I guess that I could use it on Verizon??? I don't know where I could get one, either... ebay??? What do all you experts know about the phone???

 

[VillaRegina]

I have been researching the P8max and now find that even though it has 2 SIM card slots they are both GSM. Apparently, Verizon and Sprint run on CDMA. I might have to switch to a GSM carrier...