Huawei Ascend W2 gets captured in leaked image

It is no surprising news that Huawei plans to launch a Windows Phone 8 handset. From the time Microsoft first announced the new platform, the smartphone manufacturer stated that it would launch devices that run on this OS. What’s news, however, is that Huawei is preparing more than one handset, and the handset that has recently been spotted is the Huawei Ascend W2. This upcoming smartphone will grace the brand’s top tier range of devices.

Accordinf to a report by Unwired View, “The W2 seems to be Huawei’s flagship WP8 handset. It certainly looks high-end, and we can see it has an 8MP rear camera with dual LED flash. Unfortunately, the rest of its features are not known. But I assume the display is an HD one, and its processor a dual core unit.”

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A high-end WP 8 handset ( Image Credit)

Upon closer inspection of the leaked image, we can see that the smartphone features a 4.5-inch display and measures 132 x 67 x 10 mm. From the image, we can also see that it is LTE capable, as the indicator at the top displays the 4G logo. What is baffling is the name on the Tile—it states Ascend W3, and not W2 as the website indicates.

The other handset that is expected to be launched by Huawei is the Ascend W1 and as of now, there is no word on the launch date of the said handset. This might be a ploy by Huawei to announce both Windows Phone 8 smartphones simultaneously, just like Nokia and HTC did with their models.

Earlier in October, a press image of the Huawei W1 had leaked online, which showed that the handset shares fair amount of similarities with other Windows Phone 8 smartphones from Nokia and HTC—the cyan colour found on the phone is synonymous with that of the Nokia range of Lumia devices. Another major similarity between this handset is the camera housing at the back, which is strikingly similar to that of the HTC One X.

However, Huawei has been reinventing its image. This year, the brand has launched a range of Android smartphones that can compete with the best in the business. It now appears that it is stepping into Windows Phone 8 territory and aiming to make a name for itself to compete with the likes of Samsung, Nokia and HTC.

As for the specifications, the W1 sports a 4-inch WVGA display, 5-megapixel rear camera, VGA front-facing camera, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory and a 2,000mAh battery. Visually, the phone bears a resemblance to HTC’s Windows Phone 8X, while the specifications point to it being closer to the mid-end 8S.

Huawei, for its part, has announced that it is expanding its relationship with Microsoft for the creation of the brand’s first Windows Phone handset. Part of the Huawei Ascend family, the Ascend with Windows Phone 8 expands the company’s smartphone portfolio and aims to bring the Windows Phone operating system to an even bigger audience.

We will just have to wait and see when these two handsets will be officially launched. And if they want to remain competitive in the Windows Phone 8 market, time is definitely of the essence.