Huawei's new high-resolution tablet may give the Nexus 7 a run for its money

There isn't much choice among 7-inch Android tablets with high-resolution screens -- the Nexus 7 is frequently the only practical option. However, it's about to get a proper challenger. China's TENAA has certified the Huawei MediaPad X1 7.0, a small slate with a 1,920 x 1,200 display. It's not clear that the X1's 1.6GHz quad-core Hisilicon processor will outperform the Snapdragon S4 Pro inside the Nexus, but the device will be a featherweight at just 8.4 ounces and 0.3 inch thick. There's also 3G inside. About the only clear setback is the use of Android 4.2 -- where's KitKat, Huawei? The company hasn't said when it might reveal the new MediaPad, but certification raises the possibility of an announcement in the near future.

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Via: The Droid Guy, Android Community

Source: TENAA (translated)

Tags: 7d-501, android, china, hisilicon, huawei, mediapad, mediapadx1, tablet, tenaa Next: Aereo stops taking new customers in New York .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Huawei's Honor brand challenges Xiaomi with 3X and 3C low-cost phones

Huawei's known for its Ascend smartphones around the world, but back in late 2011, the company also started toying with a small Honor series for select budget markets. Fast forward to today, the latter sub-brand has become Huawei's platform to compete with the sudden surge of affordable online brands in China -- most notably Xiaomi, the pioneer of that industry. With a little help from MediaTek (and ironically not Huawei's own HiSilicon), the phone maker is upping its firepower over this territory with two new dual-SIM devices: Honor 3X and Honor 3C.

The Honor 3X joins the first wave of octa-core 1.7GHz MT6592-powered devices, and it boasts 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel f/2.2 main camera, a 5-megapixel 1.4-micron front imager plus a generous 3,000mAh battery. The 720p resolution on the glove-friendly, 5.5-inch IPS touchscreen may seem like a let-down, but in this case, Huawei reasoned that going 1080p would push power consumption up by as much as 20 percent, plus many folks may not notice the visual difference -- a point that Huawei Device Chairman Richard Yu has often echoed publicly.

On a brighter note, the 3X is the first phone to feature dual-3G SIM slots -- one Mini SIM and one Micro SIM -- for WCDMA (China Unicom and most carriers around the world) and TD-SCDMA (China Mobile). Better yet, both slots will recognize either type of 3G radio, as opposed to having designated slots for each. There's also a dual-mic system for in-call noise cancellation, as well as DTS audio support. The price? From just CN¥1,698 or about $280 off-contract, making it a tad more affordable than the Xiaomi MI3. Alas, there's no launch date just yet.

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