Huawei Ascend Y300 review

The Huawei Ascend Y300 costs much less than the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One, but just how much value can you get from a £100 SIM-free handset?

If you think your choice is limited to 'bottom of the barrel' features and out of date components – then think again.

Prepare to be surprised by the Huawei Ascend Y300 which boasts features comparable with the flagship devices from the established big boys, but is also unsurprisingly similar to a lot of the low to mid end phones like the Sony Xperia Miro or the Samsung Galaxy Ace that just don't quite hit the mark.

You can pick up the Huawei Ascend Y300 on the high street for around £110 (on average) SIM free.

If you are prepared to sign up and restrict your device to one of the major mobile networks you can pick up the Huawei Ascend Y300 on a PAYG deal for as little as £70. Not bad when you consider the specs you'll receive with this device.

For your money the Huawei Ascend Y300 comes with: Android 4.1 (albeit with Huawei's Emotion User Interface 1.0), a 4.0-inch 800×480 screen, 5MP auto focus camera at the rear, 0.3MP front camera and a 1GHz dual-core processor.

There is also a microSD card slot which is capable of taking up to 32GB, if the relatively pathetic 2GB of internal space is not quite enough - and it probably won't be.

The rest of the features are relatively unsurprising for any modern smart phone, as the device also boasts; Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 A2DP, GPS/AGPS, a G-sensor, a proximity sensor for auto turn-off and a ambient light sensor for auto light adjusting, all of which is come to be expected with a smartphone.

The Huawei Ascend Y300 doesn't break into new territory in terms of its design. It has the sleep/wake/power button at the top on the left of the phone, which we thought could be slightly bigger as there is no need for it to be as thin as it is.

Next to it centred at the top is the headphone jack, and on the right hand side are the handsets volume controls, with a stock rocker switch providing the dual purpose of the controls.

The charging connection on the left hand side is exposed and unsurprisingly there is no physical home button, which follows the trend of the previous devices we have seen from the Chinese manufacturer such as the Huawei Ascend P6 and the Ascend P2.

Measuring in at 12.45cm× 6.38cm× 1.12cm the Ascend Y300 fits comfortably in the hand.

The outside case consists of a cheap plastic rubberised rear, formed into diagonal lines that we found sat well in the right hand, but didn't feel so secure in the left due to the angle of those aforementioned lines.

The Huawei Ascend Y300's takes a normal (larger sized) SIM card with no compatibility for a smaller microSIM.

We felt as if we were breaking the device when we when to insert the SIM card due to the way we were required to take off the back panel. It's a fingernail into the gap and a gentle yank to prise open the rear casing.

A big plus though is the Ascend Y300's replaceable 1730mAh battery, which Huawei says provides 320 hours on standby and 320 minutes of talk time - nice and easy to remember then.

Huawei has a reputation for not properly announcing its products, and in the past has often just made its devices available without the big hoo-ha that we have all come to expect when a handset is released from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

One of Huawei's flagship models the Ascend P1 arrived in stores and was available to consumers with a rather unimpressive bang. If that's what the company does wither their flagship models, don't expect the Ascend Y300 to be any different.

Maybe there is an advantage to this, all the money the company is saving in press launches and fancy elaborate adverts seems to be put back in the customers' pocket.

This tiny device is packing a powerful punch way above what you would expect for the cost, which was a pleasant surprise when reviewing the Ascend Y300.