The ups and downs of Huawei smartphones (pictures)

Huawei isn't a household name in the U.S., and one reason is that not all its phones for U.S. carriers carry its name. The T-Mobile MyTouch and T-Mobile MyTouch Q are both fairly basic white-label Android solutions for T-Mobile, and confusingly come just months after T-Mobile released devices of the same by LG.

Release date: August 8, 2012

Huawei's first LTE phone for the U.S. market, the Activa 4G, was a big win for Huawei. Specifications are on the higher end, and include a decent 5-megapixel camera. However, battery life is short, the handset is heavy, and there's no Android 4.0 upgrade in sight.

Release date: June 8, 2012

One of Huawei's higher-end smartphones in any market, the Huawei Ascend P1 features a sharp design, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor. Unfortunately, call quality and the 8-megapixel camera were weak spots, with or without the shooter's full HD video support.

Release date: April 19, 2012 (China)

Huawei wasn't shy about proclaiming the Huawei Ascend D Quad the "world's fastest smartphone," but having a quad-core processor doesn't make the statement true. It isn't as flashy-looking as the Ascend P1, but the 4.5-inch 720p HD screen and 8-megapixel rear camera at least sound high-end. The D Quad isn't headed to the U.S.

Announced: February 26, 2012

The more attractive and more modern Huawei Ascend II upgrade came with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but also with a mediocre 5-megapixel camera and a slow 600MHz single-core processor.

Release date: January 6, 2012

Another of Huawei's flagship phones to skip the U.S., the Huawei U8860 Honor impressed with its splashy design and variation on the Android interface, but handed down harsh call quality and an 8-megapixel camera that underdelivered.

Review date: December 21, 2011

Cricket's Muve Music experience helped boost the Huawei Mercury to become one of the no-contract carrier's most intriguing options, but slow data speeds and stunted battery life held it back.

Release date: December 20, 2011

A BlackBerry lookalike, the Huawei Pinnacle messaging phone has an easy-to-use interface, but a rather stiff keyboard. Call quality, processing power, and video-recording skill left much to be desired.

Release date: October 12, 2011

The attractive Huawei Impulse 4G was behind the times with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but reached out to budget-seeking AT&T customers with its 720p HD video capture, a 5-megapixel camera, and HSPA+ support. Almost a year later, we're still waiting for an AT&T sequel.

Release date: September 18, 2011