A big-screen 4G LTE phone without a massive price tag
The affordably priced Ascend G620S sports a big 5-inch HD display, comes with 4G LTE, and the latest Android KitKat software.
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Getting a phone with a massive screen used to mean paying massive prices. You had to be really committed to playing games or watching video on the move to shell out for one.
Things have changed somewhat over the last 12 months, however and now Huawei has a 5-inch phone with a much more affordable price for those of you looking for big screen fun on a budget. The Ascend G620S as it's known comes with 4G LTE for fast data downloads, runs Android KitKat and has an 8-megapixel camera.
Huawei hasn't said exactly how much the phone will cost, or where it'll be on sale, but it has said that it expects it to be around €150, which converts to roughly £120, $200 or AU$21o. It goes on sale later this year.
Design and display
With that 5-inch screen, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that the G620S is pretty big. It's comfortable enough to hold in one hand, but you'll struggle to type holding it that way, unless you have unnaturally long thumbs. It's fairly slim though -- it won't bulk out your pocket too much when you're carrying it around.
It's all plastic, and the back panel has been given a texture that slightly resembles leather -- although you really won't be fooled into thinking it's anything other than plastic. It's not too bad looking though. It lacks the premium, luxurious aesthetics of top-end phones like the metal HTC One M8, but I've definitely seen uglier budget phones. It's available in white as well, which I think looks better than the black model.
The back panel is removable and beneath it you'll find the micro-SIM card slot and the microSD slot, letting you expand the 8GB of built-in storage. The 5-inch display has a 720p resolution, which seemed fairly sharp and bright in my hands on time.
Features
The G620S runs Android 4.4 KitKat, but Huawei has vastly changed the look of Android with its Emotion UI software. Most visual aspects of Android have been tweaked in Emotion UI, but the biggest change is the lack of an app tray. All your apps and widgets are stored only across the numerous homescreens.
I'm not keen on this as I find it rapidly becomes cluttered, but I've spoken to various people who appreciate this layout. It's definitely a matter of opinion, so I suggest popping into a shop to have a go yourself if you're not sure.
A neat feature of Emotion UI is Basic mode, which displays essential tasks such as calling, texting and Web browsing as large, easy to read tiles. If you're shopping for a phone for a technophobic older relative, this simple mode may be a better choice than the often difficult to understand standard Android interface.
The phone runs on a 1.2GHz quad-core processor, which seemed reasonably capable in my hands-on time, and a generous 2,000mAh battery provides the power. An 8-megapixel camera sits on the back of the phone with a 2-megapixel camera on the front, which has various features such as skin softening and eye whitening that Huawei claims can make you look better in selfies.
Outlook
The Huawei Ascend G620S doesn't have the most exciting design or most blisteringly powerful processor, but it has a big screen, 4G and a reasonable price. If you want a sizeable display to watch Netflix on the move, but don't fancy splashing out on a top-end phone, the G620S could be worth a look.