CES 2013: First look at Huawei's W1 Windows Phone 8 smartphone at CES

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Las Vegas -Oh, Huawei, you're so full of surprises. The Chinese multinational now joins the likes of Samsung, HTC and Nokia as a Windows Phone 8 manufacturer with their W1 smartphone.

This is a 4-inch smartphone boasting power-saving technology, a high capacity 1950 MAh battery, 1.2GHz dual-core CPU specced for Windows Phone 8.

Its screen is a WVGA IPS display and it features a 5 megapixel rear camera as well as a 0.3 megapixel front-facing camera. It has 512MB of RAM and NFC (Near Field Communication) capability.

While no announcement has been made as to pricing and availability of the Huawei W1is just the kind of smartphone that can lasso in new users in emerging markets if priced right. In terms of design, the Huawei W1 ever so slightly resembles the HTC 8S although the colours (blue, white and red) seem similar to the Lumia 920.

While these aren't the highest specs for a Windows Phone 8 device, they're more than decent for the entry-level and new user set. Microsoft needs plenty of those to keep interest in their emerging mobile OS alive, specially in emerging markets.

Huawei's got competitive devices for the major mobile operating systems and in a variety of sizes as well, it should make it easy for the brand to transition to the North American market with such a robust offering of products.

Photos by Alex Davies