Android smartphones priced around $165.82
are nothing new, but to date they have been utterly dreadful with shoddy build
quality, slow processors and frustratingly laggy touchscreens. The Huawei Ascend
Y530 isn’t nearly as flawed as previous $165.82 Android phones, but it’s still
far from perfect.
Despite its low price, the Y530 feels very
well made. The black plastic build looks very plain apart from the ribbed rear
cover, but it is sturdy. The cover is easy to remove, giving quick access to
the replaceable battery, SIM card slot and microSD card slot for adding more
storage. The latter is essential if you plan to install anything more than a
handful of apps. The phone has 4GB built-in, but only 2GB is available for use,
with the rest occupied by the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system and the
pre-installed apps.
The
black plastic build looks very plain apart from the ribbed rear cover, but it
is sturdy.
The Y530 didn’t excel in our
demanding 3D graphics and webpage loading benchmark tests, but it opened and
ran most apps reasonably quickly. However, the phone became very slow when
attempting to use multiple apps simultaneously due to the meagre 512MB of
memory. Even something as simple as checking email while downloading app
updates in the background caused the email app to become slow and unresponsive.
This is a shame as the touchscreen was otherwise surprisingly accurate and
fast, tracking our finger movements and prods smoothly.
The Y530 is a little tricky to hold and use
single-handed if you have small hands due to how wide it is. A bigger problem
is the screen’s low resolution of 854x480 pixels. Such a low resolution in such
a big screen makes text look especially fuzzy, so reading long emails and
webpages is a strain on the eyes. It is at least reasonably bright, though.
The
screen’s low resolution of 854x480 pixels.
As expected, the quality of photos taken
using the phone’s five-megapixel camera was poor. Smeared details and
inaccurate colours were common, even in shots taken in bright sunlight. Snaps
taken in dimly lit conditions were unacceptably dark. These aren’t crippling
flaws, though, as we wouldn’t expect a good quality camera in such a cheap
phone.
Far more disappointing was the Y530’s short
battery life. When playing videos continuously, it lasted just under nine hours.
It was even less impressive when used for making calls, taking photos, browsing
the web and route finding using Google Maps and the GPS, lasting just 12 hours.
We’d expect most smartphones to last around 24 hours.
The GPS itself sometimes took a minute or
two to lock onto our location. It was also a little sluggish in tracking and
updating our location on Google Maps, sometimes taking several seconds to do
so. Both should occur almost instantaneously. Call quality in London’s West End
on O2’s 3G network was good. Callers reported that our voices sounded clear and
loud with background noise from a construction site effectively blocked out.
However, callers sounded a little quiet and fuzzy through the built-in
earpiece. As expected for a budget phone, the Y530 is 3G-only with no 4G
support.
A
more useful modification is Simple Mode, which replaces the traditional Android
home screens with a simplified view that superficially resembles Windows Phone.
Huawei has modified Android, removing the
app drawer. All your downloaded apps will therefore end up on your home
screens, whether you want them to or not. A more useful modification is Simple
Mode, which replaces the traditional Android home screens with a simplified
view that superficially resembles Windows Phone. The app icons look like large
coloured tiles and only icons for the most essential apps – such as Phone and
Browser – are visible by default although you can, of course, add more. It’s a
useful view for the elderly and others just starting out with their first
smartphone.
The Y530 isn’t a bad Android phone as long
as you stick to using it for very simple tasks. It’s therefore best suited as a
first smartphone for novices, but everyone else should buy the Motorola Moto G
instead. It costs $66.33 more, but it has almost none of the Y530’s flaws.
|
Specifications
•
4.5in 854x480-pixel touchscreen
•
1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8210 dual-core processor
•
512MB memory
•
4GB storage
•
3G full-size SIM
•
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean
•
145g
•
133x7x10mm
|
