Huawei Ideos X2 (U8500)

Introduction & Features

Huawei announced a range of Android-based smartphones under the Ideos series recently. The Ideos X2 (U8500) is a sub 10k Android 2.2 phone which has all that you look out for in an Android smartphone like a 3.2 inch screen, Wi-Fi, 3G, multi-touch capabilities etc. The point here is this fully-loaded phone worth the low price? Do these functions actually amalgamate into a functional device which is devoid of nagging problems that are associated with a mobile phone manufacturer that is not an Apple, Samsung, Sony, Nokia, LG, Motorola or HTC? This review will answer the aforementioned questions and then some more.   

The most interesting add-on, though not a standout feature, is the optical trackpad.

Features & Specs

The 3.2 inch touchscreen on the Ideos X2 has a resolution of 320x480 similar to the Acer Liquid Mini. 256k colours is a bit of a shortfall for this resolution. The phone is available in two colour options i.e. black and combination of silver/black. The most interesting add-on, though not a standout feature, is the optical trackpad. 



The phone runs Android 2.2 (Froyo). At the time of publishing this review the Gingerbread update was not available as yet. Also there is no custom UI which is a welcome relief because we were not particularly impressed with the Acer’s Android custom UI. The box contains a bundle which includes a charger, microUSB cable, earphones and 4GB memory card.

A 3.5mm jack is provided for your earphones and a microUSB port to connect to a PC. The memory card slot supports memory cards up to 32GB. However, it is not hot swappable so that is a bit of a letdown.  There are absolutely no extra apps bundled along with the phone. It has the regular apps that are available with stock Android. I guess Huawei just wants to stick to the basics with the X2 which is not bad but the fact that some extra apps bundled with it would have made a small difference to the final score. It has the regular Google clients/apps like gmail, gtalk, latitude etc and social networking apps like facebook and twitter pre-bundled which is found normally on every phone.