Huawei IDEOS X3 Budget Android Phone Review, Features, Price

Huawei, the world’s leading networking and telecommunications equipment company in China, series of Android smartphones in Malaysia: IDEOS X3, Sonic and Boulder. I got a chance to review Huawei IDEOS X3, the thinnest 3.2-inch smartphone in the market now.

Read on to learn about the features and price of IDEOS X3.

Design

Once unboxed, I was surprised by the sleek design of Huawei IDEOS X3. It is thin, light (115 gram) and looks great in curvy edges. It’s 11.2 mm thickness is the thinnest smartphone in the 3.2-inch screen range on the market. The plastic back cover offer a good grip.

There’s one home button at the bottom and 3 virtual buttons (back, menu, search) above it. At the right side is volume control button.

A micro USB port at the bottom is used for charging and data transfer.

A 3.5mm jack at the top to connect earphones.

Hardware

The 3.2-inch display supports 262K colors and HVGA (320×480) resolution. The curved lens gives you a wider viewing angle.

IDEOS X3 is powered by 600 Mhz processor and Android 2.3 Gingerbread mobile operating system. 256 RAM and 512MB ROM (user memory). You can insert a micro SD memory card (up to 32GB) to increase storage space.

The camera is 3.2-megapixel with autofocus but no flash. There’s also a front-facing camera that you can use for video calling. Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, and FM radio are all supported. The rechargeable Lithium-ion battery capacity is 1,200 mAh

Huawei apps

Huawei IDEOS X3 comes with some pre-installed apps that are useful:

• ZhiHuiYun (智汇云)　– Similar to Android Market Place, the Chinese app helps you to find and install Android apps, especially apps made by China developers.
• Smart Traffic Manager – Monitor your smartphone data usage so that you do not exceed the allowed data quota. Very useful for those with limited monthly quota.
• All Backup – backup app to backup your data and applications to memory card and restore later.
• Huawei Music – a beautiful music player that can sync iTunes playlist.
• Huawei Social Club – View and share status on your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Performance

Though only powered by 600Mhz processor, Huawei IDEOS X3 has a sleek performance. No noticeable sluggish when switching screens and launching apps. But it is a different story when you play full graphic games (Angry Birds!), the game becomes lagging (frame-by-frame) and not playable.

Price

Huawei IDEOS X3 is a budget Android smartphone target for lower market. The retail price is only RM599 (~USD$200).

LiewCF’s buying advice

Huawei IDEOS X3 is not for gaming or taking high resolution photos for prints. IDEOS X3 is a slim, lightweight, beautiful, budget Android smartphone you can afford. Buy if you need a entry-level Android phone (similar specs phones from other manufacturer cost 50% more!)

This is a free product review with honest write-up. Interesting to submit your products for review? Get in touch with me.