Mobiles

Huawei Ascend Y550 Review

Andy

15 Oct 2014 • 4 min read

**Huawei might not be the most recognisable of smartphone makers on the market, but that doesn’t mean it’s not one of the best! **Offering a whole range of flagship phones, mid-range models and budget handsets, there could be any number of Huawei smartphones strolling straight into your back pocket! And Huawei’s latest model, the Y550, has made a huge splash at the budget end of the spectrum, offering an impressive set of specs on top of 4G and a 5 megapixel camera. So what else has this shiny piece of tech got to offer? Our in depth Huawei Ascend Y550 review tells all…

Huawei Design

At first glance the Huawei Y550 might look very much like its predecessor, the Y530, but look a little closer and you’ll see that the Chinese firm has done away with the textured back case which adorned the Y530, instead replacing it with a much more stylish smooth plastic case. Not only does this make the 4.5-inch smartphone much more like a mid-range than a budget handset, it also makes the phone light-weight, measuring in at just 153 grams.

Huawei Ascend Y550 Design

**You may like: **Did you know that Huawei has made some of the most stylish, and slimmest, mobile phones? Check out the Huawei Ascend G7 review.

Plus, if you’re not a fan of the typical black and white when it comes to styling up your smartphone, the Huawei Y550 will also be launched in a temping shade of red and blue later in the year.

Huawei Y550 Specs

Considering the budget price tag of the handset, you’ll be pleased to hear that the specs on the Y550 are anything but cheap. With a mighty quad-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM on board, the Y550 is speedy enough to keep up with all of your day to day demands, and represents a huge jump up from the Y530’s dual core processing power.

While the device might only boast 4GB of internal memory, it does come with an SD card slot, which means you can extend your phone’s storage to a respectable 32GB- more than enough to keep all of your favourite selfies, songs and movies backed up.

5MP Camera

As with most phones of its calibre, the Huawei Y550 boasts a 5 megapixel rear camera on top of an improved 2 megapixel front lens, fulfilling your every Snapchatting wish! OK so you might not win any photography awards with the Y550’s camera, but with 5 megapixels under your belt, on top of Huawei’s range of in-built editing features, you won’t be missing out when it comes to snapping those obligatory Facebook poses and background images for your home screen!

Y550 Key Features

A Huawei 4G Phone

One impressive feature that the Huawei Y550 brings with it is 4G connectivity. Despite 4G sweeping the nation, the majority of smartphone users are still using the much slower 3G to connect to the web. But now with 4G capabilities hitting the budget end of the mobile market, there’ll be no reason not to sign up for a 4G contract with superfast internet speeds! Just think of how quickly you could stream the latest episode of Breaking Bad or Orange is the New Black on Netflix!

Love superfast internet speeds? Check out our incredible range of 4G smartphones.

Emotion UI 2.3

The Y550, like all Huawei smartphones, will also come with Huawei’s own user interface (UI), Emotion, on board. In the case of this budget handset, you’ve got Emotion 2.3 out of the box, giving users a totally different experience of Android than on any other handset.

Huawei Emotion UI 2.3

Rather than storing all of your apps on a separate app screen, like with most other Android phones, the Huawei Y550 lets you keep all of your apps and widgets on your main home screen, tidied away in folders similarly to the iPhone.

But the great thing about the Y550 is that while you get Huawei’s Emotion UI, you also benefit from Google’s latest version of Android KitKat, too. And with that brings all the latest Google features, such as Google Now and smarter menu options.

Plus, for first time mobile users, the Y550 comes with a Simple user interface built into the device. This mode simplifies all of your phone’s features and functions, providing you with an easy to use interface which makes transitioning from a traditional mobile phone to a smartphone easier than ever.