Huawei Ideos X5 Pro Review

Connectivity
The smartphone is loaded up with all the connectivity options like Bluetooth (with A2DP and EDR), Wi-Fi (with Hot Spot creation), 3G, microUSB and GPS. Talking about its most basic yet important function - calls - we must say that it has good ambient noise cancellation, callers could hear us clearly even in crowded areas. However, we cannot say the same about call reception signal which went low in some covered areas. Huawei has also preloaded the device with several handy apps like Streams, Google Maps, Task manager, file manager, AllBackup, Documents To Go and facebook and Twitter apps. 

Scoop of the cloud

The X5 Pro also comes with the Huawei exclusive Cloud+ service. This service has been integrated with the device and offers features like Streams, Cloud+ drive, Phone Finder Message+, Cloud+ Gallery, HiSpace and more. Cloud+ Drive  needs users to create an exclusive account that allows storing photos, music, videos, documents and more. It helps synchronize contents on various devices and offers 16GB of free online space. Cloud+ allows data backup in case you lose your device and also helps you find the phone with the Cloud+ Phone Finder app. There’s Message+, which allows instant messaging among Huawei users and also allows sharing photos, videos and other files. HiSpace is again a Huawei App store exclusive to Huawei smartphone owners with more than 1500 top apps for work, play and everything in between.

Camera
The X5 Pro has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus just like its predecessor and does just about a fine job. You can go ahead and tweak the exposure, screen mode, and store location. It does a mediocre job in low light while bright light images are just about fine. The device also employs 720p video recording. However, with too much light, the colors look a little washed out.

Photo taken with the 5MP camera

Battery
The smartphone is equiped with a 1500 mAh battery, and with average usage we didn't find the need to charge it everyday. In our video playback test we managed to squeeze just over 5 hours and fifteen minutes of non-stop playback with 75 percent brightness and Wi-Fi running in the background downloading emails, chat messages, FB updates etc. In our Tech2 Loop Test we ran the handset for for one entire loop that consisted of 2 hours each of video, music and audio streaming and 1.5 hours of talk time. We began a second loop and were able to get 1 hour of video, 1 hour of audio, and about 15 minutes of audio streaming. Totally that worked out to about 9 hours and 45 minutes of non-stop  usage. That's good for a handset in this bracket.

Verdict
Putting it in a nutshell, the Huawei Ideos X5 Pro is a pretty neat device for  13,800 athough it has some minimal changes over the predecessor and the price hasn't seen a huge jump either. It performs well enough, the screen responds accurately and Huawei's trendy cloud apps and services are quite handy. However, the screen is susceptible to scratches, and is a stubborn finger print magnet, nothing a screen guard worth 150 wont fix though. One has to open the backflap to access the microSD card slot, but this shouldn't make much of a difference as it's still a hot swap option. Another great asset is the battery that will easily let you use the phone for a full day without needing to reach out for your charger. Competition to this phone could be the SE Walkman with Live which falls in the same price range. However, Huawei has a larger touchscreen, a slightly more user friendly UI and additional Huawei specific features. We seriously suggest you consider the IDEOS X5 Pro as it offers quite a bit for the price.