Huawei Ascend P7: We review the PANORAMIC SELFIE smartphone

China's slimmest, smartest mobe yet

Emotional stability for fandroids

The UX uses Huawei’s tasteful lightweight Android skin, EmotionUI. This departs from the norm in only one serious way - the Android application grid button is hidden by default, and new applications are installed at the right end of the home screens - much as they are on iOS.

EmotionUI extends a handful of useful features and applications of its own - but not too many, and it doesn’t impair performance. So there’s a Phone Manager that cleans up memory and cruft left, and simplifies call-blocking and privacy features. There’s also a Do Not Disturb mode and a low-power dumb phone mode, which is very welcome. There’s also a simplified Launcher, which looks quite slick.

Notes on a Theme

Huawei's three power modes (left) and simple shell (right), an alternative to the default skin.