Huawei Ascend P2 hitting Europe in Q2 for 399 euros, we go hands-on (update: video)

Just ahead of Huawei's press event, Huawei's treated us to an early viewing of its new 8.4-millimeter smartphone, the Ascend P2. With Android 4.1, a quad-core 1.5GHz processor, 13-megapixel camera and a 720p 4.7-inch Gorilla Glass 2 Infinity Edge Display, it joins the likes of the Ascend Mate and D2 in forming the Chinese manufacturer's smartphone family in 2013. And boy, it's a slender, feather-light phone with a glossy backing that come sin both black and white. Design-wise, like those leaks, it looks an awful lot like those P1 phones we first saw at CES 2012.

Its notable feature is the highest-speed LTE connection seen so far in a smartphone, up to 150Mbps with support for LTE Cat4. We also got to play with Huawei's Emotion UI again, which can draw on the 1GB of RAM housed inside. There's plenty of storage, with 16GB ready to accept your photos and music. The right side houses a volume switch and a physical camera button -- these were a bit plasticky, but has a nice matte finish. The other side is where the power button belongs, with both the headphone and micro-USB charging port found there. Huawei's focusing on battery life here as well, with a 2,420mAH cell powering the Android phone and the promise of consuming 20-percent less power, thanks to the handset's display technology.

With the aforementioned Emotion UI, there's the same clipboard animation across homescreen transitions, matching those other Ascend models. Getting into screen performance, it reflected a fair bit of ambient light. It's perhaps not the best display we've seen from Huawei -- there seems to be a space between the surface of the glass and the display itself. The hardware feels light, but feels like we were often unable to keep hold of it. The buttons have the right amount of bite, although it would have been nice to see some premium materials used for these minor details. The design also reminds us a fair bit of Panasonic's Eluga smartphone. Perhaps due to the lack of exotic color options, the phone wasn't quite as appealing as when we first got our hands on its predecessors. We'll have a hands-on video up soon. If you're in Europe you can pick this up in Q2 for €399 ($526).

Update: The video now lives after the break!

Gallery: Huawei Ascend P2 hands-on