A month ago Xiaomi released a new device, the Xiaomi Red Rice. It was targeted at the Asian market and as has been the case with rising Xiaomi, sold out in record numbers. That did catch Huawei’s attention and the Chinese company not to be outdone, promised to have a competing device soon. At least that is what the Huawei CEO told the press. If the leaks from Chinese social site Weibo are anything to go by, that may as well be very true. Huawei has sent out invitations for the launch of a new device. Rumoured to be a smartphone, the invites clearly excuse us from the struggles of deciphering Chinese characters by openly using the word ‘Honor’. Now that can only mean one thing: the next device in the Honor line. Expected to be the Honor 4, the device will be announced at an event on December 16th.
In other markets the Honor is also known as the Glory and so the device may also be known as Glory 4. The most unique thing about this device is that it will follow in the footsteps of UMI’s UMI X2S in packing MediaTek’s MT6592 octa-core chipset. This will be the very first Huawei device to do so. Earlier on we suspected that such honours (see what I did there?) may be reserved for the Huawei Ascend Mate 2 but recent leaks and rumours have us second-guessing that. It’s unlikely to happen.
Clocked at 1.7 GHz, that octa-core chip is expected to be backed by 2 GB RAM, a 13 megaixel camera alongside Huawei’s now famous 5 megapixel front facing camera. Opinion is still divided on the internal storage the device will pack. 32 GB is almost a standard for any high end device launching today but 8 and 16 GB make the most sense in this case. It can as well be available with all those memory options anyway. A 5.5 inch HD (720p) display is expected to crown that spec sheet. Why Huawei has an obsession with 720p displays is beyond me but maybe it helps it cut on some margins and favourably price its device. That was the case with the Ascend P6 and is expected to still be the case with the Ascend Mate 2. We expect the Ascend P6S to be the exception with its rumoured 1080p display. Still, 720p is just equally good. Only that we’ve been spoilt by the 2013 1090p display trend that has seen appetite for more lead to bizarre news of 2K displays. Expandable memory capability is expected as is Android 4.2.2 (no Kitkat?) beneath Emotion 2.0 UI.
