Huawei is trying hard to get pass with the image that it only producing cheap and low-cost phones, which involving competing with established brands such as Samsung. Huawei Ascend D2 and Ascend Mate occupy the high-end phone market, the Ascend G520 is aimed at the more affordable scale, while still offering some of high end features.

The Ascend G520 also comes with an unspecified version of Android (but at least 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich), a 4.5-inch IPS touchscreen of unknown resolution, a 5 MP rear camera, and 512 MB of RAM. That's a bit disappointing, sure. Then again - you are getting a quad-core phone for little over 200 dollars unlocked.

The G520 pictured above comes with China Mobile's logo on it, as you can see. And it's unclear at this point whether this device will ever make it to any other country.

Corning, the company behind the popular Gorilla Glass on most of the phone screens, will be showcasing it's latest generation of Gorilla Glass, version 3.  According to Engadget, the glass is now three times more scratch resistant than the previous generation, and 40 percent fewer scratches will be visible to the human eye.

Corning plans to introduce two new products at CES 2013 next week, the new glass composition with durability enhancements, and Optical Cables by Corning, fiber-based, device-to-device connectivity solutions that significantly extend the data transmission range past the limits of copper-based cables.  See below for the Press Release.

Press Release:

CORNING, N.Y. , January 3, 2013 - Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) today announced its plans for the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week. The Corning booth, #14813 Central Hall, will highlight the company's newest specialty glass solutions and their benefits for today's consumer electronics device trends.

Corning plans to introduce two new products at CES 2013: Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3, a new glass composition with durability enhancements; and Optical Cables by Corning, fiber-based, device-to-device connectivity solutions that significantly extend the data transmission range past the limits of copper-based cables. Full product details will be included in announcements planned for Monday, Jan. 7.

"This year at CES, Corning will demonstrate its industry leadership in specialty glass and fiber optic technologies with the introduction of two products designed to enhance and extend the capabilities of consumers' favorite devices," said Wendell P. Weeks, chairman, chief executive officer, and president. "These new innovations build on the increasingly important and continually evolving role of highly engineered glass technologies in delivering improved product performance and functionality through touch capabilities, protective cover glass, and device connectivity."

In the Corning booth, experts will be on hand to discuss and present hourly demonstrations of the toughness of Gorilla Glass 3 as well as the connectivity and flexibility of Optical Cables by Corning. The booth will also showcase the benefits of Corning Gorilla Glass in larger format, multi-touch displays for education, entertainment and other applications.

Additionally, James P. Clappin, president, Corning Glass Technologies will be a panelist in the "Disruptive Technologies Impacting the Future of Games and Video" session at 11a.m. PST on Tuesday, Jan. 8, at LVCC, North Hall N255-257. He will discuss the important role of highly specialized glass in some of the latest consumer electronic technologies such as hi-res, 3D, HD video, Internet-connected TVs, conformable displays, tablets and viral apps.

Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), which are based on current expectations and assumptions about Corning's financial results and business operations, that involve substantial risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include: the effect of global political, economic and business conditions; conditions in the financial and credit markets; currency fluctuations; tax rates; product demand and industry capacity; competition; reliance on a concentrated customer base; manufacturing efficiencies; cost reductions; availability of critical components and materials; new product commercialization; pricing fluctuations and changes in the mix of sales between premium and non-premium products; new plant start-up or restructuring costs; possible disruption in commercial activities due to terrorist activity, armed conflict, political or financial instability, natural disasters, adverse weather conditions, or major health concerns; adequacy of insurance; equity company activities; acquisition and divestiture activities; the level of excess or obsolete inventory; the rate of technology change; the ability to enforce patents; product and components performance issues; retention of key personnel; stock price fluctuations; and adverse litigation or regulatory developments. These and other risk factors are detailed in Corning's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the day that they are made, and Corning undertakes no obligation to update them in light of new information or future events.

We can't wait to see the demo phone at the CES 2013 next week.  Based on press videos I've seen so far, Ubuntu on a phone looks as polished as iOS and open as Android, which could make for an attractive combination. The platform doesn't require a hardware button for the home screen or task switching. Instead, users swipe from the edge of the phone display for in app navigation, settings and the home screen. Web and native apps will be supported. 

Ubuntu for phones will have two ‘versions', with different hardware requirements. The high-end option will also come with ‘turns into a PC when docked' functionality, just like Ubuntu for Android. The low-end offering won't support this, because the hardware will be tailor made for cheap devices focused on emerging markets.

Press Release:

"At the high end of the smartphone market Ubuntu creates an entirely new ‘superphone' category: a phone that becomes a full PC when docked with a keyboard and monitor. Ubuntu is a popular desktop in security-conscious enterprises and government deployments. It includes thin client software that enables Windows apps to be delivered, securely, from the cloud or the enterprise data centre. That full desktop is included in every high-end Ubuntu phone, and the phone can be managed just like an Ubuntu desktop or server, using standard Ubuntu management tools."

Watch 60 seconds of the stunning features and interaction design that characterise Ubuntu on smartphones.

Source: unwiredview

There is no doubt that Huawei's 6.1-inch giant screen phablet will be getting some attention at CES 2013. Following Yu Chengdong, the company's mobile device head honcho, the first to demonstrate the phone in a Huawei store, the domestic media companies got interested in details of this phone.

The news that this 6.1 inch phone the Ascend Mate backed with a curved design, from the middle to the edge of the curve, the body is very light and thin, the screen display is also pretty good.

Before exposure parameters Ascend mate body thickness of less than 9.9mm, equipped with a 6.1-inch 1080p touch screen, equipped with quad-core processor clocked at 1.8GHz (model may be the Hass K3V3) and 2GB of RAM at the same time, and to provide 13 million pixel camera and 4000mAh capacity battery.

The Ascend Mate may join the Ascend D2 for an official unveiling during CES in January. We will any details on the site once we have it available.

A new smartphone code-named Redhookbay has appeared in benchmark listings. Powered by the 1.6GHz Intel Merrifield dual-core processor, the smartphone apparently runs using Android 4.2.1.

The benchmark listing also reveals the device features like 1280x720p HD display, and PowerVR SGX 544MP GPU.

Intel Redhookbay seems like a reference design so we might start to see the devices depending on it as early as Mobile World Congress 2013. A written report from Taiwanese publication Digitimes also shows that Intel is intending to showcase new Atom processor along with a new smartphone platform at MWC.

Intel, that is trying hard to make a stand it smartphone market, is yet to be at the core of the popular smartphone and a lot of the Intel-powered Android devices have seen average success at best. Even the top manufacturers like Samsung, Sony or HTC are yet to go for Intel processors in their devices as well as the chipmaker is left dealing with select companies like Motorola, ZTE and Lava for smartphones.

The main specifications are as follows:

• Intel made
• 1.6Ghz ~ 2.0Ghz processor (Atom presumably)
• PowerVR SGX544MP GPU
• 1280x720
• Android 4.2.1 JellyBean