With mobile internet catching up, more and more people are now going in for handsets that support all sorts of apps, from online to offline. Thanks to Android OS from Google, everyone is trying to manufacture phones powered by it. This has given way to affordable smartphones. An Android phone with an affordable price tag could be very lucrative. But is it worth the pain? We check it out with Huawei’s Ideos U8150.
Huawei’s Ideos U8150 comes with the usual set of packaging found in many phones today, which includes the handset, battery, AC adapter, USB data cable, earphones, microSD card, warranty card and user manual.
Huawei U8150 candybar handset is small that measures 104×54.8×13.5 mm and weighs just 102 grams. The U8150 sports a 2.8-inch touchscreen display, which in retrospect could have been made a bit larger had Huawei not included a large navigation pad in the front with the call/end buttons placed at its side. To consume more real estate on the front side are the touch-sensitive Android buttons like back, menu, search and home. On the back, you’ve a trendy looking battery cover (in our case, blue) along with loud speakers, camera and the “Ideos” branding whereas on the side is the volume button.
Display:
As mentioned earlier, the capacitive display measures just 2.8-inches and supports a resolution of 240×320 pixels. The screen – at best – could be termed as average due to the low 256K colors support and no support for multi-touch, which has become mandatory in most Android phones these days. Understandably, Huawei must have stripped some features in order to keep the price down.
Performance:
The U8150 is powered by a 528MHz processor and 256MB RAM. Now it maybe underpowered for some consumers but the phone worked satisfactorily, given the resources it has at its disposal. The phone comes with the stock flavor of Android 2.2 and although it works fine, albeit with a slight lag while wading through the menu or after execution of any app.
Gaming is not as fun as on a top-end Android but hey, Angry Birds work! However, with some dropped frame rates.
Camera:
U8150 features a 3.2 megapixel camera that is capable of taking still images as well as record videos. The quality of the pics and videos is pretty average. Huawei could have enhanced the experience by integrating an auto-focus lens or an LED flash, which are absent due to apparent handset price escalation.
Multimedia:
The phone is packed with the default video and music apps for Android. The supported formats are MP3/WMA/eAAC+ for audio and MP4/H.263/H.264 for video. The earphone output quality may not be worth boasting about but the loudspeaker definitely is. It is really loud to fill the sound in a small room.
Connectivity:
Ideos U8150 has been more or less mediocre in other departments but it really comes through when it comes to connectivity options. It is one of the cheapest 3G Android handsets and comes with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS. Speaking of GPS, the U8150’s GPS fared pretty well, giving a location lock in about 2-3 minutes.
Battery:
The Huawei U8150 comes with a 1200mAh battery and with the busy data connection along with moderate surfing on Wi-Fi and calling; we got about a day’s usage before it found its way to the charger.
Conclusion:
So it brings us to the ultimate question – Is Ideos U8150 worth the effort and money? It depends on the actual usage you want to harness from the device. If this is your first Android experience and wants to be socially connected with some light web surfing as well, I think U8150 fits the bill perfectly.
For users looking to do a bit more, inflate your budget to get at least a mid- or high-end Android device.
Rating: 
Pros: Price, Connectivity
Cons: Small display, Lags at times
How can I purschase this battery door cover in this color?
@Cerida: It already came with our handset. Perhaps, these are being sold as additional accessories.