Huawei’s Ascend could face a challenge from Obi’s Hornbill in Kenya

Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment company, has been an established player in Kenya’s smartphone market. A relatively new player, Obi Mobiles, co-founded by John Sculley, ex-CEO of Pepsi Co and Apple, has recently launched its range of eight smartphone models in the Kenyan market. The ensuing competition could spell some good news for the Kenyan smartphone consumers. For this review, we have picked up two comparable models from the two leading players, which include Huawei’s Ascend P6 and Obi Mobiles’ Hornbill S551. The intention is to juxtapose the facts to help consumers make an informed choice.

Let us first get the similarities straight. Obi’s Hornbill S551 is dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) smartphone with 3G support for each and runs on Android 4.4.2 KitKat platforms, where as Huawei’s Ascend P6 was launched with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, with the possibility to upgrade the same to 4.4.2 Kitkat. The first major difference, however, is in the screen size, where Obi’s Hornbill with 5.5inch (720x1280 pixels) size has an edge over 4.7inch (720x1280 pixels) of Huawei’s Ascend P6. This implies that Hornbill users would be able to watch stream videos or movies on a relatively larger screen.

Furthermore, Obi’s Hornbill is powered by a 1.3GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6582 processor supported with 1GB of RAM and with 8GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable via a micro SD card up to 32GB. On the other hand, Huawei’s Ascend P6 runs on a 1.5GHz quad-core Cortex-A9 processor aided by a 2GB RAM, but has the same inbuilt and expandable storage capacity as that of Hornbill. While Ascend has the advantage of extra 1GB RAM, Hornbill comes with a more latest version processor, which reflects in the choice of cameras. While both have a 5 megapixel front camera, the difference is in the secondary camera, which is 13 megapixels in the case of Hornbill and only 8 megapixels in Ascend P6, which gives Hornbill a slight advantage. 

Most of all the battery life is a significant criterion for any smartphone user. At this front too, Ascend P6 with its battery capacity of 2000 mAh slightly lags behind Hornbill whose battery capacity is 2200 mAh. Both the devices share the same Wi-Fi capabilities (802.11b/g/n), however, Hornbill has a v4.0 Bluetooth where as Ascend has a v3.0 Bluetooth. From the connectivity point of view, Obi’s Hornbill offers 3G, GPS and Micro-USB, where as Ascend comes with both 2G GSM: 900/1800 MHz and 3G, WCDMA 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz, which gives Ascend P6 an advantage.

The idea of overlooking brand value is increasingly becoming common as smart-customers evaluate smartphones based on what all they have to offer for the price tag they come with. At the price front, both the devices make for a good pocket friendly choice, but Obi’s Hornbill priced at around KSh18,000 has some advantage over Huawei’s Ascend P6, which is priced around KSh23,000. On the whole, Obi’s Hornbill acquires an edge on account of larger screen size, battery capacity, secondary camera and price, where as Huawei’s Ascend P6 may come handy due to the option of 2G connectivity in some parts.