Review Huawei Ascend G525 Smartphone

For the original German review, see here.
The Ascend G525 is an entry-level device and expands Huawei's extensive smartphone series. We already reviewed the similar Ascend G510, but the Ascend G525 for 250 Euros (~$345) is equipped with a more powerful quad-core SoC instead of a dual-core SoC. The Snapdragon S4 MSM8225Q is supported by the Qualcomm Adreno 203 GPU as well as 4 GB storage. Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is the operating system and the Ascend G525 can use two SIM cards at the same time. Compared to the Ascend G510 it also has a better resolution; our review unit has a 4.5-inch qHD display with 960x540 pixels instead of 800x480.
Case
Huawei only uses a plastic case for the Ascend G525, but the high build quality can convince us. The same applies for the 4.5-inch display, which is seamlessly integrated into the chassis. Another advantage is that we could neither twist nor bend the smartphone in our test and that there were no creaking noises either. The rubberized back ensures convenient handling.
Dimensions of 134 x 67 x 9.9 millimeters and a weight of 155 grams are typical for a 4.5-inch device. Acer's Liquid E2 and Huawei's Ascend G510 are very similar, while the Huawei Ascend G600 is 11 millimeters thick.
Connectivity
The quad-core SoC Qualcomm S4 MSM8225Q is usually not used for entry-level smartphones like the Ascend G525. Graphics are handled by the Qualcomm Adreno 203, which provides sufficient performance for current smartphone games. The rest of the hardware equipment is a bit meager, especially the storage of the G525. 2 GB of the 4 GB internal storage is occupied by the operating system and preloaded apps, so there is only 2 GB left for your personal data and applications. However, you can use micro SD cards with up to 32 GB to expand the storage.
Software
Operating system of the Huawei Ascend G525 is Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The OS comes with several preloaded applications, especially Google apps like Chrome, Gmail, Google+, Play and YouTube. Huawei also uses its own user interface EmotionUI 1.0, which, according to the manufacturer, is supposed to improve the operation and the app management of the Android device.
Communication & GPS
Besides all four GSM frequencies (850, 900, 1,800 and 1,900 MHz), the Huawei Ascend G525 also supports UMTS dual band (900 and 2,100 MHz). It is therefore not as well equipped as many rivals but you get two SIM slots in return. You can use two numbers at the same time, for instance one for private conversations and one for business purposes. There were no problems with the voice or connection quality. Finally, the Ascend G525 supports WLAN 802.11 b/g/n networks and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR.
The GPS module is very fast indoors as well as outdoors, but it could be more precise. We rode our bicycle on a predetermined route and compared the results of the Huawei Ascend G525 with our reference device Garmin GPS Edge afterwards. We can see that the overall result is good, but there are deviations at narrow parts of the track from time to time.
Cameras & Multimedia
The Huawei Ascend G525 has two cameras: A 0.3 megapixels webcam above the display that only supports the VGA resolution with 640x480 pixels, which should be sufficient for video calls or occasional snapshots. The main camera is at the back and has a 5 MP sensor (2592x1944 pixels). It takes pictures with a decent quality, but cannot compete with camera modules of high-end smartphones. Contrary to the Apple iPhone 5 or Google Nexus 4, for instance, pictures of the Ascend G525 have very accurate colors and a very good contrast but the details are a bit blurry.
Accessories & Warranty
There are not many accessories in the box of the Huawei smartphone; besides a modular power supply unit there is only a micro USB cable. Huawei does not offer any specific accessories for the Ascend G525 in its web shop, only common products like in-ear headsets or car chargers. The warranty period for the smartphone is 24 months.
Input Devices & Handling
The 4.5-inch touchscreen of the Ascend G525 executes inputs without delays and can recognize up to five fingers simultaneously. There can be small delays or stutters after you turn the device on, but that is not a problem when the device was in stand-by. The soft-touch buttons, the volume rocker and the power button are very accurate and help to improve the good overall impression. The virtual QWERTY keyboard has a clear layout and sufficiently sized keys.
Display
The display specs of the Ascend G525 are pretty standard. The glossy 4.5-inch LC display has a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels, which is on a level with the similarly equipped Acer Liquid E2 and Huawei Ascend G600. Both the HTC Desire 500 and LG P710 Optimus L7 II have a slightly smaller display with a lower resolution (4.3-inches, 800x480 pixels).
Our measurements show good results for the display. The Ascend G525 has an average brightness of 279.1 cd/m², the luminance is therefore sufficient for outdoor use. We could see similar results for the Huawei Ascend G600 (259.0 cd/m²) and LG P710 Optimus L7 II (244.1 cd/m²), while the Acer Liquid E2 (347.4 cd/m²) and HTC Desire 50 (430.0 cd/m²) were considerably brighter. A brightness distribution of 83% is slightly below average, but that is compensated by the very good black value of 0.27 cd/m² and the excellent contrast ratio of 1130:1.
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Brightness Distribution: 83 %
Center on Battery: 305 cd/m²
Contrast: 1130:1 (Black: 0.27 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 9.63 | 0.5-29.43 Ø4.9
ΔE Greyscale 10.51 | 0.5-98 Ø5.2
Gamma: 4.41
The subjective quality of the display is very good with vibrant and natural colors, however, our measurements show that the results for the color accuracy, color reproduction, saturation and grayscale presentation clearly deviate from the ideal values. According to CalMAN 5 and similar to many other smartphones, the 4.5-inch screen of our review unit also has a slight blue cast. The resulting DeltaE value of 9.63 is very high for the RGB color space and the grayscale presentation is even worse (DeltaE 10.51).
You will have to make small compromises when you use the smartphone outdoors, especially under direct sunlight. It can be hard to see the actual display content because of the glossy surface, but that does not reduce the overall outdoor capabilities of the Ascend G525. However, the viewing angle stability of the IPS display is excellent. Even extreme viewing angles do not reduce the visibility and there are no problems with color deviations or even inverted colors.
Performance
Huawei equipped the Ascend G525 with the quad-core SoC Qualcomm MSM8225Q that is clocked at 1.2 GHz. The processor is supported by the Qualcomm Adreno 203 GPU as well as 1 GB memory. The results of the synthetic benchmarks are comparable with similarly equipped rivals but clearly behind high-end smartphones.
3DMark - 1280x720 Ice Storm Standard Score (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
GFXBench (DX / GLBenchmark) 2.7 - 1920x1080 T-Rex Offscreen (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
Epic Citadel - High Quality (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
Linpack Android / IOS - Multi Thread (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
Huawei Ascend G600 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
The smartphones are also very close in the browser-based benchmarks, with one exception: Only the Acer Liquid E2 with its PowerVR SGX544 GPU has more performance and has a clear advantage in Browsermark 2.0.
Google V8 Ver. 7 - Google V8 Ver. 7 Score (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
Huawei Ascend G600 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
Browsermark - --- (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
Huawei Ascend G600 |
Peacekeeper - --- (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
Huawei Ascend G600 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
Octane V1 - Total Score (sort by value) | |
Huawei Ascend G525 | |
Acer Liquid E2 v370 | |
HTC Desire 500 | |
Huawei Ascend G600 | |
LG P710 Optimus L7 II |
Read and write performance is not really a strong suit of the Huawei Ascend G525. Both sequential and random operations are clearly behind the competition and the smartphone is in the bottom position in every benchmark. Acer's Liquid E2 is once again the fastest device.
Gaming
Emissions
System Noise
Apart from the integrated speakers, smartphones usually do not produce any noise. The same applies for the Ascend G525, but not for the provided modular power supply unit. As soon as you plug it in, you can hear a quiet but constant whistling noise, which is rather annoying.
Temperature
We can measure up to 42.3 °C under load for the Huawei Ascend G525, but even longer periods under maximum load do not result in an inconvenient handling of the Android smartphone. The coolest devices are the LG P710 Optimus L7 II (36.1 °C) and the Huawei Ascend G600 (36.8 °C); HTC's Desire 500 is closest to the Ascend G525 with 39.1 °C. The situation is completely different during idle, where our review unit is actually the coolest device with a maximum temperature of 28.9 °C.
(±) The maximum temperature on the upper side is 42.3 °C / 108 F, compared to the average of 35.1 °C / 95 F, ranging from 21.9 to 63.7 °C for the class Smartphone.
(+) The bottom heats up to a maximum of 38 °C / 100 F, compared to the average of 33.9 °C / 93 F
(+) In idle usage, the average temperature for the upper side is 27.8 °C / 82 F, compared to the device average of 32.8 °C / 91 F.
Speaker
Similar to many other smartphones, the mono speaker of the Ascend G525 only produces a very thin sound: It emphasizes treble; medium tones or bass are almost non-existent. The sound experience with the provided stereo headphones is much better. It is richer and you can also activate the multi-channel sound system DTS in the Android settings, which will improve the sound experience even further. However, this only applies for the playback with headphones - we cannot hear the DTS effect via speaker.
Energy Management
Power Consumption
The Huawei Ascend G525 consumes between 0.2 and 1.0 Watts during idle, which is similarly frugal as the Acer Liquid E2 (up to 1.1 Watts) and the Huawei Ascend G600 (up to 1.0 Watts). LG's P710 Optimus L7 II (2.1 Watts) and HTC's Desire 500 (3.1 Watts) need more energy.
These values are increased to 2.9 and 3.6 Watts under load. A good result for the Ascend G525, even though competitors like the Acer Liquid E2 and Huawei Ascend G600 (both 2.8 Watts) are more frugal. The least efficient device under load is the HTC Desire 500 with 4.4 Watts.
Off / Standby | ![]() ![]() |
Idle | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Load |
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Key:
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Battery Runtime
The 1,700 mAh battery of the Ascend G525 is not the largest model, but the battery runtimes are okay for a smartphone in this price category.
We determine the maximum runtime with a script that simulates the reading of a text document. The Ascend G525 manages 14 hours and 22 minutes, which is comparable with the HTC Desire 500 (14 hours and 1 minute) and the Acer Liquid E2 (exactly 16 hours). The other extreme is the minimum runtime and our review unit cannot really convince us with just 2 hours and 24 minutes. All other devices are better in this test, especially Huawei's Ascend G600 with 4 hours and 42 minutes.
Our WLAN test is the most realistic scenario and simulates web browsing. The result for the G525 is a decent runtime of 7 hours and 36 minutes, however, this is not overwhelming by any means. The LG P710 Optimus L7 II (6 hours and 56 minutes) and HTC Desire 500 (7 hours and 40 minutes) are very similar, while the Huawei Ascend G600 (9 hours and 30 minutes) and especially the Acer Liquid E2 (12 hours and 34 minutes) are very enduring.
Verdict
Huawei describes the Ascend G525 as an entry-level smartphone, but the review unit offers more quality than the low-end term would suggest. This starts with the good case: Even though it is only made of plastic, it accommodates the good 4.5-inch display, a 5 megapixels camera with decent picture quality as well as two slots for SIM cards. The integrated quad-core SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8225Q ensures a smooth and snappy user experience and offers sufficient performance for applications and current games. We only encountered some small delays after we turned the device on (cold start).
We can see the influence of the price with the storage configuration. Only 2 GB of the 4 GB internal storage can be accessed by the user, the rest is occupied by the operating system and some preloaded applications. The qHD display could also be a bit brighter and the integrated GPS module could be more precise. Another small drawback is the whistling noise of the power supply unit.