A year after Nokia turned up in Singapore to unveil its “comeback” phone designs, the biggest phone makers were conspicuously missing from the 2012 edition of CommunicAsia last week.

Perhaps Nokia and others like Samsung, Apple, LG and Sony felt that they could get better mileage holding their own events or turning up at other events happening at the same time.

Whatever their reasons, their absence meant that two Chinese phone makers, Huawei and ZTE, had the stage to themselves at Marina Bay Sands to show off their latest smartphones and tablets. With smiling show models at their booths, it was certainly business as usual this year. …

Guess which Chinese company is back in the news with a pleasant surprise?

After being the first company in the world to roll out the Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update to the Honor, Huawei said on Friday that an update is now also available for the MediaPad Android tablet as well.

Unveiled last year at CommunicAsia, it has been running Android 3.2. Besides the expected feature and performance boost that comes with Android 4.0, the software update will also let the MediaPad send SMSes and make voice calls.  …

If you still have any doubts as to whether Huawei is in the Android game for the long haul, take a look at the screenshot above.

That’s right, shortly after its launch in Singapore, the Chinese manufacturer has beat every other big-name Android manufacturers to the game and released an Ice Cream Sandwich update to its Honor smartphone.

The update can be downloaded via Huawei’s website. Click on the second tab, which means “software” and you’ll see Ice Cream Sandwich listed. The file is a pretty hefty 150MB download, and there is not one, but two builds for you to play around with. …

Heading down to SITEX this weekend? Here are some deals we spotted to whet your appetite!

Huawei Sonic (S$248, no contract)
The Huawei Sonic is an Android 2.3 Gingerbread phone with an unbelievably low price. And yet, the phone doesn’t feel that cheap, and it actually quite sturdy. Specs-wise, the phone does feel like it came out of the era of the first iPhone: a low-res screen, 600MHz processor and 256MB of RAM all add up to a phone which pales in comparison to the powerhouses out there today. But if you can look past all that and won’t use it to play intensive games, the Sonic is a decent low-end Android phone.

M1 Fibre Broadband (S$39/month)
M1’s fibre broadband promotion just keeps going! Introduced at COMEX earlier this year, the 100Mbps can be yours for just S$39 per month. M1 says “it’s a steal”, and we couldn’t agree more. The only catch: if you’re too invested in other telco packages – such as StarHub’s cable TV – it will be difficult to decide whether you should switch.
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Chinese handset and network equipment vendor Huawei created quite a storm today by unveiling what it says is the first Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet, a day before the CommunicAsia telecom show opens its doors here in Singapore.

The MediaPad sports a 7-inch screen and runs on a Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core processor. Weighing just 390g and measuring just 10.5mm thin, it supports 1080p FullHD video playback, along with a 5-meg camera for taking pictures on the go.

Huawei executives told reporters today that the new tablet will come with both Wi-Fi-only and 3G+Wi-Fi models, when it ships worldwide in Q3 2011, in the Americas, Asia-Pacific and selected European markets. The 3G version supports download speeds of up 14.4Mbps downloads (HSPA+). …

Huawei is bringing a series of low-cost Android phones to Singapore this month, in the hope of winning over a part of the market that tech-savvy Singapore users often don’t spend too much time checking out.

While we are talking up the Samsung Galaxy S II and Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, phones closer to the S$1,000 mark (without contract), Huawei has been banking on the low-cost segment (S$300 to S$500) where Android can play a big part. Hey, the software is free, after all.

This is where the Ideos X3, a followup to the original Ideos, comes in. The new Android phone will cost just S$299 when it ships on June 15, said Huawei executives who launched the phone along with three other low-cost numbers yesterday in Singapore. …

So, you’re finally getting the fibre optic cable set up at home and seem all ready to hook up to Singapore’s fast lane that promises faster downloads. Then, all of a sudden, questions come up.

How should I run the fibre optic cable at home? How should I set up up my home network? Which service provider should I sign up with?

As a new fibre broadband user who just signed up two weeks ago, I can tell you I have asked all those questions, and there are solutions, sort of, if you know what you want with the new service. …

A quick walk through the yearly Mobile World Congress – the biggest mobile phone show around – and you’ll realise you are actually gazing at a crystal ball that shows what people will tote in their hands in the coming months.

Here in Barcelona, as this year’s phone extravaganza kicks off today, the power is clearly with Google’s Android. With Sony Ericsson, Motorola and China’s Huawei showing off world-beating Android phones this week, it’s easy to think 2010 will be the year of the Google phone OS. (HTC has also launched two hot numbers in the Legend and Nexus One-lookalike Desire).

But very clearly, rivals are not going away quietly. Microsoft, Samsung and Nokia all have their sights aimed at the emerging powerhouse OS. …