Many Android-based smartphones have made their debut at the 2013 International CES, but Huawei has launched a Windows Phone 8 (WP8) smartphone, Ascend W1, to rival existing WP8 smartphones available in the market.

The Chinese smartphone maker Huawei is the fourth OEM to launch its WP8 smartphone. Samsung, Nokia, and HTC have all launched their WP8 smartphones, which have been available to users since the end of November 2012.

"Inspired and powered by people, the Ascend W1 is a combination of Huawei's user-centric design philosophy and Windows Phone 8 software, bringing consumers a truly compelling alternative. The addition of the Ascend W1 to our smartphone portfolio gives consumers access to an even wider range of Huawei smartphones. At a price that makes sense to consumers, Ascend W1 underscores our commitment to put smartphones within reach of every consumer, no matter who you are or what you want from your phone," said Richard Yu, CEO, Huawei Consumer Business Group.

The Ascend W1 sports a 4-inch IPS LCD 480 x 800 touch screen with OGS Technology. A 1.2 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8230 processor powers the smartphone. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled handset measures 4.90 x 2.51 x 0.41 inches and weighs 4.59 ounces. The handset is also equipped with a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and 0.3-megapixel front-facing camera.

The smartphone has 4GB of internal storage with the option to expand the memory to a further 32GB using a microSD card. A bit slow when compared to other smartphones, the Ascend W1 has 512MB of RAM. A 1950 mAh battery fuels the Ascend W1 and Huawei claims that the battery can offer up to 10 hours and 30 minutes of talk time and up to 470 hours of standby time on 3G.

The Ascend W1 will be available in blue, red, black, and white colors. Huawei, however, did not reveal the price of the smartphone.

The handset is set to make a debut in China and Russia in January. The company also has plans to launch the Ascend W1 in Western Europe, Middle East, USA and other selected countries soon after.

The Ascend W1 features hardware specifications of an entry-level smartphone. With WP8 smartphones gaining popularity, the Ascend W1 may attract customers who are on a budget and are looking for a WP8 phone.